Sarah-theodora

Sarah-Theodora

Sarah, Theodora or Sarah-Theodora is the name that the second wife of Tsar (Emperor) Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (ruled 1331–1371) is known under nowadays. There are some Greek and French sources claiming her to be a daughter of a Venetian banker. Sources agree that she was Jewish, having lived with her family in the Jewish Neighbourhood in Tarnovo. Ivan Alexander divorced his wife of many years, Theodora of Wallachia, who was forced to become a nun, and Sarah converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, accepted the name Theodora and soon became the Tsar’s second consort. Their marriage took place in the late 1340s.