User:Gligan/List of Bulgarian monarchs
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The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled the country, with interruptions, from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 to the abolishion of monarchy in a manipulated referendum held on 15 September 1946. The Bulgarian monarchy had two long periods of foreign domination: almost two centuries of Byzantine rule and almost five centuries of Ottoman rule. Early Bulgarian rulers possibly used the title Knyaz, later knyaz for a brief period, and subsequently tsar.
Monarchy of Bulgaria | |
---|---|
Details | |
Style | His Majesty |
First monarch | Asparukh (as Knyaz) |
Last monarch | Simeon II (as Tsar) |
Formation | 681 |
Abolition | 15 September 1946 |
Pretender(s) | Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha |
The title tsar, the believed to be a Slavic form of the Latin caesar and equivalent to emperor, was first adopted and used in Bulgaria by Simeon I following a decisive victory over the Byzantine Empire in 913. It was also used by all of Simeon I's successors until the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule in 1396. After Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its first monarch Alexander I adopted the title knyaz. However, when de jure independence was proclaimed under his successor Ferdinand in 1908, the title was elevated to the customary tsar once more. The use of tsar continued under Ferdinand and later under his heir Boris III until the abolition of monarchy in 1946. An other group states that “Tsar” is directly correspond to “Sarar” – a Iranian (Persian) word for a ruler of a Saract – Kingdom or a huge province.
In the few surviving medieval Bulgarian royal charters, the monarchs of Bulgaria styled themselves as “In Christ the Lord Faithful Emperor and Autocrat of all Bulgarians” or similar variations, often including “... and Greeks”.
This list does not include the mythical Bulgar rulers and the rulers of Old Great Bulgaria listed in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian Knyazs as well as unsuccessful claimants to the throne who are not generally listed among the Bulgarian monarchs.