Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Encyclopedia
Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II (Иван II, also Йоан II, Ioan II, John II), ruled as emperor (tsar
) 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. Kaloyan is notable for managing to stabilize the tsar's power and the Second Bulgarian Empire
's position as a regional power thanks to his successful campaigns against the Latin Empire
.
(Petăr IV) of Bulgaria and Ivan Asen I
. He and his brothers have disputed origin. In 1187 he was sent as a hostage to Constantinople
, from where he escaped and returned to Bulgaria about 1189. After both of his brothers were assassinated by Ivanko. Kaloyan got an advantage over the conspirators and became the Tsar of Bulgaria.
Kaloyan pursued his predecessors' aggressive policy against the Byzantine Empire
to the point of making an alliance with Ivanko
, the murderer of Ivan Asen I, who had entered Byzantine service in 1196 and had become governor of Philippopolis (Plovdiv
). Another ally of Kaloyan was Dobromir Hriz (Chrysos), who governed the area of Strumica
. The coalition was quickly dissolved, as the Byzantines overcame both Ivanko and Dobromir Hriz. Nevertheless, Kaloyan conquered Konstanteia (Simeonovgrad
) in Thrace
and Varna
from the Byzantine Empire in 1201, and most of Slavic Macedonia
in 1202.
In 1202 King Imre
of Hungary
invaded Bulgaria and conquered the areas of Belgrade
, Braničevo (Kostolac
), and Niš
(which he turned over to his protege on the throne of Serbia
, Vukan Nemanjić). Kaloyan retaliated in 1203, restoring Vukan's brother Stefan Nemanjić in Serbia and recovering his lands after defeating the Hungarians. Ill feeling between Bulgaria and the Hungarians continued until the intercession of Pope Innocent III
.
Innocent III had written to Kaloyan, inviting him to unite his Church with the Roman Catholic Church
, as early as 1199.
Wanting to bear the title of Emperor and to restore the prestige, wealth and size of the First Bulgarian Empire
, Kaloyan responded in 1202. In this political maneuver, he requesed that Pope Innocent III
bestow on him the imperial crown and sceptre that had been held by Simeon I
, Peter I
, and Samuel
and in exchange he might consider communication with Rome. Kaloyan also wanted the Papacy to recognize the head of the Bulgarian Church as a Patriarch. The pope was not willing to make concessions on that scale, and when his envoy, Cardinal Leo, arrived in Bulgaria, he anointed the Archbishop Vasiliy of Tărnovo as Primate of Bulgarians and Vlachs. Kaloyan only received Uniate crown as rex Bulgarorum et Blachorum ("King of Bulgarians
and Wallachians
") or rex Bulgarie et Blachie ("King of Bulgaria
and Wallachia
"), not emperor. Blithely Kaloyan wrote to the pope, thanking him for an imperial coronation and for the anointing of his patriarch. He also assured him that he too will follow the Catholic Church rites, as part of the agreement. Meanwhile, in an attempt to foster an alliance with Kaloyan, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos recognized his imperial title and promised him patriarchal recognition.
Immediately afterwards, in 1204, the Fourth Crusade
captured Constantinople and created the Latin Empire
, electing as emperor Baldwin I
of Flanders. Although Kaloyan had offered the crusaders an alliance against the Byzantine Empire, his offer had been declined, and the Latin Empire expressed the intention of conquering all the lands of the former Byzantine Empire and its neighbours. The impending conflict was precipitated by the Byzantine aristocracy in Thrace
, which rebelled against Latin rule in 1205 and called on Kaloyan for help, offering him its submission.
As the Latin Emperor Baldwin I began to subdue rebel cities and besieged Adrianople, in the words of the Crusader chronicler Villehardouin
, "Johannizza, King of Bulgaria, 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, Kaloyan's Cumans
managed to draw the pursuing heavy cavalry of the Latin Empire into an ambush in the marshes north of Adrianople, and Kaloyan inflicted a crushing defeat on the Crusader army. Emperor Baldwin I was captured and Count Louis I of Blois was killed. (Baldwin was imprisoned in the Bulgarian capital Tărnovo
until he died or was executed later in 1205.) During the course of 1205, Kaloyan defeated the Latins at Serres
and captured Philippopolis (Plovdiv
), overrunning much of the territory of the Latin Empire in Thrace and Macedonia
.
In spite of initially welcoming the successes of Kaloyan against the Latins, the Byzantine aristocracy eventually began to conspire against his rule. Kaloyan also changed course, and turned mercilessly on his former allies, adopting the sobriquet Rōmaioktonos ("Romanslayer"), as a counter-derivative from Basil II
's Boulgaroktonos ("Bulgarslayer").
On 31 January 1206, Kaloyan defeated the Latins again in the battle of Rusion
, and later proceeded to capture Dimotika
. The Bulgarians repeatedly ravaged Thrace, including the important cities of Herakleia and Caenophrurion (Çorlu
), and prompting the evacuation of other cities, such as Rodosto (Tekirdağ
). Whereas in the past Kaloyan had limited his ferocity to outsmarting his enemies, his later campaigns included wholesale transfer of populations from the captured cities to distant regions in Bulgaria.
Kaloyan besieged Adrianople twice, but failed to take the city because of the withdrawal of his Cuman cavalry, and the determined advance of the new Latin emperor, Baldwin I's brother Henry of Flanders
. In 1207 Kaloyan concluded an anti-Latin alliance with Theodore I Laskaris of the Empire of Nicaea
. In the same year, Kaloyan's troops 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.
The sources on Kaloyan's reign are for the most part foreign (Byzantine and Latin) and hostile, stressing his brutality and cruelty. Some of this ruthlessness has been ascribed specifically to his Cuman envoy, while others have pointed out that Kaloyan's most repressive policies were aimed at the destruction of the enemy elite, while commoners were often treated with mercy. One of the stories about the demise of the Latin Emperor Baldwin describes his cruel dismemberment by an enraged Kaloyan, whose wife had falsely alleged that Baldwin had propositioned her, when he had in fact spurned her advances. The story is reminiscent of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, but fit well with the hostility of contemporary sources, which also suggest occasional outbursts of rage. Kaloyan's corpse (together with his personal signet ring) was discovered buried in the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Tărnovo
. Forensic examination of the skull has revealed damage to the head incurred in youth, which may have pressed against the brain and occasionally caused considerable pain and outbursts of rage.
Ultimately Kaloyan's reign was a period of growth and political ascension of the Bulgarian Empire, which expanded the political and economic gains of his brothers Assen and Peter. He is considered to be one of the great Bulgarian emperors.
.
He had a daughter, Maria of Bulgaria
, by an early marriage. She married the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Henry of Flanders
to strengthen the new alliance between Tsar Boril of Bulgaria
and Henry. Maria is suspected to have taken part in the assassination of Henry, who died of poison
on June 11, 1216.
) other contemporary sources (like that of William de Rubruquis and Roger Bacon
's "Opus Maius"), as well as the letters of the Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders
) represent Kaloyan as King of Wallachia, ruler of Wallachians and leader of Wallachian armies, and sometimes as ruler of Wallachians and Bulgarians. Such sources talk mostly of Wallachians and call Ioanitsa a Wallachian and "lord of Wallachians" (Blachorum domino).
Contemporary papal and native sources name Kaloyan ruler of (omnium) Bulgarorum atque Blachorum ("(all) Bulgarians and Wallachians"), of (totius) Bulgarie ac Blachie ("(all) Bulgaria and Wallachia"), or simply of Bulgaria/Bulgarians in the diplomatic exchange. Similarly, the head of the church (Archbishop Vasiliy of Tărnovo
) is described as presiding over Bulgarorum et Blacorum Ecclesiam ("the Bulgarian and Wallachian Church").
The contemporary Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates
alternates interchangeably between the terms Mysoi, Boulgaroi, and Blachoi for the people, preferring Mysia for the country, and Blachos for describing persons and language. It is inferred that geographically the medieval Wallachia in question (distinct from both Great Wallachia
in Thessaly and the later Wallachia
north of the Danube), overlaps with the former Roman province of Moesia Inferior
(Greek Mysia, Choniates, 481), as distinct from the Byzantine theme of Bulgaria further west (Choniates, 488). This distinction is corroborated by a slightly earlier contemporary, the chronicler of the Third Crusade
, who describes Kaloyan's predecessors as rulers "of the Wallachians and the greater part of the Bulgarians" (Blacorum et maxime partis Bulgarorum) in 1189 (Ansbert, 58).
The Byzantine historian from 13th century Theodor Scutariota named Kaloyan "the Bulgarian Ioan" or "Bulgarian basileus
" and wrote about "Bulgarians", "Bulgarian land", "Bulgarian matters"; also he defined Ivan Asen I as "tsar of the Bulgarians". The same "probulgarian" point of view about the same persons and events was shared by several other Byzantine authors from 13th and 14th centuries like George Acropolites, George Pachymeres
and Nicephorus Gregoras
.
The native sources, written in Old Bulgarian language and used domestically, including the lead seals of the Bulgarian rulers from Ivan Asen I
to Boril
use the term "Emperor of the Bulgarians", as do the literary sources (for example the Synodik of Boril) together with the terms "Bulgarian land", and "Bulgarian tongue".
Roughly from the reign of Tsar Boril and already in the time of Tsar Ivan Asen II the names Wallachia, Wallachians and Wallachian totally disappeared from all historical sources, connected with the Second Bulgarian Empire. The subsequent native sources, all written in Old Bulgarian language, without exceptions treat the state as Bulgarian in the line of tsar's title of Ivan Asen II from his Turnovo's inscription from 1230 "In Christ the Lord good and faithful Tsar and autocrat of the Bulgarians, son of the old Asen", an inscription from Boyana Church
from 1259 "This was written in the Bulgarian Empire under the pious and devout Tsar Constantine Asen
" and one marginal note from 1269/70 "In the days of the faithful tsar Constantine, who ruled the Bulgarian throne". (Still more, the names Wallachia, Wallachians and Wallachian weren't mentioned by the earlier Byzantine authors like Michael Psellos
, Anna Komnene
and Michael Attaliata in similar context about the lands and population between the Danube
and the Rhodope mountains
. This historiographical situation narrows the usage of the "Vlach's terminology" in corresponding meanings for period of only two decades - between 1186 and 1207.)
The evidence of much later works involves various levels of contradictory inference. For example, the Venetian chronicle of Paolo Ramusio, finished in 1573 and printed in Italian and Latin from 1604 to 1634, states that Mysia (Moesia Inferior
) was composed of the provinces of Wallachia and Bulgaria. The contemporary work of Mauro Orbini, Il Regno degli Slavi, published in Pesaro in 1601, cites similar sources but virtually ignores "Wallachians" and uses "Bulgarians" throughout, but his interpretation is a matter of controversy. The "Vlach interpretation" was totally ignored also by the Franciscan monk Blasius Kleiner in his History of Bulgaria, written in 1761, and the Serbian historian Jovan Rajić
in his History of Various Slav peoples and Especially of Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs, published in 1795. The same treatment was accepted also by the Bulgarian enlightener Paisiy Hilendarski in his Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
, written in 1762.
The modern implications of these names are ethnic and cultural rather than geographical, and they are fiercely disputed. Much can be conjectured from them concerning the Romance-speaking and Slavic-speaking populations over which Kaloyan ruled, the precise extent of his empire, and his own ethnic connections. These formulae and descriptions emphasise that his power drew on more than one source. He desired to link himself to the former Bulgarian Empire
, stressing the Papal origins of his crown by claiming (perhaps with some accuracy), that the Papacy had granted an imperial crown to the rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire, as noted above. In his correspondence with him, Pope Innocent III suggested that Kaloyan was descended both from the emperors of the First Bulgarian Empire, and from the nobility of the city of Rome.
The academic tradition of interpretation of the wide use of the name "Vlachs" in this particular case as nothing more than a transient substitution and confusion of several medieval authors was affirmed in the second half of the 19th century by the Czech historian Konstantin Josef Jireček
in his "History of the Bulgarians", first published in 1876, in which he ignored the idea of significant ethnic Vlach participation in these processes, and is supported by the contemporary Bulgarian medievalist and researcher of the Asens Ivan Bozhilov.
in Tangra Mountains
on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands
, Antarctica is named for Tsar Kaloyan.
Kaloyan's seal is depicted on the reverse
of the Bulgarian 2 levs
banknote, issued in 1999 and 2005.
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
) of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV
Peter IV of Bulgaria
Peter IV ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1185–1197. Together with his brother Asen he managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire after nearly 170 years of Byzantine domination.-Name:...
and Ivan Asen I
Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen I ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1189–1196. The year of his birth is unknown.-Life:...
who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire. Kaloyan is notable for managing to stabilize the tsar's power and the Second Bulgarian 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...
's position as a regional power thanks to his successful campaigns against 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...
.
Name
The name Kaloyan , translates as "John the Good" or the "John the Handsome", and is derived from Greek Kaloiōannēs, a standard augmentation of the names of Byzantine emperors named "John" (Iōannēs) in the Komnenian and later periods. (Byzantine enemies secretly called him Skyloïōannēs, or the "Dog Ioan".) Another of his nicknames was Ioannitsa (Йоаница, Ioannica), variously rendered Ioannitza, Ivanitsa (Иваница, Ivanica), a diminutive form of Ivan or Ioan (John in Еnglish). The name used by modern Romanian historians is Ioniţă Caloian.Life
Kaloyan was born in about 1168/1169. He was the younger brother and heir of Peter IVPeter IV of Bulgaria
Peter IV ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1185–1197. Together with his brother Asen he managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire after nearly 170 years of Byzantine domination.-Name:...
(Petăr IV) of Bulgaria and Ivan Asen I
Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen I ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1189–1196. The year of his birth is unknown.-Life:...
. He and his brothers have disputed origin. In 1187 he was sent as a hostage to 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:...
, from where he escaped and returned to Bulgaria about 1189. After both of his brothers were assassinated by Ivanko. Kaloyan got an advantage over the conspirators and became the Tsar of Bulgaria.
Kaloyan pursued his predecessors' aggressive policy against 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...
to the point of making an alliance with Ivanko
Ivanko of Bulgaria
Ivanko killed Ivan Asen I, ruler of the renascent Second Bulgarian Empire, in 1196. The murder occurred when Asen angrily summoned Ivanko to discipline him for having an affair with his wife's sister....
, the murderer of Ivan Asen I, who had entered Byzantine service in 1196 and had become governor of 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...
). Another ally of Kaloyan was Dobromir Hriz (Chrysos), who governed the area of Strumica
Strumica
Strumica is the largest city in eastern Macedonia, near the Novo Selo-Petrich border crossing with Bulgaria. About 100,000 people live in the region surrounding the city. The city is named after the Strumica River which runs through it...
. The coalition was quickly dissolved, as the Byzantines overcame both Ivanko and Dobromir Hriz. Nevertheless, Kaloyan conquered Konstanteia (Simeonovgrad
Simeonovgrad
Simeonovgrad is a town in southern Bulgaria, located in Haskovo Province on both banks of the Maritsa River. Three bridges connect the town's two parts. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Simeonovgrad Municipality...
) in 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...
and Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
from the Byzantine Empire in 1201, and most of Slavic Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
in 1202.
Emeric of Hungary
Emeric I , , King of Hungary and Croatia . He was crowned during his father's lifetime, but after his father's death he had to fight against his brother, Andrew, who forced Emeric to assign the government of Croatia and Dalmatia to him...
of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
invaded Bulgaria and conquered the areas of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Braničevo (Kostolac
Kostolac
Kostolac is a small Serbian town on the Danube river in the Braničevo District. The remains of the Roman capital of the province of Moesia Superior Viminacium are located near Stari Kostolac some 2 km to the east of Kostolac. Kostolac is situated in the municipality of Požarevac...
), and Niš
Niš
Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...
(which he turned over to his protege on the throne of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Vukan Nemanjić). Kaloyan retaliated in 1203, restoring Vukan's brother Stefan Nemanjić in Serbia and recovering his lands after defeating the Hungarians. Ill feeling between Bulgaria and the Hungarians continued until the intercession of Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
.
Innocent III had written to Kaloyan, inviting him to unite his Church with the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, as early as 1199.
Wanting to bear the title of Emperor and to restore the prestige, wealth and size of the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
, Kaloyan responded in 1202. In this political maneuver, he requesed that Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
bestow on him the imperial crown and sceptre that had been held by Simeon I
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
, Peter I
Peter I of Bulgaria
Peter I was emperor of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969.-Early reign:Peter I was the son of Simeon I of Bulgaria by his second marriage to Maria Sursuvul, the sister of George Sursuvul. Peter had been born early in the 10th century, but it appears that his maternal uncle was very influential at...
, and Samuel
Samuil of Bulgaria
Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...
and in exchange he might consider communication with Rome. Kaloyan also wanted the Papacy to recognize the head of the Bulgarian Church as a Patriarch. The pope was not willing to make concessions on that scale, and when his envoy, Cardinal Leo, arrived in Bulgaria, he anointed the Archbishop Vasiliy of Tărnovo as Primate of Bulgarians and Vlachs. Kaloyan only received Uniate crown as rex Bulgarorum et Blachorum ("King of 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:...
and Wallachians
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
") or rex Bulgarie et Blachie ("King of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
and 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...
"), not emperor. Blithely Kaloyan wrote to the pope, thanking him for an imperial coronation and for the anointing of his patriarch. He also assured him that he too will follow the Catholic Church rites, as part of the agreement. Meanwhile, in an attempt to foster an alliance with Kaloyan, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos recognized his imperial title and promised him patriarchal recognition.
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...
captured Constantinople and created 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...
, 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 Kaloyan had offered the crusaders an alliance against the Byzantine Empire, his offer had been declined, and the Latin Empire expressed the intention of conquering all the lands of the former Byzantine Empire and its neighbours. The impending conflict was precipitated by the Byzantine aristocracy in 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...
, which rebelled against Latin rule in 1205 and called on Kaloyan for help, offering him its submission.
As the Latin Emperor Baldwin I began to subdue rebel cities and besieged Adrianople, in the words of the Crusader chronicler Villehardouin
Geoffrey of Villehardouin
Geoffrey of Villehardouin was a knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade...
, "Johannizza, King of Bulgaria, 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, Kaloyan's 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 Kaloyan inflicted a crushing defeat on the Crusader army. Emperor Baldwin I was captured and Count Louis I of Blois was killed. (Baldwin was imprisoned in the Bulgarian capital Tărnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
until he died or was executed later in 1205.) During the course of 1205, Kaloyan defeated the Latins at Serres
Battle of Serres (1205)
The battle of Serres took place in June 1205 in the town of Serres in contemporary Greece between the Bulgarians and the Latin Empire...
and captured 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 Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
.
In spite of initially welcoming the successes of Kaloyan against the Latins, the Byzantine aristocracy eventually began to conspire against his rule. Kaloyan also changed course, and turned mercilessly on his former allies, adopting the sobriquet Rōmaioktonos ("Romanslayer"), as a counter-derivative from Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
's Boulgaroktonos ("Bulgarslayer").
On 31 January 1206, Kaloyan defeated the Latins again in the battle of Rusion
Battle of Rusion
The battle of Rusion occurred in the winter of 1206 near the fortress of Rusion between the armies of the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire of Byzantium. The Bulgarians scored a major victory.- Origins of the conflict :...
, and later proceeded to capture Dimotika
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...
. The Bulgarians repeatedly ravaged Thrace, including the important cities of Herakleia and Caenophrurion (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 Kaloyan had limited his ferocity to outsmarting his enemies, his later campaigns included wholesale transfer of populations from the captured cities to distant regions in Bulgaria.
Death
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 Kaloyan concluded an anti-Latin alliance with Theodore I Laskaris 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, Kaloyan's troops 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
Kingdom of Thessalonica
The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over the conquered Byzantine lands.- Background :...
. 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.
The sources on Kaloyan's reign are for the most part foreign (Byzantine and Latin) and hostile, stressing his brutality and cruelty. Some of this ruthlessness has been ascribed specifically to his Cuman envoy, while others have pointed out that Kaloyan's most repressive policies were aimed at the destruction of the enemy elite, while commoners were often treated with mercy. One of the stories about the demise of the Latin Emperor Baldwin describes his cruel dismemberment by an enraged Kaloyan, whose wife had falsely alleged that Baldwin had propositioned her, when he had in fact spurned her advances. The story is reminiscent of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, but fit well with the hostility of contemporary sources, which also suggest occasional outbursts of rage. Kaloyan's corpse (together with his personal signet ring) was discovered buried in the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Tărnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
. Forensic examination of the skull has revealed damage to the head incurred in youth, which may have pressed against the brain and occasionally caused considerable pain and outbursts of rage.
Ultimately Kaloyan's reign was a period of growth and political ascension of the Bulgarian Empire, which expanded the political and economic gains of his brothers Assen and Peter. He is considered to be one of the great Bulgarian emperors.
Family
Kaloyan's consort Anna of Cumania was a member of the Cuman aristocracy. After Kaloyan's death, she married his successor Boril of BulgariaBoril 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...
.
He had a daughter, Maria of Bulgaria
Maria of Bulgaria, Latin Empress
Maria of Bulgaria was the second Empress consort of Henry of Flanders, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:She was a daughter of Kaloyan of Bulgaria. Her mother may have been his wife Anna of Cumania. She went on to marry Boril of Bulgaria, a nephew of her first husband. Her paternal uncles...
, by an early marriage. She married the Latin Emperor of Constantinople 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....
to strengthen the new alliance between Tsar Boril of Bulgaria
Boril 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...
and Henry. Maria is suspected to have taken part in the assassination of Henry, who died of poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
on June 11, 1216.
Alternate titles
When referring to Kaloyan's realm and subjects, contemporary Crusader sources (including the works of Geoffroy de Villehardouin, Henri de Valenciennes, Robert de ClariRobert de Clari
Robert de Clari was a knight from Picardy. He participated in the Fourth Crusade with his lord, Count Peter of Amiens, and his brother, Aleaumes de Clari, and left a chronicle of the events in Old French...
) other contemporary sources (like that of William de Rubruquis and Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon, O.F.M. , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods...
's "Opus Maius"), as well as the letters of the Latin Emperor 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....
) represent Kaloyan as King of Wallachia, ruler of Wallachians and leader of Wallachian armies, and sometimes as ruler of Wallachians and Bulgarians. Such sources talk mostly of Wallachians and call Ioanitsa a Wallachian and "lord of Wallachians" (Blachorum domino).
Contemporary papal and native sources name Kaloyan ruler of (omnium) Bulgarorum atque Blachorum ("(all) Bulgarians and Wallachians"), of (totius) Bulgarie ac Blachie ("(all) Bulgaria and Wallachia"), or simply of Bulgaria/Bulgarians in the diplomatic exchange. Similarly, the head of the church (Archbishop Vasiliy of Tărnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
) is described as presiding over Bulgarorum et Blacorum Ecclesiam ("the Bulgarian and Wallachian Church").
The contemporary Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates
Nicetas Choniates
Nicetas or Niketas Choniates , sometimes called Acominatos, was a Greek historian – like his brother Michael Acominatus, whom he accompanied from their birthplace Chonae to Constantinople...
alternates interchangeably between the terms Mysoi, Boulgaroi, and Blachoi for the people, preferring Mysia for the country, and Blachos for describing persons and language. It is inferred that geographically the medieval Wallachia in question (distinct from both Great Wallachia
Great Wallachia
Great Wallachia , also Thessaly Wallachia, was a medieval state of the Aromanians , which included the region of Thessaly in Greece, the southern and central ranges of Pindus and extending over part of Macedonia.Anna Komnene in the second half of the eleventh century was the first author to write...
in Thessaly and the later 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...
north of the Danube), overlaps with the former Roman province of Moesia Inferior
Moesia
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
(Greek Mysia, Choniates, 481), as distinct from the Byzantine theme of Bulgaria further west (Choniates, 488). This distinction is corroborated by a slightly earlier contemporary, the chronicler of the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
, who describes Kaloyan's predecessors as rulers "of the Wallachians and the greater part of the Bulgarians" (Blacorum et maxime partis Bulgarorum) in 1189 (Ansbert, 58).
Basileus
Basileus is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. It is perhaps best known in English as a title used by the Byzantine Emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority and sovereigns in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of...
" and wrote about "Bulgarians", "Bulgarian land", "Bulgarian matters"; also he defined Ivan Asen I as "tsar of the Bulgarians". The same "probulgarian" point of view about the same persons and events was shared by several other Byzantine authors from 13th and 14th centuries like George Acropolites, George Pachymeres
George Pachymeres
Georgius Pachymeres , a Byzantine Greek historian and miscellaneous writer, was born at Nicaea, in Bithynia, where his father had taken refuge after the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204...
and Nicephorus Gregoras
Nicephorus Gregoras
Nikephoros Gregoras, latinized as Nicephorus Gregoras , Byzantine astronomer, historian, man of learning and religious controversialist, was born at Heraclea Pontica....
.
The native sources, written in Old Bulgarian language and used domestically, including the lead seals of the Bulgarian rulers from Ivan Asen I
Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen I ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1189–1196. The year of his birth is unknown.-Life:...
to Boril
Boril 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...
use the term "Emperor of the Bulgarians", as do the literary sources (for example the Synodik of Boril) together with the terms "Bulgarian land", and "Bulgarian tongue".
Roughly from the reign of Tsar Boril and already in the time of Tsar Ivan Asen II the names Wallachia, Wallachians and Wallachian totally disappeared from all historical sources, connected with the Second Bulgarian Empire. The subsequent native sources, all written in Old Bulgarian language, without exceptions treat the state as Bulgarian in the line of tsar's title of Ivan Asen II from his Turnovo's inscription from 1230 "In Christ the Lord good and faithful Tsar and autocrat of the Bulgarians, son of the old Asen", an inscription from Boyana Church
Boyana Church
The Boyana Church is a medieval Bulgarian Orthodox church situated on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, in the Boyana quarter...
from 1259 "This was written in the Bulgarian Empire under the pious and devout Tsar Constantine Asen
Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria
Constantine I , which includes the shortened form of the name of his father as a patronymic), ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277....
" and one marginal note from 1269/70 "In the days of the faithful tsar Constantine, who ruled the Bulgarian throne". (Still more, the names Wallachia, Wallachians and Wallachian weren't mentioned by the earlier Byzantine authors like Michael Psellos
Michael Psellos
Michael Psellos or Psellus was a Byzantine monk, writer, philosopher, politician and historian...
, Anna Komnene
Anna Komnene
Anna Komnene, Latinized as Comnena was a Greek princess and scholar and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Byzantium and Irene Doukaina...
and Michael Attaliata in similar context about the lands and population between the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and the Rhodope mountains
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
. This historiographical situation narrows the usage of the "Vlach's terminology" in corresponding meanings for period of only two decades - between 1186 and 1207.)
The evidence of much later works involves various levels of contradictory inference. For example, the Venetian chronicle of Paolo Ramusio, finished in 1573 and printed in Italian and Latin from 1604 to 1634, states that Mysia (Moesia Inferior
Moesia
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
) was composed of the provinces of Wallachia and Bulgaria. The contemporary work of Mauro Orbini, Il Regno degli Slavi, published in Pesaro in 1601, cites similar sources but virtually ignores "Wallachians" and uses "Bulgarians" throughout, but his interpretation is a matter of controversy. The "Vlach interpretation" was totally ignored also by the Franciscan monk Blasius Kleiner in his History of Bulgaria, written in 1761, and the Serbian historian Jovan Rajić
Jovan Rajic
Jovan Rajić was a Serbian writer, historian, traveller, and pedagogue, considered one of the greatest Serbian academics of the 18th century...
in his History of Various Slav peoples and Especially of Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs, published in 1795. The same treatment was accepted also by the Bulgarian enlightener Paisiy Hilendarski in his Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya is a book by Bulgarian scholar and clergyman Saint Paisius of Hilendar...
, written in 1762.
The modern implications of these names are ethnic and cultural rather than geographical, and they are fiercely disputed. Much can be conjectured from them concerning the Romance-speaking and Slavic-speaking populations over which Kaloyan ruled, the precise extent of his empire, and his own ethnic connections. These formulae and descriptions emphasise that his power drew on more than one source. He desired to link himself to the former Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
, stressing the Papal origins of his crown by claiming (perhaps with some accuracy), that the Papacy had granted an imperial crown to the rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire, as noted above. In his correspondence with him, Pope Innocent III suggested that Kaloyan was descended both from the emperors of the First Bulgarian Empire, and from the nobility of the city of Rome.
The academic tradition of interpretation of the wide use of the name "Vlachs" in this particular case as nothing more than a transient substitution and confusion of several medieval authors was affirmed in the second half of the 19th century by the Czech historian Konstantin Josef Jireček
Konstantin Josef Jirecek
Konstantin Josef Jireček , son of Josef Jireček, was a Czech historian, diplomat and slavist.He entered the Bulgarian service in 1879, and in 1881 became minister of education at Sofia...
in his "History of the Bulgarians", first published in 1876, in which he ignored the idea of significant ethnic Vlach participation in these processes, and is supported by the contemporary Bulgarian medievalist and researcher of the Asens Ivan Bozhilov.
Honour
The peak of Kaloyan NunatakKaloyan Nunatak
Kaloyan Nunatak is a conspicuous nunatak in the Tangra Mountains. It is named after Czar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, 1197-1207 AD.Kaloyan Nunatak rises to approximately 400 m in Delchev Ridge, Tangra Mountains, on eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica...
in Tangra Mountains
Tangra Mountains
Tangra Mountains form the principal mountain range of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica...
on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...
, Antarctica is named for Tsar Kaloyan.
Kaloyan's seal is depicted on the reverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the Bulgarian 2 levs
Bulgarian lev
The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...
banknote, issued in 1999 and 2005.