Mitso Asen ( bg, Мицо Асен) or Micho Asen (Мичо Асен) was the

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 ...

from 1256 until 1257.

Reign

Mitso Asen ascended the throne by virtue of his marriage to

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, a daughter of

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 Empir ...

Irene Komnene of Epirus Irene Komnene Doukaina or Eirene Komnene Doukaina ( el, Ειρήνη Κομνηνή Δούκαινα, bg, Ирина Комнина Дукина) was an Empress of Bulgaria during the Second Bulgarian Empire and Byzantine princess. She was the ...

. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, and his antecedents are unclear, but neither his name (which is found in official contexts and is not the diminutive of "Michael"), nor his career described in the Byzantine sources allow an identification with

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, the son of the Rus' prince and Hungarian Ban

Rostislav Mikhailovich Rostislav Mikhailovich ( hu, Rosztyiszláv, Bulgarian and Russian: Ростислав Михайлович) (after 1210 / c. 1225 – 1262) was a Rus' prince (a member of the Rurik dynasty), and a dignitary in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was pri ...

, nor any other member of the house of

Chernigov Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative ...

. It is likely that, like his successor Constantine Tikh, Mitso Asen adopted the name '' Asen'' after his accession to the throne. He became emperor of Bulgaria after the murder of his wife's cousin, Kaliman Asen II, in 1256. Although he acquired some support in the 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 ...

and in

Preslav The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav ( bg, Велики Преслав, ), former Preslav ( bg, link=no, Преслав; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new B ...

, he was faced by the hostility of much of the provincial nobility. Following an obscure unsuccessful campaign against

Theodore II Lascaris Theodore II Doukas Laskaris or Ducas Lascaris ( gr, Θεόδωρος Δούκας Λάσκαρις, Theodōros Doukas Laskaris; 1221/1222 – 16 August 1258) was Byzantine emperor, Emperor of Empire of Nicaea, Nicaea from 1254 to 1258. He was t ...

of the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

, Mitso lost control even over the commoners. When the nobility proclaimed

Constantine Tikh Konstantin Tih ( bg, Константин Тих Асен) or Constantine I Tikh (Константин I), was the tsar of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277, he was offered the throne from Mitso Asen of Bulgaria, Mitso Asen. He led the Second Bulgarian E ...

emperor instead, Mitso and his family fled the capital in 1257 and attempted to resist from Preslav and then Mesembria (now

Nesebăr Nesebar (often transcribed as Nessebar and sometimes as Nesebur, bg, Несебър, pronounced ) is an ancient city and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centr ...

). In exchange for asylum and lands, he turned over Mesembria and its environs to Emperor

Michael VIII Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...

and sought refuge in Nicaea. He was given lands in the

Troad The Troad ( or ; el, Τρωάδα, ''Troáda'') or Troas (; grc, Τρῳάς, ''Trōiás'' or , ''Trōïás'') is a historical region in northwestern Anatolia. It corresponds with the Biga Peninsula ( Turkish: ''Biga Yarımadası'') in the Ç ...

, where he remained with his family. The date of his death is unknown, but it is likely that he was no longer alive in 1277/1278, when his son

Ivan Asen III Ivan Asen III ( bg, Иван Асен III, also Йоан Асен III, ''Ioan Asen III'', and in English ''John Asen III''), ruled as tsar of Bulgaria 1279–1280. Ivan Asen III was the son of Mitso Asen of Bulgaria and Maria of Bulgaria, a daught ...

was put forward as a claimant to the Bulgarian throne by the

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Michael VIII.

Family

By his marriage with Maria of Bulgaria, Mitso had two known children: #

, emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria 1279–1280. #

Kira Maria Kira Maria ( bg, Кира Мария), or only Maria, was a Bulgarian empress consort, first wife of Ivan Shishman (r. 1371–1395). There are almost no historical sources about her. Her name is mentioned in the ''Boril obituary'' in the following ...

, who married George Terter I of Bulgaria.

References

* John V. A. Fine, Jr., ''The Late Medieval Balkans'', Ann Arbor, 1987.

External links

Detailed List of Bulgarian Rulers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgaria, Mitso Asen Of 13th-century births 13th-century deaths 13th-century Bulgarian emperors Eastern Orthodox monarchs Mitso Bulgarian people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars