Michael Shishman of Bulgaria

Michael Asen III, "Michael Shishman"
Coin of Michael Shishman
Tsar of Bulgaria
Reign	1323–1330
Predecessor	George II
Successor	Ivan Stephen
Born	after 1280
Died	31 July 1330 Velbazhd
Burial	Church of St. George, Staro Nagoričane
Spouse	Anna Neda Theodora Palaiologina
Issue	Ivan Stephen Michael Shishman Lodovico
House	Shishman dynasty
Father	Shishman of Vidin
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy

Michael Asen III (Bulgarian: Михаил Асен III, Mihail Asen III, commonly called Michael Shishman (Михаил Шишман, Mihail Šišman)),^[a] ruled as tsar of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292. He was the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Shishman dynasty. After he was crowned, however, Michael used the name Asen to emphasize his connection with the Asen dynasty, the first one to rule over the Second Empire.

An energetic and ambitious ruler, Michael Shishman led an aggressive but opportunistic and inconsistent foreign policy against the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia, which ended in the disastrous Battle of Velbazhd that claimed his own life. He was the last medieval Bulgarian ruler who aimed at military and political hegemony of the Bulgarian Empire over the Balkans and the last one who attempted to seize Constantinople. He was succeeded by his son Ivan Stephen and later by his nephew Ivan Alexander, who reversed Michael Shishman's policy by forming an alliance with Serbia.^[1]