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. The chart view lays all the houses on one canvas; switch to Explore to open a single house and expand its branches. Select any name for their reign, family ties and the primary sources behind each fact.