caption father dynasty predecessor successor mother death_date religion title spouse issue image article_title name reign
portrait tetraevangelia of ivan alexander of the tsar from the medieval manuscript , sracimir of krǎn Šišman -lrb- sracimir branch -rrb- ivan stefan ivan Šišman of bulgaria ivan sracimir of bulgaria keratsa petritsa 17 february 1371 eastern orthodox tsar of bulgaria theodora of wallachia sarah -lrb- theodora -rrb- '' see below '' ivan alexander.jpg ivan alexander of bulgaria
 ivan alexander Иван Александър 1331 & nbsp ; -- 17 february 1371
ivan alexander of bulgaria

ivan alexander -lrb- , transliterated `` ivan aleksandǎr '' ; pronounced ; original spelling : ІѠАНЪ АЛЄѮАНдРЪ -rrb- , also sometimes anglicized as john alexander , ruled as emperor -lrb- `` tsar '' -rrb- of bulgaria from 1331 to 1371 , during the second bulgarian empire .
the date of his birth is unknown .
he died on 17 february 1371 .
the long reign of ivan alexander is considered a transitional period in bulgarian medieval history .
ivan alexander began his rule by dealing with internal problems and external threats from bulgaria 's neighbours , the byzantine empire and serbia , as well as leading his empire into a period of economic recovery and cultural and religious renaissance .
however , the emperor was later unable to cope with the mounting incursions of ottoman forces , hungarian invasions from the northwest and the black death .
in an ill-fated attempt to combat these problems , he divided the country between his two sons , thus forcing it to face the imminent ottoman conquest weakened and divided .
