Western lands

Who he is

Name

not named in any source of 1199-1200

Title

Commanders of Sredets and the western fortresses

Since

Sredets: early 1190s (Asen; the relics of St John of Rila left Sredets for Tarnovo in 1194). Velbužd, Braničevo, Skopje: most probably 1199 (Madgearu).

Born

not pinned

Family

not pinned

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia (Kaloyan of Bulgaria, citing Madgearu 2016 pp. 118-119; Second Bulgarian Empire); hpl research on Braničevo.

Overlord

Kaloyan.

What it holds

• Sredets (Sredets) and Pernik (Pernik).
• Velbužd and the upper Struma (Velbužd).
• Braničevo (Braničevo).
• Skopje (Skopje), not pinned.
• Prizren (probably, Madgearu; written by ser).

How it was acquired

Sredets by conquest under Asen (early 1190s); the rest by Kaloyan's campaign, most probably in 1199.

Allies and rivals

Faces Ivanko's Philippopolis across the Trajan's Gate pass (Ikhtiman), Chrysos's Strumica and Prosek to the south (mac), Serbia to the west (ser), Hungary across the Danube from Braničevo (hpl).

How things stand that morning

Held for Kaloyan, newly so in the west if Madgearu's dating holds.

Wealth

The Sredets basin and the military road; the mines of the region are not recorded for 1200.

Military

Fortresses of Sredets, Pernik, Velbužd, Braničevo, Skopje; no figures.

Threats

• Byzantine recovery while the conquests are new.
• Hungary (Braničevo).
• Serbia (Skopje, Prizren).

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.

1. 1202 (later)Hungary takes Braničevo (with Belgrade and Niš); Kaloyan retakes them in 1203.Depends on: Emeric's war in Serbia. Stopped by: Papal mediation; a strong garrison.

Places of note

• Trajan's Gate pass (Succi): The pass on the military road between Sredets and Philippopolis (approximate).

Where the sources disagree

• Madgearu's 1199 dating against the older 1203 dating; see Bulgaria.

Evidence: The towns are known; the commanders are not, and the date of the western conquests is disputed.

On the map: The western parts depend on Madgearu's dating.

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