The House of Shishman ( bg, Шишман), also Shishmanids or Shishmanovtsi ( bg, Шишмановци), was a medieval

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

n royal dynasty of

Cuman The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sou ...

(or partial Cuman) origin. The Shishman dynasty consecutively ruled the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conqu ...

for approximately one century, from 1323 to 1422, until it was conquered by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. The Shishmanids were related to the earlier

Asen dynasty The Asen dynasty ( bg, Асеневци, ''Asenevtsi'') founded and ruled a medieval Bulgarian state, called in modern historiography the Second Bulgarian Empire, between 1185 and 1280. The Asen dynasty rose as the leaders of Bulgaria after a reb ...

, and according to the Ragusan historian Lukarić, also to the immediately preceding

Terter dynasty The House of Terter ( bg, Тертер), also Terterids or Terterovtsi (Тертеровци), was a Bulgarian noble and royal house of Cuman origin,István Vásáry (2005) ''Cumans and Tatars'', Cambridge University Press, p. 2 a branch of the C ...

. In Plamen Pavlov's view, the Shishman dynasty's founder, despot

Shishman of Vidin Shishman ( bg, Шишман; 1270s/1280s — before 1308/1313) was a Second Bulgarian Empire, Bulgarian nobleman (boyar) who ruled a semi-independent realm based out of the Danube, Danubian fortress of Vidin in the late 13th and early 14th ...

, may have been the brother of

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria ( fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolg ...

, the first Bulgarian Terterid ruler, thus also coming to Bulgaria from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

after 1241.

Members

Among its more notable members were: Main branch: * despot

Michael Shishman of Bulgaria Michael Asen III ( bg, Михаил Асен III, ''Mihail Asen III'', commonly called Michael Shishman (Михаил Шишман, ''Mihail Šišman'')), ruled as tsar of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it w ...

(Michael Asen III) (b. after 1280, ruled 1323–1330) ::*

Ivan Stephen of Bulgaria Ivan Stefan ( bg, Иван Стефан; in English also ''John Stephen'') (c. 1300/1301–1373 (?)) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria for eight months from 1330 to 1331. He was the eldest son of emperor Michael III Shishman and Anna Neda of Ser ...

(ruled 1330–1331) :*despot Belaur of

Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) 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 ...

(d. 1336)

Sratsimir Sratsimir ( bg, Срацимир; 1324–31) was a Bulgarian magnate with the title of Despot, holding the territory of Kran. It is unclear when he received the governorship of Kran; he held it before and during the reign of his son, Ivan Ale ...

branch: ::*

Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria Ivan Alexander ( bg, Иван Александър, transliterated ''Ivan Aleksandǎr'', ; original spelling: ІѠАНЪ АЛЄѮАНдРЪ), also sometimes Anglicized as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor (''Tsar'') of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, ...

(nephew of Michael Shishman) (ruled 1331–1371) :::*co-emperor

Michael Asen IV of Bulgaria Michail Asen ( bg, Михаил Асен) (c. 1322–1355) was the eldest son of Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria from his marriage with Theodora of Wallachia. After his father acceded to the throne in 1331, the young prince was proclaimed co-Emperor. ...

(b. c. 1322, co-emperor 1332–1355) :::*

Ivan Sratsimir of Bulgaria Ivan Sratsimir (), or Ivan Stratsimir ( bg, Иван Страцимир), was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria in Vidin from 1356 to 1396. He was born in 1324 or 1325, and he died in or after 1397. Despite being the eldest surviving son of Ivan Alexande ...

(b. 1324/1325, ruled 1356–1397 in Vidin) ::::* Queen Dorothea of Bosnia ::::*

Constantine II of Bulgaria Constantine II ( bg, Константин II Асен, ''Konstantin II Asen''), allegedly ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1397 to 1422. He was born in the early 1370s, and died in exile at the Serbian court on 17 September 1422. Constanti ...

(b. early 1370s, ruled 1397–1422 in Vidin and in exile) :::*

Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria Ivan Shishman ( bg, Иван Шишман) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria in Tarnovo from 1371 to 3 June 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire. In the wake of the death of Ivan Alexa ...

(b. 1350/1351, ruled 1371–1395 in

Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

) ::::* Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople? (possible illegitimate son) (

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of the ...

1416–1439) ::::*

Fruzhin Fruzhin ( bg, Фружин; also transliterated ''Fružin'' or ''Frujin''; c. 1380s - c. 1460) was a 15th-century Bulgarian noble who fought actively against the Ottoman conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire. A son of one of the last Bulgarian ...

Members

List of monarchs

Principality/Tsardom of Vidin

Principality of Karvuna

Tsardom of Tarnovo

Principality of Valona

Principality of Serres

Notes

Citations

Sources

References

External links