Ivan Vladislav VON BULGARIEN

Ivan Vladislav (Bulgarian: Иван Владислав) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of His birth is unknown, but he was born at least about a decade Before 987.

He was the ancestor of the Aaronios family.

Ivan Vladislav was the son of Aron, the brother of Emperor Samuel (Samuil) of Bulgaria. In 987 Samuel ordered his brother Aron executed for treason together with his entire family. The massacre was survived only by Aron's son Ivan Vladislav, who was saved through the intercession of His cousin, Samuel's son Gabriel Radomir.

What happened with Ivan Vladislav during the subsequent decades is unknown, but in 1015 he was induced by Byzantine agents to murder his cousin Gabriel Radomir, while the latter was hunting near Ostrovo (Arnissa), and seize the Bulgarian throne. Ivan Vladislav took steps to ensure his positions against potential rivals, and in 1016 lured and murdered Prince Vladimir of Zeta, who was married to Gabriel Radomir's sister Theodora (Kosara).

Although Ivan Vladislav had entered into negotiations with the Byzantine Emperor Basil II, he quickly began to follow the determined policy of His predecessors to resist the ongoing Byzantine conquest. Ivan Vladislav restored the fortifications of Bitola in 1015 and survived an assassination plot undertaken by Byzantine agents. Although the Byzantines sacked Ohrid, they failed to take Pernik, they were defeated in the battle of Bitola and received troubling intelligence that Ivan Vladislav was attempting to induce the Pechenegs to come to his aid, followingup the general practice of His predecessors.

While Byzantine armies had penetrated deep into Bulgaria in 1016, Ivan Vladislav was able to rally his forces. In 1017 the Bulgarians were defeated in the battle of Setina but the war ended only when Vladislav was killed before the walls of Dyrrhachium in the winter of 1018. After his death much of the Bulgarian nobility and court, including his widow Maria, submitted to the advancing Basil II in exchange of Guarantees for the preservation of their lives, status, and property. A faction of the nobles and the army rallied around Ivan Vladislav's eldest sons and continued to resist for several months until it was forced to submit.

By his wife Maria, Ivan Vladislav had several children, including:

Presian II, who briefly succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1018

Aron, Byzantine general

Alusian, who was briefly emperor of Bulgaria in 1041

Trayan. Father of Maria of Bulgaria, who married Andronikos Doukas.

Catherine (Ekaterina), who married the future Byzantine Emperor Isaac I Komnenos

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