Ivan Alexander ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371. He was the son of the despotēs Sracimir of Kran by Petrica, a sister of Michael Asen III of Bulgaria. He fought in the Battle of Velbazhd against the Serbs at modern-day Kyustendil in 1330. His reign is considered one of the most important in the history of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
About Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria in brief
Ivan Alexander ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371. He was the son of the despotēs Sracimir of Kran by Petrica, a sister of Michael Asen III of Bulgaria. Ivan Alexander fought in the Battle of Velbazhd against the Serbs at modern-day Kyustendil in 1330. A coup d’état drove Ivan Stefan out of the capital Tarnovo in 1331, and the conspirators placed Ivan Alexander on the throne. In 1331 Ivan Alexander campaigned around Adrianople and reconquered northeastern Thrace. The emperor was later unable to cope with the mounting incursions of Ottoman forces, Hungarian invasions from the northwest and the Black Death. In an ill-fated attempt to combat these problems, he divided the country between his two sons, thus forcing it to face the imminent Ottoman conquest weakened and divided. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history. He may have intended the creation of two younger-emperors to establish immediate control over important cities and regions. In the early 1340s relations with the Byzantine Empire temporarily deteriorated with Ivan Alexander temporarily co-ruling with his younger sons, Ivan Asen IV in Preslav and Ivan Sracim IV in Vidin. He died on 17 February 1371, and is buried in the Bulgarian National Museum in Sofia.
He is buried next to his father-in-law Basarab of Wallachia, who was also a despot, and his mother, Petrica Asen. His reign is considered one of the most important in the history of the Second Bulgarian Empire, along with that of his great-great-grandfather, Ivan II of Bulgaria, who ruled from 1283 to 1299. He had a son, Michael Asan IV, who became the first Bulgarian emperor in 1339. He also had a daughter, Helena, who married Serbian king Stefan Uroš IV Dušan on Easter 1332. In about 1332 Ivan Alexander had crowned his eldest son Michael-Asen IV co-emperor, perhaps to safeguard his own possession of the throne in the traditional association with the traditional Asen dynasty. The marriage eventually took place in 1340, with the marriage eventually taking place in the following year. Ivan Asan III died in 1341, and Ivan Alexander was succeeded by his son Michael Asin IV in 1342. He later died in a battle with the Ottomans in 1354. He left a son and daughter, Ivan Alexander II, who died in 1283, and a daughter-in law, Helena of Bulgaria in 1362. IvanAlexander was buried in a tomb in the town of Preslav, near Vidin, in what is now known as the village of Vratsa.
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This page is based on the article Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
