Original Silver coin grosh Bulgaria IVAN ALEXANDER & MICHAEL Cross 1331AD CHRIST

Description

Ivan Alexander (Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria: 1331-1371 A.D.) & Michael Asen IV
Struck 1331-1355 A.D.
Well centered nice specimen measuring 20mm. in diameter.  1.32gm. Rare and interesting as pictured.
Authenticity guaranteed.
Obv./ Christ standing facing full-length, blessing with two hands.
Rev./
Ivan Alexander and his son, Michael Asen, flag in between, the names of the two emperors
in monogram form on left and right.
Bidding is for the coin photographed above.
Coin is in good condition and a very rare inclusion to the finest Collection.
Authenticity guaranteed!!!
Michail Asen
(
Bulgarian
:
Михаил Асен
) (c. 1322 – 1355) was the eldest son of Emperor
Ivan Alexander
(1331–1371) from his marriage with
Theodora of Wallachia
.
After his father acceded to the throne in 1331, the young prince was proclaimed co-Emperor. He was to succeed his father under the name Michail IV Asen. The heir to the throne was the pride of the royal family and was said to possess "all virtues". He married Maria, renamed Irina, the daughter of the
Byzantine
Emperor
Andronikos III Palaiologos
and his second wife
Anna of Savoy
.
In 1354–1355 the
Ottoman Turks
invaded Bulgaria
and headed towards
Plovdiv
and
Sofia
. It is mentioned in an anonymous
Bulgarian
chronicle that Michail Asen gathered the Bulgarians and engaged the Turks near Sofia. The Bulgarians were defeated and suffered heavy casualties including Michail himself. But the battle was not in vain: the Ottomans failed to capture the cities and did not attack the country up to 1370. In the Bulgarian folklore is mentioned that the son of the Emperor perished with the death of the brave.
Ivan Alexander
(
Bulgarian
:
Иван Александър
, transliterated
Ivan Aleksandǎr
;; original spelling:
ІѠАНЪ АЛЄѮАН
д
РЪ
), also known as
John Alexander
, ruled as
Emperor
(
Tsar
) of
Bulgaria
from 1331 to 1371, during the
Second Bulgarian Empire
. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history. Ivan Alexander began his rule by dealing with internal problems and external threats from Bulgaria's neighbours, the
Byzantine Empire
and
Serbia
, as well as leading his empire into a period of economic recovery and cultural and religious renaissance.
However, the emperor was later unable to cope with the mounting incursions of
Ottoman
forces,
Hungarian
invasions from the northwest and the
Black Death
. In an ill-fated attempt to combat these problems, he divided the country between his two sons, thus forcing it to face the imminent Ottoman conquest weakened and divided.
//
Early rule
Ivan Alexander was the son of the
despotēs
Sracimir of Krǎn by
Petrica
, a sister of
Michael Asen III of Bulgaria
. Therefore, Ivan Alexander was a nephew of Michael Asen III. Paternally, Ivan Alexander descended from the
Asen dynasty
. By 1330 Ivan Alexander was himself a
despotēs
and governed the city of
Loveč
. Together with his father and his father-in-law
Basarab
of
Wallachia
, Ivan Alexander fought in the
Battle of Velbǎžd
against the Serbs at modern-day
Kjustendil
in 1330, in which Bulgaria suffered defeat. The defeat, combined with the worsening relations with the Byzantine Empire, precipitated an internal crisis, which was exacerbated by an invasion of the Byzantines. A
coup d'état
drove
Ivan Stefan
out of the capital
Tǎrnovo
in 1331, and the conspirators placed Ivan Alexander on the throne.
The new ruler set about consolidating his position by regaining territories recently lost to the Byzantine Empire. In 1331 Ivan Alexander campaigned around
Adrianople
and reconquered northeastern
Thrace
. Meanwhile,
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan
deposed his father
Stefan Uroš III Dečanski
and became
Serbian king
in 1331. This helped normalize the previously tense relations between the two countries. Ivan Alexander and Stefan Uroš IV Dušan concluded an alliance, which was cemented by the marriage of the Serbian king to
Helena of Bulgaria
, a sister of Ivan Alexander, on
Easter
1332.
At about the same time, Belaur, a brother of Michael Asen III, rebelled in
Vidin
, probably in support of his deposed nephew Ivan Stefan's claim to the throne. The advance of the Byzantine Emperor
Andronikos III Palaiologos
against Bulgaria in the summer of 1332 protracted military operations against the rebels. The Byzantines overran Bulgarian-controlled northeastern Thrace, but Ivan Alexander rushed southward with a small army and swiftly caught up with Andronikos III at Rusokastro.
“
Nobody of our first tsars seems to us like this great tsar Ivan Alexander, in his military power he looks to us like a second ancient
Alexander the Great
, in faith and piety he is a second
Saint Constantine
; he captured thus all his enemies, put them under his knees and established firm peace in the Universe.
”
—
Praise to Ivan Alexander
by an anonymous contemporary of the tsar
After giving the impression that he wished to negotiate, Ivan Alexander, reinforced by
Mongol
cavalry, overwhelmed the smaller but better organized Byzantine army in the
Battle of Rusokastro
. The contested cities surrendered to Ivan Alexander, while Andronikos III sought refuge within the walls of Rusokastro. The war ended with Ivan Alexander meeting Andronikos and agreeing a peace based on the
status quo
. To seal the alliance, he betrothed his eldest son, Michael Asen IV, to Andronikos's daughter Maria (Eirene), the marriage eventually taking place in 1339. The Bulgarian emperor was now free to turn his attentions to Belaur, but it was not until 1336 or 1337 that the rebellion in the northwest was put down.
In about 1332 Ivan Alexander had crowned his eldest son Michael Asen IV co-emperor, perhaps to safeguard possession of the throne by his own family. He followed up this traditional association with the coronation of his younger sons
Ivan Sracimir
and Ivan Asen IV in 1337. Ivan Alexander may have intended the creation of two younger co-emperors to establish immediate control over important cities and regions, as Ivan Sracimir was eventually based in Vidin, and Ivan Asen IV perhaps in
Preslav
. Nevertheless, this was a marked departure from Byzantine practice, in which younger sons of the sovereign were made
despotēs
, whether they were charged with a territorial administration or not.
Relations with the Byzantine Empire
The Bulgarian lands during the reign of Ivan Alexander
In the early 1340s relations with the Byzantine Empire temporarily deteriorated. Ivan Alexander demanded the extradition of his cousin Šišman, one of the sons of Michael Asen III, threatening the Byzantine government with war. Ivan Alexander's show of force backfired, as the Byzantines managed to see through his intentions and sent against him the fleet of their ally, the Turkish emir of
Smyrna
Umur Beg. Landing in the
Danube Delta
, the Turks of Umur Beg pillaged the countryside and attacked nearby Bulgarian cities. Forced to restrain his demands, Ivan Alexander invaded the Byzantine Empire again at the end of 1341, claiming that he was summoned by the people of Adrianople. However, Ivan Alexander's troops were defeated twice by Turkish allies of the Byzantines near the city.
In 1341–1347 the Byzantine Empire was plunged into a
protracted civil war
between the regency for Emperor
John V Palaiologos
under
Anna of Savoy
and his intended guardian
John VI Kantakouzenos
. The neighbours of the Byzantines took advantage of the civil war, and while Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia sided with John VI Kantakouzenos, Ivan Alexander backed John V Palaiologos and his regency. Although the two Balkan rulers picked opposite sides in the Byzantine civil war, they maintained their alliance with each other. As the price for Ivan Alexander's support, the regency for John V Palaiologos ceded him the city of Philippopolis (
Plovdiv
) and nine important fortresses in the
Rhodope Mountains
in 1344. This peaceful turnover constituted the last major success of Ivan Alexander's foreign policy.
Rise of Serbia and the Ottoman threat
During the same period, the Serbian king took advantage of the Byzantine civil war to take possession of what is now
Macedonia
, and of most of
Albania
and northern
Greece
. In 1345 he began to call himself "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks", and in 1346 he was crowned as such by the newly created
Patriarch of Serbia
.
[6]
These actions, which the Byzantines received with indignation, appear to have been supported by Bulgaria, as the
Patriarch of Bulgaria
Simeon had participated in both the creation of a
Serbian patriarchate
and the imperial coronation of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan.
By the second half of the 1340s, little remained of Ivan Alexander's initial successes. John VI Kantakouzenos' Turkish allies pillaged parts of Bulgarian Thrace in 1346, 1347, 1349, 1352 and 1354, to which were added the ravages of the Black Death. The Bulgarians' attempts to repel the invaders met with repeated failure, and Ivan Alexander's third son and co-emperor, Ivan Asen IV, was killed in battle against the Turks in 1349, as was his older brother
Michael Asen IV
in 1355 or a little earlier.
By 1351 the Byzantine civil war was over, and John VI Kantakouzenos had realized the threat posed by the Ottomans to the
Balkan Peninsula
. He appealed to the rulers of Serbia and Bulgaria for a united effort against the Turks and asked Ivan Alexander for money to construct warships, but his appeals fell on deaf ears as his neighbours distrusted his intentions. A new attempt for cooperation between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire followed in 1355, after John VI Kantakouzenos had been forced to abdicate and John V Palaiologos had been established as supreme emperor. To cement the treaty, Ivan Alexander's daughter
Keraca Marija
was married off to the future Byzantine Emperor
Andronikos IV Palaiologos
, but the alliance failed to produce concrete results.
Further stability problems and external conflicts
At home Ivan Alexander compromised the internal stability of his realm by divorcing his first wife
Theodora of Wallachia
(in about 1349) and marrying a converted
Jew
, also named
Theodora
. The new marriage produced new sons, whom Ivan Alexander proceeded to crown co-emperors, Ivan Šišman in about 1356 and Ivan Asen V by 1359. Ivan Alexander's last surviving son from his first marriage, the co-emperor Ivan Sracimir, became effectively independent around 1356; and Ivan Alexander's control over other powerful vassals, such as the rulers of
Wallachia
and
Dobruja
, who pursued their own foreign policies, was hardly stronger.
From the middle of the 14th century, Bulgaria fell prey to the aspirations of the
Angevin
king
Louis I of Hungary
, who annexed
Moldavia
in 1352 and established a vassal principality there, before
conquering Vidin
in 1365,
[6]
[23]
and taking Ivan Sratsimir and his family into captivity.
Military campaign of Amadeus VI against Bulgaria (1366–67)
In the meantime Bulgarians and Byzantines had clashed again in 1364. In 1366, when Emperor John V Palaiologos was returning from his trip to the west, the Bulgarians refused to let him pass through Bulgaria. This stance backfired, as another Byzantine ally, Count
Amadeus VI of Savoy
, captured several Bulgarian maritime cities in retaliation, including Ankhialos (
Pomorie
) and Mesembria (
Nesebǎr
), though he failed to take
Varna
. Outmanoeuvred, Ivan Alexander was forced to make peace.
The captured cities were turned over to the Byzantine Empire, while Emperor John V Palaiologos paid the sum of 180,000
florins
to Ivan Alexander. The Bulgarian emperor used this sum and territorial concessions to induce his at least
de jure
vassals
Dobrotica
of Dobruja and
Vladislav I of Wallachia
to reconquer Vidin from the Hungarians. The war was successful, and Ivan Sracimir was reinstalled in Vidin in 1369, although the Hungarian king forced him to acknowledge his overlordship.
The relatively successful resolution of the crisis in the northwest did nothing to help recover the losses in the southeast. To make matters worse, in 1369 (the date is disputed), the Ottoman Turks under
Murad I
conquered Adrianople (in 1363) and made it the effective capital of their expanding state. At the same time, they also captured the Bulgarian cities of Philippopolis and Boruj (
Stara Zagora
). As Bulgaria and the Serbian princes in Macedonia prepared for united action against the Turks, Ivan Alexander died on February 17, 1371. He was succeeded by his sons Ivan Sracimir in Vidin and Ivan Šišman in Tǎrnovo, while the rulers of Dobruja and Wallachia achieved further independence.
Culture and religion
See also:
Architecture of the Tarnovo Artistic School
During Ivan Alexander's rule, the Second Bulgarian Empire entered a period of cultural renaissance, which is sometimes referred to as the "Second Golden Age of Bulgarian culture", the original one being the rule of
Simeon the Great
. A large number of Bulgarian monasteries and churches were constructed or renovated on the order of Ivan Alexander. Mural
portraits of him as a donor
can be seen in the
Bachkovo Monastery
's ossuary and in the
Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo
. Donor's deeds of Ivan Alexander prove that the monasteries of the Holy Mother of God Eleoussa and St Nicholas in Nesebǎr were reconstructed during that period, as was the St Nicholas monastery near
Pernik
, according to a
Hilandar
monastery deed. In addition, the tsar also initiated the construction of the
Dragalevci
and
Kilifarevo
monasteries.
Literary activity also flourished during the reign of Ivan Alexander. Several important literary works were created in the period, such as the
Middle Bulgarian
translation of the
Manasses Chronicle
(1344–1345), currently preserved in the
Vatican Secret Archives
in
Rome
, the richly illustrated
Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander
(1355–1356), now exhibited in the
British Library
, the
Tomić Psalter
(1360), today in
Moscow
, and the
Sofia Psalter
(1337).
Ivan Alexander's rule was also marked by efforts to strengthen the position of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
by pursuing
heretics
and Jews. He organized two anti-heretical church councils, in 1350 and 1359–1360, that condemned various sects such as the
Bogomils
, the
Adamites
and the
Judaizers
.
The spiritual practice of
hesychasm
, a form of incantatory prayer, deeply influenced certain areas of the
Eastern Orthodox
world of the 14th century. A notable Bulgarian representative of the movement during Ivan Alexander's reign was
Theodosius of Tǎrnovo
.
During this time, the Bulgarian Empire had trade relations with the
Mediterranean
maritime powers
Venice
,
Genoa
and
Ragusa
. In 1353, Ivan Alexander issued a charter allowing Venetian merchants to buy and sell goods throughout Bulgaria after
Doge
Andrea Dandolo
assured him they would observe the prior treaties between the two countries.
In modern times, the rule of Ivan Alexander inspired Bulgarian national writer
Ivan Vazov
to write the
novelette
Ivan-Aleksandǎr
and the
drama
Kǎm propast
(
Towards an Abyss
), in both of which the tsar is the main character.
A piece of a garment signed by Ivan Alexander and interwoven with gold was discovered in a noble's grave near
Pirot
in the 1970s; today it is preserved in the
National Museum of Serbia
in
Belgrade
. It is the first find of its kind, demonstrating a medieval tradition attested in writing according to which Orthodox rulers would present their most eminent dignitaries with a piece of a garment they had worn.
Ivan Alexander Point
on
Nelson Island
in the
South Shetland Islands
,
Antarctica
is named after Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria.
[54]
Family
By his first wife Theodora of Wallachia (nun Teofana), a daughter of Basarab of Wallachia, Ivan Alexander had several children, including Ivan Sracimir, who ruled as emperor of Bulgaria in Vidin 1356–1397, associated emperors Michael Asen IV (co-ruled c. 1332–1354/5) and Ivan Asen IV (co-ruled 1337–1349), and a daughter called Thamar (Kera Tamara), who was married first to the
despotēs
Constantine (Konstantin), and then to Sultan
Murad I
of the Ottoman Empire.
By his second wife Sarah-Theodora, Ivan Alexander had several other children, which included Keraca Marija, who married the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Ivan Šišman, who succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria in Tǎrnovo 1371–1396, Ivan Asen V, associated as emperor of Bulgaria by 1359–1388?, as well as two daughters named Desislava and Vasilisa.
Family tree of Ivan Alexander
Sracimir of Krǎn
Petrica
1
2
Theodora of Wallachia
Ivan Alexander
(d. 1371, ruled 1331–1371)
Sarah (Theodora)
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
Michael Asen IV
Thamar (
Kera Tamara
)
Ivan Šišman
(b. 1350–1351, d. 1395,
ruled 1371–1395)
Ivan Asen V
Vasilisa
Ivan Asen IV
Ivan Sracimir
(b. c. 1324, d. c. 1397,
ruled 1356–1397)
Keraca Marija
(b. 1348, d. 1390)
Desislava
Please make your payments on time. Payment methods for USA buyers:< PAYPAL
Payment methods for International buyers - including Canada: PAYPAL contact us for more info.
Payments must be received within 7 days from the end of auction (14 days for international).
Please be sure to include item # & address with your payment. IF REQUESTING A CERTIFICATE PLEASE DO SO AT THE TIME OF PAYMENT.
Items will be shipped within 1 to 3 business days of purchase completion.
FREE FIRST CLASS DOMESTIC SHIPPING.
INTERNATIONAL - .95
(REGISTERED-.00) WE COMBINE SHIPPING.
( for each additional item of the same size or smaller)
If you would like to have special shipping, please contact us.
All items will be sent out in protected envelope and boxed if necessary.
YOU ARE BIDDING ON AN ANCIENT ITEM(S) AS DESCRIBED AND PICTURED ABOVE!!!
Every item offered by cameleoncoins is unconditionally guaranteed to be genuine & authentic.
We can provide a certificate of authenticity or extended return policy by request only!!!
Please a short request with your payment if you would like a COA!!!
If in the unlikely event that an item is found to be reproduction, full return privileges are within 60 days of receiving the coins. We will promptly offer a full refund without hesitation or hassle
Please read the auction page prior to contacting US.
6