Sarah, Theodora or Sarah-Theodora was an

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

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 ...

during 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 ...

and second wife of

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 ...

Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (ruled 1331–1371).

Biography

Sources agree that she was of Jewish descent, having lived with her family in the Jewish neighbourhood in Tarnovo. Ivan Alexander divorced his wife of many years,

Theodora of Wallachia Theodora ( bg, Теодора) of Wallachia was the daughter of Basarab I of Wallachia (r. 1310–1352) and Lady Margareta. She married Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria as his first wife. This marriage produced four children — Michael Asen, Ivan Srat ...

, who was forced to become a nun, and Sarah converted to

Eastern Orthodox Christianity Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

, accepted the name Theodora and soon became the Tsar’s second consort. Their marriage took place in the late 1340s. The new Tsaritsa was renowned for her fierce support of her new religion, the Eastern Orthodox Christianity. She was one of the instigators of a church council against the Jews. She restored many churches and built a lot of monasteries and this is the reason why she was held in such high regard by the

Bulgarian Church The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...

. There is no doubt that Theodora played a significant role in the separation of the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...

between her firstborn,

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 ...

, and

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 ...

, the sole surviving son of the former Tsaritsa. Since Ivan Shishman was the first son born to Ivan Alexander after his accession to the throne (" born in the purple"), Theodora insisted that he was the only one worthy of the crown. Ivan Shishman was crowned co-emperor by his father who made his elder son Despot of Vidin in exchange. After Ivan Alexander died in 1371, Ivan Shishman became Tsar and Ivan Sratsimir declared Vidin a separate empire. From now on, the relationship between the two Bulgarian Empires became cold and remained so despite the threat of the forthcoming Ottoman invasion. The date of the death of the Tsaritsa is unknown, although some historians assume she died in the late 1380s.

Family

There are five known children born to Tsar Ivan Alexander and Tsaritsa Theodora:Иван Божилов, "Фамилията на Асеневци (1186-1460). Генеалогия и просопография", Издателство на Българската академия на науките "Марин Дринов", София, 1994, стр. 168 - 170 (in Bulgarian; in English: Ivan Bozhilov, "The family of the Asens (1186-1460). Genealogy and prosopography", Publishing house of the Bulgarian Academy of sciences "Marin Drinov", Sofia, 1994, p. 168-170). *

Kera Tamara Tamara Hejtan ( bg, Кера Тамара; circa 1340 - died after 1378) was a Bulgarian princess, the daughter of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander and his second wife Sarah-Theodora. Life Kera Tamara was a sister of Ivan Shishman and Ivan ...

* Kera-Maria *

* Ivan Asen *

Desislava of Bulgaria Desislava of Bulgaria ( bg, Десислава) was a 14th-century Bulgarian princess. She was the daughter of Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria and his second wife Theodora, a converted Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish pe ...

* Vasilisa

Honours

Mount Sara Teodora Mount Sara Teodora ( bg, връх Сара Теодора, vrah Sara Teodora, ) is the broad ice-covered peak rising to 1389 m

Oscar II Coast Oscar II Coast is that portion of the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Fairweather to the north, and Cape Alexander to the south. Discovered in 1893 by Captain C.A. Larsen, who named it for King Oscar II of Norway and Sweden. ...

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 Sarah-Theodora.

Sources

{{Authority control 14th-century births Year of death unknown Bulgarian consorts Bulgarian people of Jewish descent Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Judaism Shishman dynasty 14th-century Bulgarian women