Bulgarian medieval history bristles with memorable battles some of which could claim to have altered the course of history, not only Bulgarian history but also that of the entire European continent. One of them was that waged by Khan Asparoukh against Byzantine troops at Ongala (an area in the lower reaches of the Danube River) in 680 and which eventually led to the formation of the Bulgarian state. Another one was that of Khan Tervel with the Arabs at the walls of Constantinople in 718. Another momentous battle was the one waged by the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan. At the battle of Adrianople on 14 April 1205, the Latin heavy cavalry was lured into an ambush by Kaloyan’s troops and Emperor Baldwin was captured. What was it that led to this collision of long-standing historical implications?
Early in the 13th century the successive Fourth Crusade was set up with the intent to liberate sacred Christian sites in Palestine from Muslims. However, the rift between Western and Eastern Christianity, emerging as early as the mid-11th century, worsened to an extent where cooperation gave way to mistrust and animosity. Meanwhile the Byzantine Empire had been in the throes of a grave internal crisis. Hence there was nothing to prevent the Crusaders, setting out to liberate the Holy lands from the Arabs, to turn on to a much easier target-Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, the second Rome, the biggest and wealthiest city in Medieval Europe. The Crusaders attacked Constantinople and on 12 April 1204, for the first time in its history, the city of Constantine the Great fell in the hands of a foreign conqueror. The magnificent city was subjected to three days of total and unchecked plunder, its wealth was pillaged, the churches- desecrated, priceless works of art- demolished. Byzantine chronicler Nickita Honiat writes that even the Arabs were "more humane and gentle” than "these men, wearing Christ’s Cross on their shoulders.”
Before long the better part of the Byzantine Empire was seized by the Crusaders who partitioned it between themselves and formed the Latin Empire. Latin Empire is the name given by historians to the Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire after their sack of Constantinople in 1204 and ended in 1261. The Empire was intended to supplant the Byzantine Empire as titular successor to the Roman Empire in the east, with a Western Catholic emperor enthroned. Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, was crowned Emperor as Baldwin I on 16 May 1204. The Byzantine Church was the worst hit. The Pope in Rome, after many years of diplomatic manouvres to subjugate it, now had his chance to establish his supremacy by the force of arms. Even the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan (1197-1207), seeking international recognition for his state, brought the Bulgarian church under the sway of papal power.
Crusader violence bred nothing but hatred among the Byzantines. The Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan, alarmed over the power the new state was gaining and resenting the arrogance of the new people in power in Constanople, withdrew his loyalty. This turned him immediately into a powerful enemy. When Baldwin campaigned against the Byzantine lords of Thrace, they called upon Kaloyan for help, promising him the emperor’s crown. Kaloyan agreed to the call immediately and willingly and it was not long before he captured numerous towns in Thrace.
Crusader troops in Constantinople closed ranks and set out, Emperor Baldwin at their head, to subdue the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Tsar. On reaching Adrianople, however, they glimpsed Tzar Kaloyan’s standards, billowing in the air. Jofrois de Villhardouin left a vivid account of the confrontation. The crusaders encircled the city and when only a step away from victory the Bulgarian tsar arrived to give them a hand at the head of numerous Bulgarian troops. After the first few clashes, Kaloyan, highly skilled in military cunning, dispatched a numerous detachment ahead to lure the Crusaders into battle and eventually into an ambush. The emperor Baldwin was captured and imprisoned in the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo until his death later in 1205. According to the chronicler the Crusaders found themselves surrounded from all sides as if by a ‘black and thick cloud”. The Crusaders fought valiantly, many fell in the skirmishes, for the rest there was next to no chance of getting out. And yet, small number broke away and back to Constantinople, where brought to utter exhaustion, the Doge of Venice Enricco Dandolo, one of the motors behind the crusade, passed away. Tsar Kaloyan captured nearly all Latin holdings in the Balkan Peninsula over the following few months. Luckily for the new Latin Emperor, Henry of Flanders, Kaloyan was killed a couple of years later (1207) during a siege of Thessalonica, and the Bulgarian threat conclusively defeated with a victory the following year, which allowed Henry to reclaim most of the lost territories in Thrace until 1210, when peace was concluded with the marriage of Henry to Maria, Tsar Kaloyaqn’s daughter.
The Latin Empire never revived from the assault it sustained on 14 April 1205. The humiliation of the emperor himself being taken prisoner and the death of some of the outstanding leaders nipped in the bud any possibilities that the young crusader state might have had of establishing its supremacy in the European southeast. A surviving crusader wrote in a cronicle later that” the cream of Latin knighthood perished at Adrianople”. Although the Crusaders were the masters of Constantinople until 1261, effectively they never ruled anything outside their capital and their state lingered on owing to controversies erupting between their Balkan and Asia Minor enemies.
After the battle at Adrianople, a year on after the establishment of Latin power and Papal supremacy in the East, a new process, which could be describes as Byzantine and Orthodox Re-Conquest, emerged. The Cultural and historical circle, which outstanding Russian historian Dmitrii Obolensky describes as” Byzantine Community”, united by Orthodoxy and common roots in the Slav-Byzantine civilization, survived at one of its most dramatic points. And although history will not have any” ifs” we could venture the opinion that without the victory of Tsar Kaloyan at Adrianople, today’s European cultural, religious and civilization diversity would never have been the same.
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Czar Kaloyan is the only Bulgarian medieval sovereign whose relics have been found on the territory of Bulgaria. Using the bone relics, leading anthropologist Prof. Yordan Yordanov reproduced the appearance of the great leader. He was killed in his late 30s, during the siege of Salonika in 1207. His skull exhibits traces of two old wounds he suffered in combat quite some time before his demise. The Tsar was an unusually tall man – 1.9 m. "All data from the study including identification of gender, age, height, physical strength, health condition, traumas, indisputably indicate that the man buried with a 62-gram gold ring seal is Czar Kaloyan himself. The reproduction of his appearance proceeded through various stages, and it is presented here in a version with reproduced attire and hat. This reproduction shows the grandeur of that Bulgarian sovereign”, Prof. Yordanov explained.
Archaeological digs in his grave came across some garments and a gold diadem. However the most emblematic find is a massive ring seal of a high carat (23.56) weighing 61.1 g. It reads "Czar Kaloyan” and depicts a lion. After decoding a cross was also discovered on it. The cross is on the ring to suggest that the power of the tsar had been predetermined by God. Said Prof. Hristo Haritonov, Director of the regional history museum in Veliko Tarnovo.
"The story that our items recount becomes very clear with the presentation of a spear’s edge. Legend has it that the spear belonged to the chieftain of the Kumani, Manaster. During a mutiny he killed Czar Kaloyan who had located his troops just outside the walls of Salonika. I should like to make two important points concerning the role of Czar Kaloyan. The first one is that upon the signature of a truce between the Bulgarians and Byzantines in 1187, Bulgaria was in need of international acknowledgement. And the Vatican was the key institution of prestige in the Middle Ages. Tsar Kaloyan engaged in communications with Pope Innocent III. Diplomatic talks continued for 4 years. As a result in November 1204 Pope Innocent III sent his envoy Cardinal Leo to Tarnovo who crowned Kaloyan as King. He was the only Bulgarian tsar crowned by the Pope. This was the way in which Bulgaria’s international image was successfully enhanced. The second important fact about Tsar Kaloyan is that 800 years ago – in 1205 – in a major battle near Adrianople, the Bulgarian sovereign debunked the myth of the invincible crusader army. He not only beat the warriors of the Fourth Crusade, but also took their Emperor Baldwin hostage. This spectacular military triumph made it sure that Bulgaria would be respected and feared in medieval Europe."