List of Bulgarian monarchs
The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria during the medieval First (c. 680–1018) and Second (1185–1422) Bulgarian empires, as well as during the modern Principality (1879–1908) and Kingdom (1908–1946) of Bulgaria. This list includes monarchs from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire until modern times, omitting earlier mythical rulers as well as rulers of separate states such as Old Great Bulgaria and Volga Bulgaria.
Tsar of the Bulgarians
c. 680
15 September 1946
Various historically
Tsarevets (1185–1393)
Royal Palace (1882–1946)
Variously hereditary or elective
Various titles have been used by the rulers of Bulgaria. The earliest recorded title, used before Bulgaria's conversion to Christianity, is kanasubigi, which is an earlier form of the title knyaz. When Bulgaria converted to Christianity in the ninth century, the ruler Boris I (852–889) was using the title knyaz (prince).[1] For much of its later history under the first and second empires, Bulgaria functioned as a multi-ethnic imperial state modelled on the neighbouring Byzantine Empire,[2] which contributed to the adoption of the title of tsar (emperor) by Bulgarian monarchs beginning with Simeon I (893–927) in 913.[3] Some powerful medieval Bulgarian rulers challenged Byzantine authority by proclaiming themselves as both Bulgarian and Roman emperors.[4]
When Bulgaria re-emerged as a state in 1878 in the form of the Principality of Bulgaria, the rulers initially used the title knyaz since they were autonomous vassals of the Ottoman Empire and not fully independent.[5] From Bulgaria's complete independence from the Ottomans in 1908 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1946, Bulgarian monarchs once more used the title tsar,[6] though this time generally translated internationally as "king" rather than "emperor".[6][7]