Belaur
Encyclopedia
Belaur (died 1336) was a Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 noble and despot of Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...

 and brother of the Bulgarian Emperor Michael Shishman
Michael Shishman of Bulgaria
Michael Asen III ), ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1323 to 1330. The exact year of his birth is unknown but it was between 1280 and 1292. He was the founder of the last ruling dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Shishman dynasty...

 (1323–1330). The son of Shishman of Vidin
Shishman of Vidin
Shishman, Despot of Vidin was a Bulgarian noble who ruled a semi-independent realm based out of the Danubian fortress of Vidin in the late 13th and early 14th century...

, he was among the most elaborate Balkan diplomats of his time. Plamen Pavlov interprets Belaur's name as stemming from the Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

 personal name Béla and the title ur ("prince").http://liternet.bg/publish13/p_pavlov/buntari/metezhnici.htm

He participated in the campaign of Michael Shishman against the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

 in the unfortunate battle of Velbazhd. He was in command of the reserve together with the despot of Lovech
Lovech
Lovech is a town in north-central Bulgaria with a population of 36,296 as of February 2011. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The town is located about 150 km northeast from the capital city of Sofia...

 Ivan Alexander and did not participate in the battle. However his troops were enough to prevent a Serbian invasion and he led the Bulgarian delegation which negotiated with the Serbian King Stefan Decanski. Belaur actively supported his nephew Ivan Stefan
Ivan Stephen of Bulgaria
Ivan Stefan ruled as emperor of Bulgaria for eight months from 1330 to 1331. He was the eldest son of emperor Michael III Shishman and Anna Neda of Serbia, a daughter of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin of Serbia. Ivan Stephen was descendent to the Terter dynasty, the Asen dynasty and the Shishman...

, son of Michael Shishman from his first wife Anna Neda
Anna Neda of Serbia
Anna Neda was a 14th-century Serb Empress consort of Bulgaria. She was the daughter of Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin and Princess Anna Terter, daughter of George I of Bulgaria...

 to succeed the Bulgarian crown and was the prime adviser of the new Emperor. He refused to acknowledge the dethronement of Ivan Stefan in 1331 and confronted with his other nephew Ivan Alexander
Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria
Ivan Alexander , also known as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history...

 who was son of his sister Keratsa Petritsa
Keratsa Petritsa
Keratsa Petritsa was a Bulgarian noblewoman , sister of tsar Michael Shishman of Bulgaria. Her eldest son Ivan Alexander rose to the Bulgarian throne after vicissitudes of politics....

. In 1332 he detached the Vidin Province from the central government in Tarnovo and caused serious troubles for Ivan Alexander who had to fight against the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

.

After he defeated the Byzantines at Rusokastro
Battle of Rusokastro
The Battle of Rusokastro occurred on July 18, 1332 near the village of Rusokastro, Bulgaria between the armies of the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empires. The result was a Bulgarian victory.-Origins of the conflict:...

 in 1332 Ivan Alexander concentrated on his uncle. The war between the two waged for 5 years. In 1336 the Emperor sent 10,000 soldiers who defeated Belaur in a battle near the river Vit
Vit
The Vit also Vid is a river in central northern Bulgaria with a length of 18 km. It is a tributary of Danube. The source of the Vit is in Stara Planina, below Vezhen Peak at an altitude of 2,030 m, and it empties into the Danube close to Somovit...

and finally restored his authority over Vidin.
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