Jelena or Helena of Bulgaria was the daughter of Sratsimir of Kran and Keratsa Petritsa

Keratsa Petritsa

Keratsa Petritsa was a Bulgarian noblewoman , sister of tsar Michael Shishman of Bulgaria. Her eldest son Ivan Alexander rose to the Bulgarian throne after vicissitudes of politics....

 and the sister of Tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

 Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria

Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria

Ivan Alexander , also known as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history...

.

On Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

 day, 19 April 1332, Helena married Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia

Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan the Mighty , was the King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks until his death on 20 December 1355. Dušan managed to conquer a large part of Southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs in his time...

. The marriage was arranged as part of the peace agreement between Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 and Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

. This marriage provided one son Stefan Uroš V of Serbia

Stefan Uroš V of Serbia

Saint Stefan Uroš V Nejaki was king of the Serbian Empire as co-regent of his father Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Silni and then Emperor .-Biography:...

 and one daughter Irina. According to "The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest" (1994) by J. V. A. Fine, she is the same as "Irene" the wife of Gregorios Preljub

Preljub

Gregory Preljub or simply Preljub was a 14th-century Serbian noble and voivode who conquered and ruled Thessaly with the rank of Caesar in 1348–1356 under Emperor Stephen IV Dushan...

, the Serbian governor of Thessaly

History of Thessaly

-Ancient Thessaly:Thessaly was home to an extensive Neolithic culture around 2500 BC. Mycenaean settlements have also been discovered, for example at the sites of Iolcos, Dimini and Sesklo . Later, in ancient Greek times, the lowlands of Thessaly became the home of baronial families, such as the...

 who died in late 1355 or early 1356. They were parents to Thomas II Preljubović

Thomas II Preljubovic

Thomas II Preljubović or Komnenos Palaiologos , was ruler of Epirus in Ioannina from 1366 to his death on December 23, 1384. He also held the title of Albanian-slayer .-Family:...

, Ruler of Epirus

Despotate of Epirus

The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...

 from 1367 to 1384. Irene married secondly to Radoslav Hlapen

Radoslav Hlapen

Radoslav Hlapen was a Serbian voivode in the service of Emperor Dušan the Mighty . He took part in the operations into the south, Macedonia, and was given a region north of Thessaly to govern in the early 1350s.-Life:Radoslav was born around 1322...

, lord of Kastoria

Kastoria

Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...

 and Edessa

Edessa, Greece

Edessa , is a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit, in the Central Macedonia region of Greece. It was also the capital of the defunct province of the same name.-Name:...

.

Helena was a citizen of Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 in 1350 and a regent of Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 between 1355–1356.

On her husband's death, Helena inherited part of Serbian lands between the lower Vardar

Vardar

The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is long, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of river is ....

 and the Mesta

Mesta

The Mesta was a powerful association of sheep holders in the medieval Kingdom of Castile....

. In addition, she also received the Chalcidic peninsula, basing her court at Serres

Serres, Greece

Sérres is a city in Macedonia, Greece. It is situated in a fertile plain at an elevation of about 70 m, some 24 km northeast of the Strymon river and 69 km north-east of the Macedonian capital, Thessaloniki. The Rhodope Mountains rise to the north and east of the city...

. In 1359 Helena became a nun under the religious name Elisaveta. However, she continued to play an active role in politics.
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