Michael Shishman of Bulgaria

Michael Asen III (Mihail Asen III, commonly called Michael Shishman), rules as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330.

The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292.

He is the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Shishman dynasty.

After he is crowned, however, Michael uses the name Asen to emphasize his connection with the Asen dynasty, the first one to rule over the Second Empire.

An energetic and ambitious ruler, Michael Shishman leads an aggressive but opportunistic and inconsistent foreign policy against the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia, which ends in the disastrous battle of Velbazhd that claims his own life.

He is the last medieval Bulgarian ruler to aim at military and political hegemony of the Bulgarian Empire over the Balkans and the last one to attempt to seize Constantinople.

He is succeeded by his son Ivan Stephen and later by his nephew Ivan Alexander, who reverses his policy by forming an alliance with Serbia.

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