The Death of Two of the Sons of Tsar Ivan Alexander Asen and the Question of the Earliest Turkish Attacks Against Bulgaria

Authors:

Pages: 353-372
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/PNCI5111

Abstract:

The article examines important questions about the dates of death of two of Tsar Ivan Alexander’s (r.1331–1371) sons — Ivan Asen IV and Mikhail Asen. This question is closely related to the problem of the first attacks of the Turks against the Bulgarian borders. It is specified that until the capture of Adrianople (Edirne) in 1369, the attacks were limited exclusively to the territories of the kingdom in Thrace and south of the Balkan Mountains. According to the author’s new interpretation, in the 1340s Ivan Asen IV ruled this area as an appanage, extending to the southern Black Sea coast. In this capacity, he faced several Turkish attacks that are rarely interpreted in the scientific literature. These were robber attacks by detachments from the Saruhan emirate, called in 1345–1346 by the pretender to the Byzantine throne John Kantakouzenos. The royal son probably died in battle with them, which is confirmed by the miniature showing his burial in the Vatican transcript of the Manasses Chronicle. As for the death of the firstborn royal son Michael Asen, it is possible that he died in Thrace in a battle against Turkish units, this time the Ottomans. This may have happened in October 1352, near the fortress of Pitio, in the vicinity of the important Byzantine city of Didymoteicho. Then an army of Bulgarians, Serbs, and Byzantines confronted the detachment called again by John Kantakouzenos and led by Suleiman, son of the Ottoman emir Orhan. Although the Christians were defeated in the ensuing battle, it was a significant first attempt at united action by the Balkan peoples against the Turkish invaders.

Keywords:

Bulgarian Kingdom, Byzantine Empire, Osman, Suleiman, Umur, Aydin, Saruhan, Ivan Asen IV, Michael Asen, Ivan Alexander Asen, John Kantakouzenos, Thrace, Pythion, Nikephoros Grigoras.

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