Kira Maria Asenina of Bulgaria

Kira Maria Asenina (Bulgarian: Кира-Мария Асенина) was a Bulgarian princess and empress consort (tsarina), second wife of George I of Bulgaria. She was the daughter of tsar Mitso Asen of Bulgaria and his wife Maria. The dates and the places of her birth and death are unknown.

Kira Maria
Empress consort of Bulgaria
Tenure1280–1283
PredecessorIrene Palaiologina
SuccessorMaria Terter
BornUnknown
DiedUnknown
Byzantine Empire
SpouseGeorge I of Bulgaria
IssueAna Terter?
HouseHouse of Asen
House of Terter
FatherMitso Asen of Bulgaria
MotherMaria Asenina of Bulgaria

History

Through her mother, Kira Maria was a granddaughter of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria and Irene Komnene of Epirus. She was also the sister of tsar Ivan Asen III, who seized the Bulgarian throne in 1280 with Byzantine support.

She married the Bulgaro-Cuman nobleman George Terter in a marriage arranged by her brother in order to strengthen his position. George divorced his first wife, Maria, and sent her and their son, Theodore Svetoslav, as hostages to the Byzantine Empire. He was accordingly made a despotēs, the highest rank in the Byzantino-Bulgarian court hierarchy, and Kira Maria was granted the title of despoina.

Ivan Asen III failed to assert himself throughout the country and he secretly fled Tarnovo in 1280 and escaped to the Byzantine Empire. George Terter seized the throne and Kira Maria was proclaimed the new tsarina.

However, she was very unpopular in Tarnovo, because of her deposed brother. Her marriage also proved to be controversial as Maria Terter was still alive in Constantinople. According to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church George's first marriage was still valid and Kira Maria was his uncanonical wife. Patriarch Yoakim III of Bulgaria threatened to excommunicate the couple and insisted that he would not relent until George I Terter put away Kira Maria. The tsar re-opened negotiations with the Byzantine Empire and sought the return of Maria, what he eventually accomplished in a treaty in which Maria and Kira Maria exchanged places as empress and hostage.

Children

According to Georgius Pachymeres Ana Terter, wife of Serbian king Stefan Uroš II Milutin, was the daughter of Kira Maria and George Terter.[1]

Ancestors
Tsar Mitso Asen of Bulgaria
Kira Maria Asenina
Tsar Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria
Tsar Ivan Asen II Bulgaria
Elena-Evgenia
Princess Maria Asenina of Bulgaria
Despot Theodore Komnenos of Epirus
Princess Irene Komnene of Bulgaria
Maria Petraliphaina

Sources
  • Pavlov, Plamen, "Търновските царици". ДАР-РХ, 2006.
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References
  1. Georgius Pachymeres. Relationes Historicas. Edidit, notisque instruxit Albertus Failler. Gallice vertit Vitalianus Laurent. (CFHB XXIV/2). Paris, 1999
Kira Maria Asenina of Bulgaria
Born: ? Died: ?
Royal titles
Preceded by
Irene Palaiologina of the Byzantine Empire		 Empress consort of Bulgaria
1280–1283		 Succeeded by
Maria
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