In the spring of 1393, Bayazid I gathered his troops from Asia Minor, crossed the Dardanelles, and joined with his western army, which likely included some Christian rulers from Macedonia.
In the absence of Tsar Ivan Shishman, who attempted to fight the Turks elsewhere, leading the remnants of his troops to the fortress of Nikopol, the main Bulgarian leader in the town was Patriarch Evtimiy.
This rapid success by the Turks led a great deal of panic throughout the rest of Europe and the Pope called for a Crusade.
The disciples of Evtimiy dispersed to Russia and Serbia, taking with them Bulgarian books, in the same way as the Greek learned men enriched the West with the old classics.
The famous church of the Holy Forty Martyrs, built by Ivan Asen II, somewhat damaged after the battle, was turned into a mosque.
As early as August 1394, the Patriarch of Constantinople appointed the Moldovan metropolitan bishop to carry the episcopal symbols in Tarnovo, where he came the following year.