Bulgarian-Serbian Wars (medieval) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Bulgarian-Serbian wars were a series of conflicts which took place between the Bulgarian Empire

Bulgarian Empire

Bulgarian Empire is a term used to describe two periods in the medieval history of Bulgaria, during which it acted as a key regional power in Europe in general and in Southeastern Europe in particular, rivalling Byzantium...

and the medieval Serbian states of Raška

Rascia

Rascia was a medieval region that served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. The term has been used to refer to various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages...

, Duklja

Duklja

Doclea or Duklja was a medieval state with hereditary lands roughly encompassing the territories of present-day southeastern Montenegro, from Kotor on the west to the river Bojana on the east and to the sources of Zeta and Morača rivers on the north....

and the Kingdom of Serbia

Serbian Empire

The Serbian Empire was a short-lived medieval empire in the Balkans that emerged from the Serbian Kingdom. Stephen Uroš IV Dušan was crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks on 16 April, 1346, a title signifying a successorship to the Eastern Roman Empire...

between the 9th and 14th centuries. The area of the conflict was the Western Balkans, more specifically western Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Bosnia

Bosnia (region)

Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...

and Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

.

Up to the 12th century the Serbian states were dependent and strongly influenced by the dominant Balkan powers, the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empire

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...

s. The rulers of both countries aimed at controlling of the Serb princes in order to use them as allies in the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars

Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars

The Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD...

. The first war between Bulgarians

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:...

and 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...

occurred during the reign of Khan

Khan (title)

Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...

Presian between 839 and 842 and was caused by the Byzantine diplomacy. Later after series of campaigns the Bulgarian Emperor

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

Simeon I

Simeon I of Bulgaria

Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...

destroyed the Serb state in 924. The Bulgarian Emperor Peter I

Peter I of Bulgaria

Peter I was emperor of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969.-Early reign:Peter I was the son of Simeon I of Bulgaria by his second marriage to Maria Sursuvul, the sister of George Sursuvul. Peter had been born early in the 10th century, but it appears that his maternal uncle was very influential at...

granted formal independence to Serbia in 931 and appointed his protege Časlav Klonimirović as its ruler. They were again subjected by Emperor Samuil

Samuil of Bulgaria

Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...

in 998.

In the 13th century Stefan Dragutin

Stefan Dragutin of Serbia

Stephen Dragutin was a 13th and 14th-century Serb monarch, the King of Serbia from 1276 to 1282 and King of Syrmia from 1282 to 1316.He ruled Serbia until his abdication in 1282, when he became ill...

and his brother Stefan Milutin

Stefan Uroš II Milutin of Serbia

Stefan Uroš II Milutin was a king of Serbia , and member of the House of Nemanjić.-Early:...

fought as Hungarian vassals against the Bulgarian governors of Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

and Braničevo

Branicevo

Braničevo can refer to:* Braničevo , a geographical region in Serbia.* Braničevo District, a district in Serbia.* Braničevo , a village in Serbia, in the Golubac municipality....

, Darman and Kudelin

Darman and Kudelin

Darman and Kudelin were two Bulgarian nobles who jointly ruled the region of Braničevo as independent or semi-independent autocrats in the late 13th century...

and managed to defeat them. In 1327 the Emperors of Bulgaria and Byzantium signed an anti-Serbian alliance to stop Serbia's growing power but in 1330 Bulgarian Emperor Michael III 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...

was defeated by Stefan Dečanski

Stefan Uroš III Decanski of Serbia

Stephen Uroš III of Dečani was King of Serbia from January 6, 1322 to 8 September 1331. He defeated and killed several of his family members who wanted to take the throne from him. He took his epithet Dečanski from the great monastery he built at Dečani.-Early:He was the son of King Stefan Uroš II...

in the battle of Velbazhd.

War of 839-842

The first war between Bulgarians and Serbs took place between 839 and 842. According to Byzantine sources both peoples co-existed peacefully up to that moment. The conflict was a result of the Byzantine policy to divert the Bulgarian expansion in their western provinces. After the Bulgarians took western Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

the Serbs thought they were threated to be engulfed by the large Bulgarian Empire. Urged by the Byzantines, their prince Vlastimir managed to unite several Serbian tribes and the Byzantine emperor Theophilos

Theophilos (emperor)

Theophilos was the Byzantine emperor from 829 until his death in 842. He was the second emperor of the Phrygian dynasty, and the last emperor supporting iconoclasm...

who was officially overlord of the Serbian tribes supported Vlastimir in his attempts for unification of the Serbs and probably granted them independence aiming at creating a threat to the Bulgarians.

The Bulgarian khan Presian decided to eliminate the growing Byzantine influence over the Serbs and attacked them in 839. The war lasted for three years and Presian did not achieve anything - he only lost part of his army. However, the Byzantines achieved their aim - the Bulgarian attention was diverted and they managed to cope with the Slavic

Slavic peoples

The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

rebellions in Pelopones. The war ended with the death of Theophilos in 842 which on one hand released Vlastimir from his obligations to the Emperor and on the other hand gave opportunity to the Bulgarians to attack the Byzantine Empire and annex the area of Ohrid

Ohrid

Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

, Bitola

Bitola

Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...

and Devol

Devol (Albania)

Devol , also Deabolis or Diabolis) was a medieval fortress and bishopric in western Macedonia, located south of Lake Ohrid in what is today the south-eastern corner of Albania . Its precise location is unknown today, but it is thought to have been located by the river of the same name , and on...

in 842-843.

Campaign of Boris I

After the death of Vlastimir c. 850 his state was divided between his sons Mutimir, Stroimir and Goinik and the new Bulgarian ruler Boris I

Boris I of Bulgaria

Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...

attacked the Serbs. He wanted to use the Serbian weakness and impose Bulgarian influence instead of the Byzantine one and also he considered that a strong Serbia state might become an obstacle for a Bulgarian expansion to Croatia and Upper Macedonia. However, the campaign proved to be a disaster after the Serbs defeated the Bulgarian army and captured Boris I's son Vladimir Rasate

Vladimir of Bulgaria

Vladimir-Rasate was the ruler of Bulgaria from 889 to 893.He became ruler of Bulgaria when his father Boris-Mihail I decided to retire to a monastery after a reign of 36 years...

and twelve great boil

Boil

A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue...

s. To take back his son, Boris I concluded peace with the Serbs and both sides exchanged gifts. There were no territorial changes but the Bulgarian ruler probably abandoned his ambitions to conquer the Serbs. However, the Bulgarians achieved part of their objectives - the Serbs rejected their alliance with Byzantium. Boris I and Mutumir established friendly relations and the latter was backed by the Bulgarians in his struggle against his brothers and after Mutimir captured them, they were sent along with their families to Bulgaria.

Campaigns of Simeon I

For the next half century following the campaign of Boris I, both countries were at peace and the Serbs looks to Bulgaria as a source of their culture. In 917 the Byzantines managed to bribe the Serbian prince Petar Gojniković, who was an ally of Simeon I

Simeon I of Bulgaria

, to turn against him. After the Byzantine army was annihilated in the battle of Achelous on 20 August that year, the Bulgarian emperor had to delay his march to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

in order to secure his western borders. In the autumn of 917 Simeon sent an army under the generals Theodore Sigritsa

Theodore Sigritsa

Theodore Sigritsa was a Bulgarian military commander and noble, kavkhan of Emperor Simeon I The Great ....

and Marmais

Marmais

Marmais was a Bulgarian military commander, noble and komita of a western Bulgarian region during the reign of Emperor Simeon I . He was a descendant of an ancient Bulgarian family...

to invade Serbia and punish Gojniković for his treason. They convinced Petar Gojniković to meet them but when the Serbian Prince came he was captured and taken to Preslav

Preslav

Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...

where he died in prison. The Bulgarians installed Petar's cousin Pavle Branović who was under the wing of Simeon on his place.

In 921 when the Bulgarians controlled almost every Byzantine possession on the Balkans, the latter tried once again to turn the Serbs against Bulgaria. Romanos Lekapenos

Romanos I

Romanos I Lekapenos was Byzantine Emperor from 920 until his deposition on December 16, 944.-Origin:...

sent Zaharije Pribisavljević against Pavle who was loyal to Simeon but Zaharije was defeated and sent to Bulgaria, to be used against Pavle if the latter was insubordinate. However, the Byzantine managed to bribe Pavle and while the Bulgarians were besieging Adrianople

Edirne

Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...

, the Serbs started hostilities against Bulgaria but this time Simeon easily fought them out - he sent Zaharije with a Bulgarian army in Serbia. Pavle was defeated and his throne taken by Zaharije. Zlatarski dates that campaign to 922, while Fine suggests it took place in the period between 921 and 923.

However, the Byzantine historians wrote that Zaharije "after he recalled the beneficence of the Byzantine Emperor, immediately rebelled against the Bulgarians because he did not want to submit to them but preferred to be a subject of the Byzantine Emperor." Since Zaharije had long lived in Constantinople

Constantinople

, it was not difficult for the Byzantines to win him as an ally. Angered with his betrayal, in 924 Simeon sent an army led by Theodore Sigritsa and Marmais to crush the Serbs but the Bulgarians were insufficient in number, they were ambushed and defeated and the heads of their commanders sent to Constantinople. Enraged, Simeon pretended that he was ready to conclude peace with the Byzantine Empire and in the meantime summoned a large army against the Serbs under the generals Knin, Imnik and Itsvoklius along with the new pretender of the Serbian throne Časlav Klonimirović

Caslav Klonimirovic

Časlav Klonimirović or Časlav of Serbia was Prince of the Serbs from ca. 927 until his death in 960. He significantly expanded the Serbian Principality when he managed to unite several Slavic tribes, stretching his realm over the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the Sava river and the Morava valley...

. When the news of those preparations reached Zaharije, he immediately fled to Croatia

Kingdom of Croatia (Medieval)

The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...

. However, this time the Bulgarians decided to fully conquer the Serbian principality. The Serbian nobles were persuaded to meet Časlav and were captured and taken to Preslav. The Bulgarian army devastated Serbia and moved the population to Bulgaria while some escaped to Croatia and Byzantium. Serbia was included in the borders of the Bulgarian Empire for a period of several years until 931 when prince Časlav managed to escape from Preslav and organized a successful revolt against the new emperor Peter I

Peter I of Bulgaria

Campaigns of Samuil

After the defeat at Spercheios

Battle of Spercheios

The Battle of Spercheios took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the river of the same name in present-day central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, that in the previous year had penetrated far south into Greece, and a Byzantine army under the command of Nikephoros...

in 996 against the Byzantines, the Bulgarian Emperor Samuil

Samuil of Bulgaria

turned his attention to the Serbian and Croatian principalities to the northwest where the Byzantine influence was very strong.

In 998 he invaded the Serbian principality of Duklja which was ruled by Prince Jovan Vladimir

Jovan Vladimir

Jovan Vladimir or John Vladimir was ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of the time, from around 1000 to 1016. He ruled during the protracted war between the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire...

. The Serbs were unable to resist the Bulgarian army and Jovan Vladimir fled with his people in the Oblica mountain. When Samuil arrived he left part of his army to bar the Serbs and with the rest of his troops he besieged the coastal fortress of Ulcinj

Ulcinj

Ulcinj is a coastal resort town and municipality in Montenegro. The town of Ulcinj has a population of 10,828 of which the majority are Albanians...

. To avoid further bloodshed the Bulgarians offered Jovan Vladimir to surrender and after he initially refused but after it became clear that his nobles were ready to betray him, he finally surrendered to Samuil. Jovan Vladimir was exiled to Samuil's palaces in Prespa

Prespa

Prespa is a region in Republic of Macedonia. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen with 9,000 inhabitants....

. Then the Bulgarians seized Kotor

Kotor

Kotor is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality....

and set off for Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...

and Dalmatia

Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

.

While Jovan Vladimir was in Bulgarian captivity, one of the daughters of Samuil Theodora Kosara

Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria

Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria was the daughter of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria and Kosara of Bulgaria.Theodora Kosara fell in love with Jovan Vladimir of Doclea who was prisoner of her father Samuil...

fell in love with the young Serbian Prince and Samuil approved their marriage. Jovan Vladimir was allowed to return to his lands as a Bulgarian official, supervised by a trusted man of the Bulgarian Emperor, Dragomir. However, in 1016 he was killed by the new Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Vladislav

Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria

Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....

who was suspicions of Vladimir who could be a potential candidate for the throne.

Conflicts in the 13th century

The first clashes between the reborn Bulgarian Empire

Second Bulgarian Empire

The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...

and the Serbs who acted as Hungarian vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

s appeared in 1202. Emeric of Hungary

Emeric of Hungary

Emeric I , , King of Hungary and Croatia . He was crowned during his father's lifetime, but after his father's death he had to fight against his brother, Andrew, who forced Emeric to assign the government of Croatia and Dalmatia to him...

took advantage of the campaigns of the Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan

Kaloyan of Bulgaria

Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire...

and took the Bulgarian cities Belgrade, Branicevo and Niš

Niš

Niš is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia . According to the data from 2011, the city of Niš has a population of 177,972 inhabitants, while the city municipality has a population of 257,867. The city covers an area of about 597 km2, including the urban area,...

. The latter was given to his vassal, the Serbian zhupan Valkan. However, on the next year the Bulgarian army pushed the Serbs out of Niš (which Fine suggest that was under Serbian rule since the 1190s) and defeated the Hungarians in the battles along the Morava river.

In 1289 the Hungarians asked their vassal Stefan Dragutin to attack the Bulgarian nobles Darman and Kudelin, rulers of the Branicevo province, who had previously defeated the Hungarians. In 1290 Dragutin invaded the province but was defeated by Darman and Kudelin who on their turn attacked his lands. Dragutin had to ask his brother Stefan Milutin, the King of Serbia to help him. In the next year they defeated the Bulgarians who fled to Vidin. The despot of Vidin also fought against the Serbs but the war was unsuccessful and Vidin was sacked. Bulgaria lost the Belgrade and Branicevo provinces forever.

War of 1330

After 1291 both states maintained friendly relations. In 1296 the Bulgarian Emperor Smilets

Smilets of Bulgaria

Smilets reigned as emperor of Bulgaria from 1292 to 1298. The date of his birth is unknown.Although Smilec is credited with being descended "from the noblest family of the Bulgarians", his antecedents are completely unknown...

married his daughter Theodora to the future Serbian King Stefan Uroš III Dečanski

Stefan Uroš III Decanski of Serbia

. The sister of Dečanski 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...

was married to the Bulgarian Emperor Michael III Shishman

Michael Shishman of Bulgaria

. However, the growth of the Serbian Kingdom in the late 13th and early 14th century raised serious concern in the royal courts in Tarnovo and Constantinople - while both Empires had numerous external and internal problems, the Serbs expanded their state in northern Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

.

On 13 May 1327 Michael III Shishman and Andronikos III Palaiologos

Andronikos III Palaiologos

Andronikos III Palaiologos, Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341, after being rival emperor since 1321. Andronikos III was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia...

signed a treaty against Serbia and agreed to launch joined campaign. The two emperors had some disputes but they were cleared by 1328 and the alliance was reaffirmed in October that year. The campaign began in July 1330 when the Byzantine invaded Serbia from the south but after they seized several fortresses their campaign was halted by orders of Andronikos III. In the meantime the Bulgarian army which numbered around 15,000 men attacked from the east. On 24 July the armies of Bulgaria and Serbia (which numbered between 15,000 and 18,000 men) met near the town of Velbazhd (Kyustendil

Kyustendil

Kyustendil is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of Kyustendil Province, with a population of 44 416 . Kyustendil is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, 90 km southwest of Sofia...

). Despite the one-day truce agreed by the two rulers, the Serbs broke their word and attacked the Bulgarians while the latter were scattered to search for provisions. Caught by surprise and outnumbered, the Bulgarians tried to organize resistance but were defeated and the wounded Emperor Michael III Shishman was captured by the victors and died four days later.

Despite their victory, the Serbs were unable to continue their campaign in Bulgaria - Stefan Dečanski did not risk to confront the Bulgarian reserves led by the Emperor's brother 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...

Belaur

Belaur was a Bulgarian noble and despot of Vidin and brother of the Bulgarian Emperor Michael Shishman . The son of Shishman of Vidin, he was among the most elaborate Balkan diplomats of his time...

and 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

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...

. Furthemore, he was under pressure from the south where there were Byzantine forces. After short negotiations near the castle of Izvor Belaur and Dečanski concluded a peace treaty according to which the Bulgarian throne was inherited by Michael III Shishman's and Anna Neda's son 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...

. Bulgaria did not lose territory but was unable to stop the Serbian expansion in Macedonia. Fine writes that although sourses mention no territorial changes, many scholars believe that the Serbs seized Nis and the surrounding region in the aftermath of the battle.

Conclusion

The battle of Velbazhd opened a period of 20 years in which for the first time Serbia became the dominant power of the Balkans. Their new King Stefan Dušan who killed his father in 1331 conquered Macedonia, Epiros and Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

and in 1346 was crowned Emperor with the help of the Bulgarians. After his death in 1355 his state was divided into several independent states as did Bulgaria after the death of Ivan Alexander in 1371. In the 15th century both states were destroyed by the Ottoman Turks

Ottoman Turks

The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...