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.