List of Bulgarian monarchs

The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria during the medieval First ( 681–1018) and Second (1185–1396) Bulgarian empires, as well as during the modern Principality (1878–1908) and Tsardom(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.

Various titles have been used by the rulers of Bulgaria. The only recorded title, used before Bulgaria's conversion to Christianity, is kanasubigi, likely meaning "Khan, Lord of the Army" or "the sublime Khan". When Bulgaria converted to Christianity in the ninth century, the ruler Boris I (852–889) was using the title knyaz (prince). which contributed to the adoption of the title of tsar (emperor) by Bulgarian monarchs beginning with Simeon I (893–927) in 913.

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.

Upon his conversion to Christianity in 864/865, Boris I (852–889) adopted the new ruling title knyaz, generally translated as "prince" (though sometimes alternatively as "king"). This title was used by the Bulgarian rulers until 913, when the knyaz Simeon I (893–927), Boris I's son, invaded the Byzantine Empire. Simeon aspired to make Bulgaria into the new "universal monarchy" (a role the Byzantines viewed themselves as having) by absorbing and replacing the empire centered in Constantinople. Due to the threat presented by Simeon, who reached the walls of Constantinople, the Byzantines relented and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nicholas Mystikos, granted him an imperial crown. The only other monarch recognized as a basileus (i.e. emperor) by the Byzantines was (at times) the Holy Roman emperor. The Byzantines did not consider Simeon as outranking their own emperors and designated him as the "Emperor of the Bulgarians". Simeon himself used the grander title "Emperor of the Bulgarians and the Romans".

Bulgarian rulers from the death of Simeon I in 927 until the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire in 1018 used the simpler "Emperor of the Bulgarians", ceasing to claim Byzantium's universal monarchy. The second empire's third ruler, Kaloyan (1196–1207), adopted the grander title "Emperor of Bulgarians and Vlachs" (imperator Bulgarorum et Blachorum). He unsuccessfully sought recognition of this title from the Papacy, though Pope Innocent III merely recognized him as "King of the Bulgarians and Vlachs" (rex Bulgarorum et Blachorum), not wishing to recognize any other emperor than the Holy Roman emperor. His extended title was later revived by Ivan Alexander (1331–1371), who also proclaimed himself as the "Emperor and Autocrat of the Bulgarians and Greeks" Ivan Alexander's son Ivan Shishman (1371–1395) is also recorded to have used this extended imperial title. Although tsar had been understood as equivalent to emperor in medieval times,

Names and regnal numbers

thumb|[[Alexander of Battenberg|Alexander I (1879–1886) was the first Bulgarian monarch to officially use a regnal number|upright=0.7]]

Regnal numbers for monarchs have only been officially used in Bulgaria in modern times, beginning with Alexander I in 1879. Asparuh's family, the Dulo clan, claimed descent from the Hunnic ruler Attila, through Attila's son Ernak.

!Fine (1991):

!Morby (2014):

!Detrez (2014):

!Curta (2019):

|Asparuh (668–695)

|Asparuh (670s–701)

|Asparuh (681–c.701)

|Asparuh (680–700)

|Asparuh (641–701)

|Asparuh (681–c.700)

|Tervel (695–714)

|Tervel (701–718)

|Tervel (c.701–c.718)

|Tervel (700–721)

|Tervel (701–718)

|Tervel (c.700–721)

|anonymous (714–715)

|Kormesiy (715–721)

|Unknown (718–725)

|Kormisosh (721–738)

|Unknown (718–c.725)

|Kormisosh (721–738)

|Sevar (721–737)

|Sevar (725–739)

|Sevar (c.718–750)

|Sevar (738–753)

|Sevar (c.725–739)

|Sevar (738–753/4)

|Kormisosh (737–754)

|Kormisosh (739–756)

|Kormisosh (750–762)

|Kormisosh (739–756)

|Vineh (754–760)

|Vineh (756–c.761)

|Vineh and

|Vineh (753–760)

|Vineh (756–762)

|Vineh (753/4–760)

|Telets (760–763)

|Telets (c.761–c.764)

|Telets (762–763)

|Telets (760–763)

|Telets (762–765)

|Telets (760–763)

|Sabin (763–765)

|Sabin (c.764–767)

|Sabin (763–766)

|Sabin (765–767)

|Sabin (763–766)

|Umor (765)

|Umor (767)

|Umor (763)

|Umor (766)

|Umor (767)

|Umor (766)

|Toktu (765–766)

|Toktu (767–c.769)

|Pagan (763–765)

|Toktu (766–767)

|Toktu (767–772)

|Toktu (766–767)

|Pagan (766–767)

|Pagan (c.770)

|Toktu (765)

|Pagan (767–768)

|Pagan (772/3)

|Pagan (767–768)

|Telerig (767–777)

|Telerig (c.770–777)

|Telerig (765?–777)

|Telerig (768–777)

|Telerig (772/3–777)

|Telerig (768–777)

|Kardam (777–803)

|Kardam (777–c.803)

|Kardam (777?–c.803)

|Kardam (777–803)

|Kardam (777–802)

|Kardam (777–803)

House of Krum (803–997)

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center;"

|- style="background:#D4F2CE;"

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:6%;" | Image

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:18%" | Name

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:14%;" | Reign

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:62%;" | Succession and notes

|80px

|Krum Крум

| 803?–814 (c. 11-17 years)

|Possibly a descendant of the Dulo clan. Krum may have ascended the throne as early as 796/7. Successful warrior and conqueror; defeated the Avars and incorporated parts of Transylvania and eastern Serbia into Bulgaria. Replaced customary law in Bulgaria with written legislation. Most known for his wars against the Byzantine Empire. In 811 his forces defeated and killed Emperor Nikephoros I at the Battle of Pliska, whereafter the emperor's skull was fashioned into a drinking cup. Died suddenly while preparing a campaign intended to conquer Constantinople. Дукум

|style="background:#E6E6E6;" |possibly 814 (briefly)

|style="background:#E6E6E6;" |Brother of Krum. Possibly seized the throne after Krum's death but died almost immediately,

|style="background:#E6E6E6;" |

|style="background:#E6E6E6;" |Ditzeng

|80px

|Omurtag Омуртаг

|814/815 Signed a 30-year peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire in 815. Under pressure from the Byzantine emperor Michael III,

|80px

|Peter I Петър

|927–969 (42 years)

|Son of Simeon I. Considered a saint in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Contended with invasions by the Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. Power in Bulgaria fell to a group of four nobles, the cometopuli brothers, who upheld the rights of Boris while he was held prisoner. Captured by the Byzantines again in 991 and died in captivity six years later.

House of Cometopuli (997–1018)

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center;"

|- style="background:#D4F2CE;"

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:6%;" | Image

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:18%" | Name

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:14%;" | Reign

! style="background:#D4F2CE; width:62%;" | Succession and notes

|80px

|Samuel Самуил

|997–1014 (17 years)

|The youngest of the cometopuli, the sons of a noble named Nicholas. Samuel and his brothers had some relation to the preceding royal dynasty, One of the primary Bulgarian military leaders from 971 onwards and proclaimed emperor after Roman's death.

| colspan="4" style="background: #93C572; text-align: center;" | Bulgaria was conquered by the Byzantine Empire in the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria (968–1018), resulting in the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire

Pretenders during Byzantine rule (1018–1185)

Various Byzantine military governors (with the title strategos) were appointed in formerly Bulgarian lands over the course of the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, from the 970s onwards. Following the completion of the conquest of Bulgaria in 1018, Emperor Basil II organized much of the central Balkans into the Theme of Bulgaria, which was governed by an imperially appointed official titled (depending on the time) as the doux (duke) or katepano of Bulgaria. The capital of Byzantine Bulgaria was Skopion (modern-day Skopje).

| style="background:#E6E6E6;" |80px

| style="background:#E6E6E6;" |Peter Delyan