Ivanko (despot)

Ivanko ( Bulgarian. Ivanko ) is the last despot of Dobrudja . He ascended the throne after the death of his father, the Dobrotitsa .

In 1387, Sultan Murad I made a punitive expedition to the Bulgarian kingdom due to non-observance of vassal relations by Tsar Ivan Shishman . Out of “preventive” considerations, the sultan ordered the siege of Varna , the new capital of the Dobrudjan despot. Varna resisted the blows of the Turks, but the despot Ivanko became a vassal of the Ottoman sultan Murad I. Like all other Bulgarian vassals, the son of Dobrotitsa led a policy disloyal to the Sultan, which led to the destruction of the young state as a result of a new Ottoman campaign.

On May 27, 1387, Ivanko signed a peace treaty with the Genoese trade colony from Constantinople. The agreement regulates trade relations between the parties, but also has a political character.

In 1388, the Turks embarked on a new campaign against Bulgaria and Dobrudja. During this campaign, according to some sources, Ivanko was killed in a coup, and according to others, he becomes a vassal of the Turkish sultan. The coup against Ivanko was organized, but according to some sources he was successful, but according to others not.

In 1390, the Vlachka governor Mircho Stari made a campaign through Dobrudja and reached Thrace. Its main actions are looting and ruin of land. After the end of the campaign, he begins to call himself "the despot of Drster and the Dobrotichy lands" (meaning the Dobrotitsy lands). In view of this and the likely death of Ivanko in 1388, some historians speculate that he subjugates Dobrudjan tyranny. However, historical data on the sieges of the cities of Dobrudzhi and about major battles are not available, and the city of Drster is under the rule of the Bulgarian king Shishman.

Dobrudjan tyranny falls after the next Ottoman campaign in the period between 1394 - 1395 years . According to oral legend, the capital of the despot Ivanko - Kaliakra falls last.