Jean Asen III or Ivan Asen III reigned as emperor of the Bulgaria of 1279 with 1280. It was wire of Mitso Asen and Marija, a girl of Ivan Asen I and Eirene of Thessalonique. It was probably born towards 1259/60, and died in exile in 1303.

Fearing the fast success of Ivaïlo of Bulgaria, Michel VIII Paleologist called Ivan Asen at the court, granted to him the title of despot and Maria with her older daughter Eirene Palaiologina in 1277 or 1278. It then sent several armies to try to put Ivan Asen III on the Bulgarian throne. Ivailo demolished several of these armies, but was blocked for three months in Drăstăr (Silistra) by allied Mongolian of Michel VIII. During this time, a Byzantine force besieged to it capital Bulgarian Tărnovo and the local nobility, misled by a rumor of died of Ivailo, agreed to give the title of emperor to Ivan Asen III.

To reinforce its position in Tărnovo, Ivan Asen III Maria her sister Marija (Kira Marija) in noble Bulgaro-Couman George Terter. In spite of that, it was unable to be affirmed in the whole of the empire. Ivaïlo reappeared in front of the walls of the capital and demolished two Byzantine attempts to help Ivan Asen III. Despaired, Ivan Asen III and Eirene Palaiologina fled secretly of Tărnovo with part of the treasures of the palate, including trophies of the Byzantine emperors demolished in old Bulgarian victories. Reaching Mesembria (Nesebar|Nesebăr), the imperial couple took a boat for Constantinople, where Michel VIII, exasperated by their cowardice, refused to receive them during several days.

In 1280 or 1281 Ivan Asen III traversed the territory of the Horde of Gold in search of allies to recover its throne. The Mongolian chief Nogaï Khan made assassinate Ivaïlo, but did not return the throne of Bulgaria in Ivan Asen III. This one turned over in its possessions of family in Troade, where he died in 1303.

Ivan Asen III and Eirene Palaiologina are the ancestors of great and influential Asen family (or Asanes), which thrived in the provincial court and offices until the end of the Byzantine Empire, like in its dependences until the 15th century. One of downward of Ivan Asen III, Irene Asanina (girl of its son Andronic Asen) married the future emperor Jean VI Cantacuzène: their daughter Helene, woman of the emperor Jean V Paleologist, is the ancestor of the posterior Byzantine emperors.

Sources

• Fine John V.A., Jr., The Late Medieval Balkans , Ass Arbor, 1987.