The despotate was formed after Ivan Alexander became the despot, most likely being appointed due to Lovech being a major town that controlled commercial passage through the Stara Planina passes, and the migration of intellectuals to Moldavia and Wallachia, due to Ottoman conquests.

The despot also made a great contribution towards stopping the Serbian advance, although Bulgaria still lost the Battle of Velbazhd.

[4] He gradually won trust to become the elected Tsar of Bulgaria in 1331, after Ivan Stefan was driven out by a coup d'état, and the conspirators placed him on the throne.

Despite his early years of success, his later decisions, such as splitting the empire among his sons in 1356, left the Bulgarian states to face outside powers politically divided and weakened, contributing to the fall of the despotate.

The Turkish traveller Kâtip Çelebi testified the late conquest of Lovech.