Peter was a Bulgarian nobleman who held the high title of sevastokrator around 1253. [1] [2] He married a daughter of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria. [2] [3] He ruled significant territories in Bulgaria during the reign of his brother-in-law, Michael II Asen. [2]
Stefan Vladislav was the King of Serbia from 1234 to 1243. He was the middle son of Stefan the First-Crowned of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled Serbia from 1196 to 1228. Radoslav, the eldest son of Stefan the First-Crowned, was ousted by the Serbian nobility due to increasing Epirote influence through his marriage alliance to Theodore Komnenos Doukas; thus Vladislav became his successor. He is celebrated as Saint Vladislav by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known by his Vlach name Johannitsa or Ioannitsa, was Tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was a younger brother of Theodor and Asen who led the anti-Byzantine uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs in 1185. The uprising ended with the restoration of the independence of Bulgaria. He spent years as a hostage in Constantinople in the late 1180s. Theodor made him his co-ruler after Asen was murdered in 1196. A year later, Theodor-Peter was also assassinated, and Kaloyan became the sole ruler of Bulgaria.
The Asen dynasty founded and ruled a medieval Bulgarian state, called in modern historiography the Second Bulgarian Empire, between 1185 and 1280.
Ivan Asen I, also known as Asen I or John Asen I was emperor of Bulgaria from 1187 or 1188 to 1196 as the co-ruler with his elder brother, Peter II. He was the son of a wealthy shepherd from the mountains of the Byzantine theme (district) of Paristrion. All contemporaneous chronicles describe Asen I and his brothers as Vlachs.
Boril was the emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor, Kaloyan and Kaloyan's brothers, Peter II and Ivan Asen I, who had restored the independent Bulgarian state. After Kaloyan died unexpectedly in October 1207, Boril married his widow, a Cuman princess and seized the throne. His cousin, Ivan Asen, fled from Bulgaria, enabling Boril to strengthen his position. His other kinsmen, Strez and Alexius Slav, refused to acknowledge him as the lawful monarch. Strez took possession of the land between the Struma and Vardar rivers with the support of Stefan Nemanjić of Serbia. Alexius Slav secured his rule in the Rhodope Mountains with the assistance of Henry, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople.
Kaliman Asen I, also known as Coloman Asen I or Koloman was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1241 to 1246. He was the son of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria and Anna Maria of Hungary. He was only seven when he succeeded his father in 1241. In the following years, the Mongols invaded Bulgaria and imposed a yearly tax on the country. He may have been poisoned, according to contemporaneous rumors about his death.
Michael II Asen was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1246 to 1256 or 1257. He was the son of Ivan Asen II and Irene Komnene Doukaina. He succeeded his half-brother, Kaliman I Asen. His mother or other relative must have ruled Bulgaria during his minority.
Ivan Sratsimir or Ivan Stratsimir was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria in Vidin from 1356 to 1396. He was born in 1324 or 1325, and he died in or after 1397. Despite being the eldest surviving son of Ivan Alexander, Ivan Sratsimir was disinherited in favour of his half-brother Ivan Shishman and proclaimed himself emperor in Vidin. When the Hungarians attacked and occupied his domains, he received assistance from his father and the invaders were driven away.
Ivan Alexander, also sometimes Anglicized as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on 17 February 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history. Ivan Alexander began his rule by dealing with internal problems and external threats from Bulgaria's neighbours, the Byzantine Empire and Serbia, as well as leading his empire into a period of economic recovery and cultural and religious renaissance.
Michael Asen III, ruled as tsar of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292. He was the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Shishman dynasty. After he was crowned, however, Michael used the name Asen to emphasize his connection with the Asen dynasty, the first one to rule over the Second Empire.
Konstantin Tih or Constantine I Tikh, was the tsar of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277.
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th century.
Peter II, born Theodor, also known as Theodor-Peter was the first emperor of the restored Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1197. He was the son of a wealthy shepherd from the mountains of the Byzantine theme of Paristrion. He and his younger brothers, Asen and Kaloyan, were mentioned as Vlachs in most primary sources, but they were most probably of mixed Vlach, Bulgarian and Cuman origin.
Constantine II, allegedly ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1397 to 1422. He was born in the early 1370s, and died in exile at the Serbian court on 17 September 1422. Constantine II claimed the title Emperor of Bulgaria and was accepted as such by foreign governments, but he is often omitted from listings of rulers of Bulgaria.
Shishman, also Shishmanids or Shishmanovtsi, was a medieval Bulgarian royal dynasty of Cuman origin.
The Tsardom of Vidin was a medieval Bulgarian state centred in the city of Vidin.
Maria Asenina of Bulgaria was a Bulgarian princess and empress consort. She was the consort of Emperor Mitso Asen of Bulgaria.
Irene Doukaina Laskarina was empress consort (tsaritsa) of Bulgaria (1258–1268). She was the second wife of Tsar Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria.
Irene Palaiologina was the eldest daughter of Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and empress Theodora Palaiologina, and empress consort of Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria.
Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II or John Asan II, was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I – one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empire – was killed in 1196. His supporters tried to secure the throne for him after his uncle, Kaloyan, was murdered in 1207, but Kaloyan's other nephew, Boril, overcame them. Ivan Asen fled from Bulgaria and settled in the Rus' principalities.