A Queen of Many Kingdoms: The Autobiography of Rayna Knyaginya (1877)
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The name Rayna Knyaginya means Queen Rayna, but this woman was just a teacher in a provincial town on the South of the Balkan mountain. She wrote her life- story, entitled The autobiography of the Bulgarian teacher Rayna Popgeorgieva, called by the Turks the Bulgarian Queen Rayna (1877). Besides the use of autobiography as means for self-creation, there are other premises for the creation of the myth of Queen Rayna. The Bulgarian literary history of the mid 19th century reminds us of a sentimental novel and drama which promoted the character of the medieval Bulgarian Queen Rayna who, according to the plot of these literary pieces, was part of Bulgarian royal history from the 11th century. Literature helped in the creation of the model of this charismatic woman-leader who became a provincial school-teacher with the same first name - Rayna.