Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria

Who is Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria?

Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria was the daughter of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria and Kosara of Bulgaria.

Theodora Kosara fell in love with Jovan Vladimir of Doclea who was prisoner of her father Samuil. The story of Vladimir and Theodora Kosara is the subject of one of the most romantic tales of early Serbian literature.

An oral tradition of the story was recorded in the 12th century in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja; this is the Chronicle’s description of how Vladimir and Kosara met:

It came to pass that Samuel’s daughter, Cossara, was animated and inspired by a beatific soul. She approached her father and begged that she might go down with her maids and wash the head and feet of the chained captives. Her father granted her wish, so she descended and carried out her good work. Noticing Vladimir among the prisoners, she was struck by his handsome appearance, his humility, gentleness and modesty, and the fact that he was full of wisdom and knowledge of the LORD. She stopped to talk to him, and to her his speech seemed sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

So Kosara fell in love with the handsome captive, and begged her father for his hand. Samuil, having conquered lands, wanted to bind his new subjects to himself in a more cordial way, not only with the sheer force. He allowed the marriage, returned Duklja to his new son-in-law, and besides gave him the whole territory of Dyrrhachium, to rule them from that point on as his vassal.