Maria, wife of Ivan Vladislav

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

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

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 by Ivan Vladislav, who was saved through the intercession of his cousin, Samuel's son Gabriel Radomir.

Tsar Samuil died in 1014 and the Bulgarian throne was inherited by his son Gavril Radomir. In 1015 Ivan Vladislav avenged the deaths of his innocent siblings by murdering 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 and negotiated guarantees for the preservation of their lives, status, and property. Maria together with her children were sent to Constantinople, where she adopted the name Zoe and was granted the title zostē patrikia (lady-in-waiting to the Empress) in 1019. Her family was integrated into the Byzantine court and inter-married with some of the most prominent Byzantine noble families.

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.

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