Ivan Asen II (redirected from Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria)

Ivan Asen II

(died 1241) Tsar of the Second Bulgarian empire (1218–41). He took the throne after overthrowing and blinding his cousin Boril. A good soldier and administrator, Ivan restored order, controlled the boyars, and acquired much of Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, and Epirus (1230). He forged alliances through the marriages of his daughters, but a treaty to make him regent of the Latin empire was repudiated by Latins fearful of Bulgaria's growing power, and he afterward separated the Bulgarian church from Rome.