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.
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. 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.
Immediately afterwards, in 1204, the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople and created the Latin Empire, electing as emperor Baldwin I of Flanders. Although Kaloyan had offered the crusaders an alliance against the Byzantine Empire, his offer had been declined, and the Latin Empire expressed the intention of conquering all the lands of the former Byzantine Empire and its neighbours. The impending conflict was precipitated by the Byzantine aristocracy in Thrace, which rebelled against Latin rule in 1205 and called on Kaloyan for help, offering him its submission.
As the Latin Emperor Baldwin I began to subdue rebel 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 Latin Empire into an ambush in the marshes north of Adrianople and Kaloyan inflicted a crushing defeat on the Crusader army. 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.
In spite of initially welcoming the successes of Kaloyan against the Latins, the Byzantine aristocracy eventually began to conspire against his rule. Kaloyan also changed course, and turned mercilessly on his former allies, adopting the sobriquet Rōmaioktonos ("Romanslayer"), as a counter-derivative from Basil II's Boulgaroktonos ("Bulgarslayer").
On 31 January 1206, Kaloyan defeated the Latins again in the battle of Rusion, and later proceeded to capture Dimotika. The Bulgarians repeatedly ravaged Thrace, including the important cities of Herakleia and Caenophrurion (Çorlu), and prompting the evacuation of other cities, such as Rodosto (Tekirdağ). Whereas in the past Kaloyan had limited his ferocity to outsmarting his enemies, his later campaigns included wholesale transfer of populations from the captured cities to distant regions in Bulgaria.
Read more about this topic: Kaloyan Of Bulgaria
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