Maria, wife of Ivan Vladislav

Maria
Empress consort of Bulgaria
Spouse	Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Born	Unknown
Died	Unknown

Maria was the wife of tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria. She was the last empress-consort (tsaritsa) of the First Bulgarian Empire.

Her antecedents are unknown. It is believed that Maria was married to Ivan Vladislav in the late 10th century. Her husband was the son of Aron, who was the brother of Emperor Samuel (Samuil) of Bulgaria. In 987 Samuel ordered his brother Aron executed for treason together with his entire family. The massacre was survived only Ivan Vladislav, who was saved through the intercession of his cousin, Samuel's son Gabriel Radomir.

Maria and Ivan Vladislav had several children, including:

1. Presian, who briefly succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1018
2. Aron, Byzantine general
3. Alusian, who was briefly emperor of Bulgaria in 1041
4. Trayan. Father of Maria of Bulgaria, who married Andronikos Doukas.
5. Catherine (Ekaterina), who married the future Byzantine Emperor Isaac I Komnenos

Tsar Samuil died in 1014 and the Bulgarian throne was inherited by his son Gavril Radomir. In 1015 Ivan Vladislav murrdered his savior Gavrail Radomir, while the latter was hunting near Ostrovo (Arnissa), and seized the Bulgarian throne.

Maria's husband followed the determined policy of his predecessors to resist the ongoing Byzantine conquest over Bulgaria, but he was killed before the walls of Dyrrhachium in the winter of 1018. After his death the widowed empress Maria and much of the Bulgarian nobility and court submitted to the advancing Basil II in exchange of guarantees for the preservation of their lives, status, and property. Maria together with her children were sent to Constantinople, where she was granted the title zostē patrikia (lady-in-waiting of the empress). Her family was integrated into the Byzantine court and provincial aristocracy.

In 1029 Maria together with her son Presian entered a conspiracy against emperor Romanos III Argyros. The plot was discovered, Presian was blinded and Maria was exiled to a monastery in Asia Minor.

Issue^[1]

		Maria		Ivan Vladislav (1015–1018)
	Alusian stratēgos			Aron stratēgos			Radomir		Catherine wife of Isaac I Komnenos
Presian stratēgos						Trayan		unknown son		5 daughters
[Anna] wife of Romanos IV Diogenes		Basil stratēgos		Theodore stratēgos		Maria wife of Andronikos Doukas		Manuel Komnenos		Maria Komnene
	Samuil vestētōr		Radomir proedros
Constantine married Theodora, sister of Alexios I			Aron Theodore			Irene Doukaina wife of Alexios I		Theodora Doukaina		John Doukas governor of Bulgaria (1090–1092)
							Maria (Anna) Doukaina wife of George Palaiologos		Michael Doukas prōtostratōr

Preceded by Irene of Larissa

Empress consort of Bulgaria 1015–1018

Succeeded by ...

Sources

• Златарски, Васил, История на българската държава през средните векове, Том I. История на Първото българско царство. Част II. От славянизацията на държавата до падането на Първото царство (852—1018). 4.Приемниците на цар Самуил и покорението на България от Василий II Българоубиец.
• Runciman, Steven, The First Bulgarian Empire. 1930.
• Skylitzes, Synopsis Historiarum.

1. ^ Златарски, История. Приложение 19

Persondata
Name	Maria, Wife Of Ivan Vladislav
Alternative names
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Date of death
Place of death	Unknown