Alexius Slav

He married the daughter of Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders in November 1208, leaving the Bulgarian capital of Veliko Tarnovo and establishing himself as an independent ruler over the largest part of the Rhodope Mountains.

Henry promised to support his aspirations for the Bulgarian throne and awarded Alexius Slav the title of despot.

In 1211, he fought against Boril together with the Despotate of Epirus, extending the territory of his state and capturing the fortress of Melnik, where he moved his capital from Tsepina in 1215, and became an autocrat.

Despot Alexius Slav is also known to have issued a charter donating a feudal possession to the nearby Monastery of the Mother of God Speliotissa in 1220.

Some scholars link him to the stolnik Slav from a later ring inscription unearthed in Tarnovo, but this identification is unreliable according to historian Ivan Bozhilov.