Tsaritsa
Sarah-Theodora
A converted Jewess who took the baptismal name Theodora; second wife of Ivan Alexander, for whom he left Theodora Basarab. Mother of the last Tarnovo tsar Ivan Shishman.
Biography
Sara was a convert Jewess who took the name Theodora at baptism. Around 1347 she became the second wife of Tsar Ivan Alexander, who repudiated his first wife Theodora Basarab for her sake — an unusual marriage that left its mark in the sources and in later tradition.
As empress, Theodora held a prominent place at court and in church life; she is depicted together with her husband and children in the famous Tetraevangelion of Ivan Alexander (1355/56). She is the mother of the last Tarnovo tsar Ivan Shishman, of the co-emperor Ivan Asen, and of the daughters Keratsa Maria (wife of Emperor Andronikos IV), Desislava and Vasilisa.