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Darman ( bg, Дърман; also ''Drman'', ''Dǎrman'', ''Durman'', ''Dorman'') and Kudelin ( bg, Куделин) were two Bulgarian
Darman ( bg, Дърман; also ''Drman'', ''Dǎrman'', ''Durman'', ''Dorman'') and Kudelin ( bg, Куделин) were two Bulgarian boyars
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars wer ...
of Cuman
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sough ...
origin who jointly ruled the regions of Braničevo and Kučevo
Kučevo ( sr-cyr, Кучево, ; ro, Cuciovă) is a town and municipality located in the Braničevo District of the eastern Serbia. In 2011, the population of the town was 3,944, while the population of the municipality was 15,516.
History
In ...
(in modern Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
) in the late 13th century (1273–1291). The two brothers used the weakened state of centralized administration in the region to become independent from the Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...
or the Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conque ...
in 1273. The capital of their domains was the fortress of Ždrelo, on the Mlava river. Relying on auxiliary troops that consisted mostly of Tatar
The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different
and Cuman mercenaries, the brothers were “very independent-minded and afraid of no one”, according to Serbian archbishop Danilo II.
They regularly attacked their western neighbour, the Hungarian vassal in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different
Stefan Dragutin
Stefan Dragutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Драгутин, hu, Dragutin István; 1244 – 12 March 1316) was King of Serbia from 1276 to 1282. From 1282, he ruled a separate kingdom which included northern Serbia, and (from 1284) the neigh ...
's Syrmian Kingdom, in Mačva
Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; hu, Macsó) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...
, an area previously under the sovereignty of Elizabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary (german: Heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen, hu, Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet, sk, Svätá Alžbeta Uhorská; 7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231), also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia, or Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, ...
. The Hungarian queen had sent troops to claim Braničevo in 1282–1284, but her forces were repelled and her vassal lands plundered in retaliation. Another campaign, this time organized by both Dragutin and Elizabeth, failed to conquer Darman and Kudelin's domains in 1285 and suffered another counter-raid by the brothers who managed to conquer Mačva in 1290, relying on Tatar mercenaries recruited on the Wallachian Plain
The Romanian Plain ( ro, Câmpia Română) is located in southern Romania and the easternmost tip of Serbia, where it is known as the Wallachian Plain ( sr, Vlaška nizija/Влашка низија). Part of the historical region of Wallachia, it ...
with the approval of Tatar ruler Nogai. In 1292, after the Hungarians inflicted a defeat to the Tatars in the brothers' service on the banks of the Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
river during the winter, a joint force of Dragutin and his brother, the Serbian king Stefan Uroš II Milutin
Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Stefan Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Милутин, Stefan Milutin), was the King of Serbia between 1282&n ...
, managed to defeat Darman and Kudelin and conquered their region, which came for the first time under the rule of a Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
The brothers either flew to Nogai or were killed in this campaign, as they disappear from the historical sources thereafter.
Darman and Kudelin were relatives or close associates of the Bulgarian ''despotēs'' Shishman of Vidin, the founder of the Shishman dynasty
The House of Shishman ( bg, Шишман), also Shishmanids or Shishmanovtsi ( bg, Шишмановци), was a medieval Bulgarian royal dynasty of Cuman (or partial Cuman) origin.
The Shishman dynasty consecutively ruled the Second Bulgarian Emp ...
of Bulgarian rulers, as he proceeded to attack the Serbian domains to his west, presumably as a response to Dragutin's conquest of the neighbouring Braničevo.
References
Sources
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darman And Kudelin Medieval Bulgarian nobility 13th-century Bulgarian people Medieval Bulgarian military personnel 13th century in Serbia Braničevo District