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Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars
The Byzantine–Bulgarian wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD. The Byzantines and Bulgarians continued to clash over the next century with variable success, until the Bulgarians, led by Krum, inflicted a series of crushing defeats on the Byzantines. After Krum died in 814, his son Omurtag negotiated a thirty-year peace treaty. Simeon I had multiple successful campaigns against the Byzantines during his rule from 893 to 927. His son Peter I negotiated another long-lasting peace treaty. His rule was followed by a period of decline of the Bulgarian state. In 971 John I Tzimiskes, the Byzantine emperor, subjugated much of the weakening Bulgarian Empire by defeating Boris II and capturing Preslav, the Bulgarian capital. Samuel managed to stabilize the Bulgarian state w ...
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Battle Of Achelous (917)
The Battle of Achelous or Acheloos ( bg, Битката при Ахелой, el, Μάχη του Αχελώου), also known as the Battle of Anchialus,Stephenson (2004), p. 23 took place on 20 August 917, on the Achelous river near the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, close to the fortress Tuthom (modern Pomorie) between Bulgarian and Byzantine forces. The Bulgarians obtained a decisive victory which not only secured the previous successes of Simeon I, but made him ''de facto'' ruler of the whole Balkan Peninsula, excluding the well-protected Byzantine capital Constantinople and the Peloponnese. The battle, which was one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the European Middle Ages, was one of the worst disasters ever to befall a Byzantine army, and conversely one of the greatest military successes of Bulgaria.Haldon (2008), p. 92 Among the most significant consequences was the official recognition of the imperial title of the Bulgarian monarchs, and the consequent affirmation ...
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Peter I Of Bulgaria
Peter I ( cu, Петръ А҃; bg, Петър I) (died 30 January 970) was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969. His seal reads ΙΠSVΟς·GRECIA·VΟΔΟ. Early reign Peter I was the son of Simeon I of Bulgaria by his second marriage to 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 the beginning of his reign. In 913 Peter may have visited the imperial palace at Constantinople together with his older brother Michael. For unspecified reasons, Simeon had forced Michael to become a monk and had named Peter as his successor. To prove himself a worthy successor to his father both at home and in the eyes of foreign governments, Peter began his reign with a military offensive into Byzantine Thrace in 927 which was the last campaign of the Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 913–927. Nevertheless, he followed up his quick successes by secretly negotiating a peace treaty before the ...
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Mitso Asen Of Bulgaria
Mitso Asen ( bg, Мицо Асен) or Micho Asen (Мичо Асен) was the tsar of Bulgaria from 1256 until 1257. Reign Mitso Asen ascended the throne by virtue of his marriage to Maria, a daughter of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria by Irene Komnene of Epirus. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, and his antecedents are unclear, but neither his name (which is found in official contexts and is not the diminutive of "Michael"), nor his career described in the Byzantine sources allow an identification with Michael, the son of the Rus' prince and Hungarian Ban Rostislav Mikhailovich, nor any other member of the house of Chernigov. It is likely that, like his successor Constantine Tikh, Mitso Asen adopted the name '' Asen'' after his accession to the throne. He became emperor of Bulgaria after the murder of his wife's cousin, Kaliman Asen II, in 1256. Although he acquired some support in the capital Tărnovo and in Preslav, he was faced by the hostility of much of the provinci ...
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Michael Asen I Of Bulgaria
Michael II Asen ( bg, Михаил II Асен; 1239 – December 1256/January 1257) was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1246 to 1256 or 1257. He was the son of Ivan Asen II and Irene Komnene Doukaina. He succeeded his half-brother, Kaliman I Asen. His mother or other relative must have ruled Bulgaria during his minority. John III Doukas Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea, and Michael II of Epirus invaded Bulgaria shortly after Michael's ascension. Vatatzes captured the Bulgarian fortresses along the river Vardar; Michael of Epirus took possession of western Macedonia. In alliance with the Republic of Ragusa, Michael II Asen broke into Serbia in 1254, but he could not occupy Serbian territories. After Vatatzes died, he reconquered most territories lost to Nicea, but Vatatzes's son and successor, Theodore II Laskaris, launched a successful counter-offensive, forcing Michael to sign a peace treaty. Shortly after the treaty, discontented ''boyars'' (noblemen) murdered Michael. Early li ...
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Ivan Asen II Of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II ( bg, Иван Асен II, ; 1190s – May/June 1241), was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empire was killed in 1196. His supporters tried to secure the throne for him after his uncle, Kaloyan, was murdered in 1207, but Kaloyan's other nephew, Boril, overcame them. Ivan Asen fled from Bulgaria and settled in the Rus' principalities. Boril could never strengthen his rule which enabled Ivan Asen to muster an army and return to Bulgaria. He captured Tarnovo and blinded Boril in 1218. Initially, he supported the full communion of the Bulgarian Church with the Papacy and concluded alliances with the neighboring Catholic powers, Hungary and the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He tried to achieve the regency for the 11-year-old Latin Emperor, Baldwin II, after 1228, but the Latin aristocrats did not support Ivan Asen. He inflicted a cr ...
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Kaloyan Of Bulgaria
Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ioannitsa or Johannitsa ( bg, Калоян, Йоаница; 1170 – October 1207), was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was the younger brother of Theodor and Asen, who led the anti-Byzantine uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs in 1185. The uprising ended with the restoration of Bulgaria as an independent state. He spent a few years as a hostage in Constantinople in the late 1180s. Theodor, crowned Emperor Peter II, made him his co-ruler after Asen was murdered in 1196. A year later, Peter was also murdered, and Kaloyan became the sole ruler of Bulgaria. To obtain an imperial title from the Holy See, Kaloyan entered into correspondence with Pope Innocent III, offering to acknowledge papal primacy. His expansionist policy brought him into conflict with the Byzantine Empire, Hungary, and Serbia. In 1204, King Emeric of Hungary allowed the papal legate who was to deliver a royal crown to Kaloyan to enter Bulgaria only at th ...
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Ivanko Of Bulgaria
Ivanko ( bg, Иванко) 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. In 1197 Ivanko, who was a Vlach according to the terminology used by Niketas Choniates, married Theodora Angelina, the daughter of Anna Angelina and the ''sebastokrator'' Isaac Komnenos. Theodora's father had died in Bulgarian captivity not many months earlier. Ivanko, who adopted the Greek name Alexios, fought at first for his grandfather-in-law, the Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos, but afterwards turned against him. He captured the general Manuel Kamytzes Manuel Kamytzes Komnenos Doukas Angelos ( gr, Μανουήλ Καμύτζης Κομνηνός Δούκας Ἄγγελος; after 1202) was a Byzantine general who was active in the late 12th century, and led an unsuccessful rebellion in 1201 ... in 1198; Kamytzes was ransomed by his son-in-law, I ...
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Ivan Asen I Of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen I, also known as Asen I or John Asen I ( bg, Иван Асен I; died in 1196), was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1187/1188 to 1196 as co-ruler with his elder brother, Peter II. Hailing from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, his exact place and date of birth are unknown. Although most contemporaneous chronicles describe Asen and his brothers, Theodor (Peter) and Kaloyan, as Vlachs, they were probably of mixed Vlach, Bulgarian, and Cuman ancestry. In 1185, Asen and Theodor went to see the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos in Thrace to demand an estate in the Balkan Mountains. After the Emperor refused and humiliated them, the brothers persuaded their Bulgarian and Vlach compatriots to rise up against the Byzantine Empire. Before the end of the year, Theodor was crowned Emperor of Bulgaria, taking the name Peter. After Isaac II defeated them in early 1186, Asen and Peter fled north over the Danube but returned in the autumn, accompanied by Cuman reinforcements. Th ...
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Peter IV Of Bulgaria
Peter II,), because they take into consideration two previous leaders of anti-Byzantine rebellions, Peter Delyan (who assumed the imperial title in 1040) and Constantine Bodin (who took the name Peter in 1072)., group=note born Theodor, also known as Theodor-Peter ( bg, Теодор-Петър; died in 1197), was the first emperor or tsar of the restored Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1197. He hails from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, although his exact place and date of birth are unknown. He and his younger brothers, Asen and Kaloyan, were mentioned as Vlachs in most foreign contemporaneous sources, but they were probably of a mixed Vlach, Bulgarian, and Cuman origin. In 1185, Theodor and Asen approached the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos in Thrace, demanding an estate in the Balkan Mountains. After the Emperor refused and humiliated them, they decided to incite a rebellion, taking advantage of the discontent that a new tax had caused among the Bulgarians and Vlachs. ...
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Constantine Bodin
Constantine Bodin (Bulgarian and sr, italic=no, Константин Бодин, ''Konstantin Bodin'';  1072–1101) was a medieval king and the ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of the time, from 1081 to 1101, succeeding his father, Mihailo Vojislavljević ( 1046–1081). Born in peaceful times, when the Southern Slavs were subjects of the Byzantine Empire, his father was in 1072 approached by Bulgarian nobility, who sought aid in their revolt against the Byzantines; Mihailo sent them Bodin, who was crowned Bulgarian tsar under the name Petar III ( bg, Петър ІІІ, ''Petŭr III'') joined the short-lived revolt, being captured the following year after initial success. He was freed in 1078, and upon the death of his father in 1081 he succeeded to the throne of Dioclea. Having renewed his acknowledgement of Byzantine overlordship, he soon sided with their enemies, the Normans, which resulted in a Byzantine invasion and his capture. Although he quic ...
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Peter (II) Delyan Of Bulgaria
Petar II Delyan (reigned 1040–1041) ( bg, Петър II Делян, Greek: Πέτρος Δελεάνος) was the leader of an uprising against Byzantine rule in the Theme of Bulgaria during the summer of 1040. He was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria, as Samuel's grandson in Belgrade, then in the theme of Bulgaria. His original name may have been simply ''Delyan'', in which case he assumed the name Petar II upon his accession, commemorating the sainted Emperor Petar I (Petăr I), who had died in 970. The year of his birth is uncertain, but probably not long after 1000, and before 1014. He probably died in 1041. Origin His origin is not clear. He claimed that he was son of Emperor Gavril Radomir and grandson of Samuel of Bulgaria, but he could also be a local who became leader of the uprising and claimed to be Samuel's grandson to justify his proclamation as Tsar of Bulgaria. Delyan as Radomir's son Those who believe he actually was Radomir's son, think that he was born from Radomir' ...
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Ivan Vladislav Of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav ( cu, Їѡаннъ Владиславъ; bg, Иван/Йоан Владислав; died February 1018) ruled as emperor (tsar) of the First Bulgarian Empire from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown; he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that. Saved from death by his cousin Gavril Radomir, the Bulgarian Emperor, in 976, Ivan Vladislav murdered him in October 1015 and seized the Bulgarian throne. Due to the desperate situation of the country following the decades-long war with the Byzantine Empire, and in an attempt to consolidate his position, he tried to negotiate truce with the Byzantine emperor Basil II. After the failure of the negotiations he continued the resistance, attempting unsuccessfully to push the Byzantines back. During his period of rule, Ivan Vladislav tried to strengthen the Bulgarian army, reconstructed many Bulgarian fortresses and even carried out a counter-offensive, ...
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