Constantine II ( bg, Константин II Асен, ''Konstantin II Asen''), allegedly ruled as emperor (

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

) of

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 Macedon ...

from 1397 to 1422. He was born in the early 1370s, and died in exile at the Serbian court on 17 September 1422. Constantine II claimed the title Emperor of Bulgaria and was accepted as such by foreign governments, but he is often omitted from listings of rulers of Bulgaria.

Life

Constantine II Asen was the son of

Ivan Sratsimir 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 Alexand ...

(Ivan Sracimir) of Bulgaria by Anna, daughter of prince

Nicolae Alexandru Nicholas Alexander ( ro, Nicolae Alexandru), (died November 1364) was a Voivode of Wallachia (c. 1352 – November 1364), after having been co-ruler to his father Basarab I. Reign In the year 1359, he founded the Eastern Orthodox Metropoli ...

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

. He was crowned co-emperor by his father in or before 1395, when he was sent on a mission to the old Bulgarian capital

Tărnovo 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 ...

. Very little is known about Constantine II's circumstances after his father's arrest and imprisonment by Sultan

Bayezid I Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted ...

in 1396. At that time, Ivan Stratsimir was contributing with soldiers to assist the Christian nations' bid to resist the advance of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Following the

Battle of Nicopolis The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied crusader army of Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German, and assorted troops (assisted by the Venetian navy) at ...

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 o ...

finally fell under the sphere of the Ottomans led by

.The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1994, , pp. 423-425. Some Bulgarian historians suppose that

Tsardom of Vidin The Tsardom of Vidin ( bg, Видинско Царство, translit=Vidinsko Tsarstvo) was a medieval Bulgarian state centred in the city of Vidin from 1356 to 1396. Early history In 1257, Rostislav Mikhailovich attacked the Bulgarian capital o ...

's most western territories may have remained under Constantine II's rule almost until his death in 1422. Together with his cousin

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 ...

(Fružin), a son of

Ivan Shishman 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 Alexan ...

(Ivan Šišman), Constantine II took advantage of the

Ottoman Interregnum The Ottoman Interregnum, or the Ottoman Civil War ( 20 July 1402 – 5 July 1413; tr, Fetret Devri, , Interregnum Period), was a civil war in the Ottoman Empire between the sons of Sultan Bayezid I following the defeat of their father at the B ...

to raise an anti-Ottoman revolt in northwestern Bulgaria. Constantine II was also allied to the

Serbian despot The Serbian Despotate ( sr, / ) was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and ...

Stefan Lazarević Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall ( sr, Стефан Високи / ''Stefan Visoki''), was the ruler of Serbia as prince (1389–1402) and despot (1402–1427), ...

and the Wallachian voivode Mircea I. The anti-Ottoman rebellion lasted for half a decade (1408–1413) and spread to much of Bulgaria until the rebels were defeated by the

Ottoman Sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...

Musa Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province *Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran *Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaijan ...

. The Bulgarians attempted to make up for their losses by siding with Musa's brother and rival Sultan

Mehmed I Mehmed I ( 1386 – 26 May 1421), also known as Mehmed Çelebi ( ota, چلبی محمد, "the noble-born") or Kirişçi ( el, Κυριτζής, Kyritzis, "lord's son"), was the Ottoman sultan from 1413 to 1421. The fourth son of Sultan Bayezid ...

, but the latter's victory did little to improve their situation. After Mehmed I's victory in 1413, Constantine II spent much of his life in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. His last possessions in Bulgaria were annexed in 1422, and shortly afterwards Constantine II died at the Serbian court on September 17, 1422. Constantine II was the last emperor of Bulgaria, and his dispossession and death in 1422 marks the end of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, 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 of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

. The Ottoman conquest had begun in earnest half a century earlier, in 1369, and their rule lasted until 1878. Fruzin Konstantin II coats

Honours

Konstantin Buttress Konstantin Buttress ( bg, рид Константин, ‘Rid Konstantin’ \'rid kon-stan-'tin\) is the ice-covered buttress descending from elevation 1830 to 1250 m

Nordenskjöld Coast The Nordenskjöld Coast (64° 30' S 60° 30' W) is located on the Antarctic Peninsula, more specifically Graham Land, which is the top region of the Peninsula. The Peninsula is a thin, long ice sheet with an Alpine-style mountain chain. The coast ...

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Constantine II of Bulgaria.

Notes

References

* John V.A. Fine, Jr., ''The Late Medieval Balkans'', Ann Arbor, 1987. * Ivan Tjutjundžiev and Plamen Pavlov, ''Bălgarskata dăržava i osmanskata ekspanzija 1369–1422'', Veliko Tărnovo, 1992.

External links

Detailed list of Bulgarian rulers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine 02 Of Bulgaria 1370s births 1422 deaths 14th-century Bulgarian emperors 15th-century Bulgarian emperors Eastern Orthodox monarchs People from Vidin Sratsimir dynasty Tsardom of Vidin Sons of emperors