Ivan Asen I

Tsar Ivan Asen was described as an active, decisive and warlike person. The question of his talents as a statesman is connected with the restoration of independence of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom . With his personal qualities, he was very similar to his brother Kaloyan . Many facts about the life of Ivan Asen are contained in the writings of the Byzantine historian Nikita Honiat ^[1] . According to them, Ivan Asen, being a brilliant tactician, was not merciless to the enemy. At the same time, Khoniat describes him as a proud and self-confident person, prone to ardor, which caused the death of this outstanding Bulgarian ruler.

In 1185, Ivan Asen and his brother Theodore (Peter IV) led an uprising against Byzantine rule. According to Nikita Honiato , the reason for the uprising was the increase in taxes in Bulgaria by Emperor Isaac II Angel . In the fall of 1185 and at the beginning of 1186, the rebels achieved considerable success. The emperor launched a campaign against the Bulgarians. In 1187 , after an unsuccessful siege by the Byzantines of the Lovech fortress, Isaac II Angel was forced to make peace. This meant the restoration of independence of the Bulgarian state after almost two centuries of Byzantine rule.

In 1189, German knights led by Frederick Barbarossa moved to the Third Crusade . Asen and Peter decided that the German king could help restore Bulgaria's independent status. To this end, they twice offered the crusaders military assistance against the Byzantines (although in 1188 a treaty was signed in Hamburg providing for the passage of the crusaders through Byzantium to the Holy Land, relations between the two empires were tense), in exchange for which Frederick I Barbarossa had to entrust the head of Peter IV the crown of "Greek emperors". The monarch refused, and the conflict with Byzantium was resolved peacefully. Moreover, the Bulgarians again showed a desire for equality and even superiority over the Byzantine Empire, as it was during the time of Tsar Simeon .

Ivan Asen I proved himself a brilliant commander. In 1190, Isaac II Angel decided to strike a new blow at the Bulgarian state and launched a large-scale campaign. His army marched through the Balkan Mountains and headed towards Tarnovo . Asen's two brothers understood that they could not resist the Byzantines, and left the city. They went to the Polovtsy for help. In addition, they sent a false defector to the Byzantine camp, who said that a large Polovtsian army was approaching the city. Not wanting to be besieged in the city, the emperor led his army to Thrace . Passing through the Trevnensky pass, his army was ambushed by the Bulgarians and was defeated. After this battle, Peter IV left the government and transferred power to Ivan Asen, while retaining the title, but retiring from the capital ( Tarnovo ) to Preslav. Formally, dual power was established in the state, but in fact all power was concentrated in the hands of Ivan Asen.

In 1193 - 1194, Bulgarian troops invaded Macedonia , and also captured Sofia and settlements in the Struma river valley . In 1195 they occupied the important fortresses of Syar , Strumitsu and a number of cities in Thrace . In the same year, Ivan Asen transferred the relics of St. John of Rylsky from Sofia to Tarnovo . In 1194 - 1195, the Bulgarians repelled the attack of the Hungarian troops and managed to regain Nis , Belgrade and part of the Branichevo region.

In 1196, Ivan Asen was the victim of a conspiracy - he was killed in the vicinity of Tarnov at the hands of his close ally, Ivanko , who tried to take the throne, but did not receive the promised support from Byzantium.

The Byzantine chronicler Nikita Chonyat describes in detail the circumstances of his death ^[1] . Its main reason, according to the chronicler, was the cruelty of the ruler. Nikita Khoniat writes that a certain priest was captured during the capture of Syar . The priest began to beg Ivan Asen to let him go, showing that he knew the Bulgarian language. The king, however, refused to have mercy on the priest, saying that he had given his word not to believe the Byzantines. With tears in his eyes, the priest predicted that just as Ivan Asen is merciful to the unfortunate man of God, the Lord will not have mercy on the ruler, and that he will soon come to the end of his life and die from the sword. The priest's prophecy, to the extent that we can trust the Byzantine chronicler, came true to the smallest detail.

Ivanko was close to the king, moreover, had an affair with his wife's sister. When the king found out about this, he was extremely angry. Outraged, Ivan Asen demanded that Ivanko come to him that very night, but the latter replied that he would appear the next morning. But the king considered such an answer to be disrespectful and ordered Ivanko to appear immediately. Ivanko was scared for his life and turned for advice to his high-ranking friends and relatives. They advised him to hide the sword in his clothes. If the king will criticize and scold him, then Ivanko should have shown courage, ask for forgiveness and obey the will of the ruler. If Ivan Asen orders to kill him, then he should defend himself and kill the cruel autocrat.

Ivanko did everything as advised. It soon became clear that Ivan Asen, obviously, was not going to forgive him and, in a fit of rage, reached for a spear. But Ivanko was faster and killed the king. After his death, Ivanko took advantage of the situation, seized power in the capital and turned to the Byzantines for help to oppose the brother of the murdered king - Peter IV .

For a long time, Bulgarian historians believed that Ivan Asen I was married only once to Helen, from whom he had two sons:

• Ivan Asen II , the future king;
• Alexander, the Sevastocrat .

However, during excavations in the medieval city of Cherven, a tombstone was found on which is inscribed: “ On ... den put the cross on the wife of si Maria, Asen the king on Tarnovo ... ” ^[2] . The entry in the Borisov synodic, where Helen is referred to as the “ new Queen Helena, ” proves that Mary was the first wife of Tsar Ivan Asen I, from whom he probably had a daughter named Anna.

• Second Bulgarian Kingdom
• Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars

• Asen // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907. }

• Zlatarsky, Vasil , “ History on the Bulgarian Dzhava Pres of the Middle Ages ”, Vol.3 “ Second Bulgarian kingdom. Bulgaria under Asenovtsi (1187–1280) ”, p. 1940, 2nd ed. FROM.
• Fine, Jr., John VA (1987). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-10079-8 .
• Tomov, T. Dobromir Chrys, co-owned by Prosek and Strumica - Anamnesis, T. 6 (2008), 97-114
• Lazarov, Yves. Peter and Asen. - Belezhiti bulgari (ed. Ed. And ed. Pl. Pavlov), vol. III. S., 2012.