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.
Sebastokrator Alexander
- Parents
- Children
- Siblings
Sevastokrator Alexander was a son of Tsar Ivan Asen I and his wife Elena, and the younger brother of the future Tsar Ivan Asen II. His exact date of birth is unknown, but it is generally — and not without reason — assumed that he was the younger of the two brothers.
After the death of Tsar Kaloyan and the accession of Boril in the autumn of 1207, Alexander left the country together with Ivan Asen. For ten years the two brothers lived first among the Cumans and then among the Rus'. The sources are silent on the details, but there is no doubt that Alexander took an active part in his brother's efforts to recover their father's throne, which succeeded in 1218.
Information about his later life is scarce and does not allow his role in the political life of the kingdom under Ivan Asen II to be traced. He bore the high court title of sevastokrator, and his son was the short-reigned Tsar Kaliman Asen II.