Prince of Tarnovo

In the 14th century as the Byzantine Empire weakened Tarnovo claimed to be the Third Rome based on its pre-eminent cultural influence in the Balkans and the Slavic Orthodox world.

In 1393 after vigorous resistance to a 3-month siege Turnovo was seized and the whole Bulgarian Tsardom was destroyed by the invading Ottoman Empire.

The Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman moved his residence to the castle of Nikopol but took the title Prince of Tarnovo (Lord of Tarnovo, Bulgarian: Господин Търновски, Gospodin Tarnovski).

In 1593 a Bulgarian noble and a descendant of the medieval Shishman dynasty, Theodore Ballina of Nikopol took the title 'Prince of Tarnovo'.

In 1686 Rostislav Stratimirovic, another descendant of the dynasty and the leader of the Second Tarnovo Uprising, also took the title.