Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ivan I,[1] Ioannitsa or Johannitsa (Bulgarian: Калоян, Йоаница; c. 1170 – October 1207), the Romanslayer, was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207.
After the successful siege of Varna in 1201 against the Byzantine Empire, the defenders and governors of the city were tied and thrown into the moat of the fortress walls and covered with dirt by the Bulgarians.
To obtain an imperial title from the Holy See, Kaloyan entered into correspondence with Pope Innocent III, offering to acknowledge papal primacy.
In 1204, King Emeric of Hungary allowed the papal legate who was to deliver a royal crown to Kaloyan to enter Bulgaria only at the Pope's demand.
Kaloyan was the younger brother of Theodor and Asen, noted as the instigators of the uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs[2] against the Byzantine Empire in 1185.
[13] The Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates mentioned that Theodor-Peter designated Kaloyan "to assist him in his labors and share in his rule"[14] at an unspecified time.
[15] Innocent eagerly entered into correspondence with Kaloyan because the reunification of the Christian denominations under his authority was one of his principal objectives.
[21] Kaloyan captured Braničevo, Velbuzhd (now Kyustendil in Bulgaria), Skopje and Prizren from the Byzantines, most probably in that year, according to historian Alexandru Madgearu.
[22] Innocent III's envoy arrived in Bulgaria in late December 1199, bringing a letter from the Pope to Kaloyan.
[23] Kaloyan's answer, written in Old Church Slavonic, has not been preserved, but its content can be reconstructed based on his later correspondence with the Holy See.
[29] After the Cuman's retreat, Kaloyan concluded a peace treaty with Alexios III and withdrew his troops from Thrace in late 1201 or in 1202.
[25][30] According to Kaloyan's letter to the Pope, Alexios III was also willing to send an imperial crown to him and to acknowledge the autocephalous (or autonomous) status of the Bulgarian Church.
[35] Since Vukan had already acknowledged papal primacy, Innocent III urged Kaloyan to make peace with him in September.
[37] Dissatisfied with the Pope's decision, Kaloyan sent a new letter to Rome, asking Innocent to send cardinals who could crown him emperor.
[40][41] Kaloyan sent envoys to the crusaders who were besieging Constantinople, offering military support to them if "they would crown him king so that he would be lord of his land of Vlachia", according to Robert of Clari's chronicle.
[46] In his subsequent letter to the Pope, Kaloyan styled himself as "King of Bulgaria and Vlachia", but referred to his realm as an empire and to Basil as a patriarch.
[51] Considering Kaloyan's cooperation with the rebels a dangerous alliance, Emperor Baldwin decided to launch a counter-attack and ordered the withdrawal of his troops from Asia Minor.
[52] A feigned retreat by the Cumans drew the heavy cavalry of the crusaders into an ambush in the marshes north of Adrianople, enabling Kaloyan to inflict a crushing defeat on them on 14 April 1205.
[48][56] George Akropolites added that Baldwin's head was "cleaned of all its contents and decorated all round with ornaments"[57] to be used as a goblet by Kaloyan.
[48][56] On the other hand, Baldwin's brother and successor, Henry, informed the pope that Kaloyan behaved respectfully towards the crusaders who had been captured at Adrianople.
[69] Akropolites recorded that thereafter Kaloyan called himself "Romanslayer", with a clear reference to Basil II who had been known as the "Bulgarslayer" after his destruction of the First Bulgarian Empire.
[83][84] He also recorded a rumour claiming that Kaloyan's "death was caused by divine wrath; for it seemed to him that an armed man appeared before him in his sleep and struck his side with a spear".
[84][85] Legends about Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica's intervention on behalf of the besieged town were recorded shortly after Kaloyan's death.
[83][86] Robert of Clari wrote before 1216 that the saint himself came to Kaloyan's tent and "struck him with a lance through the body",[87] causing his death.
[86] John Staurakios, who compiled the legends of Saint Demetrius in the late 13th century, recorded that a man riding on a white horse struck Kaloyan with a lance.
[84] The contradictory records of Kaloyan's death gave rise to multiple scholarly theories, many of them accepting that he was murdered.
[67] Historians Genoveva Cankova-Petkova and Francesco Dall'Aglia also write that Manastras killed Kaloyan, but they assume that the Greeks had persuaded him to turn against the tsar.
[92] Historian Ivan Dujčev stated that the ring proved that Kaloyan's remains were transferred to the church, which was built in 1230.
[92] Furthermore, the graves of all other royals who were buried in the same place are located within the church, suggesting that the ring was not owned by Kaloyan, but by one of his 14th-century namesakes.
[93] According to gossip recorded by Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Kaloyan's wife tried to seduce the Latin Emperor Baldwin who had been imprisoned in Tarnovo.
