Ivan Stephen of Bulgaria

Ivan Stefan (Bulgarian: Иван Стефан; in English also John Stephen) (died after 1339 or 1343 and before 1357) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria for eight months from 1330 to 1331.

He was the eldest surviving son of Emperor Michael Asen III "Šišman" and his first wife Ana ("Ana-Neda"), a daughter of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin of Serbia.^[1][2] According to an early interpretation of a rare coin type, it was believed that after his father's accession to the throne in 1323, Ivan Stefan was briefly associated as co-emperor; when Michael Asen III divorced Ana to marry Theodora Palaiologina, the daughter of Byzantine emperor Michael IX Palaiologos, in 1324, Ivan Stephen would have lost this position, as he was exiled along with his mother and brothers.^[3] However, recent studies have cast doubt on Ivan Stephen's supposed association on the throne, considering the coinage in question a posthumous commemorative issue by either Ivan Stephen or his cousin Ivan Alexander, legitimizing the new monarch advertising his association with Michael Asen III.^[4] Moreover, it appears that Ivan Stephen's brother Michael was older, and was at one time intended as heir, with the title of despotes.^[5]