1331–1332
A miscellany copied at Lovech, dated by a colophon naming Ivan Alexander.
при благочьстивѣ деспотѣ Александрѣ въ богоспасаемѣмь градѣ Ловчи
under the pious despot Alexander, in the God-saved city of Lovech
Note: Благочьстивъ renders the Greek εὐσεβής, and the Slavonic form very probably originated in Bulgaria. These few words are one of only two sources for Ivan Alexander's standing before he took the throne in 1331 — he is named here beside his son and Archbishop Simeon.
The manuscript matters for four words in its colophon: "при благочестивѣ деспотѣ Александрѣ" — under the pious despot Alexander. It is one of only two sources for Ivan Alexander's position before he took the throne in 1331, and by far the more revealing.
Those few lines show a man with a very high sense of his own standing: Alexander is styled a pious despot, Lovech is called a God-saved city, and he is named alongside his son and Archbishop Simeon — a court in miniature, in a provincial town, years before the coup.
