Konstantin I Tykh

In 1257, Constantine I, the son of the Bulgarian boyar Tikh from Skopje, was elected by the boyars as the new king. In the subsequent struggle for the throne, the former Tsar Mizo Asen was defeated and in 1261 fled to the Nicene Empire to Michael VIII Paleolog .

To consolidate his position as a legitimate ruler, Konstantin decided to intermarry with the ruling dynasty of Asen and marry Irina Laskarina, the granddaughter of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II and the daughter of the Nicene Emperor Theodore II Laskaris and Elena of Bulgaria. From this moment he is called - Konstantin I Asen Tykh.

Taking advantage of the turmoil in Bulgaria, the Hungarian king Bela IV in 1259 begins a war. Under the leadership of the future king Stephen V , the Hungarians capture the cities of Vidin and Lom . In 1260, Konstantin returned the lost cities.

In 1261, under the pretext of revenge for the blinding of Theodore Laskaris, Konstantin Tikh attacked Constantinople , but was defeated, having lost almost the entire army, and in 1265, together with the Mongolian troops, Beklyarbek Nogai undertook a second campaign against Byzantium. In 1268, Tsarina Irina Laskarina dies and the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII. The paleologist proposes to his wife Tsar Konstantin his niece Mary, promising to return the cities of Messembria and Ankhialo captured in 1261. Constantine agrees, but the emperor did not keep his promise and did not return the city. This complicates the already difficult relationship between Constantinople and Tarnovo.

In 1274, the Byzantines managed to win over the Horde Tatars; regular raids on the north of Bulgaria begin. In 1277, discontent with the tsar resulted in a peasant uprising led by the shepherd Ivaylo , the troops sent by the tsar to suppress the rebellion either scattered before meeting the enemy, or switched to the side of Ivaylo. At the end of the same year, Konstantin personally led the army, a battle took place in which the tsarist troops were defeated and Tsar Konstantin himself died.

Constantine I was married three times.

The names of his first wife and children are not known. From the second wife - Irina Laskarina (died in 1268) there were no children. From the third marriage with Maria Paleolog (the niece of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII ^[1] ) in 1270 the son Mikhail II Asen was born, whom Konstantin Tikh declared his co-ruler in 1272, however, Michael II Asen never had real power and is usually not included in list of Bulgarian kings.

• The struggle of the peoples of southeastern Europe against the aggression of Turkish feudal lords. The fall of Byzantium
• A Brief History of Byzantium

• Asen // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907. }
• Tech // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.