Maria was the wife of tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria

Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria

Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....

. She was the last empress-consort (tsaritsa

Tsaritsa

Tsaritsa , formerly spelled czaritsa , is the title of a female autocratic ruler of Bulgaria or Russia, or the title of a tsar's wife....

) of the First Bulgarian Empire

First Bulgarian Empire

The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...

.

Her antecedents are unknown. It is believed that Maria was married to Ivan Vladislav in the late 10th century. Her husband was the son of Aron

Aron of Bulgaria

Aron was a Bulgarian noble, brother of Emperor Samuil of Bulgaria and third son of Comita Nikola, Duke of Sofia. After the fall of the eastern parts of the country under Byzantine occupation in 971, he and his three brothers David, Moses and Samuil continued the resistance to the west...

, who was the brother of Emperor Samuel

Samuil of Bulgaria

Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...

 (Samuil) of Bulgaria. In 987 Samuel ordered his brother Aron executed for treason together with his entire family. The massacre

Massacre

A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...

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

Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria

Gavril Radomir , normally rendered as Gabriel Radomir in English and Gavriil Romanos in Greek, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of Samuel of Bulgaria. During his father's reign, his cousin Ivan Vladislav and Ivan's entire...

.

Maria and Ivan Vladislav had several children, including:

1. Presian
   Presian II of Bulgaria
   Presian II was emperor of Bulgaria for a short time in 1018. The year of his birth may have been 996/997; he may have died in exile in 1060/1061...
   
   , who briefly succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1018
2. Aron, Byzantine general
3. Alusian
   Alusian of Bulgaria
   Alusian was a Bulgarian and Byzantine noble who ruled as emperor of Bulgaria for a short time in 1041.-Life:Alusian was the second son of Emperor Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria by his wife Maria...
   
   , who was briefly emperor of Bulgaria in 1041
4. Trayan. Father of Maria of Bulgaria
   Maria of Bulgaria
   Maria of Bulgaria , protovestiaria, was the wife of protovestiarios Andronikos Doukas and mother of Irene Doukaina.-Life:...
   
   , who married Andronikos Doukas.
5. Catherine (Ekaterina)
   Catherine of Bulgaria
   Catherine of Bulgaria was a daughter of Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria and his wife Maria.- Family :She was a sister of Presian II of Bulgaria and Alusian of Bulgaria. She was also a paternal aunt of Maria of Bulgaria.She married Isaac I Komnenos...
   
   , who married the future Byzantine Emperor Isaac I Komnenos
   Isaac I Komnenos
   Isaac I Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1057 to 1059, and the first reigning member of the Komnenos dynasty...
   
   

Tsar Samuil died in 1014 and the Bulgarian throne was inherited by his son Gavril Radomir. In 1015 Ivan Vladislav murrdered 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

Basil II

Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...

 in exchange of guarantees for the preservation of their lives, status, and property. Maria together with her children were sent to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, where she was granted the title zostē patrikia

Zoste patrikia

Zōstē patrikia was a Byzantine court title reserved exclusively for women. A very high title, its holder ranked as the first woman after the empress herself in the imperial court.-History and functions:...

 (lady-in-waiting of the empress). Her family was integrated into the Byzantine court and provincial aristocracy.

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

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

.

stratēgos

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

| colspan="1" style="border-right: solid black 1px;" |  
| colspan="2" style="border-right: solid black 1px;" | Radomir
| colspan="2" style="border-right: solid black 1px;" | Catherine

Catherine of Bulgaria

Catherine of Bulgaria was a daughter of Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria and his wife Maria.- Family :She was a sister of Presian II of Bulgaria and Alusian of Bulgaria. She was also a paternal aunt of Maria of Bulgaria.She married Isaac I Komnenos...

wife of Isaac I Komnenos

Isaac I Komnenos

Isaac I Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1057 to 1059, and the first reigning member of the Komnenos dynasty...

|- style="vertical-align: top"
| colspan="2" | Presian

Presian II of Bulgaria

Presian II was emperor of Bulgaria for a short time in 1018. The year of his birth may have been 996/997; he may have died in exile in 1060/1061...

stratēgos

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

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| colspan="2" | Trayan
| colspan="2" | unknown son
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5 daughters
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|- style="vertical-align: top"
| colspan="2" |[Anna]
wife of Romanos IV Diogenes
| colspan="2" style="border-left: solid black 1px;" | Basil
stratēgos

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

| colspan="2" style="border-left: solid black 1px;" | Theodore
stratēgos

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

| colspan="2" | Maria

Maria of Bulgaria

Maria of Bulgaria , protovestiaria, was the wife of protovestiarios Andronikos Doukas and mother of Irene Doukaina.-Life:...

wife of Andronikos Doukas
| colspan="2" | Manuel Komnenos
| colspan="2" | Maria Komnene
|- style="vertical-align: top"
| colspan="1" |  
| colspan="2" style="border-left: solid black 1px;" | Samuil
vestētōr
| colspan="2" | Radomir
proedros

Proedros

Proedros was a senior Byzantine court and ecclesiastic title in the 10th to mid-12th centuries. The female form of the title is proedrissa .-Court dignity:...

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|- style="vertical-align: top"
| colspan="2" | Constantine
married Theodora, sister of
Alexios I

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

| colspan="1" |  
| colspan="2" | Aron Theodore
| colspan="1" |  
| colspan="2" style="border-right: solid black 1px; " | Irene Doukaina

Irene Doukaina

Irene Doukaina or Ducaena was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the mother of the emperor John II Komnenos and of the historian Anna Komnene.-Succession of Alexios and Irene:...

wife of Alexios I

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

| colspan="2" style="border-right: solid black 1px; " | Theodora Doukaina
| colspan="2" | John Doukas
governor of Bulgaria (1090–1092)
|- style="vertical-align: top"
| colspan="7" |  
| colspan="2" | Maria (Anna) Doukaina
wife of George Palaiologos
| colspan="2" | Michael Doukas
prōtostratōr

Protostrator

Prōtostratōr was a Byzantine court office, originating as the imperial stable master, which in the last centuries of the Empire evolved into one of the senior military offices...

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