Shishman dynasty
Despot Sratsimir
A despot, father of tsar Ivan Alexander. Through his marriage to Petritsa, sister of Michael III Shishman, he secured his son's hereditary claim to the throne.
Biography
Despot Sratsimir was the ruler of the appanage of Krn in the eastern Balkan range and the husband of Keratsa Petritsa — sister of Tsar Michael III Shishman Asen and a descendant of the Asens. He was probably raised to the dignity of despot by his brother-in-law Tsar Michael III Shishman, soon after the latter's accession.
Sratsimir is the father of Tsar Ivan Alexander — the link by which the Shishman dynasty inherited the Tarnovo throne in 1331. From his marriage to Petritsa came six children, among them, besides the future tsar, the Serbian empress Elena (wife of Stefan Dušan), Despot John Komnenos Asen (an independent ruler in Epiros and Thessaly), Michael Asen, Dragušin and Theodora.
The very name of his son — Ivan Alexander Asen — and the names of his grandchildren testify to the deliberate adherence to the tradition of the Asens, whose blood the family inherited through the line of his wife Petritsa.
Sources
“Иван Александър бил син на Срацимир, сестрин син на Михаил III Шишман.”
— The Asen Family (1186–1460): Genealogy and Prosopography, p. 129
In the news
- Noble ladies of medieval Dobrudzha and the Black Sea coast in the 14th century22 March 2026 · Prof. Plamen Pavlov, Trud
- 'Sratsimir, Tsar of the Bulgarians': a riddle in the memoirs of Kiro Tuleshkov28 February 2026 · Prof. Plamen Pavlov, Trud