The armistice between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines did not last long. As soon as Ivanica, now called Kalojan, managed to escape from Constantinople and returned to his homeland, the struggle for liberation began again. First, the brothers asked Frederick Barbarossa that the Bulgarian state be recognized by the other states, promising the leader of the third crusade (1189) that crossed the Balkan peninsula an army of 40,000 men, between Bulgarians and Kumani. Federico Barbarossa did not take this proposal seriously; but the Bulgarians were indeed so strong that, when Isaac II resumed the war against them, they suffered a great defeat in one of the Balkan passes, in 1190. This victory definitively established the power of King Asen I (1187-1196), who carried out his liberation work towards the south as far as Plovdiv and Adrianople; then also towards the west up to Sofia and Niš (1194). Emperor Alexius III Angelo (1195-1203) tried to resolve the issue in a peaceful way. But the conditions proposed by Asen I thwarted his plan. The war was resumed, and Asen I arrived near Seres, devastating the regions of Struma and Amphipolis. Unfortunately, he could not make the liberation, since, on his return from the last battle, he was killed by his nephew, the executioner Ivanko, instigated by the boyars, averse to Asen, and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors. emperor Alexius III Angelo (1195-1203) tried to resolve the issue in a peaceful way. But the conditions proposed by Asen I thwarted his plan. The war was resumed, and Asen I arrived near Seres, devastating the regions of Struma and Amphipolis. Unfortunately, he could not make the liberation, since, on his return from the last battle, he was killed by his nephew, the executioner Ivanko, instigated by the boyars, averse to Asen, and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors. emperor Alexius III Angelo (1195-1203) tried to resolve the issue in a peaceful way. But the conditions proposed by Asen I thwarted his plan. The war was resumed, and Asen I arrived near Seres, devastating the regions of Struma and Amphipolis. Unfortunately, he could not make the liberation, since, on his return from the last battle, he was killed by his nephew, the executioner Ivanko, instigated by the boyars, averse to Asen, and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors. The war was resumed, and Asen I arrived near Seres, devastating the regions of Struma and Amphipolis. Unfortunately, he could not make the liberation, since, on his return from the last battle, he was killed by his nephew, the executioner Ivanko, instigated by the boyars, averse to Asen, and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors. The war was resumed, and Asen I arrived near Seres, devastating the regions of Struma and Amphipolis. Unfortunately, he could not make the liberation, since, on his return from the last battle, he was killed by his nephew, the executioner Ivanko, instigated by the boyars, averse to Asen, and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors. and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors. and by the Byzantines who promised him the throne. Ivanko took over Tărnovo, but not the throne; for he was forced to flee from Peter’s army. Also assassinated, his brother Kalojan was appointed king, because the sons of Asen I the elder were still minors.
King Kalojan (1197-1207) is the true creator of the second Bulgarian kingdom. After gaining the Macedonian voivode Dobromir Hriz, the executioner Ivanko, who after his flight to Byzantium had received the government of the Philippopolis region from the emperor, and the governor of the Smoleni region, Ivan Spiridonaki, in 1201 Kalojan undertook a open war that ended with a peace treaty, according to which Alexius III officially recognized the independence of the renewed Bulgarian kingdom. Meanwhile, Kalojan, already at the end of 1199, had turned to Rome so that the new situation of his state was recognized and blessed, promising obedience to the Holy See, asking for himself the title of king and the title of patriarch for the archbishop of Tărnovo . The negotiations started in 1200 between Tărnovo and Rome, kral ′), not emperor (car ′, “tsar”) as Kalojan wished. And this is how the famous union with Rome arose, which, however, had only a hierarchical and canonical character, not a ritual one.
Kalojan now had to take advantage of the situation he had arrived at to defend the interests of the state and to smooth out relations with his neighbors: especially those with the Hungarian king Emeric, who, after having managed to strengthen his sovereign power over Serbia, had begun to demonstrate his discontent with the re-established Bulgarian kingdom. The enmity was further accentuated when Kalojan, already at the time of the negotiations with the pope, managed to free Pomoravia by driving out the Serbs from Niš, the Hungarians from Belgrade and Braničevo (1202). And, despite all the protests of Emeric, the discussions between him and Kalojan were resolved in favor of the latter.
The Byzantine Empire collapsed as a result of the fourth crusade. Already when the crusaders besieged Constantinople, Kalojan had taken advantage of this to liberate western Macedonia with the cities of Prizren, Skoplje, Ochrida and Ber, appointing Bulgarian bishops in place of the Greek bishops, and transferring the suspected Greeks to the Danube region of Bulgaria. But the Crusaders, after settling in Constantinople, rejected Kalojan’s proposal, which demanded that his relations with the Latin Empire be more clearly defined; instead they demanded of him, treating him as a usurper and instigator against Byzantium, a complete submission. Thus began a fierce struggle against the Latins. The Greeks of Thrace, offended, mistreated and plundered by the Crusaders, helped Kalojan, promising to recognize him as the emperor of the Greeks. Revolts broke out in the cities of Thrace, accompanied by bloody fights with the Latin garrisons; and the Bulgarians not only managed to seize the cities, but completely defeated the Latin emperor Baldwin I, making him a prisoner at Adrianople (1205). The Latin kingdom of Thessaloniki, entrusted to Bonifacio di Monferrato, was also devastated by Kalojan and the dominion of Bonifacio reduced. The situation of the Latin Empire became even more difficult after the strengthening of the Nicaea empire under the rule of Theodore I Lascaris (1204-1222); but, at the same time, Nicaea became the center of Greek national conspiracies. From there the unrest against the Bulgarian king began. As a result, the Greeks abandoned Kalojan, partly by joining the Nicei and partly by the Latins. Kalojan responded by subjecting the Greeks and Latins to cruel treatment during his advance into Thrace in 1206; and was then called the “murderer of the Greeks”. Not bent either by the advice or by the pope’s threats, Kalojan in 1207 began the war with the Latins. He defeated the emperor Henry, Baldwin’s brother, and forced him to retire to Constantinople; and, as soon as he learned of the death of Bonifacio, killed by the Bulgarians in Rodope, he appeared under the walls of Thessaloniki, besieging it. But on 8 October 1207 he was killed by one of his Kuman voivodes. and forced him to retire to Constantinople; and, as soon as he learned of the death of Bonifacio, killed by the Bulgarians in Rodope, he appeared under the walls of Thessaloniki, besieging it. But on 8 October 1207 he was killed by one of his Kuman voivodes. and forced him to retire to Constantinople; and, as soon as he learned of the death of Bonifacio, killed by the Bulgarians in Rodope, he appeared under the walls of Thessaloniki, besieging it. But on 8 October 1207 he was killed by one of his Kuman voivodes.
The successor, his nephew Boril (1207-1218), who usurped the throne, had neither the warlike spirit nor the strong character of his uncle; and therefore, as soon as he came to power, the kingdom began to fall apart. Serious defections occurred among the Bulgarians; the Hungarians again took Belgrade and Braničevo; in the fight near Plovdiv (1/17 August 1208) Boril was defeated by Henry. In vain he tried to continue the war with the Latins: his failures caused discontent in the country, which resulted in a new Bogomil movement. This developed, taking advantage of the struggle unleashed between the two parties that arose then: the antidynastic (the party of Boril) and the dynastic (the party of the partisans of the legal heirs of the throne, the brothers Ivan and Alessandro, sons of Asen, who took refuge in Russia). This the last party relied on the Bogomils. Boril, then, had the heretics persecuted, to stop the movement and save himself from his political enemies; he convened an ecclesiastical council in Tărnovo in February 1211, which hurled the anathema against the Bogomils, condemning them partly to death and partly to exile. But not even these measures saved him: the discontent, also increased by the new failures against the Latins in 1211, grew more and more, to the point of provoking a great uprising in the Vidin region. The revolt was put down with the help of the Hungarian king Andrew II (1208-1235), but the latter formally demanded, in compensation, the cession of the lands already occupied by the Hungarians, namely the regions of Belgrade and Braničevo. Foreign intervention in internal affairs shook Boril’s situation even more, and the unrest in favor of Asen’s children finally forced him to abandon the anti-Latin policy of his predecessor. With the intervention of the pope, Boril concluded the peace with Henry, to whom he married his daughter (1213). The first consequence of the Latin-Bulgarian alliance was the war of Boril and Enrico against Serbia. The outcome was fatal to the allies; the alliance with the Latin emperor did nothing to Boril, and the situation worsened even more when Henry, his only ally and support against external and internal enemies, died in 1216. Ivan and Alexander appeared with Russian companies in northern Bulgaria and they took possession of Tărnovo (1218); Boril was taken prisoner, and the boyars proclaimed Ivan Asen czar.
The policy of Ivan Asen II (1218-1241) was above all a policy of pacification within and towards the neighbors. But certain events that took place in the peninsula forced the king to depart from his line of conduct. In 1222, Theodore Comnenus occupied Thessaloniki and was proclaimed emperor, which made him a declared rival of the emperor of Nicaea, Giovanni Duke Vatatze (1222-1254); for both aspired to expel the Latins from Constantinople and to reestablish the Byzantine Empire there. Theodore, to win the friendship of the Bulgarian king in the imminent fight against Giovanni Vatatze, allied himself with him and immediately waged war against the Latins, reaching as far as the walls of Constantinople. This success induced the Latins to resort to the help of the Bulgarian tsar; and proposed to betroth their underage emperor, Baldwin II, to the daughter of Ivan Asen, Princess Elena, also a minor, on the condition that the Bulgarian ruler not only lend them a hand, but also buy back all the lands taken up until then by the emperor of Thessaloniki. This link of the Tarnovo court with that of the Latins made Ivan Asen dangerous for Theodore Comnenus; and these decided to hurry him before attacking Constantinople. But his project failed: in the fight near Klokotnica (March 9, 1230), he was defeated and taken prisoner with all his entourage: his lands, from Adrianople to the Adriatic Sea, were aggregated to Bulgaria, and only Thessaloniki and the neighboring regions, Thessaly and Epirus, were left to his brother, Manuel, with the title of despot, but under the protectorate of the Bulgarian tsar, who had now taken the ancient title of the Bulgarian sovereigns “Tsar of the Bulgarians and the Greeks”. At the same time Ivan Asen II made friends with the city of Ragusa: the merchants of this city had certain privileges from him, so that they could trade freely everywhere in his state (1231). Later, he also managed to have a very large influence in Serbia by meddling in Serbian internal struggles.
Except that the result of the victory near Klokotnica had frightened the Latins of Constantinople: they broke away from Ivan Asen and sent against him the ex-king of Jerusalem, John of Brienne, co-emperor of Constantinople together with Baldwin II, still a minor. The political marriage on which the Bulgarian king counted so much failed; the Hungarians took advantage of this state of affairs and broke the peace, eventually taking over the entire western Wallachian region (the Severin banat in the region of present-day Turnu-Severin, 1232). Ivan Asen II responded by forming an Orthodox coalition against the Catholic Empire. After having destroyed the ecclesiastical union with Rome and proclaimed the autonomy of the Bulgarian church (1235), he allied himself with Giovanni Vatatze in Gallipoli: alliance consolidated by the marriage of Ivan Asen’s daughter, Elena, with the son of Giovanni Vatatze, Theodore, and by the recognition of the autocephaly of the Bulgarian church with the patriarch at the head. The desposed Manuel also joined this alliance shortly afterwards. The purpose of the coalition was to destroy the Latin empire, drive the Latins from the peninsula and divide the Latin territories. Indeed, in 1235 and 1236, the allies seized many of the Latin lands and began to blockade Constantinople; but the excommunication that Pope Gregory IX had launched against Ivan Asen, the assault of the King of Hungary Béla IV (1235-1270), and finally the disagreements with the Nicei at the time of the division of the conquered lands and those to be conquered forced Ivan Asen II on the one hand to break the alliance with Nicaea and on the other hand to renew relations with the Latins and to support them against Nicaea. To avoid the Hungarian danger, Ivan Asen II again raised the question of union with the Roman church; but due to the lack of sincerity in his relations with the Holy See (as far as the Bogomils were concerned) his plan failed. Nevertheless, the Hungarian danger was averted due to the inability of Béla IV to carry out the plan imposed on him by the pope; and Baldwin II, frightened by the Kuman hordes that Ivan Asen II had installed on the Latin frontier, allied himself with him against Nicaea. But even the new league did not help: Ivan Asen had to abandon, before the time, the assault undertaken against Nicaea, above all because the pope more insistently instigated Béla IV to undertake a real crusade against the Bulgars, and also because the rapid conquests of the Tatars threatened his state. Therefore he changed his policy in favor of Nicaea once again and renewed the peace and alliance with John Vatatze. He was also on excellent terms with Serbia. Thus in the last years of Ivan Asen’s reign peace reigned with the neighbors.
This peace continued after the death of Ivan Asen II (1241); but his great state began to decline, especially due to the strong shock caused, under the reign of his son Koloman I (1241-1246), by the invasions of the Tatars who, returning from Dalmatia, devastated the Bulgarian lands and forced the Bulgarians to pay them a tribute. There were intense struggles between the Bulgarian parties. Koloman himself was a victim: he died suddenly and another son of Ivan Asen II, Michael Asen (1246-1256), ascended the throne. The Emperor of Nicaea Giovanni Vatatze took advantage of this change on the throne, who invaded the lands south of Rodope up to Vardar, choosing Thessaloniki as his residence; and the despot of Epirus, Michael II, who appropriated the Bulgarian lands west of Vardar, with the cities of Veles, Prilep and Ochrida. The Bulgarians were forced to make peace with Nicaea (1264). Then they also made peace with the Hungarians: a necessary peace for the Bulgarians, as their relations with the Serbs worsened. However, the greatest danger for Bulgaria was always the Nicei. Michele Asen, after the death of Giovanni Vatatze (1254), decided to take back the Bulgarian lands taken from him. But the war with Theodore II Lascaris (1254-1258), which ended with the peace of Reim (near the river Reim, currently Erkene), was almost in vain. These failures and the influence of the Russian prince Rostislav in the internal affairs of Bulgaria caused general discontent; the king was killed by his cousin Kaloman II who married the widowed queen, daughter of Rostislav, and had himself proclaimed king. But when Prince Rostislav appeared with his warriors under the walls of Tărnovo to free his daughter from the hands of the usurper, Koloman fled and disappeared. Rostislav proclaimed himself king of the Bulgarians; but the boyars of Tărnovo rose up against him and, after having handed over his daughter to him, forced him to return to his possessions.
Since Michael Asen II had left no heirs, the throne had to pass to Ivan Asen II Mico (Mizzo), son-in-law of the late king: but the boyars refused to recognize him, and instead chose Constantine (1257-1277), who ruled the region of Skoplje and was related on his mother’s side to the Serbian court. The new king, in 1261, had to withstand another assault by the Hungarians, led by the young King Stephen, who took possession of the Bulgarian fortresses along the Danube and reached the Iskăr river (some detachments of his army reached Tărnovo). The critical situation was saved by the Bulgarian executioner Jakov Svetoslav, of Russian origin, governor of the mountainous region of western Stara-Planina, who forced the Hungarians to leave Bulgaria. Then Constantine declared war on Byzantium (1263). But the Byzantines occupied all of southern Bulgaria and pushed as far as Macedonia. Constantine proved himself to be completely incapable. However, he wanted to try again a blow on Byzantium, allying himself with the Tatars. But the campaign of 1265, in which Constantine also reached Enos, did not help Bulgaria; indeed, the Bulgarian cities located on the Black Sea coast south of the Stara-Planina were lost forever, as well as the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia. In addition, Stephen from Transylvania invaded Bulgaria again in 1265 and reached Plevna, forcing Jakov Svetoslav, who had come close to the Bulgarian king, to become a true Hungarian vassal. Completely ruined by this attack, Constantine was no longer able to get up. Queen Irene died (1268), the emperor Michael Palaeologus, who wanted to earn friendship of the Bulgarians in the imminence of a war against the king of Naples Charles I of Anjou, proposed to Constantine to marry the daughter of his sister, Maria. The Bulgarian king accepted, on condition that the Palaiologos returned the Bulgarian cities on the Black Sea, Mesemvriia and Anchialos, and this was promised to him. But this condition was not respected, even after the birth of Constantine’s son, Michele. Then a new war (1272), which gave Bulgaria not only Mesemvrija and Anchialos, but also Sozopol, Agatopol and other fortresses on the sea. Ephemeral success: because, threatened by Charles of Anjou who with the support of the pope was preparing to re-establish the Latin empire, Michele Palaeologus, to reassure himself from the Bulgarians, sent the Tatar khān Nogai against them. Constantine was forced to abandon the war with Byzantium, and in 1275 it lost all the cities recently conquered. Michael Palaeologus once again tried to establish himself in Bulgaria, also through the church; but his appeal to the council of Lyons, in 1274, which required the annulment of the patriarchate of Tărnovo and the union of the Bulgarian church with the archbishopric of Ochrida, then in the hands of the Byzantines, remained unanswered. The project for the union of the Eastern church with the Western church met with the same fate. then in the hands of the Byzantines, it remained unanswered. The project for the union of the Eastern church with the Western church met with the same fate. then in the hands of the Byzantines, it remained unanswered. The project for the union of the Eastern church with the Western church met with the same fate.
Bulgaria was once again in the throes of internal unrest. Taking advantage of the king’s poor health, Queen Maria seized the throne by having her son Michael, still a minor, crowned; to consolidate power in the hands of her son, she made the highest personalities opposed to her disappear. Her first victim was the despot Jakov Svetoslav, whom she treacherously killed (1275); then many other boyars. But the tyranny of Queen Maria and the easy invasions of the Tatars who, under the instigation of the Palaeologus, did not stop plundering the north-eastern borders of Bulgaria, caused a strong discontent in the country, which gradually turned into a riot. At the head of the discontented was a heroic shepherd, Ivajlo, who, having rejected the Tatars with the crowds gathered around him, headed towards Tărnovo. Constantine opposed, but he was defeated and killed; Ivajlo was proclaimed king by the people in 1277.
Once again, Michael Palaeologus took advantage of the civil war of his neighbors: he discovered another pretender to the Bulgarian throne, the son of Mico, Ivan, and, after having him marry his daughter, sent him at the head of a Byzantine army to conquer the throne. Faced with this danger, Queen Maria tried to get close to Ivajlo, who took Tărnovo, entered as king and married the queen herself. In 1278, Ivajlo bravely rejected all the attacks of the Tatars and the Byzantines, but was unable to fight against his enemy boyars and earned, especially the most notable, by Michele Palaeologus to the cause of Ivan Mico. The city of Tărnovo stood against the king and queen Maria; and when, in 1279, the king was at war with the Tatars, the rumor of his death spread, the residents opened the doors to Ivan Mico proclaiming him king under the name of Ivan Asen III (1279-1280). But the new king showed himself without character and the power passed in fact into the hands of the boyars, among whom the special highlight was George Terter, of Kuman origin. Ivajlo, having managed to gather a new army, unexpectedly appeared before Tărnovo; he rejected the attempts undertaken by the Byzantine army sent to defend the new king, so that he had to leave the Bulgarian capital and take refuge in Constantinople. But even after the king’s flight did the boyars let Ivajlo enter Tărnovo; instead they gave power to George Terter, who was proclaimed king (1280) after the death of Ivajlo, killed by the Tatar horde of Nogai. But the new king showed himself without character and the power passed in fact into the hands of the boyars, among whom the special highlight was George Terter, of Kuman origin. Ivajlo, having managed to gather a new army, unexpectedly appeared before Tărnovo; he rejected the attempts undertaken by the Byzantine army sent to defend the new king, so that he had to leave the Bulgarian capital and take refuge in Constantinople. But even after the king’s flight did the boyars let Ivajlo enter Tărnovo; instead they gave power to George Terter, who was proclaimed king (1280) after the death of Ivajlo, killed by the Tatar horde of Nogai. But the new king showed himself without character and the power passed in fact into the hands of the boyars, among whom the special highlight was George Terter, of Kuman origin. Ivajlo, having managed to gather a new army, unexpectedly appeared before Tărnovo; he rejected the attempts undertaken by the Byzantine army sent to defend the new king, so that he had to leave the Bulgarian capital and take refuge in Constantinople. But even after the king’s flight did the boyars let Ivajlo enter Tărnovo; instead they gave power to George Terter, who was proclaimed king (1280) after the death of Ivajlo, killed by the Tatar horde of Nogai. Byzantine army sent to defend the new king, so that he had to leave the Bulgarian capital and take refuge in Constantinople. But even after the king’s flight did the boyars let Ivajlo enter Tărnovo; instead they gave power to George Terter, who was proclaimed king (1280) after the death of Ivajlo, killed by the Tatar horde of Nogai. Byzantine army sent to defend the new king, so that he had to leave the Bulgarian capital and take refuge in Constantinople. But even after the king’s flight did the boyars let Ivajlo enter Tărnovo; instead they gave power to George Terter, who was proclaimed king (1280) after the death of Ivajlo, killed by the Tatar horde of Nogai.
Giorgio Terter (1280-1291) adopted an anti-Byzantine policy and entered into alliance negotiations with Charles of Anjou; but when the Tatars, sent by Michael Palaeologus, again poured into Bulgaria, Terter was unable to resist them and was forced to make peace with Michael VIII’s successor, Andronicus II (1282-1328). At the same time, the Bulgarian king gave his daughter Anna as wife to the Serbian king Uroš II Milutin (1284). But neither the peace with Byzantium, nor the kinship with the Serbian court saved Bulgaria from the Tatars. In 1285, the khān Nogai sent 10,000 men to subdue Bulgaria; to save the throne and to avoid the assault, George Terter was forced to recognize himself as a Tatar vassal and to give his daughter in marriage to Nogai’s son, Čaka. This impotence of the Bulgarian king caused the collapse of the state. Several voivodeship governors of regions broke away from the kingdom and became autonomous: in the Braničevo region the two brothers Dărman and Kudělin; in that of Bdin (now Vidin), Ivan Šišman; in that of Krăn (near present-day Kazanlik) Terter’s brother, Eltimir; in that of Srednja Gora and to the south, along the Topolnica river, the 3 boyar brothers: Smilec, Radoslav, Voisil. Left alone, George Terter was unable to wage a fight against the khān Nogai, who invaded Bulgaria again in 1292. Then he left the state and went to take refuge with Andronicus II. Nogai entered Tărnovo and had Smilek (1292-1298) proclaimed king, who recognized the power of the Tatar khān and became his vassal, although his wife was the niece of the emperor of Byzantium. Nothing is known of his reign: he lived in peace with his neighbors and died at the end of 1298, leaving no heirs. At his death, the boyars did not decide to choose a new king without the consent of the khān Nogai; after Nogai’s death and the destruction of his state (1299), his son Čaka claimed the Bulgarian throne as Nogai’s son and Terter’s son-in-law. At the end of 1299 he was proclaimed king in Tărnovo, but shortly after his brother-in-law Svetoslav, who had introduced him to Bulgaria, dethroned him, had him beheaded and took the throne. his son Čaka claimed the Bulgarian throne as Nogai’s son and Terter’s son-in-law. At the end of 1299 he was proclaimed king in Tărnovo, but shortly after his brother-in-law Svetoslav, who had introduced him to Bulgaria, dethroned him, had him beheaded and took the throne. his son Čaka claimed the Bulgarian throne as Nogai’s son and Terter’s son-in-law. At the end of 1299 he was proclaimed king in Tărnovo, but shortly after his brother-in-law Svetoslav, who had introduced him to Bulgaria, dethroned him, had him beheaded and took the throne.
Thus ended the Tatar domination in Bulgaria; and the new king, Theodore Svetoslav (1301-1321), turned his gaze to Byzantium. Andronicus II continued to meddle in the internal affairs of Bulgaria, encouraging several pretenders to the Bulgarian throne. However, Svetoslav was able to resolve the difficulties; and later, taking advantage of the critical situation of the Empire, due to the rapid successes of the Ottoman Turks in Asia Minor, and to the mad policy of the emperor towards the Catalan army, he undertook an offensive against Byzantium in 1305, seizing several fortresses in south of the eastern Balkans and reaching Adrianople. The war, which lasted from 1306 to 1307, not always successfully, ended with the peace of Sozopol in 1308: according to it, all of Svetoslav’s conquests became his property and Andronicus II agreed to give his niece, Theodora, to the Bulgarian king (the marriage, however, took place only in 1320). The pact was respected until the death of King Svetoslav; and he was also able to maintain good relations with the Serbs. Thus, from 1308 to 1321, Svetoslav was able to devote himself exclusively to internal activities, especially to the economic improvement of the state, endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and his grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, whom he decided in vain to free from his grandson. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio. to the Bulgarian king (the marriage, however, took place only in 1320). The pact was respected until the death of King Svetoslav; and he was also able to maintain good relations with the Serbs. Thus, from 1308 to 1321, Svetoslav was able to devote himself exclusively to internal activities, especially to the economic improvement of the state, endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and his grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, whom he decided in vain to free from his grandson. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio. to the Bulgarian king (the marriage, however, took place only in 1320). The pact was respected until the death of King Svetoslav; and he was also able to maintain good relations with the Serbs. Thus, from 1308 to 1321, Svetoslav was able to devote himself exclusively to internal activities, especially to the economic improvement of the state, endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and his grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, whom he decided in vain to free from his grandson. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio. and he was also able to maintain good relations with the Serbs. Thus, from 1308 to 1321, Svetoslav was able to devote himself exclusively to internal activities, especially to the economic improvement of the state, endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and his grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, whom he decided in vain to free from his grandson. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio. and he was also able to maintain good relations with the Serbs. Thus, from 1308 to 1321, Svetoslav was able to devote himself exclusively to internal activities, especially to the economic improvement of the state, endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and his grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, whom he decided in vain to free from his grandson. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio. endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and the Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. Finally he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, who he decided in vain to free from his nephew. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio. endeavoring to maintain commercial relations with the Venetians and the Genoese who dominated trade on the Black Sea. Finally he got involved in the struggle between his grandfather and grandson (Andronicus II and Andronicus III) in Byzantium, in favor of the old emperor, who he decided in vain to free from his nephew. Shortly after he died (1321), leaving the throne to his only son Giorgio.
George Terter II (1321-1323) inherited from his father the warlike character, but did not follow his policy towards Byzantium. When the fight between grandfather and grandson began again in 1322, the Bulgarian king invaded the Byzantine territory, taking possession of various fortresses on the border and of the city of Philippopolis, advancing towards Adrianople. But here he was defeated by his nephew Andronicus. In 1323 he suddenly died without heirs. His death put an end to the Terter dynasty and was the cause of an interregnum, which all the towns between Mesemvrija and Slivno took advantage of to break away from Bulgaria and voluntarily join Byzantium. At the same time, from Constantinople the governor of this region was sent Voisil, brother of King Smilec, who shortly afterwards added to the Byzantine dominions the territory west of Slivno up to Kopsis: he thus became master of the whole south-Balkan region, as a feudal lord of the Byzantine emperor, under the name of “despot of the Mesî”. Philippopolis remained in Bulgarian hands, but it too was besieged; and during the siege Voisil, encouraged by his nephew Andronicus, crossed the Balkans, heading towards Tǎrnovo, with the aim of entering and seizing the Bulgarian throne. The boyars had already chosen as king Prince Michael, son of Šišman prince of Bdin, who was proclaimed king in Tărnovo in 1324. Enterprising and very daring, the new king reigned from 1324 to 1330, under the name of Michael III Šišman; and was the first of the Bulgarian Šišman dynasty. Immediately suppressed his rival Voisil, he united his lands and the Srednja Gora region with the Bulgarian state; then he moved on to Thrace. Andronicus the nephew allied himself with the Bulgarians. The pact was not respected; but having ascended to the Constantinopolitan throne Andronicus III (1328-1341), the alliance against Serbia was again agreed.
However, without waiting for the arrival of the promised Byzantine army, in the summer of 1330 Michael III undertook an advance against the Serbs, who, led by Stefano Dečanski and his son Stephen Dušan, suddenly attacked the army Bulgarian (28 June 1330), destroyed it near Velbužd (now Kjustendil) and killed the king. The boyars negotiated the peace, agreeing to entrust the throne to the first wife of Michael III, divorced and expelled, the Serbian princess Anna, with her minor children, Ivan Stefano and Šišman. When Andronicus III experienced the catastrophe near Velbužd, he interrupted the advance and returned to Byzantium, taking advantage of the critical situation in Bulgaria to take possession of some fortresses along the southern Bulgarian border. The reign of Queen Anne and her son Ivan Stefano (1330-1331) was short: following a revolution, the son of Michael III’s sister, Ivan Aleksander (1331-1371), who immediately wanted to take back the cities, ascended the Bulgarian throne. taken by Andronicus III. Repressed, with the help of the Tatars, a rebellion that broke out in the western part of Bulgaria, Aleksander continued the war against Byzantium, which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again. following a revolution, the son of Michael III’s sister Ivan Aleksander (1331-1371) ascended the Bulgarian throne, who immediately wanted to take back the cities taken by Andronicus III. Repressed, with the help of the Tatars, a rebellion that broke out in the western part of Bulgaria, Aleksander continued the war against Byzantium, which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again. following a revolution, the son of Michael III’s sister Ivan Aleksander (1331-1371) ascended the Bulgarian throne, who immediately wanted to take back the cities taken by Andronicus III. Repressed, with the help of the Tatars, a rebellion that broke out in the western part of Bulgaria, Aleksander continued the war against Byzantium, which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again. who immediately wanted to take back the cities taken by Andronicus III. Repressed, with the help of the Tatars, a rebellion that broke out in the western part of Bulgaria, Aleksander continued the war against Byzantium, which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again. who immediately wanted to take back the cities taken by Andronicus III. Repressed, with the help of the Tatars, a rebellion that broke out in the western part of Bulgaria, Aleksander continued the war against Byzantium, which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again. which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again. which ended the peace of Russocastro (1332). For it, all the cities of the peninsula occupied by the emperor were surrendered to Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian king, for his part, undertook to return the Byzantine prisoners without ransom. Aleksander remained in peaceful relations with Byzantium until the death of Andronicus III (1341), a time when relations between the two states changed again.
Ivan Alexander took advantage of the new internal wars in the empire between the partisans of John V Palaeologus and John VI Cantacuzeno to have all the fortresses on the northern slope of Rodope and Philippopoli surrendered. The Palaeologus had on his side the famous Bulgarian hero of Rodope, the voivode (chief) Momčil, who, having gathered all the bandits of Rodope, serving one or the other party, managed to become despot and autonomous master of the region to the south del Rodope: until he was defeated and killed by Cantacuzeno at the fortresses of Peritheorion (near the current Burughiol on the Mediterranean), in 1345. For his exploits and for being the first to oppose the Turks, Momčil became the favorite hero of the Bulgarians and the Serbs.
By now, in fact, the imminent danger for the Bulgarians was constituted by the Ottoman Turks, who began the assault in 1350. In 1352, several thousand Serbian and Bulgarian warriors sent by Dusan and Aleksander were defeated near Dimotika; Bulgaria was again devastated in 1354. The Turks became a permanent danger, fortified as they were on the north shore of the Sea of Marmara following the capture of Gallipoli. And from this moment southern Bulgaria became the main purpose of their assaults: in the war waged against them, King Aleksander lost his two sons Ivan and Michele (1355). The death of Stefano Dušan isolated and weakened even more the Bulgarian state, already depressed by the internal collapse. The separatist spirit spread: towards the middle of the century. XIV part of the Black Sea coast, centered in Karbona (Balčik), it formed an autonomous principality, extended again towards the end of 1350 in the south up to Mount Emon (now Emine), in the north up to the mouth of the Danube. Initially, this prince was a vassal of the king of Tărnovo, but internally autonomous. King Ivan Aleksander himself, after the death of the heir Michael in 1355, was forced, for family reasons, to detach Vidin and its surroundings from the kingdom, to give it to his son Ivan Sracimir with the title of king; then, when the state of Stephen Dušan fell apart, the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd arose from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt. widened again towards the end of 1350 in the south up to Mount Emon (now Emine), in the north up to the mouth of the Danube. Initially, this prince was a vassal of the king of Tărnovo, but internally autonomous. King Ivan Aleksander himself, after the death of the heir Michael in 1355, was forced, for family reasons, to detach Vidin and its surroundings from the kingdom, to give it to his son Ivan Sracimir with the title of king; then, when the state of Stephen Dušan fell apart, the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd arose from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt. widened again towards the end of 1350 in the south up to Mount Emon (now Emine), in the north up to the mouth of the Danube. Initially, this prince was a vassal of the king of Tărnovo, but internally autonomous. King Ivan Aleksander himself, after the death of the heir Michael in 1355, was forced, for family reasons, to detach Vidin and its surroundings from the kingdom, to give it to his son Ivan Sracimir with the title of king; then, when the state of Stephen Dušan fell apart, the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd arose from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt. King Ivan Aleksander himself, after the death of the heir Michael in 1355, was forced, for family reasons, to detach Vidin and its surroundings from the kingdom, to give it to his son Ivan Sracimir with the title of king; then, when the state of Stephen Dušan fell apart, the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd arose from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt. King Ivan Aleksander himself, after the death of the heir Michael in 1355, was forced, for family reasons, to detach Vidin and its surroundings from the kingdom, to give it to his son Ivan Sracimir with the title of king; then, when the state of Stephen Dušan fell apart, the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd arose from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt. from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia arose the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt. from the Bulgarian lands in Macedonia arose the kingdom of Prilep and the principality of Velbužd. The unity of the kingdom still existed formally in the person of King Ivan Alexander; but the consequences of this division of the state were not long in making themselves felt.
Although, after the death of his son Michael, Ivan Aleksander had renewed his family ties with the court of Byzantium by engaging one of his daughters with the son of Giovanni Paleologo and had formed an alliance with Byzantium against the Turks (1355), towards the end in 1364 a new conflict arose between the two allied states. Giovanni Paleologo did not respect the conditions imposed by the treaty of 1355: he did not come to the aid of the Bulgarians when the Turks, after the peace of Adrianople (1363), took possession of Boruj (Stara Zagora) and later of Philippopolis, in 1364. Hence a rapprochement between the Bulgarian king and the Turkish sultan Murād I. And when, in 1365, the King of Hungary Louis I of Anjou (1342-1382) took possession of Vidin, uniting his lands to the state of Hungary under the name of “Bulgarian Banat”, sending there many Catholic missionaries who necessarily converted the people to Catholicism, a new conflict arose with Byzantium. Giovanni Paleologo, in 1365, asked for the help of Louis of Anjou and had it; returning to Constantinople he wanted to cross Bulgaria entering from Vidin; but the Bulgarians prevented him. At the invitation of the pope, a relative of the Palaeologus, Count Amedeo VI of Savoy then embarked on a crusade against the Turks and the schismatic Bulgarians (1366-1367). The Crusader fleet plundered the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, conquering the seaside cities, excluding Varna, and forced Ivan Aleksander to accept the peace, according to which he not only allowed the Palaiologos to return to Constantinople through Bulgaria, but also gave up the cities on the Black Sea: Sozopol, Anchialos and Mesemvrija.
His successor Ivan Šišman (1371-1391) had to fight in the first place to secure the throne; then, after the disastrous outcome of the Serbian war against the Turks in 1371 and after the subjugation of the Serbian leaders to the Turks (1374), to avoid the imminent assault of the Turks he decided to follow the example of the other Balkan rulers. He thus voluntarily submitted to Sultan Murād I (1359-1388), becoming his vassal, and as confirmation of this act he gave his sister Maria in marriage to the sultan (1375). Quieted on the side of the Turks, Ivan Šišman apparently managed to reconquer Sofia, taken from him by his brother Sracimir in 1379; but the discord between the two brothers served the Turks, who in 1382 took over Sofia for deception, after being repeatedly rejected by the Bulgarians. The battles in the Sofia and Samokov regions remained famous; and today the memory of it is still alive in popular songs. The capture of Sofia by the Turks strongly impressed the Slavic sovereigns, who united in coalition: Ivan Shisman took part in it, without however officially declaring himself against the sultan. The allies won a brilliant victory at Pločanik in 1387, which revived the hopes of the Christian peoples of the Balkans. But in 1388 Murād I waged a great war against the coalition, attacking or plundering Bulgaria. Ivan Šišman defended himself tenaciously; in the end he had to yield and present himself with his family at the sultan’s camp, near Jambol, to ask for his pardon. Bulgaria became a province of the Turkish empire. Sracimir also recognized Turkish power in the same year. Like this, in 1388, the power of Bulgaria was shaken; and his rapid downfall was prepared, which came immediately after the battle of Kosovo, in 1389. For Bulgaria 2009, please check hyperrestaurant.com.
The definitive destruction of the Bulgarian kingdom, however, was carried out only by Bāyezīd I, after he had already subjugated the Wallachian voivode Mircea, conquered Thessaloniki (1391) and concluded peace with the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. Under the pretext that secret negotiations are being hatched between the Hungarian and Bulgarian courts, in the summer of 1393 Bāyezīd I sent a large army that crossed the Balkans and appeared before Tarnovo. Ivan Šišman was absent from the capital; but, despite this, Tărnovo resisted the siege for three months and surrendered only through treason (July 17, 1393). The city and its surroundings were plundered: the richest and best-known families of Tǎrnovo were exterminated and the patriarch Eufemio, who miraculously escaped death, was locked up in a monastery near Stanimaka.
Later Ivan Šišman was taken prisoner by Bāyezīd I and sent to prison in Philippopolis, where he was killed on July 3, 1395. The king’s eldest son, Alexander, was also taken. For fear of death he embraced the Muslim faith and received the prerogative of the city of Samsūn in Asia Minor; the youngest son of the murdered king, Vladislav, managed to escape to Hungary. The Bulgarian people lost their ecclesiastical independence with their political independence; Patriarch Eufemio was exiled, and upon his death around 1402, the Patriarchate of Tărnovo was annulled. Then the patriarch of Constantinople sent a special metropolitan to Tarnovo. After the fall of Tăruvo, the eastern Bulgarian lands, Dobruja and Silistria, were also subdued. Wallachian voivode Mircea attempted to extend his possessions into newly subdued Bulgaria, and to recover its independence: but it was defeated in the battle near Rovini (today’s Rovinari) on 10 October 1394 and was saved by taking refuge with the Hungarians. Its dominion south of the Danube was then destroyed.
Of the immense former Bulgarian kingdom there was only a single part left, now in vassal relations with the sultan: the kingdom of Vidin, in which Ivan Sracimir reigned. The latter did everything to remain on good terms with Bāyezīd I; but following the defeat of the king of Hungary Sigismondo near Nicopoli, in September 1396, he, who had participated in the struggle, was taken and sent prisoner to Brussa, where he died. The attempt made by his son Constantine, in 1405, to re-establish his father’s reign was in vain: so Bulgaria passed all under Turkish rule.
