Michael III (Bulgaria)

Michael III Schischman Assen ( Bulgarian Михаил III Шишман Асен , scientific transliteration Michail Šišman Asen; * around 1280 ; †  July 28, 1330 near Welbaschd ), was Tsar of Bulgaria between 1323 and 1330 . He succeeded Tsar Georgi II Terter on the throne. Michael III Schischman came from the manor house of the Schischmaniden .

Life

Mikhail III Schischman came from the Boljaren family Schischman, a branch of the House of Assen . He was the son of the despot Schischman I von Bdin (today Widin ) from his first marriage.

In 1292 Mikhail III married. Schischman Anna Neda , the daughter of the Serbian Prince Stefan Uroš II Milutin from his marriage to the Bulgarian Princess Anna from the House of Terter . Anna-Neda was the sister of the future Serbian king Stefan Dečanski . Mikhail III Schischman became his father's co-ruler and holder of the title despot, which he probably received from his cousin and Bulgarian tsar Teodor Swetoslaw . In 1308 after the death of the elder Shishman, Mikhail took over the management of the feudal estates of the Schischman family in the region around Vidin.

After the death of Tsar Georgi II. Terter, which also marked the end of the Terter dynasty , Mikhail III. Shishman elected Tsar of Bulgaria by the Boljar Supreme Council. In order to underline the connection between his house and the Assen dynasty (see House Assen ), he took the traditional family name Assen and called himself Michail Schischman Assen.

In his foreign policy, Michail Schischman approached the Tatars , but sought a confrontation with Serbia and Byzantium . He had his marriage to the sister of the Serbian King Stefan Dečanski annulled for political reasons. Instead, he took the widow of his predecessor, Theodora Palaiologina , sister of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III. Palaiologos to the woman. His first wife and children were exiled to a monastery. Through his second marriage, he was able to create a legitimate basis in the Byzantine civil war between Andronikos II. Palaiologos and his grandson Andronikos III. to intervene. Michail Schischman changed fronts twice, until he and his brother-in-law Andronikos III. reconciled and entered into an alliance with him against the Serbs. For this alliance he was able to win the Wallachian voivode Basarab I and the Tatars.

Tsar Mikhail III. Schischman died in the battle of Welbaschd on July 28, 1330. Today his remains are buried again in the church "The 40 Holy Martyrs" in Veliko Tarnovo .

The lost battle marked the beginning of another collapse of the Bulgarian Empire and the rise of Serbia as a regional power. Although Stefan Dečanski had won the battle, he feared the combined forces of the mighty Boljars of Lovech - Ivan Alexander and von Bdin - Belaur , the brother by Mikhail III. Schischman, who in the meantime ruled over the property of the Schischman house. Stefan Dečanski made peace with the Bulgarians and set Iwan Stefan , the son of Mikhail III's first marriage. Schischman with his sister, as Tsar of the Bulgarians on the throne. However, he could not hold on to the throne for long and was overthrown by Ivan Alexander in 1331.

family

Mikhail III Schischman Assen married twice, but only had children from his first marriage.

1. Mikhail III Schischman Assen ⚭ 1292 Anna Neda von Terter
   1. Ivan Stefan Tsar of Bulgaria
   2. Mikhail ⚭ NN
   3. Schischman II. ⚭ NN
   4. Lyidowik ⚭ NN
2. Mikhail III Schischman Assen ⚭ Theodora Palaiologina , sister of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III.

Ivan Stefan was the firstborn son of Tsar Mikhail III. Schischman Assen and the Serbian Princess Ana-Neda. He was born in 1300 or 1301. He was banished to the monastery with his mother and his brothers. In the summer of 1330 he ruled Bulgaria together with his mother. The Serbs had put him on the throne. The uprising of February / March 1331 turned against this and against the associated increase in the influence of the Serbs on Bulgaria.

Mikhail was the second son of Tsar Mikhail III. Schischman Assen from his marriage to Ana-Neda. He was ruler of the Vidin region from 1323 to 1324 and carried the title of despot . He received the title from his father after his coronation. Mikhail is depicted on a fresco in the church in the village of Kamenitsa (now in Serbia). The inscription "Despot Mikhail, who believes in Jesus Christ, son of Tsar Mikhail" has also been preserved. There is no further information about him. It can therefore be assumed that he died relatively young.

Shishman II was the third son of Tsar Mikhail III. Schischman Assen from his marriage to Ana-Neda. He appeared in Constantinople in the summer of 1341 as a candidate for the Bulgarian throne. The Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander insisted that his greatest enemy - Shishman - be handed over to him. The Byzantine Empire, however, did not want to miss the opportunity to interfere in the affairs of its northern neighbor. Byzantium threatened that it would send Schischman by ship to Bdin, where he could count on considerable support. In the end things petered out and the further fate of Schischman is not known. According to some sources, the Patriarch of Constantinople Joseph II (1416–1439) was the illegitimate son of Shishman.

Lyidowik was the fourth son of Tsar Mikhail III. Schischman Assen from his marriage to Ana-Neda. He was referred to in a 1939 document as the nephew of the Neapolitan King Robert of Anjou . After being in Serbia and Dubrovnik, he ended up in Naples. The last sources mention him in 1373.

literature

• Hans-Joachim Härtel, Roland Schönfeld: Bulgaria: from the Middle Ages to the present. Verlag Friedrich Pustet Regensburg, 1998, ISBN 3-7917-1540-2 , p. 61 f.
• Detlef Kulman: Michael Šišman (Michail III.) , In: Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Vol. 3. Munich 1979, p. 173 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Relics of three Bulgarian tsars are reburied  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ The Schischman manor house

predecessor	Office	successor
Georgi Terter	Tsar of Bulgaria 1323-1330	Ivan Stefan