Battle of Velbazhd - The Battle and Its Results

The Battle and Its Results

The bulk of the two armies camped in the vicinity of Velbazhd but both Michael Shishman and Stefan Decanski expected reinforcements and from 24 July they began negotiations which ended with one-day truce. According to some historians there was a minor clash between the armies near the village of Kopilovtsi in which the Serbs were repulsed and showed their King that his forces were not enough to achieve success. The Emperor had other problems which influenced his decision for the truce: the army supply units had not yet arrived and the Bulgarians were in shortage of food. Their troops scattered around the country and the nearby villages to search for provisions. Meanwhile, receiving a sizable reinforcement led by his son Stefan Dušan during the night (including foreign mercenaries), the Serbian king broke his word and attacked early on 28 July 1330 and caught the Bulgarian army by surprise. One Serbian unit under the command of Decanski took the Spasovitsa heights while more Serb troops including 1,000 heavily armoured Catalan mercenaries led by Stefan Dusan penetrated the valley of the Dragovishtitsa river toward the village of Shishkovtsi. The main battle took place between the village and the Spasovitsa heights in a locality called Bozhuritsa. According to a local legend the name derived from the flower bozhur (peony) which grew up from the blood of the fallen Bulgarian soldiers.

Although caught by total surprise Michael Shishman attempted to bring his army to order but it was too late and the outnumbered Bulgarian units were crushed. The battle was bloody because the remaining Bulgarian forces on the battlefield stiffly resisted and according to some chroniclers the river reddened. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and the Bulgarian camp was looted by the Serbs. The Emperor himself was badly wounded, his horse killed under him and was captured by the coming enemy soldiers. He was taken to the Serbian camp where he probably expired from his wounds on the fourth day of his captivity, on 31 July. Some other theories suggest that he perished on the battlefield or was killed by order of Stefan Dusan. The body of the ill-fated Emperor Michael was brought to King Stefan and was consequently buried in the monastery of Staro Nagoričane (village Staro Nagoričane, near Kumanovo). On the place where he spent his last night praying in his tent, Stefan built a church (still existent to this day).

On the second day after the battle (30 July) the Serbs advanced towards the Konyavska mountain but it was impossible for them to achieve any success because more Bulgarian troops under Michael's brother Belaur and the governor of Lovech Ivan Alexander were concentrated around the Izvor castle and blocked the way to the interior of the country. Near Izvor Belaur met King Stefan Decanski and they concluded a peace. The Bulgarians agreed to accept as their ruler the underage Ivan Stefan, the son of Michael Shishman and Stefan’s sister Anna Neda. There were minor territorial changes along the current border of the two states but after the battle Bulgaria could not prevent the Serbian invasion of Macedonia.