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Second Bulgarian Empire

Type Object Region Balkans Time 1185–1396

The Second Bulgarian Empire was a Balkan tsardom founded after the Asen brothers' anti-Byzantine uprising in 1185, with capitals at Tarnovo and Presl…

Timeline

  1. 1185–1218North of the Balkan Mountains · BulgariaThe brothers Peter and Ivan Asen led an anti-Byzantine uprising, establishing a tsardom at Tarnovo, gradually recovering old Bulgarian lands and contesting Balkan hegemony with Byzantium, Serbia and Hungary.
  2. 1218–1241Thrace and Macedonia · MacedoniaIvan Asen II defeated all rivals, extending the empire's territory to Thrace, Macedonia and Albania; in 1235 the Cyrillic script was recognized as the liturgical language of the church, and Bulgaria became the strongest Balkan state of the first half of the 13th century.
  3. 1241–1250Tarnovo · TarnovoAfter Ivan Asen II's death in 1241, the child ruler Kaliman I and regent nobles feuded; in the 1240s the empire lost part of its Thracian territory, frequent border conflicts with the Empire of Nicaea and Hungary broke out, and its hegemonic position began to waver.
  4. 1250–1396Balkan Peninsula · BalkansAfter the mid-13th century the empire fell into noble fragmentation and repeated Byzantine and Serbian contests; in the 14th century it was gradually nibbled away by the Ottomans, and with the fall of Tarnovo in 1396 the Second Bulgarian Empire ended.

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