Symeon II Prienensis, Bulgarian Tsar

Symeon II (1198-1226) was the third and last Bulgarian Tsar of the Prienensid dynasty, ruling Bulgaria from 1210 until 1226.

The second son of the Armeno-Roman general John of Priene who had taken the throne as Tsar Ivan I, Symeon had come to power unexpectedly following the deposition of his older brother Ivan II at the hands of the Bulgarian aristocracy, who resented their foreign rulers. A brief interregnum followed, in which there was a standoff between the native nobles (Boyars), and the army, who largely supported the memory of John of Priene. In the end, a compromise was agreed, with the twelve year old Symeon being restored to the throne and married off to Anna, the daughter of one of the most powerful boyars. For Symeon's first six years as Tsar, power was held by a regency council made up of twelve boyars.

Symeon was something of a weak figure, and generally was dominated by the aristocracy even after his minority ended. He ruled in his own right for ten years, and in that time Bulgaria was largely peaceful, although there were flares of religious trouble in 1219 and again in 1223, when bishops protested the Bulgarian Tsar's allegiance to the Latin-speaking Parisian Patriarchate.

In 1226 Symeon died while hunting, at the age of just twenty eight. He left no male heirs behind him: despite nine pregnancies, his wife Anna had only produced two surviving children, both daughters. The ensuing conflict, known as the War of the Bulgarian Succession, would tear apart the Tsardom and end the Prienensid dynasty in the male line.