Dorothea of Bulgaria ( bg, Доротея, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Doroteja, Доротеја; died 1390), also called Doroslava (), was the first Queen of Bosnia. Daughter of the Bulgarian tsar

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 ...

, Dorothea was held hostage by King

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370 ...

, who married her off to Ban

Tvrtko I of Bosnia Stephen Tvrtko I ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Stjepan/Stefan Tvrtko, Стјепан/Стефан Твртко; 1338 – 10 March 1391) was the first king of Bosnia. A member of the House of Kotromanić, he succeeded his uncle Stephen II ...

in 1374. She became queen in 1377 and may have been the mother of

King Tvrtko II Stephen Tvrtko II ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Stjepan/Stefan Tvrtko, Стјепан/Стефан Твртко; died in November 1443), also known as Tvrtko Tvrtković (), was a member of the House of Kotromanić who reigned as King of Bosnia from 1404 to 1409 ...

Captivity

Dorothea was the daughter of

Tsar of Bulgaria The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled the country during three periods of Bulgaria's history as an independent country: from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 to the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in 1018; from the Uprising of Asen ...

. Her mother was Ivan Sratsimir's first cousin and second wife,

Anna of Wallachia Anna of Wallachia or Anna Basarab ( bg, Анна Басараб) was a Wallachian princess and Empress consort of Bulgaria in Vidin, second wife of Emperor Ivan Sratsimir. She was the daughter of Nicholas Alexander of Wallachia and his Catholic ...

. Dorothea was captured along with her parents and sister in 1365 by the army of King

following his conquest of Ivan Sratsimir's capital city,

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 ...

. The family was held captive in Humnik Fortress in

Bosiljevo Bosiljevo is a village and municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. It is located in the Gorski Kotar region, 25 km south-west from Karlovac, on the highways A1 and A6 leading to Zagreb, Rijeka and Split. Settlements The total popu ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. spent four years in the fortress, and were forced to convert from Bulgarian Orthodoxy to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. Ivan Sratsimir was released and restored as Louis's vassal in 1369, but Louis retained Dorothea and her sister at the Hungarian court as honored hostages to ensure their father's loyalty. Dorothea was placed in care of the queen,

Elizabeth of Bosnia Elizabeth of Bosnia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Elizabeta Kotromanić, Елизабета Котроманић; hu, Kotromanics Erzsébet; pl, Elżbieta Bośniaczka; – January 1387) was queen consort of Hungary and Croatia, as well ...

, and queen mother,

Elizabeth of Poland Elizabeth of Poland ( hu, Erzsébet, pl, Elżbieta; 1305 – 29 December 1380) was Queen of Hungary by marriage to Charles I of Hungary, and regent of Poland from 1370 to 1376 during the reign of her son Louis I. Life Early life She was a memb ...

. According to

Mavro Orbini Mavro Orbini (1563–1614) was a Ragusan chronicler, notable for his work '' The Realm of the Slavs'' (1601) which influenced Slavic ideology and historiography in the later centuries. Life Orbini was born in Ragusa (now Dubrovnik), the capital ...

, Dorothea was a

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

to the Hungarian queen. While her sister died in childhood, Dorothea fell in favour of the King.

Queenship

Ban

, another vassal of King Louis, probably first heard about Dorothea during her captivity in Croatia. Louis eventually suggested that Tvrtko marry her. The negotiations were carried out by Louis on Dorothea's behalf. The marriage that made Dorothea Banness of Bosnia was celebrated in Hungarian-held

Syrmia Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exce ...

in early December 1374, either in

Đakovo Đakovo (; hu, Diakovár) is a town in the region of Slavonia, Croatia. Đakovo is the centre of the fertile and rich Đakovo region ( hr, Đakovština ). Etymology The etymology of the name is the gr, διάκος (diákos) in Slavic form đ ...

or in

Ilinci Ilinci () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Šid municipality, in the Srem District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 827 people (2002 census). Name Formerly, it was known as ' ...

; the wedding festivities doubtlessly took place in Ilinci. In October 1377, Tvrtko was crowned

King of Bosnia This is a list of rulers of Bosnia, containing Ban (title), bans and kings of Medieval Bosnia. Duke (1082–1136) Bans (1136–1377) Kings and queen (1377–1463) All Bosnian kings added the Stephen (honorific), honorific Stephen to their bap ...

and Dorothea became the country's first queen. As such, Dorothea was consulted in state affairs. She witnessed her husband's charters and took oaths to respect them, initially alongside her mother-in-law,

Jelena Šubić Jelena Šubić (died 1378) was a member of the Bribir branch of the Šubić noble family who ruled the Banate of Bosnia as regent from 1354 until 1357. Jelena was the daughter of the Croatian lord George II Šubić of Bribir, Count of Klis. She ...

. Queen Dorothea is mentioned in a 1382 charter to the

Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century , currency = ...

alongside the King and the King's son, presumably her son too. This child may have been the future

. Queen Dorothea died shortly before 1390, when her husband was negotiating a remarriage into the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorothea Of Bulgaria Bosnian queens 14th-century births 1390 deaths 14th-century Bulgarian people 14th-century Bulgarian women Bulgarian princesses Kotromanić dynasty Sratsimir dynasty People from Vidin Tsardom of Vidin Year of death uncertain Year of birth missing Daughters of emperors Hungarian ladies-in-waiting