Elena-Evgenia, wife of Ivan Asen I

Elena (Bulgarian: Елена) was the second wife of tsar Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria. She was the mother of tsar Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria.

For the Nicaean Queen consort, see Elena Asenina of Bulgaria.
Elena
Елена
Spouse(s)Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria
ChildrenIvan Asen II of Bulgaria
Alexander, sebastocrator

Biography

Her antecedents are unknown. She is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between their descendants. Elena married Ivan Asen I in 1183 at the age of thirteen.

By her marriage to Ivan Asen I, Elena had at least two sons:

  1. Ivan Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria 1218–1241
  2. Alexander (Aleksandăr), sebastokrator, who died after 1232; Alexander had a son named Kaliman Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria in 1256

After the assassination of Ivan Asen I in 1196, Elena retired to a convent under the monastic name Evgenia[1] (Bulgarian: Евгения). Her memory is honored in the Synodic of Bulgarian Church:

For Elena, the new and pious tsarina, mother of the great tsar Ivan Asen, adopted then an angelic image and called Evgenia, may her memory live forever.

Sources
  1. Family of Elena
  • "Кой кой е в средновековна България", изд. къща "Петър Берон", 1999 г., ISBN 9544020470
  • "Фамилията на Асеневци", Божилов, Ив.
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