Isaac Asen
- Title
- Panhypersebastos
Biography
Isaac Asen was one of the five sons of Tsar Ivan Asen III (John III Asen) and Irene Palaiologina. At the coronation of Emperor John V Palaiologos (1341) he was raised to the highest rank of panhypersebastos.
Isaac became an influential figure in the civil war against John Kantakouzenos. After the murder of the grand duke Alexios Apokaukos (11 July 1345), he — together with Kinnamos the mystikos and Patriarch John Kalekas — was entrusted with supreme power in the rebellious Constantinople; scholars describe him as "prime minister" (mesazon) or "director of state affairs."
Isaac Asen was married twice. His first wife, Theodora Arachantloun, inherited the rights over the monastery of the Virgin founded by Maria Palaiologina; after her death Isaac used the property for the needs of his children, which led to a lawsuit in 1351. From his marriages he had the sons grand primikerios Andronikos, Andrey and Michael, and the daughter Irene Asenina Philanthropene. In 1346 he commissioned the copying of a tetraevangelion that survives to this day.
Sources
- “Исаак Асен е един от петимата синове на Йоан III Асен и Ирина Палеологина Асенина.”— Genealogy and Prosopography of the Asen Dynasty 1186–1460, p. 283