Sarah-Theodora

{{More citations needed|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox royalty | consort = yes | name = Sarah-Theodora | image = Sarah-Theodora of Bulgaria.jpg | image_size = | caption = Manuscript miniature of Sarah-Theodora (''Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander''). | succession = Empress consort of Bulgaria | reign = 1349–1371 | coronation = | spouse = Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria | issue = Kera Tamara Kera-Maria Ivan Shishman Ivan Asen Desislava of Bulgaria Vasilisa of Bulgaria | dynasty = Shishman | father = | mother = | birth_date = Unknown | birth_place = | death_date = Unknown | death_place = Bulgaria | religion = Eastern Orthodox ''prev.'' Judaism }} '''Sarah''', '''Theodora''' or '''Sarah-Theodora''' was an Empress of Bulgaria during the Second Bulgarian Empire and second wife of Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (ruled 1331–1371).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petkov |first=Kiril |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0OwCQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Sarah-Theodora%22+Bulgaria&pg=PA303 |title=The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture |date=2008-08-31 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-3375-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Radvan |first=Laurentiu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfB5DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Sarah-Theodora%22+Bulgaria&pg=PA109 |title=At Europe's Borders: Medieval Towns in the Romanian Principalities |date=2010-01-28 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-4460-2 |language=en}}</ref>

==Biography== Sarah-Theodora is believed to have been of Jewish descent, having lived with her family in the Jewish neighbourhood in Tarnovo.<ref name=":0" /> Ivan Alexander divorced his wife of many years, Theodora of Wallachia, who was forced to become a nun, and Sarah converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, accepted the name Theodora and soon became the Tsar’s second consort. Their marriage took place in the late 1340s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Polikar |first=Samy |date=2006-05-19 |title=Bulgaria and linguistic matters of Bulgarian Jews |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/IJSL.2006.028/html |language=en |issue=179 |pages=101–113 |doi=10.1515/IJSL.2006.028 |issn=1613-3668|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lerman |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VewCwAAQBAJ&dq=Jewish+Sarah+Bulgaria&pg=PA23 |title=Jewish Communities of the World |date=1989-06-18 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-10532-8 |language=en}}</ref>

The new Tsaritsa was renowned for her fierce support of her adopted Eastern Orthodox faith. She was one of the instigators of a church council against the Jews, oversaw the restoration of many churches and the construction of new monasteries, for this she is held in high regard by the Bulgarian Church.

There is no doubt that Theodora played a significant role in the separation of the Bulgarian Empire between her firstborn, Ivan Shishman, and Ivan Sratsimir, the sole surviving son of the former Tsaritsa. Since Ivan Shishman was the first son born to Ivan Alexander after his accession to the throne ("born in the purple"), Theodora insisted that he was the only one worthy of the crown. Ivan Shishman was crowned co-emperor by his father who made his elder son Despot of Vidin in exchange. After Ivan Alexander died in 1371, Ivan Shishman became Tsar and Ivan Sratsimir declared Vidin a separate empire. From now on, the relationship between the two Bulgarian Empires became cold and remained so despite the threat of the forthcoming Ottoman invasion.

The date of the death of the Tsaritsa is unknown, although some historians assume she died in the late 1380s. <!--Unsourced POV Tsaritsa Theodora is often blamed for the separation of the Bulgarian Empire which ultimately led to the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria in the very end of the 14th century. Anyway, while her influence in favor of her own son Ivan Shishman is beyond doubt, it is hardly believable that it was the only reason for the fall of Bulgaria under the Ottomans. The problems with the stability of the state had started long before her meeting with the Tsar. The Bulgaria that Ivan Shishman and Ivan Sratsimir inherited had too little in common with the empire of Ivan Asen II. Its glorious days were over. The problems with Serbia and Hungary had nothing to do with Theodora and the Ottoman invasion not only of Bulgaria but the whole Balkan Peninsula was likely to happen even without her. There is no reason for us to believe that, given all failed efforts of the Byzantine Emperors, Bulgarian Tsars, Serbian Kings, Wallachian Princes, and Bulgarian and Serbian Despots to repel the Turks, the situation would have changed if Ivan Sratsimir had inherited the whole Bulgarian Empire (which was not whole anyway, having lost the sovereignty over Dobrudja and Wallachia).

A curious thing about this Bulgarian Tsaritsa is the fact that although she is widely known as Sarah or Sarah-Theodora, actually the name she wore before her conversion to Christianity is not mentioned in any historical source. Sarah, the name that she is known under, came from the tragedy Toward the Precipice, written by the great Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov, which is centered over the love story of the aging Tsar and the beautiful Jewess, who he named Sarah. -->

== Family == There are six known children born to Tsar Ivan Alexander and Tsaritsa Theodora:<ref>Иван Божилов, "Фамилията на Асеневци (1186-1460). Генеалогия и просопография", Издателство на Българската академия на науките "Марин Дринов", София, 1994, стр. 168 - 170 (in Bulgarian; in English: Ivan Bozhilov, "The family of the Asens (1186-1460). Genealogy and prosopography", Publishing house of the Bulgarian Academy of sciences "Marin Drinov", Sofia, 1994, p. 168-170).</ref>

* Kera Tamara * Kera-Maria * Ivan Shishman * Ivan Asen * Desislava of Bulgaria * Vasilisa

==Honours== Mount Sara Teodora on Oscar II Coast in Graham Land, Antarctica is named after Sarah-Theodora.

==Sources== {{Commons category|Sarah-Theodora of Bulgaria}} {{Reflist}}

{{S-start}} {{S-bef|before=Theodora of Wallachia}} {{S-ttl|title=Empress consort of Bulgaria|years=1349–1371}} {{S-aft|after=Kira Maria}} {{End}}

Category:14th-century births Category:Year of death unknown Category:Bulgarian consorts Category:Bulgarian people of Jewish descent Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Judaism Category:Shishman dynasty Category:14th-century Bulgarian women Category:14th-century Bulgarian people Category:Mothers of Bulgarian emperors