Ivanko of Bulgaria

Ivanko ( _bg. Иванко) killed Ivan Asen I, ruler of the renascent Second Bulgarian Empire, in 1196.

In 1197 Ivanko, who was a Vlach according to the terminology used by Niketas Choniates, married Theodora Angelina, the daughter of Anna Angelina and Isaac Comnenus "Sebastocrator". Theodora's father had died in Bulgarian captivity not many months earlier.

Ivanko, given the Greek name Alexios, fought at first for his grandfather-in-law, the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus, but afterwards turned against him. He captured the general Manuel Camytzes in 1198; Camytzes was ransomed by his son-in-law, Ivanko's rival, Dobromir.

Theodora's stepfather, Anna's second husband Theodore Lascaris marched against Ivanko in 1200, and he was eventually captured by a trick.

ources

*"O city of Byzantium: annals of Niketas Choniates" tr. Harry J. Magoulias (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1984) pp. 257-259, 281-285.