Bulgarian-Latin Wars
Encyclopedia
The Bulgarian–Latin Wars were a series of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire
and the Latin Empire
, which was created during the Fourth Crusade
in 1204. The wars were fought in the beginning of the 13th century.
The initial expansionist ambitions of the Latin Empire were crushed only one year after its foundation after the Battle of Adrianople
in 1205, where its Emperor Baldwin I was captured and most of his knights perished. After that crucial defeat the Latin Empire had to defend itself against Bulgaria and the successor states of the Byzantine Empire, the Nicaean Empire in Asia Minor and the Despotate of Epirus
in the Balkans. The rivalry between these three states postponed the end of the Latin Empire which occurred in 1261.
As a result of the conflicts the Bulgarian Empire expanded its territory taking control of most of the Balkan Peninsula while the influence of the Latin Empire was reduced to Constantinople and a few towns and islands. With the elimination of the Patriarchate of Constantinople by the Roman Catholic Crusaders Bulgaria became the centre of the Orthodox
Christianity
.
seized the capital of the Empire of Romania (Eastern Roman Empire)
, Constantinople
, and replaced the ancient Byzantine Empire
with a new Crusader state, the Latin Empire
. Their leader Count Baldwin of Flanders
was crowned Emperor in the Hagia Sophia
as Baldwin I. According to the Partitio Romaniae he received a quarter of the Empire and the rest was divided between the Venetians
and the Crusaders
. The Emperor received the lands in Asia Minor
as well as Constantinople and a thin strip along the Black Sea
coast and a few other towns in the Balkans
. The Venetians took the most fertile part of Byzantine Thrace
including Adrianople (Odrin), Rodosto, Arkadiopolis, most of the Peloponnese
, parts of Epirus
and Thessaly
as well as many islands. Their Doge
took the title quartae partis et dimidiae totius imperii Romaniae dominator or "Lord of a quarter and a half part of the whole Roman Empire". The Crusaders received the other lands of the former Byzantine Empire and created the Kingdom of Thessalonica
with Boniface of Montferrat
selected for King.
captured Constantinople
, capital of the Byzantine Empire
, and created the Latin Empire, electing as emperor Baldwin I
of Flanders. Although the Bulgarians
had offered the crusaders an alliance against the Byzantine Empire, their offer had been spurned, and the Latin Empire expressed the intention of conquering all the lands of the former Byzantine Empire, including the territories ruled by Kaloyan, the Bulgarian emperor. The impending conflict was precipitated by the Byzantine aristocracy in Thrace, which rebelled against Latin rule in 1205 and called on Bulgarians for help, offering the Bulgarians its submission.
, "Johannizza, King of Wallachia
, was coming to succour Adrianople with a very great host; for he brought with him Wallachians and Bulgarians, and full fourteen thousand Comans who had never been baptised" (Villehardouin, 92). On April 14, 1205, the Bulgarian Cumans
managed to draw the pursuing heavy cavalry of the Latin Empire into an ambush in the marshes north of Adrianople, and the Bulgarians inflicted a crushing defeat on the crusader army. Emperor Baldwin I was captured, Count Louis I of Blois was killed, and the Venetian
Doge
Enrico Dandolo
led the surviving portions of the crusader army into a hasty retreat back to Constantinople, during the course of which he died of exhaustion. (Baldwin was imprisoned in the Bulgarian capital Tărnovo until he died or was executed later in 1205.) During the course of 1205, Kaloyan captured Serres
and Philippopolis (Plovdiv
), overrunning much of the territory of the Latin Empire in Thrace and Macedon
ia. However, the progress of the Bulgarians eventually was interrupted by the assassination of their emperor Kaloyan.
On January 31, 1206 the Bulgarians defeated the Latins again in Thrace, and later proceeded to capture Didymoteikhon
. They repeatedly ravaged Thrace, including the important cities of Herakleia
and Çorlu
, and prompting the evacuation of other cities, such as Rodosto (Tekirdağ
). Whereas in the past the Bulgarian emperor, Kaloyan
, had limited his oppression to the aristocracy, his later campaigns included wholesale transfer of populations from the captured cities to distant regions in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarians besieged Adrianople twice, but failed to take the city because of the withdrawal of their Cuman cavalry, and the determined advance of the new Latin emperor, Baldwin I's brother Henry of Flanders
. In 1207 the Bulgarians concluded an anti-Latin alliance with Theodore I Laskaris
of the Empire of Nicaea
. In the same year, the Bulgarians killed Boniface of Montferrat
(September 4, 1207), the Latin ruler of the Kingdom of Thessalonica. Seeking to take advantage of that situation, Kaloyan advanced on the city and besieged it with a large force, but was murdered by his own Cuman commander Manastăr at the beginning of October 1207. In keeping with tradition, the Greek
citizens of Thessalonica attributed the slaying of Kaloyan to their patron, Saint Demetrios.
, his nephew, was not nearly as successful against the Latins. Boril was defeated by Henry of Flanders in 1208 near Plovdiv
but continued to campaign against the Latin Empire until 1210, when the Hungarians and Latin empire made an alliance.
, the former king of Jerusalem, who was invited to step in as the guardian and co-emperor of Baldwin II at Constantinople. This action led to the breach of the alliance between Bulgaria and the Latin Empire, and the creation of an alternate alliance between Bulgaria and Empire of Nicaea
. However, the Bulgarian emperor Ivan Asen II could not decide on whether to support the Niceaen Greeks
or the Latins, and no decisive action was taken. Eventually Michael VIII Palaiologos
, the ruler of the Niceaen Empire captured Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire, bringing an end to the Latin Empire.
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
and the Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
, which was created during the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
in 1204. The wars were fought in the beginning of the 13th century.
The initial expansionist ambitions of the Latin Empire were crushed only one year after its foundation after the Battle of Adrianople
Battle of Adrianople (1205)
The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush using the help of their Cuman and Greek allies. Around 300 knights were killed, including Louis of Blois, Duke...
in 1205, where its Emperor Baldwin I was captured and most of his knights perished. After that crucial defeat the Latin Empire had to defend itself against Bulgaria and the successor states of the Byzantine Empire, the Nicaean Empire in Asia Minor and the Despotate of Epirus
Despotate of Epirus
The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...
in the Balkans. The rivalry between these three states postponed the end of the Latin Empire which occurred in 1261.
As a result of the conflicts the Bulgarian Empire expanded its territory taking control of most of the Balkan Peninsula while the influence of the Latin Empire was reduced to Constantinople and a few towns and islands. With the elimination of the Patriarchate of Constantinople by the Roman Catholic Crusaders Bulgaria became the centre of the Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
Foundation of the Latin Empire
On 13 April 1204 the knights of the Fourth CrusadeFourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
seized the capital of the Empire of Romania (Eastern Roman Empire)
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, and replaced the ancient Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
with a new Crusader state, the Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
. Their leader Count Baldwin of Flanders
Baldwin I of Constantinople
Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...
was crowned Emperor in the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
as Baldwin I. According to the Partitio Romaniae he received a quarter of the Empire and the rest was divided between the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
and the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
. The Emperor received the lands in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
as well as Constantinople and a thin strip along the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
coast and a few other towns in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. The Venetians took the most fertile part of Byzantine Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
including Adrianople (Odrin), Rodosto, Arkadiopolis, most of the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
, parts of Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
and Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
as well as many islands. Their Doge
Doge
Doge is a dialectal Italian word that descends from the Latin dux , meaning "leader", especially in a military context. The wife of a Doge is styled a Dogaressa....
took the title quartae partis et dimidiae totius imperii Romaniae dominator or "Lord of a quarter and a half part of the whole Roman Empire". The Crusaders received the other lands of the former Byzantine Empire and created the Kingdom of Thessalonica
Kingdom of Thessalonica
The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over the conquered Byzantine lands.- Background :...
with Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat was Marquess of Montferrat and the leader of the Fourth Crusade. He was the third son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg, born after his father's return from the Second Crusade...
selected for King.
Bulgarian intervention
In 1204, the Fourth CrusadeFourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
captured Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, capital of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, and created the Latin Empire, electing as emperor Baldwin I
Baldwin I of Constantinople
Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...
of Flanders. Although the Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
had offered the crusaders an alliance against the Byzantine Empire, their offer had been spurned, and the Latin Empire expressed the intention of conquering all the lands of the former Byzantine Empire, including the territories ruled by Kaloyan, the Bulgarian emperor. The impending conflict was precipitated by the Byzantine aristocracy in Thrace, which rebelled against Latin rule in 1205 and called on Bulgarians for help, offering the Bulgarians its submission.
Kaloyan's campaigns
As the Latin Emperor Baldwin I began to subdue rebel cities and besieged Adrianople, in the words of the Crusader chronicler VillehardouinVillehardouin
The name Villehardouin may refer to:* Villehardouin, a former commune of the Aube department, now part of Val-d'Auzon*Geoffrey of Villehardouin, knight, crusader , Marshal of Romania and author of the "Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople"*Geoffrey I of Villehardouin,...
, "Johannizza, King of Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, was coming to succour Adrianople with a very great host; for he brought with him Wallachians and Bulgarians, and full fourteen thousand Comans who had never been baptised" (Villehardouin, 92). On April 14, 1205, the Bulgarian Cumans
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
managed to draw the pursuing heavy cavalry of the Latin Empire into an ambush in the marshes north of Adrianople, and the Bulgarians inflicted a crushing defeat on the crusader army. Emperor Baldwin I was captured, Count Louis I of Blois was killed, and the Venetian
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
Doge
Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...
Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo — anglicised as Henry Dandolo and Latinized as Henricus Dandulus — was the 41st Doge of Venice from 1195 until his death...
led the surviving portions of the crusader army into a hasty retreat back to Constantinople, during the course of which he died of exhaustion. (Baldwin was imprisoned in the Bulgarian capital Tărnovo until he died or was executed later in 1205.) During the course of 1205, Kaloyan captured Serres
Serres
Serres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...
and Philippopolis (Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
), overrunning much of the territory of the Latin Empire in Thrace and Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
ia. However, the progress of the Bulgarians eventually was interrupted by the assassination of their emperor Kaloyan.
On January 31, 1206 the Bulgarians defeated the Latins again in Thrace, and later proceeded to capture Didymoteikhon
Didymoteicho
Didymóteicho is a town located in the eastern part of the Evros peripheral unit of Thrace, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad, south of Edirne, Turkey and Orestiada, west of Uzunköprü, about 20 km north...
. They repeatedly ravaged Thrace, including the important cities of Herakleia
Herakleia
The Herakleia were ancient festivals honoring the divine hero Heracles. The ancient Athenians celebrated the festival, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion , at the Κυνοσαργες gymnasium at the demos Diomeia outside the walls of Athens, in a...
and Çorlu
Çorlu
Çorlu is a northwestern Turkish city in inland Eastern Thrace that falls under the administration of the Province of Tekirdağ. It is a rapidly developing industrial center built on flatland located off the E80 highway between Istanbul and Turkey's border with Greece and Bulgaria. As of the 2000...
, and prompting the evacuation of other cities, such as Rodosto (Tekirdağ
Tekirdag
Tekirdağ , the ancient Bisanthi , is a city in Eastern Thrace, in the European part of Turkey. Tekirdağ is the capital of Tekirdağ Province, felt by the local people to be a quieter and more pleasant town than the industrial centre of Çorlu, which it administers. The city population as of 2009 was...
). Whereas in the past the Bulgarian emperor, Kaloyan
Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire...
, had limited his oppression to the aristocracy, his later campaigns included wholesale transfer of populations from the captured cities to distant regions in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarians besieged Adrianople twice, but failed to take the city because of the withdrawal of their Cuman cavalry, and the determined advance of the new Latin emperor, Baldwin I's brother Henry of Flanders
Henry of Flanders
Henry was the second emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He was a younger son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut , and Margaret I of Flanders, sister of Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders....
. In 1207 the Bulgarians concluded an anti-Latin alliance with Theodore I Laskaris
Theodore I Laskaris
Theodoros I Komnenos Laskaris was emperor of Nicaea .-Family:Theodore Laskaris was born to the Laskaris, a noble but not particularly renowned Byzantine family of Constantinople. He was the son of Manuel Laskaris and wife Ioanna Karatzaina . He had four older brothers: Manuel Laskaris Theodoros...
of the Empire of Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea
The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...
. In the same year, the Bulgarians killed Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat was Marquess of Montferrat and the leader of the Fourth Crusade. He was the third son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg, born after his father's return from the Second Crusade...
(September 4, 1207), the Latin ruler of the Kingdom of Thessalonica. Seeking to take advantage of that situation, Kaloyan advanced on the city and besieged it with a large force, but was murdered by his own Cuman commander Manastăr at the beginning of October 1207. In keeping with tradition, the Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
citizens of Thessalonica attributed the slaying of Kaloyan to their patron, Saint Demetrios.
Peace
Kaloyan’s successor BorilBoril of Bulgaria
Boril reigned as emperor of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor Kaloyan.-Biography:It is unclear whether Boril was party to the murder of Kaloyan in front of the walls of Thessalonica in 1207, but Kaloyan's intended heirs, his nephews Ivan Asen and...
, his nephew, was not nearly as successful against the Latins. Boril was defeated by Henry of Flanders in 1208 near Plovdiv
Battle of Plovdiv (1208)
The Battle of Philippopolis or battle of Plovdiv took place on 30 June 1208 in the surroundings of Plovdiv, Bulgaria between the armies of the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire...
but continued to campaign against the Latin Empire until 1210, when the Hungarians and Latin empire made an alliance.
Fall of the Latin Empire
By 1231 the Latin regency had finalized negotiations with John of BrienneJohn of Brienne
John of Brienne was a French nobleman who became King of Jerusalem by marriage, and ruled the Latin Empire of Constantinople as regent.-Life:...
, the former king of Jerusalem, who was invited to step in as the guardian and co-emperor of Baldwin II at Constantinople. This action led to the breach of the alliance between Bulgaria and the Latin Empire, and the creation of an alternate alliance between Bulgaria and Empire of Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea
The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...
. However, the Bulgarian emperor Ivan Asen II could not decide on whether to support the Niceaen Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
or the Latins, and no decisive action was taken. Eventually Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...
, the ruler of the Niceaen Empire captured Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire, bringing an end to the Latin Empire.