Kera Tamara

Kera Tamara
Princess of Bulgaria
Manuscript miniature of Kera Tamara (Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander).
Born	Unknown Bulgaria
Died	Unknown Ottoman Empire
Burial	Bursa
Spouses	despot Constantine sultan Murad I
House	House of Shishman
Father	Ivan Alexander
Mother	Sarah-Theodora

Tamara Hejtan (Bulgarian: Кера Тамара) was the daughter of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander and his second wife Sarah-Theodora. Kera Tamara was a sister of Ivan Shishman and Ivan Sratsimir. She was born probably around 1340 and originates from the Shishman dynasty.

The first husband of Kera Tamara was despot Constantine. According to one theory he was the despot of Velbazhd Constantine Dragash whose daughter Helena Dragash married the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II and became mother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI. However, that theory has been dismissed by the historians because in 1371 Kera Tamara was already a widow while Constantine Dragash died in 1395. Therefore, despot Constantine who was depicted in the Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander next to the Bulgarian princess was another man.

As early as 1371 when Ivan Alexander died and Ivan Shishman inherited the throne, in the capital Tarnovo arrived ambassadors from the Ottoman Sultan Murad I to arrange his relations with the new Emperor of Bulgaria. The Sultan who was obviously familiar with the beauty of Kera Tamara and the fact that she was a widow demanded her to become his wife as a guarantee for the peace between the two counties. Ivan Shishman managed to divert his demand and prolonged his decision for seven years. On that occasion an anonymous Bulgarian chronicle from the 15th century records:

...And on the throne came Shishman, son of Alexander. Amorat [Murad] sent to him men to ask for his sister, but he did not want to give his sister, Tsarina Kera Tamara...