Helena of Bulgaria, Empress of Serbia
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Helena of Bulgaria | |
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Queen consort of Serbia | |
Tenure | 1332–1346 |
Empress consort of Serbia | |
Tenure | 1346–1355 |
Born | c. 1315 |
Died | 7 November 1374 | (aged 58–59)
Spouse | Stefan Dušan |
Issue | Stefan Uroš V Theodora Uroš Irina Uroš (disputed) |
House | Sratsimir |
Father | Sratsimir |
Mother | Keratsa Petritsa |
Helena of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Елена, Serbian: Јелена; c. 1315 –7 November 1374) was a Bulgarian princess, and the Queen and Empress consort of Serbia by marriage to Serbian King and later Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–55). She was a regent of Serbia between 1355 and 1356 for her son Stefan Uroš V.
Life
She was the daughter of despot Sratsimir and Keratsa Petritsa of the Shishman family, a descendant of Tsar Ivan Asen II. She was the sister of tsar (emperor) Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, Ivan-Alexander, John Komnenos, Michael and Theodora.
This marriage provided one son,
Helena lived in the
In 1359, Helena became a nun under the
Legacy
After her death, she was canonized as a saint under the name of St. Elizabeth and her relics are venerated. According to the Bulgarian historian Plamen Pavlov, today one of her hands is kept in silver box in the Savina monastery near the town of Herceg Novi on the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro and is virtually unknown in Bulgaria. The relics ended up there in 1759, and before that it is possible that they were in the monastery Tvrdoš Monastery near Trebinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
References
- ^ Purković 1975, p. 6.
- ^ a b Purković 1975, p. 7.
- ^ Đorđe Strizović (2004). Прошлост која живи. Доситеј. p. 169.
- ^ Fine 1994, pp. 346–347.
- ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 78.
Sources
- Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
- Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. (1994) [1987]. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
- Purković, Miodrag Al (1975). Jelena: žena cara Dušana. Izdanje Srpske pravoslavne eparhije za zapadnu Evropu.
- Soulis, George Christos (1984). The Serbs and Byzantium during the reign of Tsar Stephen Dušan (1331-1355) and his successors. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Library and Collection.