Klokotnitsa () is a village in southern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

in the Haskovo Municipality. It has a population of 619 people (as of June, 2005). The village is famous for the great battle on 9 March 1230, between the Bulgarian tsar

Ivan Asen II 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 Empir ...

and the Byzantine Greek ruler

Theodore Komnenos Doukas Theodore Komnenos Doukas ( el, Θεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Δούκας, ''Theodōros Komnēnos Doukas'', Latinized as Theodore Comnenus Ducas, died 1253) was ruler of Epirus and Thessaly from 1215 to 1230 and of Thessalonica and most ...

. After the battle, Bulgaria became for a time the largest power in the Balkan peninsula, stretching between the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

and the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

. To mark the victory, Tsar Ivan Asen II built the SS. Forty Martyrs Church in

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

and put a stone column in it. A small relief by the E-80 international road commemorates the battle. This village once belonged to the Hasköylü Ağalık, (

Agaluk of Haskovo An Agaluk ( tr, Ağalık) was a feudal unit of the Ottoman Empire governed by an ''agha'' (tax collector landlord). In Bosnian history, an agaluk may often refer to land ''owned'' by an ''aga''. See also *Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire *Ka ...

)

Honours

Klokotnitsa Ridge Klokotnitsa Ridge ( bg, хребет Клокотница, ‘Hrebet Klokotnitsa’ \'hre-bet klo-'kot-ni-tsa\) is the rounded ice-covered ridge extending 12 km in north-south direction, 4 km wide and rising to 1600 m

Trinity Peninsula Trinity Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends northeastward for about 130 km (80 mi) to Cape Dubouzet from an imaginary line connecting Cape Kater on the north-west coast and Cape Longing on the ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after the village. {{Coord, 41, 59, N, 25, 30, E, region:BG_type:city, display=title Villages in Haskovo Province