Ivan Stephen of Bulgaria

Ivan Stefan Иван Стефан
Tsar of Bulgaria
Reign	1330–1331
Predecessor	Michael Shishman
Successor	Ivan Alexander
Born	1300/1301
Died	1373 (?) Naples, Kingdom of Naples (?)
Father	Michael Shishman
Mother	Anna Neda

Ivan Stefan (Bulgarian: Иван Стефан; in English also John Stephen) (c. 1300/1301–1373 (?)) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria for eight months from 1330 to 1331. He was the eldest son of emperor Michael III Shishman and Anna Neda of Serbia, a daughter of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin of Serbia. Ivan Stephen was descendent to the Terter dynasty, the Asen dynasty and the Shishman dynasty, which were all of partial Cuman origin. After his father's accenssion to the throne in 1323 Ivan Stefan was associated as co-emperor. When Michael III Shishman divorced Anna Neda to marry Theodora Palaiologina, the daughter of Byzantine emperor Michael IX Palaiologos, in 1324, Ivan Stefan was exiled along with his mother and brother in a monastery. In the summer of 1330 he became emperor of Bulgaria with the help of his uncle Stephen Dečanski. After he was deposed in a coup d'état by the Tarnovo nobility, he fled along with Anna Neda in the domains of his father's brother Belaur in Niš and later to Dubrovnik. He was later expelled from there by Stephen Dušan under the pressure of Ivan Alexander. Ivan Stefan probably died in Naples.

During the battle of Velbazhd against the Serbs, emperor Michael III Shishman was wounded and died a few days later in captivity. On 2 August the Bulgarian boyars proposed peace to the Serbian king Stephen Dečanski. Stephen Dečanski met them in the area known as Mraka and accepted the proposal and agreed that Ivan Stephen should become emperor of Bulgaria, thus abandoning the idea of uniting the two countries under the sceptre of his son Stephen Dušan. However, less than a year later, Dečanski was deposed and exiled to the Zvečan Fortress where he died.

...
Wikipedia