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Elena Evgenia, wife of Ivan Asen I

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Name
  
Elena-Evgenia, of


Role
  
Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria's wife

Spouse
  
Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria (m. 1183–1196)

Grandchildren
  
Kaliman I of Bulgaria, Beloslava of Bulgaria

Great grandchildren
  
John IV Laskaris, Kira Maria Asenina of Bulgaria, Irene Doukaina Laskarina, Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria

Similar People
  
Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria, Theodore Komnenos Doukas, Andrew II of Hungary

Children
  
Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria

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.

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 (Bulgarian: Евгения). Her memory is honored in the Synodic of Bulgarian Church:

References

Elena-Evgenia, wife of Ivan Asen I Wikipedia