Ana-Neda ( Bulgarian Анна-Неда and sr-cyr, Ана-Неда; fl. 1323–1324) was the

Empress consort of Bulgaria First Bulgarian Empire Second Bulgarian Empire Third Bulgarian State

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Consorts Of Bulgaria Bulgarian consorts, * Lists of royal consorts, Bulgaria Lists of queens, Bulgaria, Royal Consorts of ...

briefly in 1323–1324 as the spouse of "Despot of

Vidin Vidin (, ) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

" Michael Asen III "Shishman" who was elected as Emperor of Bulgaria in 1323. Later, she acted, for a short period of time, as regent for her son. She was the daughter of

Serbian King This is an wiktionary:archontology, archontological list of Serbs, Serbian monarchs, containing Monarch, monarchs of the Serbia in the Middle Ages, medieval principalities, to heads of state of modern Serbia. The :Serbian monarchy, Serbian mona ...

Stefan Uroš II Milutin Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Saint King, was the King of Serbia between 1282–1321, a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. He was one o ...

and Princess Elizabeth Arpad, daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary and Elizabeth the Kuman, a daughter of

Köten Köten (; ; ; 1205–1241) was a Cuman–Kipchak chieftain ('' khan'') and military commander active in the mid-13th century. He forged an important alliance with the Kievan Rus' against the Mongols but was ultimately defeated by them at the Ka ...

. From the marriage with Michael Asen III, Anna had at least four sons, one of whom was

Ivan Stephen of Bulgaria Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the ...

, later briefly the Emperor of Bulgaria (1330–1331).

Life

Ana was the daughter of

and his third wife,

Elizabeth of Hungary Elizabeth of Hungary (, , ; 7 July 120717 November 1231), also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her hus ...

. She was therefore possibly born sometime before 1284, when her father appears to have divorced Elizabeth to marry Anna of Bulgaria. On her paternal side, she belonged to the Nemanjić dynasty. On her maternal side, she was related to the Hungarian

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

dynasty and the

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France ** Du ...

dynasty. Her aunt, Maria Árpád, was married to Charles II , King of Naples and Sicily. Anna Neda was a first cousin of Charles and Maria Árpád's sons, King Robert of Anjou and Prince

Philip I of Taranto Philip II (10 November 1278 – 26 December 1331), also known as Philip I of Taranto, was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople by marriage to Catherine of Valois–Courtenay, Despot of Romania, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto. B ...

, and her son, Ivan Stefan, was a second cousin of

Louis of Taranto Louis I (Italian: ''Luigi'', ''Aloisio'', or ''Ludovico'' ; 1320 – 26 May 1362), also known as Louis of Taranto, was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou who reigned as King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier, and Prince of Tar ...

and Queen

Joanna Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne. The earliest recorded occurrence of th ...

of Anjou. Her marriage with Michael Asen III produced: *

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, ''

despotes Despot or ''despotes'' () was a senior Byzantine court title that was bestowed on the sons or sons-in-law of reigning emperors, and initially denoted the heir-apparent of the Byzantine emperor. From Byzantium it spread throughout the late medie ...

'' (in Vidin?), probably the eldest son, died before 1330 *

, emperor of Bulgaria in 1330–1331, died between 1339 and 1357 * Šišman, potential pretender to the Bulgarian throne at Constantinople in 1341 *

Lodovico Lodovico is an Italian masculine given name, and may refer to: *Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508), Duke of Milan * Cigoli (1559–1613), Italian painter and architect * Lodovico, Count Corti (1823–1888), Italian diplomat * Lodovico Agostini (1534–1 ...

, pretender to the Bulgarian throne in the Kingdom of Naples, died after 1363, probably distinct from any of the above In 1324, in order to cement an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against the Serbians, Michael Asen III divorced the Serbian Ana Neda in order to marry Theodora of Byzantium. Anna Neda and her children were sent out of

Tǎrnovo Veliko Tarnovo (, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria. Often referred to as the "''City of the Tsars''", Velik ...

into the countryside, and imprisoned. In 1330, Michael Asen III fought the Serbian army, led by Ana's brother

Stefan Uroš III Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

, and was killed in the

Battle of Velbazhd The Battle of Velbazhd (; ) took place between Bulgarian and Serbian armies on 28 July 1330, near the town of Velbazhd (present day Kyustendil). The growing power of the Serbian Kingdom from the late 13th century raised serious concerns in the t ...

. Afterwards, the victorious Serbs entered Bulgaria, and convinced Bulgaria to place Ana's son Ivan Stephen on the throne. During Ivan Stephen's one-year reign, Ana seems to have acted as co-ruler and held significant power. In 1331 Ivan Stephen was deposed by the Bulgarian boyars, and replaced by his father's Bulgarian nephew, Ivan Alexander. Ana, Ivan Stephen, and Lodovico fled to Serbia, while Šišman fled to the Mongol "

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

." The new Bulgarian emperor, Ivan Alexander, allied with Ana's nephew, the new Serbian king

Stefan Dušan Stephen (honorific), Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан), also known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Силни; – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of th ...

(who married Ivan Alexander's sister

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

), and demanded the extradition of Ana and her children from Serbia. They sought refuge in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

, where they are found already in 1332. As indicated in Neapolitan documents, Ana sought and received the support of her Neapolitan cousins, King Robert and Queen Joanna I. In 1340, Ana was said to be about to depart for Italy, where her son Lodovico had received royal favor since 1338 and married Maria of Taranto, the illegitimate half-sister of the future King

Louis I of Naples Louis I (Italian: ''Luigi'', ''Aloisio'', or ''Ludovico'' ; 1320 – 26 May 1362), also known as Louis of Taranto, was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou who reigned as King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier, and Prince of T ...

in 1342. Nevertheless, Ana is found at Dubrovnik between 1343 and 1346. At some point before 1357/1362, Ana had converted to Catholic Christianity like at least two of her sons (probably Ivan Stephen and certainly Lodovico), as reported by King Louis I of Naples to

Pope Innocent VI Pope Innocent VI (; 1282 – 12 September 1362), born Étienne Aubert, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 December 1352 to his death, in September 1362. He was the fifth Avignon pope and the only one with the ...

. The date of her death is unknown. At the end of her life, Ana may have taken monastic vows and received the name Jelena. She was buried in the Dečani monastery. She was consecrated in the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

(''prepodobna'') "St. Jelena of Dečani" (Света Јелена Дечанска), her feast day is on June 3 (May 21, Julian calendar).

Annotations

Name: Recent Bulgarian historians call her Ana-Neda (with a dash). It has been argued that she was born Neda, and upon the marriage to Michael, becoming a queen, she received the titular name Ana. However, it appears that Ana took the name Domenica as a convert to Catholic Christianity, and that this was subsequently ''translated'' as Neda (from "недеља" ''nedelja'') in Serbian, which means "Sunday," the Day of the Lord (''Dominus'').Božilov and Gjuzelev 2006: 576; Mladjov 2011: 614-615, additionally noting the absence of actual attestations of the double name "Ana Neda."

References

*Božilov, Ivan, ''Familijata na Asenevci (1186–1460)'', Sofia, 1985. *Božilov, Ivan, and Vasil Gjuzelev, ''Istorija na srednovekovna Bǎlgarija VII-XIV vek'', Sofia, 2006. *Nikolov-Zikov, Petăr, ''Domăt na Šišman'', Sofia, 2021. *Popov, Tenčo, ''Studii vǎrhu bǎlgarskoto srednovekovno monetosečene s izvodi za istorijata'', Sofia, 2020.

Life

Annotations

References

Further reading