The Battle of Klokotnitsa ( Bolg. Cue ball at Klokotnitsa ) - a battle between the troops of the Bulgarian kingdom and the Thessaloniki empire , held on March 9, 1230 near the village of Klokotnitsa. As a result of the battle, the Second Bulgarian Kingdom turned into the strongest state of the Balkan Peninsula .
| Battle of Klokotnitsa | |||
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| date | March 9, 1230 | ||
| A place | Bubbler | ||
| Total | Complete victory for Bulgaria | ||
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Content
Beginning of Conflict
Around 1221–1222, Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II and the Epirus ruler Theodore Komnin Duca entered into an alliance treaty against the Latin Empire . As a result of the ensuing war, the state of Epirus captured the Kingdom of Thessaloniki [1] . After these events, Theodore proclaimed himself emperor, making him the capital of Thessaloniki [2] . In turn, Bulgaria inherited land in Macedonia, including Ohrid . After the death of the Latin emperor Robert de Courtenay in 1228, Ivan Asen II was considered the most likely candidate for regency over Baldwin II . Theodore believed that Bulgaria was the last obstacle to return to Constantinople , and in early March 1230 he attacked the Bulgarians.
Battle
The Thessalonian Emperor Theodore Duca gathered a huge army, including Western mercenaries. He was so sure of the victory of his army that he took his wife and children with him. The army, weighed by carts, moved slowly. When the Bulgarian king learned of the attack, he gathered a small army of several thousand soldiers, including the Polovtsian cavalry , and rushed to meet the enemy. Within four days, the Bulgarians traveled a distance three times greater than the army of the Thessaloniki empire during the week.
On March 9, armies met near the village of Klokotnitsa. Ivan II used a spear as a flag with an alliance treaty, treacherously torn by Theodore. He was a good tactician, and he managed to catch the enemy by surprise. The battle ended before sunset. The Thessalonian army was completely defeated, part of the army was killed, part was captured, including Theodore himself and his family [3] .
Consequences
Ivan Asen II immediately released the captured soldiers. As a result of this noble gesture, with the subsequent advance inland, many fortresses surrendered to the Bulgarians without resistance. Theodore was at first graciously received by Asen, but subsequently the Bulgarians blinded him on charges of conspiracy ("this execution was well deserved" - Nicephorus Grigor). The possessions of Theodore in Thrace to Thessaloniki, with the cities of Adrianople , Didimotik , Serra, were transferred to the Bulgarian kingdom. Subsequently, the Thessaloniki empire broke up into three state entities with centers in Thessalonica , in Arta (Epirus despotate) and Lepanto (despotate of Akarnania and Aetolia) [4] .
The battle took place on the day of commemoration of the Forty Sebastian Martyrs , whose memory was committed and is being performed on March 22nd (9th century) ; in honor of the victory in the church dedicated to the martyrs, Ivan Asen ordered to put up a column with the inscription:
| In the summer of the Lord, the 6738th (1230), the third indicator, I, Ivan Asen, in Christ God the faithful king and autocrat of the Bulgarians, the son of the old king Asen, erected this church from the basics to the very top with adornment in the name of the Holy Forty Sebastian martyrs, by which, in the twelfth summer of my reign, when this temple was being painted, he went to war in Romany and defeated the Greek army. The very same king, Cyrus Theodore Komnin, was captured with all his boyars and occupied the Greek lands from Audrin to Drach, as well as the lands of Arbanassky and Serbian. The Franks owned only the cities around Constantinople and this city too, but they obeyed the omnipotent ruler of my kingdom, for they had no other king besides me, and thanks to me they attracted their days |
Notes
- ↑ Ostrogorsky, 2011 , p. 527.
- ↑ Assumption, 2011 , p. 720-726.
- ↑ Skazkin, 1967 , Volume 3, chapter 4.
- ↑ Skazkin, 1967 , Volume 3, chapter 3-4.
Literature
- Skazkin S.D. History of Byzantium . - Moscow: Nauka, 1967. - V. 3. - 508 p.
- Assumption F.I. History of the Byzantine Empire. Heyday. The crash. - Moscow: AST, 2011 .-- 1008 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-072040-8 .
- Ostrogorsky G. A. History of the Byzantine state. . - Moscow: Siberian Invertebrate, 2011 .-- 913 p. - ISBN 978-5-91362-458-1 .
- Ivan Asen II (inaccessible link)