Elena ( bg, Елена) was the second wife of tsar

Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria Ivan Asen I, also known as Asen I or John Asen I ( bg, Иван Асен I; died in 1196), was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1187/1188 to 1196 as co-ruler with his elder brother, Peter II. Hailing from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, his ...

. She was the mother of tsar

Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II ( bg, Иван Асен II, ; 1190s – May/June 1241), was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empi ...

Biography

Her antecedents are unknown. She is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of

Stefan Nemanja Stefan Nemanja (Serbian Cyrillic: , ; – 13 February 1199) was the Grand Prince ( Veliki Župan) of the Serbian Grand Principality (also known as Raška, lat. ) from 1166 to 1196. A member of the Vukanović dynasty, Nemanja founded the Nema ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between their descendants. Elena married

Ivan Asen I Ivan Asen I, also known as Asen I or John Asen I ( bg, Иван Асен I; died in 1196), was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1187/1188 to 1196 as co-ruler with his elder brother, Peter II. Hailing from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, his ...

in 1183 at the age of thirteen. By her marriage to Ivan Asen I, Elena had at least two sons: #

Ivan Asen II Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II ( bg, Иван Асен II, ; 1190s – May/June 1241), was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empir ...

, emperor of Bulgaria 1218–1241 # Alexander (''Aleksandăr''), ''

sebastokrator ''Sebastokrator'' ( grc-byz, Σεβαστοκράτωρ, Sevastokrátor, August Ruler, ; bg, севастократор, sevastokrator; sh, sebastokrator), was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used by other rulers wh ...

'', who died after 1232; Alexander had a son named Kaliman Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria in 1256 After the assassination of

in 1196, Elena retired to a convent under the monastic name EvgeniaFamily of Elena
/ref> ( bg, Евгения). Her memory is honored in the Synodic of Bulgarian Church:

Sources

*"Кой кой е в средновековна България", изд. къща "Петър Берон", 1999 г., *"Фамилията на Асеневци", Божилов, Ив. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elena-Evgenia Of Bulgaria Bulgarian consorts Year of death unknown 12th-century Bulgarian women 13th-century Bulgarian women