Kaloyan of Bulgaria

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Kaloyan of Bulgaria bigraphy, stories - Monarchs

Kaloyan of Bulgaria : biography

– 1207

Kaloyan the Romanslayer (), Ivan II (Иван II, also Йоан II, Ioan 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.

Life

Kaloyan was born in about 1168/1169. He was the younger brother and heir of Peter IV (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.

Bulgaria under Kaloyan (1197-1207)

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, Petar 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.C-tin C. Giurescu, Dinu C. Giurescu, Istoria românilor din cele mai vechi timpuri până astăzi, Bucharest, 1975, p.184 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.

Forty Martyrs Church, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.]]

Immediately afterwards, in 1204, the misdirected Fourth Crusade conquered and sacked Constantinople the Byzantine Roman capital. Proclaiming Baldwin of Flanders as emperor, the Crusaders (who had spurned Kaloyan’s offer of alliance against the Byzantines) expressed their intention of conquering all the lands of the Byzantines and their neighbors. The impending conflict was precipitated by the Byzantine aristocracy in Thrace, which resisted the invaders and called on Kaloyan for help (1205), offering him its submission.

As the Latin Emperor, Baldwin I began to subdue Byzantine cities and besieged Adrianople, in the words of the Crusader chronicler Villehardouin, "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 14 April 1205, Kaloyan’s Cumans managed to draw the pursuing heavy cavalry of the Crusaders into an ambush in the marshes north of Adrianople and Kaloyan inflicted a crushing defeat on the army of the new state. 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.