Family Tree of the Second Bulgarian Empire
23 reigning rulers across four dynasties — with their consorts, kin and the family's Byzantine branch
The Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) was ruled by four successive dynasties — the Asen, Terter, Smilets and Shishman houses — from the uprising of the brothers Peter and Asen against Byzantium to the fall of Tarnovo to the Ottomans. This family tree charts every tsar and their relatives across those two centuries, together with the Asens in Byzantium: the descendants of Ivan Asen III, who lived on in Constantinople as the noble Asanes family. Switch between the houses with the tabs, expand a branch to follow a line, and select any name for their reign, family ties and the primary sources behind each fact.
Manuel Asen
- Parents
- Spouse
- Children
- Siblings
Manuel Asen (also known as Manuel Komnenos Raoul Asen) was the second son of Andronikos Asen, probably born at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and a brother of Empress Irene Kantakouzene. His career began with his part in the battle against Orhan's Turks at Pelekanon (10 June 1329).
Manuel was a devoted supporter of his brother-in-law John VI Kantakouzenos in the civil war. Together with his sister Irene he defended Didymoteichon, and at her behest he led the embassy to Umur Pasha, whose intervention saved the city. In 1344 he was made archon of Bizye, where his wife's family held estates — an appanage that remained in the hands of him and his son Andronikos Asen until at least 1355–1356.
After Kantakouzenos entered Constantinople (1347), Manuel and his elder brother John were granted the dignity of sevastokrator, and by 1351–1354 Manuel received the highest rank — despot. He commanded Byzantine troops in Thrace and in the attempts to seize Galata. He remained loyal to the house of Kantakouzenos even after its abdication (1354): in 1356 he took part with Matthew Kantakouzenos in the struggles against John V Palaiologos. In December 1321 he married Anna, daughter of the protostrator Theodore Synadenos. He is mentioned for the last time in a prostagma of 1358.
- “[Мануил Асен], син на Андроник Асен (II, № 6) … Мануил Асен, брат на жената на великия доместик [Йоан Кантакузин].”— Genealogy and Prosopography of the Asen Dynasty 1186–1460, p. 301