Helena of Bulgaria, Empress of Serbia

Did You Know?

• One of Helena's hands is preserved in a silver box at the Savina monastery in Montenegro.
• The relics arrived at Savina monastery in 1759, possibly having been kept earlier at Tvrdoš Monastery.

Life

Helena of Bulgaria, also known as Elena Sratsimir, was a descendant of the Komnenos, Asenides, and Shishmanides ruling families. She was the daughter of despot Sratsimir and Keratsa Petritsa, granddaughter of Shishman I of Vidin, and niece of Tsar Michael III Shishman Asen. Her siblings included Tsar Ivan Alexander and despot John Komnenos Asen. Through her grandmother, she traced descent from Tsar Ivan Asen II and Irene Komnina. The frescoes in the Church of the Holy Virgin in Matejce depict Tsaritsa Elena, Tsar Uroš V, and possibly her sister Theodora as descendants of the Asenides–Komnenos family rather than the Nemanjić dynasty. Her marriage to Stefan Dušan was arranged as part of a peace agreement between Bulgaria and Serbia. Dušan was crowned king on 8 September 1331, and the wedding likely took place on 26 April 1332, with the wedding night at the royal court in Skopje. The couple had a son, Stefan Uroš V, and a daughter, Theodora, who married Ottoman Sultan Orhan at age twelve. A possible second daughter, Irene, may have been the wife of Gregorios Preljub and later of Radoslav Hlapen. Helena lived in Venice in 1350. After Dušan's death in 1355, she inherited Bulgarian lands between the lower Vardar and the Mesta, as well as the Chalcidic peninsula, and based her court at Serres. She acted as regent for her son from 1355 to 1356.