Tsar Ivan Asen III

Ivan Asen III, also known as Ivan III Asen, was a Bulgarian tsar who ruled in 1279. He came from the royal Asen dynasty and was a son of Tsar Mitso Asen and Maria Asenina, a daughter of Ivan Asen II.

Ivan Asen III’s family moved to the Byzantine Empire, where he lived until 1277, when Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos decided to place him on the Bulgarian throne. This followed the death of Tsar Constantine Asen during Ivaylo’s uprising. With Byzantine support, Ivan Asen III ascended the Bulgarian throne.

His reign nevertheless met with resistance. Ivaylo reappeared outside Tarnovgrad, defeated the Byzantine defences and drove out Tsar Ivan Asen III and Irene Palaiologina. They left the capital, taking the royal treasure with them, and withdrew to Byzantium.

In the following years, Ivan Asen III attempted to gain the support of the Golden Horde by travelling to its camp. There, however, he faced the threat of execution from the drunken Tatar khan Nogai. Ivaylo was killed, but Ivan Asen III survived thanks to the intervention of Nogai’s wife Euphrosyne.

Although Ivan Asen III failed to secure public support and lost power, he continued to use his royal title in subsequent years. Finally, in 1282, he reached an agreement with Tsar George I Terter and the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II, returning his second wife, Ivan Asen’s sister Maria, in exchange for the return of his first wife and his son Theodore Svetoslav. He also renounced his royal title and remained a Byzantine despot until his death in 1303.

Ivan Asen III was married to Irene Palaiologina, a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. They had several children, including Maria Asenina, who married Roger de Flor, and Theodora Palaiologina Asenina, who married Ferran Ximenes d’Aunés. Ivan Asen III died in 1303 on his estate on the River Scamander in Asia Minor.