Tsar John Alexander stood at Bulgaria’s helm from 1331 to 1371. It was during his rule that the country was given some breathing space, He was not lucky in the wars he waged but neither did he suffer any particular defeat. Bulgarian territories were part of international trade. There was a special “Frankish” neighbourhood in the capital inhabited by foreign merchants. Jews who had probably come a century or two before that from Byzantium also lived separately. The most active merchants were those from Ragusa /Dubrovnik/, on the Adriatic Sea, who crossed the peninsula far and wide. As the items they imported and exported were interesting, the tsar had given them special grants specifying their privileges.

John Alexander has remained in history with several deeds – some positive, some negative. As if sensing its imminent terrible end, Bulgarian culture embarked upon a short but energetic period of prosperity. The cream of society engaged in intellectual arguments and there was a powerful influence of some Byzantine philosophical and theological schools. Manuscripts were copied and illuminated in the capital Tarnovo and the surrounding monasteries. Churches decorated with murals in the style of Byzantine-born canons were built in the towns. The ruler donated entire villages to provide the monks with a living and deflect their eyes from worldly affairs.

The Tetraevangelion of Tsar John Alexander-14th century.
The official portrait of John Alexander’s family allows one to see how the elite of Bulgarian society dressed in those times. Since the time of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, high society fashion was dictated by Constantinople. On state occasions Tsar Simeon donned a mantle embroidered with pearls and held by a velvet sash, a gold necklace and a sword hanging from his belt, the mandatory attribute of aristocratic dress in those ages. Rich Byzantine-style dress remained obligatory for the aristocracy. In the 14th century a boyar bought a mantle for his wife decorated with rare furs, a fur coat, and velvet bonnet for which he paid 182 gold coins. In comparison, a group of stevedores who had unloaded a ship laden with hides, were paid only (the equivalent of) two and a half gold coins for their work. Alas, we have no portraits of ordinary laymen. We know the men wore clothes of coarse cloth or leather, narrow trousers, sandals tied over leggings and fur caps on their heads, as well as a type of thick matted overcoat in winter. On festive days the women donned long linen dresses decorated with embroidery. Regardless of their fortune they all loved jewellery: even the poorest wore_ glass and copper trinkets. There are but a few remaining samples of that culture. One of the most significant of these is the so-called Tetraevangelion of Tsar John Alexander, currently kept at the British Museum in London. It is richly written and decorated in the best traditions of Eastern Orthodox art. Like in Les Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry the illuminations indicate both the heavenly and the earthly bounty and temptations. The portrait of the tzar and his family is a masterpiece of medieval art.From the point of view of a contemporary, this group portrait revealed much more than the sovereign had probably desired, not the least because of the absence of his children from the first marriage. The second marriage was outright scandalous. John Alexander had already reached a respectable age when he succumbed to a passion not unusual in the royal families of Europe. He fell in love and desired a Jewish maiden he had seen when he chanced to pass through the Jewish neighbourhood in his capital. Nothing unusual so far. The same thing had happened in England, Spain, and France. It was the outcome of that love that was strange. Blinded by passion and maybe by love, the sovereign sent his wife away, made young Sarah convert to Christianity, and married her. When his young wife gave birth to a son, the elderly father, it seems, went mad with joy. He denied his first-born son from the first marriage the right to inherit the throne of Tarnovo, and gave him instead the lands of Northwestern Bulgaria around Vidin.The offended first-born John Sratsimir broke relations with his father and sovereign, and practically became an independent ruler. Thus the kingdom of Tarnovo lost its direct routes to Central Europe. To top it all, Northeastern Bulgaria, governed by a boyar family of Bulgarian-Cuman descent, also split from the central authority. The founder of the local dynasty, Balik, and his son Dobrotitsa (after whom the region now called Dobrudja was named) maintained a lively trade with the Italian city states. They also concluded agreements with Ragusa and Genoa and built their own fleet.

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