Manasses Chronicle, fol. 2r, Slavonic (Bulgaria), 1345
Cod. Vat. Slav. II, Vatican Library
After Istoriia na Bulgariia, vol. 3, Vtora bulgarska durzhava (Sofia, 1982), 335

This illumination combines two events, the funeral of the royal prince and the delivery of his soul to heaven. Below, Prince Ivan Asen is depicted lying on an ornate funeral bier, wearing a crown and imperial garments with purple shoes. Patriarch of Turnovo, clergy, and Ivan Asen’s father, Tsar Ivan Alexander, gather around the prince’s head. His mother, Theodora, and his wife, Princess Irina, sister of John V Palaiologos, bend over his body in sorrow. At the feet of the corpse, an angel holds the prince’s scepter and a sphere. Above the scene, the soul of Prince Ivan is carried by an angel to the open gates of heaven.

DEATH OF CLERGY, MONKS, AND LAYMEN