Kira Maria Asenina of Bulgaria

Kira Maria Asenina was a Bulgarian princess and empress consort (tsarina), second wife of George I of Bulgaria. She was the daughter of tsar Mitso Asen of Bulgaria and his wife Maria. The dates and the places of her birth and death are unknown. History Through her mother, Kira Maria was a granddaughter of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria and Irene Komnene of Epirus. She was also the sister of tsar Ivan Asen III, who seized the Bulgarian throne in 1280 with Byzantine support. She married the Bulgaro-Cuman nobleman George Terter in a marriage arranged by her brother in order to strengthen his position. George divorced his first wife, Maria, and sent her and their son, Theodore Svetoslav, as hostages to the Byzantine Empire. He was accordingly made a despotēs, the highest rank in the Byzantino-Bulgarian court hierarchy, and Kira Maria was granted the title of despoina. Ivan Asen III failed to assert himself throughout the country and he secretly fled Tarnovo in 1280 and escaped to the Byzantine Empire. George Terter seized the throne and Kira Maria was proclaimed the new tsarina.