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135-655: The first organised Bulgarian navy was built under Emperor Ivan Asen II (1218–1241). It was rather small and included galleys to guard the coast. The Navy's importance increased during the reign of Dobrotitsa and Ivanko in the Principality of Karvuna in the late 14th century. The Bulgarian fleet took part in successful actions against the Genoese and the Turks with its range reaching Crimea and Trebizond . The main Bulgarian shipyard

270-579: A separate duchy under his brother's suzerainty. Throughout Coloman's reign, the brothers' relationship remained tense, which finally led to the blinding of Álmos and his infant son Béla . Coloman routed two bands of crusaders (the perpetrators of the Rhineland massacres ) who were plundering the Western borderlands, and defeated Petar Snačić in Croatia. The late 14th-century Pacta conventa states that Coloman

405-422: A ban on sale of native slaves to places abroad. His laws concerning his Muslim subjects aimed at their conversion; for instance, by obliging them to marry their daughters to Christians. The presence of Jewish and Muslim merchants in the kingdom was due to its position as a crossroad of trading routes leading towards Constantinople, Regensburg , and Kiev . Local trade also existed, which enabled Coloman to collect

540-572: A favourable peace. In 1366 Amadeus VI of Savoy lost several ships during the siege of Varna . During the First Empire the ships designed for both sea and river sailing. They had small draught and good maritime qualities. The ships had very high bows and sterns, 10-15 paddles on each board and one mast. The battle ships had a battering ram in their front. During the Second Empire the shipbuilding traditions were continued and sophisticated. Many of

675-487: A four-decade crisis. Stephen considered his cousin, Vazul , unsuitable for the throne and named his own sister's son, the Venetian Peter Orseolo , as his heir. After Vazul was blinded and his three sons were expelled, Peter succeeded his uncle without opposition in 1038. Peter's preference for his foreign courtiers led to a rebellion, which ended with his deposition in favor of a native lord, Samuel Aba , who

810-459: A girl to be his wife without the consent of her parents, we decreed that the girl should be returned to her parents, even if he did anything by force to her, and the abductor shall pay ten steers for the abduction, although he may afterwards have made peace with the girl's parents. Stephen I:27, 1000–1038 From a legal perspective, Hungarian society was divided into freemen and serfs , but intermediate groups also existed. All freemen had

945-616: A group of Cumans to accept Andrew II's suzerainty in 1228 and established a new march in Oltenia (known as the Banate of Szörény ) in 1231. Béla IV succeeded his father in 1235. His attempt to reacquire crown lands alienated by his predecessors created a deep rift between the monarch and the lords just as the Mongols were sweeping westward across the Eurasian steppes . The king was first informed of

1080-468: A group of local lords in 1213. A new uprising broke out while the king was in the Holy Land on his crusade in 1217 and 1218 . Finally, a movement of the royal servants , who were actually free landholders directly subordinated to the sovereign, obliged Andrew II to issue his Golden Bull in 1222. It summarized the royal servants' liberties, including their tax exemption. Its last provision authorized

1215-466: A letter that those who had attacked the converted Cumans were also the enemies of the Roman Catholic Church, possibly in reference to a previous attack by Ivan Asen, according to Madgearu. Hungarian troops may have tried to capture Vidin already in 1228, but the dating of the siege is uncertain, and it may have occurred only in 1232. Theodore Komnenos Doukas unexpectedly invaded Bulgaria along

1350-521: A list of merchandise brought to Ghent shows that Hungary exported wax and unminted gold and silver. Although threatening letters sent to Béla IV by the khans of the Golden Horde proved that the danger of a new Mongol invasion still existed, he adopted an expansionist foreign policy. Frederick II of Austria died fighting against Hungarian troops in 1246, and Béla IV's son-in-law, Rostislav Mikhailovich , annexed large territories along

1485-454: A military conflict with him. Simultaneously, they offered the regency to the former king of Jerusalem , John of Brienne , who agreed to leave Italy for Constantinople, but they kept their agreement in secret for years. Only Venetian authors who compiled their chronicles decades after the events– Marino Sanudo , Andrea Dandolo and Lorenzo de Monacis –recorded Ivan Asen's offer to the Latins, but

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1620-643: A new wave of colonization that resulted in the arrival of a number of Germans, Moravians , Poles , and Romanians . The king re-invited the Cumans and settled them in the plains along the Danube and the Tisza . A group of Alans , the ancestors of the Jassic people , seems to have settled in the kingdom around the same time. New villages appeared, consisting of timber houses built side by side in equal parcels of land. For instance,

1755-541: A prince of dubious legitimacy. Andrew became the first monarch to take an oath respecting the liberties of the Church and the nobility before his coronation. He regularly convoked the prelates, the lords, and the noblemen's representatives to assemblies known as Diets , which started to develop into a legislative body. By 1300, when the kingdom had disintegrated into autonomous provinces ruled by powerful noblemen (including Matthew Csák , Ladislaus Kán , and Amadeus Aba ),

1890-470: A provisional crown, but most lords and bishops refused to yield to him because they regarded him as a symbol of the Holy See's attempts to control Hungary. They elected as king the twelve-year-old Wenceslaus of Bohemia , who was descended from Béla IV of Hungary in the female line. The young king could not consolidate his position because many lords, especially those who held domains in the southern region of

2025-469: A successful military commander and a skillful diplomat, he conquered almost all lands that had been included in the First Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Simeon I . He also achieved that Hungary did not pose a major threat to Bulgaria. The boyars' fear of punishment and their hunger for booty secured their allegiance to Ivan Asen. However, these personal ties could not permanently secure

2160-525: A tolerant attitude towards Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Muslim, Jewish, and Hungarian merchants from Hungary regularly visited the fairs at Prague, exchanging gold and Byzantine gold coins for slaves, tin, and fur. To Pereyaslavets , an important emporium on the Lower Danube, the Hungarians brought horses and silver. The Byzantine Church was the first to successfully proselytize among their leaders: in 948

2295-420: Is also reflected in the assemblages of the " Bijelo Brdo culture ", which emerged in the mid-10th century. Archaeological finds—a few objects with short inscriptions—indicate the use of a special runiform script in medieval Hungary. The inscriptions have not been deciphered, and the script was probably never used for administrative or legislative purposes. Although they were pagan, the Hungarians demonstrated

2430-454: Is asked of the prince through his peers, ... no opportunity of defending himself is granted the accused, but the will of the prince alone is held by all as sufficient. Otto of Freising , The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa Béla II's son, Géza II , who ascended the throne in 1141, adopted an active foreign policy. He supported Uroš II of Serbia against Emperor Manuel I Komnenos , and launched at least six military campaigns to

2565-507: Is weak and fragile", he emphasized the advantages of the arrival of foreigners, or "guests". His laws were aimed at the adoption, even by force, of a Christian way of life. He especially protected Christian marriage against polygamy and other traditional customs. Decorated belts and other items of pagan fashion also disappeared. Commoners started to wear long woolen coats, but wealthy men persisted in wearing their silk kaftans decorated with furs. If any warrior debased by lewdness abducts

2700-521: The horka , and around 952 the gyula , were baptized in Constantinople . In contrast, the grand prince Géza who ruled from the early 970s received baptism into the Latin Church . He erected fortresses and invited foreign warriors to develop a new army based on heavy cavalry . Géza also arranged the marriage of his son, Stephen , with Giselle of Bavaria , a princess from the family of

2835-477: The marturina , the traditional in-kind tax of Slavonia, in cash. Coloman exempted those who lived on their own estates from the freemen's pennies, and allowed other freemen to redeem half of the tax through services provided. Modern scholars assume that the earliest Hungarian chronicle was composed under Coloman, but it did not survive. This "primary" chronicle is thought to have been expanded and rewritten in accordance with changing political expectations during

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2970-549: The Balkan Peninsula and the lands east of the Carpathian Mountains , transforming their kingdom into one of the major powers of medieval Europe. Rich in uncultivated lands, silver, gold, and salt deposits, Hungary became the preferred destination of mainly German, Italian, and French colonists. These immigrants were mostly peasants who settled in villages, but some were craftsmen and merchants, who established most of

3105-709: The Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230. Theodore's empire soon collapsed and Ivan Asen conquered large territories in Macedonia, Thessaly and Thrace. The control of the trade on the Via Egnatia enabled Ivan Asen to implement an ambitious building program in Tarnovo and struck gold coins in his new mint in Ohrid . He started negotiations about the return of the Bulgarian Church to Orthodoxy after

3240-509: The Csák , Kőszegi , and other leading families who attempted to control the central government in the name of the young Ladislaus IV. He was declared to be of age in 1277 at an assembly of the spiritual and temporal lords and of the noblemen's and Cumans' representatives, but he could not strengthen royal authority. Ladislaus IV, whose mother, Elisabeth , was a Cuman chieftain's daughter, preferred his Cuman kin, which made him unpopular. He

3375-659: The Empire of Thessaloniki . The Bulgarian troops also made a plundering raid against Serbia, because Stefan Radoslav , King of Serbia , had supported his father-in-law, Theodore, against Bulgaria. Ivan Asen's conquests secured the Bulgarian control of the Via Egnatia (the important trade route between Thessaloniki and Durazzo). He established a mint in Ohrid which began to strike gold coins. His growing revenues enabled him to accomplish an ambitious building program in Tarnovo. The Church of

3510-586: The Holy Roman emperors to expand their authority over Hungary , jeopardized the new monarchy. The monarchy stabilized during the reigns of Ladislaus I (1077–1095) and Coloman (1095–1116). These rulers occupied Croatia and Dalmatia with the support of a part of the local population. Both realms retained their autonomous position. The successors of Ladislaus and Coloman—especially Béla II (1131–1141), Béla III (1176–1196), Andrew II (1205–1235), and Béla IV (1235–1270)—continued this policy of expansion towards

3645-680: The Pontic steppes , supported the rebels, aiding them in the foundation of the Second Bulgarian Empire . The nation initially encompassed the Balkan Mountains and the plains to the north of the mountains as far as the Lower Danube . Ivan Asen I was styled " basileus " (or emperor) of the Bulgarians from around 1187. His son and namesake was born between 1192 and 1196. The child's mother

3780-624: The Uniate primate of the Bulgarian Church, Basil I and continued the negotiations about the return of the Bulgarian Church to Orthodoxy. The Orthodox archbishop of Ankyra, Christophoros, who visited Bulgaria in early 1233, urged Ivan Asen to send a bishop to Nicaea to be ordained by the Ecumenical Patriarch. An agreement about the marriage of Theodore II Laskaris –the heir to the Emperor of Nicaea , John III Vatatzes –and Ivan Asen's daughter, Helen,

3915-552: The ecclesiastic nobles , Romanian knezes , and other " conditional nobles ") owed services to their lords in exchange for the lands they held. In a growing number of counties, local nobility acquired the right to elect four "judges of the nobles" to represent them in official procedures (or two, in Transylvania and Slavonia). The idea of equating the Hungarian "nation" with the community of noblemen also emerged in this period. It

4050-724: The full communion of the Bulgarian Church with the Papacy and concluded alliances with the neighboring Catholic powers, Hungary and the Latin Empire of Constantinople . He tried to achieve the regency for the 11-year-old Latin Emperor, Baldwin II , after 1228, but the Latin aristocrats did not support Ivan Asen. He inflicted a crushing defeat on Theodore Komnenos Doukas of the Empire of Thessalonica , in

4185-516: The tsar died on 24 June 1241. However, the contemporaneous Alberic of Trois-Fontaines recorded that Ivan Asen's successor, Kaliman I Asen , signed a truce on the feast of Saint John the Baptist (24 June), evidencing that Ivan Asen had already died. Madgearu writes, that Ivan Asen most probably died in May or June 1241. Ivan Asen married two or three times. According to a scholarly theory, his first wife

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4320-730: The "lands of the Russians" (in the Principality of Galicia or Kiev ). According to a later source, Ephrem the Monk , Ivan Asen and his brother, Alexander, were taken to the Cumans by their tutor before they moved to the Rus' principalities . Florin Curta and John V. A. Fine write that a group of boyars had tried to secure the throne to Ivan Asen after Kaloyan's death, but they were overcome by Boril's supporters, and Ivan Asen had to leave Bulgaria. Historian Alexandru Madgearu proposes that primarily boyars who opposed

4455-544: The 1150s. Aspects of 12th-century French culture could also be detected in Béla's kingdom. His palace at Esztergom was built in the early Gothic style . Achilles and other names known from the Legend of Troy and the Romance of Alexander (two emblematic works of chivalric culture) were also popular among Hungarian aristocrats. According to the consensual scholarly view, "Master P",

4590-445: The 12th century. All scholarly attempts to reconstruct the original text based on chronicles from the 14th and 15th centuries have proved futile. The kingdom was sparsely populated, with an average population density of four or five people per 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi). The Olaszi ("Italians") streets or districts in Eger , Pécs and Várad (Oradea, Romania) point at

4725-661: The Battle of Klokotnitsa. His troops swept into Theodore's lands and conquered dozens of Epirote towns. They captured Ohrid , Prilep and Serres in Macedonia, Adrianople , Demotika and Plovdiv in Thrace and also occupied Great Vlachia in Thessaly. Alexius Slav's realm in the Rhodope Mountains was also annexed. Ivan Asen placed Bulgarian garrisons in the important fortresses and appointed his own men to command them and to collect

4860-625: The Bulgarians reconquered the lost territories already in the early 1230s. The Hungarians seized the Bulgarian fortress at Severin (now Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Romania) to the north of the Lower Danube and established a border province, known as the Banate of Szörény , to prevent the Bulgarians from expanding to the north. The Serbian nobles who promoted an alliance with Bulgaria revolted against Stefan Radoslav and forced him into exile in 1233. His brother and successor, Stefan Vladislav I , married Ivan Asen's daughter, Beloslava . Ivan Asen dismissed

4995-558: The Carpathian Basin at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. Here they found a predominantly Slavic-speaking population. From their new homeland, they launched plundering raids against East Francia , Italy , and other regions of Europe. Their raids were halted by the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto I , who defeated them at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. Hungarians lived in patrilineal families, which were organized into clans that formed tribes . The tribal confederation

5130-510: The Croatian lord, Paul I Šubić of Bribir , dared to invite the late Charles Martel's son, the twelve-year-old Charles Robert , to Hungary. The young pretender was marching from Croatia towards Buda when Andrew III unexpectedly died on January 14, 1301. With Andrew III's death, the male line of the House of Árpád became extinct, and a period of anarchy began. Charles Robert was crowned king with

5265-639: The Cumans' growing influence had supported Ivan Asen. Boril's rule was always insecure. His own relatives, Strez and Alexius Slav , denied to obey to him and he had to face frequent uprisings. Ivan Asen stayed in Rus' "a considerable time", according to Akropolites, before he gathered about him "a certain of the Russian rabble" and returned to Bulgaria. Madgearu says, Ivan Asen could hire soldiers most probably because Boril's opponents had sent money to him. Historian István Vásáry associates Ivan Asen's "Russian rabble" with

5400-573: The Great Khan Ögödei in March 1242. Nevertheless, the invasion and the famine that followed it had catastrophic demographic consequences. At least 15 percent of the population died or disappeared. Transcontinental trading routes disintegrated, causing the decline of Bács (Bač, Serbia), Ungvár (Uzhhorod, Ukraine ) and other traditional centers of commerce. Local Muslim communities vanished, indicating they had suffered especially heavy losses during

5535-521: The Holy Forty Martyrs , with its facade decorated with ceramic tiles and murals, commemorated his victory at Klokotnitsa. The imperial palace on the Tsaravets Hill was enlarged. A memorial inscription on one of the columns of the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs recorded Ivan Asen's conquests. It referred to him as the "tsar of the Bulgarians, Greeks and other countries", implying that he

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5670-519: The Holy Roman emperors . When Géza died in 997, his son had to fight for his succession with Koppány , the eldest member of the House of Árpád . Assisted by German heavy cavalry, Stephen emerged the victor in the decisive battle of the conflict in 998. He applied for a royal crown to Pope Sylvester II ( r.  999–1003 ), who granted his request with the consent of Emperor Otto III . Stephen

5805-697: The Hungarian army was indeed on a par with the armies of the Byzantine and Holy Roman emperors. While crossing Hungary during the Second Crusade , Otto of Freising noticed Géza's nearly uncontrolled authority over his subjects. Géza promoted the colonization of the border zones. Flemish , German, Italian, and Walloon "guests" arrived in great numbers and settled in the Szepesség region (Spiš, Slovakia) and in southern Transylvania. Abu Hamid refers to mountains that "contain lots of silver and gold", which points at

5940-472: The Hungarians , was crowned king in 1000 or 1001. He reinforced central authority and forced his subjects to accept Christianity . Although all written sources emphasize only the role played by German and Italian knights and clerics in the process, a significant part of the Hungarian vocabulary for agriculture, religion was taken from Slavic languages . Civil wars and pagan uprisings, along with attempts by

6075-525: The Kievan Rus' against the enemies of his brother-in-law Iziaslav II of Kiev . He even recruited Muslim warriors in the Pontic steppes to serve in his army. Abu Hamid al-Gharnati , a Muslim traveler from Al-Andalus who lived in Hungary from 1150 to 1153 stated that Géza was "many times more powerful than that of the Byzantine ruler" as his troops were "innumerable". He overestimated Géza's military power but

6210-556: The Latin Empire remained peaceful during the reign of Robert. Ivan Asen also made peace with the ruler of Epirus , Theodore Komnenos Doukas , who was one of the principal enemies of the Latin Empire. Theodore's brother, Manuel Doukas , married Ivan Asen's illegitimate daughter, Mary, in 1225. Theodore who regarded himself the lawful successor of the Byzantine emperors was crowned emperor around 1226. The Latin Emperor Robert

6345-612: The Latin Empire. The Bulgarian troops conquered the territories to the west of the Maritsa, while the Nicean army seized the lands to the east of the river. They laid siege to Constantinople, but John of Brienne and the Venetian fleet forced them to lift the siege before the end of 1235. Early next year, they again attacked Constantinople, but the second siege ended in a new failure. Ivan Asen realized that Vatatzes could primarily take advantage of

6480-491: The Latin emperor, Baldwin II, and the crusaders who accompanied him during their march from France to Constantinople in 1239, although he had not abandoned his alliance with Vatatzes. New crusader troops crossed Bulgaria with Ivan Asen's consent in early 1240. Ivan Asen sent envoys to Hungary before May 1240, most probably because he wanted to forge a defensive alliance against the Mongols. The Mongols' authority expanded as far as

6615-526: The Lower Danube after they captured Kiev on 6 December 1240. The Mongol expansion forced dozens of dispossessed Rus' princes and boyars to flee to Bulgaria. The Cumans who had settled in Hungary also fled to Bulgaria after their chieftain, Köten , was murdered in March 1241. According to a biography of the Mamluk sultan , Baibars , who was descended from a Cuman tribe, this tribe also sought asylum in Bulgaria after

6750-463: The Mongol invasion. The same source adds, that " A.n.s.khan , the king of Vlachia", who is associated with Ivan Asen by modern scholars, allowed the Cumans to settle in a valley, but he soon attacked and killed or enslaved them. Madgearu writes that Ivan Asen most probably attacked the Cumans because he wanted to prevent them from pillaging Bulgaria. The date of Ivan Asen's death is unknown. Vásáry says,

6885-676: The Mongol threat by Friar Julian , a Dominican friar who had visited a Hungarian-speaking population in Magna Hungaria , in 1235. In the next years, the Mongols routed the Cumans who dominated the western parts of the Eurasian steppes . A Cuman chieftain, Kuthen , agreed to accept Béla IV's supremacy; thus he and his people were allowed to settle in the Great Hungarian Plain . The Cumans' nomadic lifestyle caused many conflicts with local communities. The locals even considered them as

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7020-409: The Mongols' allies. Batu Khan , who was the commander of the Mongol armies invading Eastern Europe , demanded Béla IV's surrender without a fight in 1240. The king refused, and ordered his barons to assemble with their retinue in his camp at Pest . Here, a riot broke out against the Cumans and the mob massacred the Cuman leader, Kuthen. The Cumans soon departed and pillaged the central parts of

7155-404: The Nicean emperor in the siege of Constantinople. In the beginning of 1257 the Latin Empire hired a fleet of 10 Venetian galleys and on 14 June they captured Nessebar after a short siege but could not achieve anything more. In the late 14th century Dobrotitsa used the Navy to put his cousin on the Trebizond throne and later lead a war against Genoa which lasted to 1387 when his son Ivanco settled

7290-419: The Walloon "guests" in Székesfehérvár , including immunity from the jurisdiction of the local ispán . When Stephen died childless in 1172, his brother, Béla III , ascended the throne. He reconquered Dalmatia and the Szerémség in the 1180s. A contemporary list shows that Béla's total income was the equivalent of 32 tonnes of silver per year, but this number is clearly exaggerated. According to

7425-408: The armies of the Fourth Crusade took Zadar in 1202. Emeric was succeeded in 1204 by his infant son, Ladislaus III . When the young king died in a year, his uncle, Andrew, mounted the throne. Stating that "the best measure of a royal grant is its being immeasurable", he distributed large parcels of royal lands among his partisans. Freemen living in former royal lands lost their direct contact to

7560-408: The author of the Gesta Hungarorum , a chronicle on the Hungarian "land-taking", was Béla's notary. The earliest text written in Hungarian, known as Funeral Sermon and Prayer , was preserved in the late 12th-century Pray Codex . Béla III's son and successor, Emeric , had to face revolts stirred up by his younger brother, Andrew . Furthermore, incited by Enrico Dandolo , Doge of Venice ,

7695-446: The barons of the Latin Empire had elected John of Brienne regent for Baldwin II in 1229. Ivan Asen and the Emperor of Nicaea , John III Vatatzes , concluded an alliance against the Latin Empire at their meeting in 1235. During the same conference, the rank of patriarch was granted to the head of the Bulgarian Church in token of its autocephaly (independence). Ivan Asen and Vatatzes joined their forces in attacking Constantinople, but

7830-439: The borders, but they were moved to the easternmost regions of Transylvania in the 12th century. Stephen II died childless in 1131. His cousin, Duke Álmos' blind son Béla II, succeeded him. During his reign, the kingdom was administered by his wife, Helena of Serbia , who ordered the massacre of the lords whom she blamed for her husband's mutilation. Boris Kalamanos , an alleged son of King Coloman who attempted to seize

7965-402: The cities of the Kingdom. Their arrival played a key role in the shaping of an urban lifestyle, habits, and culture in medieval Hungary. The location of the kingdom at the crossroads of international trade routes favored the coexistence of several cultures. Romanesque , Gothic , and Renaissance buildings and literary works written in Latin prove the predominantly Roman Catholic character of

8100-418: The common soldiers. After Theodore tried to hatch a plot against Ivan Asen, he had the captured emperor blinded. A Spanish rabbi, Jacob Arophe, was informed that Ivan Asen first ordered two Jews to blind Theodore because he knew that the emperor had persecuted the Jews in his empire, but they refused, for which they were thrown from a cliff. Bulgaria became the dominant power of Southeastern Europe after

8235-408: The corpses, they left the place empty. People hiding in the nearby forests came back to find some food. And while they were searching among the stones and the corpses, the [Mongols] suddenly returned and of those living whom they found there, none was left alive. Master Roger , Epistle The kingdom continued to exist. Batu Khan withdrew his entire army when he was informed of the death of

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8370-423: The culture; but Orthodox , and even non-Christian ethnic minority communities also existed. Latin was the language of legislation, administration and the judiciary, but "linguistic pluralism" contributed to the survival of many tongues, including a great variety of Slavic dialects. The predominance of royal estates initially assured the sovereign's preeminent position, but the alienation of royal lands gave rise to

8505-607: The development of the new domains emerging in former royal lands. The new landholders granted personal freedom and more favorable financial conditions to those who arrived in their estates, which also enabled the peasants who decided not to move to improve their position. Béla IV granted privileges to more than a dozen towns, including Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia) and Pest . A 1264 list of luxury goods—oriental velvet, silk, jewels, gems, and Flemish broadcloth —sold to Béla IV's heir Stephen indicates that imported goods were primarily paid for using silver and salt. Likewise,

8640-419: The dominance of royal authority. The local boyars remained the actual rulers of the provinces because they controlled the collection of the taxes and the raising of troops. Ivan Asen's reign "ended at a moment of complete disaster", during the Mongol invasion of Europe. The Mongols invaded Bulgaria in 1242 and forced Bulgarians to pay a yearly tribute to them. The minority of Ivan Asen's successor gave rise to

8775-401: The early 1080s. Ladislaus promulgated laws that prescribed draconian punishments against criminals. His laws also regulated the payment of customs duties, of tolls payable at fairs and fords, and of the tithes . He forbade Jews from holding Christian serfs, and introduced laws aiming at the conversion of local Muslims, who were known as Böszörménys . No one shall buy or sell except in

8910-549: The emergence of a self-conscious group of lesser landholders, known as " royal servants ". They forced Andrew II to issue his Golden Bull of 1222 , "one of the first examples of constitutional limits being placed on the powers of a European monarch" ( Francis Fukuyama ). The kingdom received a major blow from the Mongol invasion of 1241–42 . Thereafter, Cuman and Jassic groups settled in the central lowlands, and colonists arrived from Moravia , Poland , and other nearby countries. The erection of fortresses by landlords, promoted by

9045-451: The employment of Muslims and Jews in royal administration. This ban was confirmed when Andrew II, urged by the prelates, issued the Golden Bull's new variant in 1231, which authorized the archbishop of Esztergom to excommunicate him in case of his departure from its provisions. For non-Christians who continued to be employed in the royal household, Archbishop Robert of Esztergom placed the kingdom under interdict in 1232. Andrew II

9180-455: The fall of the Latin Empire. He persuaded Vatatzes to return his daughter, Helen, to him, stating that he and his wife "wished to see" her and "give her a paternal embrace". He severed his alliance with Nicea and entered into a new correspondence with Pope Gregory IX, offering to acknowledge his primacy in early 1237. The Pope urged him to make peace with the Latin Empire. A new Mongol invasion of Europe forced thousands of Cumans to flee from

9315-427: The formation of boyar factions and the neighboring powers quickly conquered the peripheral territories. Ivan Asen II's seal is depicted on the reverse of the Bulgarian 2 lev banknote, issued in 1999 and 2005. Kingdom of Hungary (1000%E2%80%931301) The high-medieval Kingdom of Hungary was a regional power in central Europe. It came into existence in Central Europe when Stephen I , Grand Prince of

9450-424: The former realized that Vatatzes could primarily take advantage of the fall of the Latin Empire and broke off his alliance with Nicaea in 1237. After the Mongols invaded the Pontic steppes, several Cuman groups fled to Bulgaria. Ivan Asen's father, Ivan Asen I , was one of the two leaders of the great uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs against the Byzantine Empire in 1185. The nomadic Cumans , who dwelled in

9585-407: The hermits Benedict and Andrew Zorard —the earliest Hungarian hagiography —around this time. The young king and his cousins cooperated for almost a decade; for instance, they jointly defeated the Pechenegs plundering Transylvania in 1068. The power conflict in the royal family caused a new civil war in 1071. It lasted up to Solomon's abdication in favor of one of his cousins, Ladislaus , in

9720-479: The importance of mining and gold panning already around 1150. He also writes of slave trading, mentioning that he bought an attractive slave girl for ten denars, but beautiful slave women were sold for three denars after military campaigns. Archaeological evidence indicates that the large asymmetric heavy plows, capable to turn the soil over, first appeared when the new settlers arrived. As the heavy plows spread, long narrow fields, more suitable to their use, replaced

9855-601: The invasion. Small villages also disappeared, but archaeological data indicate that the total destruction of settlements was less often than it used to be assumed. The abandonment of most villages, well-documented from the second half of the 13th century, was the consequence of a decades-long integration process with peasants moving from the small villages to larger settlements. After the Mongol withdrawal, Béla IV abandoned his policy of recovering former crown lands. Instead, he granted large estates to his supporters, and urged them to construct stone-and-mortar castles. He initiated

9990-597: The kingdom's borders. A wide zone known as gyepü was intentionally left uninhabited for defensive purposes along the frontiers. Stephen developed a state similar to the monarchies of contemporary Western Europe . Counties , the basic units of administration, were districts organized around fortresses and headed by royal officials known as ispáns , or counts. Most of the early medieval fortresses were made of earth and timber. Stephen founded dioceses and at least one archbishopric , and established Benedictine monasteries. He prescribed that every tenth village

10125-415: The kingdom's southern frontiers. Conflicts between the elderly monarch and his heir caused a civil war in the 1260s . Béla IV and his son jointly confirmed the liberties of the royal servants and started referring to them as noblemen in 1267. By that time, "true noblemen" were legally differentiated from other landholders. They held their estates free from any obligation, but everybody else (even

10260-588: The kingdom, continued to support Charles Robert. Wenceslaus left Hungary for Bohemia in mid-1304. After he inherited Bohemia in 1305, he abandoned his claim to Hungary in favor of Otto III, Duke of Bavaria . Otto, who was a grandson of Béla IV of Hungary, was crowned king, but only the Kőszegis and the Transylvanian Saxons regarded him as the lawful monarch. He was captured in Transylvania by Ladislaus Kán, who forced him to leave Hungary. The majority of

10395-604: The kingdom. The main Mongol army arrived through the northeastern passes of the Carpathian Mountains in March 1241. Royal troops met the enemy forces at the river Sajó , where the Mongols won a decisive victory in the battle of Mohi on April 11, 1241. From the battlefield, Béla IV fled first to Austria , where Duke Frederick II held him for ransom. Thereafter, the king and his family found refuge in Klis Fortress in Dalmatia. The Mongols first occupied and thoroughly plundered

10530-455: The legal capacity to own property, to sue, and to be sued. Most of them were bound to the monarch or to a wealthier landlord, and only "guests" could freely move. Among freemen living in lands attached to a fortress, the castle warriors served in the army, and the castle folk cultivated the lands, forged weapons, or rendered other services. All freemen were to pay a special tax, the freemen's pennies —eight denars per person per year—to

10665-438: The list, more than 50 percent of his revenues derived from the annual renewal of the silver currency, and from trade-related duties. Austrian custom tariffs of the period indicate that Hungary was a major supplier of grain, leather, timber, wine, wax, honey, fish, cattle, sheep, pigs, copper, tin, lead, iron, and salt. Royal revenues were due either to the royal chamber or to the king as landowner. The distinction between them

10800-552: The local clergy with liturgical books, and the kings regularly donated codices to monasteries. The earliest extant literary works were composed in Latin during Stephen's reign. Bishop Gerard of Csanád , who had come from Venice, completed a Latin commentary on a chapter in the Book of Daniel in Hungary. Stephen's views on state administration were summarized around 1015 in a mirror for princes known as Admonitions . Stating that "the country that has only one language and one custom

10935-500: The long siege. He captured and blinded Boril, and "gained control of all the territory of the Bulgarians", according to Acropolites. The first decade of Ivan Asen's rule is poorly documented. Andrew II of Hungary reached Bulgaria during his return from the Fifth Crusade in late 1218. Ivan Asen did not allow the king to cross the country until Andrew promised to give his daughter, Maria , in marriage to him. Maria's dowry included

11070-568: The lords and prelates elected Charles Robert king at a Diet on October 10, 1307. He was crowned king with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár by the Archbishop of Esztergom, as required by customary law, on August 27, 1310. During the next decade, he launched a series of military campaigns against the oligarchs to restore royal authority. Charles Robert reunited the kingdom after

11205-489: The lowlands, but a native claimant, Petar Snačić , resisted in the Petrova Mounts . Nevertheless, Croatia and Hungary remained closely connected for more than nine centuries. Ladislaus I appointed his nephew, Álmos , to administer Croatia. Although a younger son, Álmos was also favored by the king against his brother, Coloman , for the succession. Even so, Coloman succeeded his uncle in 1095, while Álmos received

11340-404: The market. If, in violation of this anyone buys stolen property, everyone shall perish: the buyer, the seller, and the witnesses. If, however, they agreed to sell something of their own, they shall lose that thing and its price, and the witnesses shall lose as much too. But if the deal was made in the market, and agreement shall be concluded in front of a judge, a toll-gatherer, and witnesses, and if

11475-441: The monarchs after the withdrawal of the Mongols , led to the development of semi-autonomous "provinces" dominated by powerful magnates . Some of these magnates even challenged the authority of Andrew III (1290–1301), the last male descendant of the native Árpád dynasty . His death was followed by a period of interregnum and anarchy. Central power was re-established only in the early 1320s. The Magyars, or Hungarians , conquered

11610-507: The monarchs. Peasants known as udvornici were exempt from this tax, being somewhat transitory between the status of freemen and of serf. Serfs theoretically lacked the legal status available to freemen, but in practice they had their own property: they cultivated their masters' land with their own tools, and kept 50–66 percent of the harvest for themselves. Stephen's laws and charters suggest that most commoners lived in sedentary communities which formed villages. An average village

11745-451: The monarchs. Zadar , Split , and other Dalmatian towns also accepted Coloman's suzerainty in 1105, but their right to elect their own bishops and leaders remained unchanged. In Croatia and Slavonia, the sovereign was represented by governors bearing the title ban . Likewise, a royal official, the voivode , administered Transylvania , the eastern borderland of the kingdom. The central administration's highest offices developed from

11880-472: The new head of the Bulgarian Church, Joachim I , were also present at the meeting. After Joachim abandoned his claim to jurisdiction over Mount Athos and the archbishops of Thessaloniki , Germanus recognized him as patriarch, thus acknowledging the autocephaly of the Bulgarian Church. The marriage of Helen and Theodor Lascaris was also celebrated in Lampsacus. Ivan Asen and Vatatzes made an alliance against

12015-872: The new ships had no paddles and this new type was a specific Bulgarian design: it combined features from Mediterranean (triangular sails) and North Sea ships (helm was used instead of stern paddles for better navigation). The ships were 25–30 meters long and 6–7 meters wide and had one or two masts. De facto independent Bulgarian states from the Second Empire First Bulgarian Empire Second Bulgarian Empire [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] First Bulgarian Empire Second Bulgarian Empire Prominent writers and scholars: Famous examples: Ivan Asen II Ivan Asen II , also known as John Asen II ( Bulgarian : Иван Асен II , [iˈvan ɐˈsɛn ˈftɔri] ; 1190s – May/June 1241),

12150-436: The obligatory use of written petitions. Landowners also started to put their transactions into writing, which led to the appearance of the so-called " places of authentication ", such as cathedral chapters and monasteries authorized to issue deeds . Their emergence also evidences the employment of an educated staff. Indeed, students from the kingdom studied at the universities of Paris , Oxford , Bologna , and Padua from

12285-421: The pagans in 1046. His cooperation with his brother, Béla , a talented military commander, ensured the Hungarians' victory over Emperor Henry III, who attempted to conquer the kingdom two times: in 1050 and 1053. A new civil war broke out when Duke Béla claimed the crown for himself in 1059, but his three sons accepted the rule of Solomon , Andrew I's son, in 1063. Bishop Maurus of Pécs wrote his Life of

12420-462: The peasants' daily diet. Monasteries introduced the systematic growing of fruit trees. In their orchards, the trees were planted in holes dug at regular intervals. Even peasants were allowed to hunt and fish in the royal forests that covered large territories in the kingdom. Animal husbandry remained an important sector of agriculture, and millet and oats were produced for fodder. Both written sources and archaeological evidence indicate that famine

12555-474: The presence of "guests" speaking a Western Romance language , while the Németi ("Germans") and Szászi ("Saxons") place names imply German-speaking colonists throughout the entire kingdom. Most subjects of the early medieval Hungarian monarchs were peasants. They only cultivated the most fertile lands, and moved further out when the lands became exhausted. Wheat was the most widely produced crop, but barley ,

12690-406: The purchased goods later appear to be stolen, the buyer shall escape penalty ... Ladislaus II:7, 1077–1095 The death of Ladislaus's brother-in-law King Zvonimir of Croatia , in 1089 or 1090, created an opportunity for him to claim Croatia for himself. Ladislaus's sister, Helena , and several noblemen (mainly from northern Croatia) supported his claim. Ladislaus's troops occupied

12825-504: The raw material for home brew, was also grown. Winegrowing flourished and vineyards existed in virtually all settlements with the exception of the highlands. The highest-ranking wines were produced in the Szerémség region (now Srem in Serbia), but the wines of Buda Hills , Hegyalja , Sopron , and Pressburg (Bratislava, Slovakia) were also popular. Fresh or dried fruits were common elements of

12960-566: The regency in the Latin Empire outraged Ivan Asen. He sent envoys to the Ecumenical Patriarch Germanus II to Nicaea to start negotiations about the position of the Bulgarian Church. Pope Gregory IX urged Andrew II of Hungary to launch a crusade against the enemies of the Latin Empire on 9 May 1231, most probably in reference to Ivan Asen's hostile actions, according to Madgearu. Béla IV of Hungary invaded Bulgaria and captured Belgrade and Braničevo in late 1231 or in 1232, but

13095-400: The region of Belgrade and Braničevo , the possession of which had been disputed by the Hungarian and Bulgarian rulers for decades. When Robert of Courtenay , the newly elected Latin Emperor , was marching from France towards Constantinople in 1221, Ivan Asen accompanied him across Bulgaria. He also supplied the emperor's retinue with food and fodder. The relationship between Bulgaria and

13230-406: The release of Theodore, who returned to Thessalonica, chased out his brother Manuel, and imposed his own son John as despot. Pope Gregory IX accused Ivan Asen of protecting heretics and urged Béla IV of Hungary to launch a crusade against Bulgaria in early 1238. The Pope offered Bulgaria to Béla, but the Hungarian king did not want to wage war against Ivan Asen. Ivan Asen granted a free passage to

13365-525: The reliability of their report is widely accepted by modern historians. Relationship between Bulgaria and Hungary deteriorated in the late 1220s. Shortly after the Mongols inflicted a serious defeat on the united armies of the Rus' princes and Cuman chieftains in the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223, a leader of a western Cuman tribe, Boricius , converted to Catholicism in the presence of Andrew II's heir and co-ruler, Béla IV . Pope Gregory IX stated in

13500-627: The request to elevate the head of the Bulgarian Church to the rank of patriarch , but he granted the inferior title of primate to the Bulgarian prelate. The Pope did not acknowledge Kaloyan's claim to the title of emperor, but a papal legate crowned Kaloyan king in Tarnovo on 8 November 1204. Kaloyan took advantage of the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade and expanded his authority over significant territories. He

13635-563: The river Maritsa in early 1230. The Epirote and Bulgarian armies clashed at Klokotnitsa in March or April. Ivan Asen personally commanded the reserve troops, including 1,000 Cuman mounted archers. He held a copy of his peace treaty with Theodore high in the air while marching into battle as a reference to his opponents' betrayal. Their sudden attack against the Epirotes secured his victory. The Bulgarians captured Theodore and his principal officials and seized much booty, but Ivan Asen released

13770-583: The royal household's leading positions. Initially responsible for the management of the royal domains, the palatine emerged as the king's deputy by the early 12th century. His managerial tasks were transferred to a new official who quickly gained the functions of a chief justiciar as judge royal . Like Ladislaus I, Coloman proved to be a great legislator, but he prescribed less severe punishments than his uncle had done. He ordered that transactions between Christians and Jews were to be put into writing. He prohibited them to hold Christian slaves and introduced

13905-471: The scarcely-inhabited forests of the Western Carpathians (in present-day Slovakia) developed a network of settlements under Béla IV. Huts disappeared, and new rural houses consisting of a living room, a kitchen and a pantry were built. The most advanced agricultural techniques, including asymmetric heavy ploughs, also spread throughout the kingdom. Internal migration was likewise instrumental in

14040-447: The secular and spiritual lords to "resist and speak against" the sovereign "without the charge of high treason ". Around this time, the structure of charters of grant underwent a significant change with the introduction of a narrative section about the beneficiaries' heroic acts in the king's service. These lengthy accounts contain more information about Hungary's 13th-century history than the chronicles. The Golden Bull also prohibited

14175-635: The semi-nomadic Brodnici . He defeated Boril and seized "not a little land" (that Madgearu tentatively associates with Dobruja ). Curta and Fine write that Ivan Asen returned to Bulgaria after Boril's ally, Andrew II of Hungary , had departed for the Fifth Crusade in 1217. Boril withdrew to Tarnovo after his defeat, but Ivan Asen laid siege to the town. Akropolites claimed that the siege lasted for seven years. Most modern historians agree that Akropolites confused months for years, but Genoveva Cankova-Petkova accepts Akropolites' chronology. She says that

14310-592: The simultaneous deaths of his wife, son, and Patriarch Joachim I reached him. Taking these events as signs of the wrath of God for breaking his alliance with Vatatzes, Ivan Asen abandoned the siege and sent his daughter Helena back to her husband in Nicaea at the end of 1237. The widowed Ivan Asen fell in love with Irene who had been captured along with her father Theodore Komnenos Doukas in 1230. According to Akropolites, Ivan Asen loved his new wife "exceedingly, no less than Antony did Cleopatra ". The marriage resulted in

14445-425: The sovereign, which threatened their legal status. Royal revenues decreased, which led to the introduction of new taxes and their farming out to Muslims and Jews. The new methods of raising funds for the royal treasury created widespread unrest. Andrew II was strongly influenced by his wife, Gertrude of Merania . She openly expressed her preference for her German compatriots, which led to her assassination by

14580-406: The steppes in the summer of 1237. Ivan Asen who could not prevent them from crossing the Danube into Bulgaria allowed them to invade Macedonia and Thrace. The Cumans captured and pillaged the smallest fortresses and plundered the countryside. The Latins hired Cuman troops and allied with Ivan Asen who laid siege the Nicean fortress at Tzurullon . He was still besieging the fortress when news of

14715-465: The taxes, but local officials continued to administer other places in the conquered territories. He replaced the Greek bishops with Bulgarian prelates in Macedonia. He made generous grants to the monasteries on Mount Athos during his visit there in 1230, but he could not persuade the monks to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the primate of the Bulgarian Church. His son-in-law, Manuel Doukas , took control of

14850-522: The territories east of the river Danube. An eyewitness account of the devastation of eastern Hungary was compiled by Master Roger , archdeacon of the cathedral chapter at Várad. The Mongols crossed the Danube when it was frozen in early 1242. On learning of their acts, Hermann, abbot of the Austrian Niederaltaich Abbey recorded that "the Kingdom of Hungary, which had existed for 350 years,

14985-399: The three Cuman chieftains whom Andrew II's military commander, Joachim, Count of Hermannstadt , defeated near Vidin around 1210 had been hired by Ivan Asen, because he wanted to prevent Joachim from supporting Boril against the rebels who had seized the town. Vásáry states that her theory is "far-fetched", lacking any solid evidence. The townspeople of Tarnovo surrendered to Ivan Asen after

15120-419: The throne from Béla II, received no internal support. If anyone of the rank of count has even in a trivial matter offended against the king or, as sometimes happens, has been unjustly accused of this, an emissary from the court, though he be of very lowly station and unattended, seizes him in the midst of his retinue, puts him in chains, and drags him off to various forms of punishment. No formal sentence

15255-551: The traditional small square fields in the villages. Géza was succeeded in 1162 by his eldest son, Stephen III . His uncles, Ladislaus II and Stephen IV , claimed the crown for themselves. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos took advantage of the internal conflicts and forced the young king to cede Dalmatia and the Szerémség to the Byzantines in 1165. Stephen III set an example for the development of towns by granting liberties to

15390-583: Was Emperor ( Tsar ) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I – one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empire – was killed in 1196. His supporters tried to secure the throne for him after his uncle, Kaloyan , was murdered in 1207, but Kaloyan's other nephew, Boril , overcame them. Ivan Asen fled from Bulgaria and settled in the Rus' principalities . Boril could never strengthen his rule which enabled Ivan Asen to muster an army and return to Bulgaria. He captured Tarnovo and blinded Boril in 1218. Initially, he supported

15525-604: Was an exceptional phenomenon in medieval Hungary. Unsuccessful wars with the Republic of Venice , the Byzantine Empire, and other neighboring states characterized the reign of Coloman's son, Stephen II , who succeeded his father in 1116. The earliest mention of the Székelys —a Hungarian-speaking community of free warriors—is in connection with the young king's first war against the Duchy of Bohemia . The Székelys lived in scattered groups along

15660-504: Was called Elena , "the new and pious tsarina" (or empress), in the Synodikon of Tzar Boril . A boyar (or noble), Ivanko , killed Ivan Asen I in 1196. The murdered emperor was succeeded by his younger brother, Kaloyan . He entered into correspondence with Pope Innocent III and offered to acknowledge the popes' primacy in order to secure the support of the Holy See . The Pope denied

15795-439: Was changed either after she came to Bulgaria, or after she converted to Orthodoxy in 1235. She gave birth to four children. Marrying Irene Komnene Doukaina , Ivan Asen II would have broken church canons, as his daughter from a previous marriage was married to Eirene's uncle Manuel of Thessalonica. There is moot evidence that the Bulgarian church opposed the marriage and that a patriarch (called either Spiridon or Vissarion )

15930-540: Was concluded in 1234. Sava , the highly respected archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church , died in Tarnovo on 14 January 1235. According to Madgearu, Sava had most probably been deeply involved in the negotiations between the Bulgarian Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch. Ivan Asen met with Vatatzes in Lampsacus in early 1235 to reach a compromise and conclude a formal alliance. Patriarch Germanus II and

16065-471: Was crowned king of Croatia after concluding an agreement with twelve local noblemen. Although most probably a forgery, the document reflects the actual status of Croatia proper, which was never incorporated into Hungary. In contrast, the region known as Slavonia , between the Petrova Mounts and the river Dráva , became closely connected to Hungary. Here many Hungarian noblemen received land grants from

16200-487: Was crowned the first king of Hungary on either December 25, 1000, or January 1, 1001. He consolidated his rule through a series of wars against semi-independent local rulers, including his maternal uncle, Gyula , and the powerful tribal chief, Ajtony . He proved his kingdom's military strength when he repelled an invasion by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor , in 1030. Marshlands, other natural obstacles, and barricades made of stone, earth, or timber provided defense at

16335-449: Was deposed or executed by the irate tsar. Akropolites recorded two lists about Ivan Asen's children by his third (or second) wife, Irene Komnene Doukaina. Irene gave birth to Akropolites characterized Ivan Asen as "a man who proved to be excellent among barbarians not only with regard to his own people but also even with respect to foreigners". Historian Jean W. Sedlar described him as the "last really powerful ruler of Bulgaria". Being

16470-460: Was destroyed". [The Mongols] burnt the church [in Várad], together with the women and whatever there was in the church. In other churches they perpetrated such crimes to the women that it is better to keep silent ... Then they ruthlessly beheaded the nobles, citizens, soldiers and canons on a field outside the city. ... After they had destroyed everything, and an intolerable stench arose from

16605-485: Was even accused of initiating a second Mongol invasion in 1285, although the invaders were routed by the royal troops. When Ladislaus IV was murdered in 1290, the Holy See declared the kingdom a vacant fief . Although Rome granted the kingdom to his sister's son, Charles Martel , crown prince of the Kingdom of Naples , the majority of the Hungarian lords chose Andrew , the grandson of Andrew II and son of

16740-499: Was first expressed in Simon of Kéza 's Gesta Hungarorum , a chronicle written in the 1280s. The wealthiest landholders forced the lesser nobles to join their retinue, which increased their power. One of the barons, Joachim of the Gutkeled clan, even captured Stephen V's heir, the infant Ladislaus , in 1272. Stephen V died some months later, causing a new civil war between

16875-526: Was forced to take an oath, which included his promise to respect the privileged position of clergymen and to dismiss all his Jewish and Muslim officials. A growing intolerance against non-Catholics is also demonstrated by the transfer of the Orthodox monastery of Visegrád to the Benedictines in 1221. Andrew II made several attempts to occupy the neighboring Principality of Halych . His son, Béla , persuaded

17010-550: Was headed by the grand prince , always a member of the family descending from Árpád , the Hungarians' leader around the time of their "land-taking". Contemporary authors described the Hungarians as nomads , but Ibn Rusta and others added that they also cultivated arable land. The great number of borrowings from Slavic languages prove that the Hungarians adopted new techniques and a more settled lifestyle in Central Europe. The cohabitation of Hungarians and local ethnic groups

17145-420: Was made up of no more than 40 semi-sunken timber huts with a corner hearth . The huts were surrounded by large courtyards. Ditches separated them, keeping the animals away and enabling the growing of grains and vegetables. Many of the villages were named after a profession, implying that the villagers were required to render a specific service to their lords. Stephen I survived his son, Emeric , which caused

17280-474: Was murdered while besieging Thessaloniki in October 1207. The teenager Ivan Asen had a strong claim to succeed his uncle, but Kaloyan's Cuman widow married Boril –the son of one of Kaloyan's sisters–who was proclaimed emperor. The exact circumstances of Boril's ascension to the throne are unknown. The 13th-century historian, George Akropolites , recorded that Ivan Asen soon fled from Bulgaria and settled in

17415-522: Was of fundamental importance because the ispáns received one third of the chamber revenues collected in their counties. In-kind taxes were typically imposed on vineyards, and herds of pigs or oxen. Some privileged communities paid lump sum taxes to the royal chamber. Examples include the foreign settlers in Transylvania, who were to pay 15,000 marks per year. Béla emphasized the importance of making records on judicial proceedings, which substantiates reports in later Hungarian chronicles of his order regarding

17550-496: Was one Anna whom he forced to enter a monastery after he engaged Maria of Hungary and Anna died as the nun Anisia. Historian Plamen Pavlov states that Anna–Anisia was actually Kaloyan's widow. Anna–Anisia may have been a concubine instead of a legitimate spouse, and she may have been the mother of his two eldest daughters: Ivan Asen married Maria of Hungary in 1221. The Synodikon of Tsar Boril and other Bulgarian primary sources referred to her as Anna, suggesting that her name

17685-553: Was planning to revive the Byzantine Empire under his rule. He also styled himself emperor in his letter of grant to the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos and in his diploma about the privileges of the Ragusan merchants. Imitating the Byzantine emperors, he sealed his charters with gold bulls. One of his seals portrayed him wearing imperial insignia, also revealing his imperial ambitions. News about John of Brienne's election to

17820-508: Was related to the royal family. Supported by Emperor Henry III , Peter returned and expelled Samuel in 1044. During his second rule, Peter accepted the emperor's suzerainty. His rule ended with a new rebellion , this time aimed at the restoration of paganism. There were many lords who opposed the destruction of the Christian monarchy. They proposed the crown to Andrew , one of Vazul's sons, who returned to Hungary, defeated Peter and suppressed

17955-745: Was situated in the mouth of the Kamchia river due to the abundance of wood and was burned down when the Turks overran the country. Too little is known for the battles and quests of the Navy and the Coast Guard. In 812 Khan Krum used ships to seize several Byzantine fortresses in the Southern Black Sea Coast, most notably Nesebar . Images of these ships have been found depicted on the walls of Pliska and Preslav . In 1235 Ivan Asen II sent 25 large galleys to help

18090-504: Was succeeded by his 11-year-old brother, Baldwin II , in January 1228. Ivan Asen proposed to marry off his daughter, Helen , to the young emperor, because he wanted to lay claim to the regency. He also promised to unite his troops with the Latins to reconquer the territories that they had lost to Theodore Komnenos Doukas. Although the Latin lords did not want to accept his offer, they started negotiations about it, because they tried to avoid

18225-504: Was to build a parish church . The earliest churches were simple wood constructions, but the royal basilica at Székesfehérvár was built in Romanesque style. With the introduction of the Catholic church hierarchy, Latin emerged as the dominant language of ecclesiastic life and state administration, although some royal charters were likely written in Greek. The bishops were required to supply

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