Kaloyan

Who he is

Name

Kaloyan (Ivan, Ioannitsa)

Title

Tsar (emperor of the Bulgarians and Vlachs in his own style)

Since

1197 (co-ruler from 1196)

Born

About 1170 (Madgearu)

Family

Brother of the murdered tsars Peter and Ivan Asen I; married to a Cuman princess (unnamed). See Bulgaria for kin and heirs.

Confidence

high

English Wikipedia (Kaloyan of Bulgaria) and FMG, Bulgaria.

What it holds

• Tarnovo: Tsarevets with the palace, Trapezitsa, the church of St Demetrius (Tarnovo).
• Preslav and the old capital country: Preslav (Preslav), Shumen (Shumen), the ruins of Pliska (Pliska).
• Lovech and the Osam valley (Lovech).
• The Balkan passes: Tryavna, Shipka, the Kotel and Sliven passes.
• Through commanders: the Danube line (Danube forts) and the western lands (Western lands).

How it was acquired

Inherited from his brothers, the leaders of the rising of 1185; sole ruler since 1197.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Cumans; Ivanko (since 1198). Enemy: Alexios III. Correspondent: Innocent III.

How things stand that morning

Firmly in hand; the tsar is at Tarnovo or campaigning (his whereabouts on 1 January 1200 are not recorded).

Wealth

Pastures, flocks, grain and wine of the Balkan foothills; plunder and captives from Thrace.

Military

The tsar's retinue and the levies of the Haemus; the passes; Cuman allies.

Threats

• Court conspiracy (his brothers were murdered in 1196 and 1197).
• Byzantine counter-raids through the passes if Ivanko falls.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200Loses his ally Ivanko to Alexios III's trick (spring 1200).Depends on: As in bul-ivanko. Stopped by: As in bul-ivanko.

Later, on the likely course

1. March 1201Campaign with the Cumans: Constantia destroyed, Varna taken (24 March).Depends on: No peace in 1200. Stopped by: A peace in 1200.

Places of note

• Tsarevets: The tsar's palace fortress.
• The Shipka pass: One of the passes from Moesia into the Thracian plain.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The places and the ruler are certain; the internal administration is unrecorded for 1200.

On the map: Shows the heartland only; the rest of the realm is in Bulgaria, Danube forts and Western lands.

Primary sources for Bulgaria

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
• The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III (pontifical years 1 to 3, 1198 to 1201), Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) and the papal chancery (1198 onwards, year by year). The register for the second and third pontifical years (February 1199 to February 1201) holds the letters that set the eastern stage for 1200: the exchange with Kaloyan of Bulgaria opened in December 1199 and continued through 1200 over union with Rome and a crown, letters to Vukan of Zeta and to Stefan of Serbia, letters to Alexios III and the patriarch John Kamateros pressing for church union and help for the crusade, the preaching commissions and the legation of Peter Capuano, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond and Leo of Armenia, letters to Aimery of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and the French interdict over Ingeborg. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online