Elena, Evgenia

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena-Evgenia,_wife_of_Ivan_Asen_I

Elena (Bulgarian: Елена) was the second wife of tsar Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria. She was the mother of tsar Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria.

 Biography

Her antecedents are unknown. She is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between their descendants. Elena married Ivan Asen I in 1183 at the age of thirteen.

By her marriage to Ivan Asen I, Elena had at least two sons:

1. Ivan Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria 1218–1241
2. Alexander (Aleksandăr), sebastokrator, who died after 1232; Alexander had a son named Kaliman Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria in 1256

After the assassination of Ivan Asen I in 1196, Elena retired to a convent under the monastic name Evgenia[1] (Bulgarian: Евгения). Her memory is honored in the Synodic of Bulgarian Church:
For Elena, the new and pious tsarina, mother of the great tsar Ivan Asen, adopted then an angelic image and called Evgenia, may her memory live forever.

Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria

Family

Ivan Asen I was married first to a certain Maria, buried at Červen, and then to Elena (religious name Evgenija), whose antecedents are unknown. She is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between their descendants. By his marriage to Elena, Ivan Asen I had at least two sons:

Ivan Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria 1218-1241

Alexander (Aleksandăr), sebastokratōr, who died after 1232; Alexander had a son named Kaliman Asen II, emperor of Bulgaria in 1256

Елена Асенина (Неманич)

Елена встъпва в брак с Иван Асен I на 13 г. възраст - през 1186 г. - нещо обичайно за тогавашното време. В Синодика на Българската църква за нея четем: „На Елена, новата и благочестива царица, майка на великия цар Иван Асен, приела след това ангелски образ и наречена Евгения, вечна памет.“ Наречена е "новата царица", което вероятно означава, че е втора съпруга на владетеля. От брака им се раждат няколко синове, един от които е Иван Асен II. След убийството на цар Асен 1196 г., Елена се оттегля в манастир под името "монахиня Евгения". Едва след 1218 г., когато Иван Асен II се възцарява на търновския престол, тя заема почетно място като царица-майка.