Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria
Encyclopedia
Ivan Shishman ruled as emperor (tsar
) of Bulgaria
in Tarnovo
from 1371 to 3 July 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire
. His indecisive and inconsistent policy did little to prevent the fall of his country under Ottoman
rule. In 1393 the Ottoman Turks
seized the capital Tarnovo. Two years later, they captured Ivan Shishman's last strongholds and executed him.
Despite the military and political weakness, during his rule Bulgaria remained a major cultural center and the ideas Hesychasm
dominated the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
. Patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo became the most prominent cultural figure of the country. A number of texts were written or translated and an orthographic reform of the Bulgarian language was issued with synchronised rules. After the fall of Bulgaria, a number of scholars found refuge in the other Orthodox countries and brought the achievements of the Bulgarian culture
to them.
His reign was inextricably connected to the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman domination. Although there exist no historical sources which prove that he took active role in the defence of the country, in Bulgarian folklore Ivan Shishman is portrayed as a legendary and heroic ruler who desperately fought against the overwhelming Ottoman forces. There are numerous sites, geographical features and fortresses named after him throughout Bulgaria.
(r. 1331-1371) and his second wife Sarah–Theodora, a Jewess converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church
. His birth brought up the issue of the succession to the Bulgarian throne. Ivan Shishman had two elder brothers by the Ivan Alexander's first wife, Theodora of Wallachia
. The eldest one, Michael Asen, was proclaimed successor to the throne and co-emperor shortly after Ivan Alexander's accession to the throne. However, Michael Asen's early death in battle against the Ottomans
in 1355 put forward the question of succession once more. It is likely that Sarah–Theodora pressured Ivan Alexander to select her own son as his successor, although Ivan Sratsimir
would have come next under the majorat
system. The issue was decided in Ivan Shishman's favour because the latter was born in the purple
(after his father was crowned), thus making him eligible as successor. By the end of 1355, Ivan Shishman had been proclaimed heir to the throne and co-emperor.
These events led to a conflict with Ivan Sratsimir, who was in turn given the rule of Vidin
, probably as a compensation. Another indirect piece of evidence for the feud is the fact that Ivan Sratsimir's portrait not included in the Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander, where the whole family of the emperor was otherwise presented. In 1356 Ivan Sratsimir proclaimed himself emperor of Vidin. Together with his father and younger brother Ivan Asen V
, Ivan Shishman presided over the church synods at Tarnovo in the late 1360s.
In his early twenties, Ivan Shishman was proclaimed emperor after the death of his father on 17 February. Ivan Shishman inherited only parts of his father's realm: he ruled the lands between the Iskar River and Silistra, the valley of Sofia
, parts of the Rhodope mountains
and northern Thrace
. To the west, the areas centred around Vidin recognised Ivan Sratsimir as emperor of Bulgaria, while to the east, the Principality of Karvuna
, encompassing the coastal strip between the Danube Delta
and Cape Emine
and under the rule of despot Dobrotitsa
, did not recognise the authority of the emperor of Tarnovo either. Contemporary chroniclers such as Johann Schiltberger
speak of three regions, all of which were called Bulgaria. Thus, the country was divided on the eve of the Ottoman invasion, despite Ivan Shishman's claims in his royal charters. In these, he styled himself as a primary emperor in an attempt to emphasise the existence of a hierarchy among the rulers of the three Bulgarias. However, that hierarchy remained only in paper; to further assert their independence from Tarnovo, both Ivan Sratsimir and Dobrotitsa separated their dioceses from the Bulgarian Patriarchate
in Tarnovo. According to Fine, immediately after the death of Ivan Alexander, Ivan Sratsimir tried to conquer the whole of Bulgaria. He was able to capture Sofia
and managed to hold the city for one or two years. The rivalry between the two brothers for Sofia had a strong tradition in the Bulgarian historiography since the time of Konstantin Jireček
, but it has been dismissed by many modern Bulgarian historians.
Only a few months after the ascension of Ivan Shishman to the throne, on 26 September 1371, the Ottoman Turks defeated a large Christian army led by the Serbian brothers Vukašin Mrnjavčević
and Jovan Uglješa
in the Battle of Chernomen
. Although Uglješa had tried to create a broad coalition that would include Bulgaria, Ivan Shishman, who had to strengthen his own authority, did not join. After their victory at Chernomen, the Turks immediately turned on Bulgaria. Ottoman sultan Murad I
forced Ivan Shishman to retreat to the north of the Balkan Mountains
and conquered northern Thrace, the Rhodopes, Kostenets
, Ihtiman
and Samokov
. Unable to resist the attacks, Ivan Shishman had to negotiate with the Ottomans in 1373. He was forced to become an Ottoman vassal and to allow his sister Kera Tamara
, who was known for her beauty, to become a wife of Murad I. Under this agreement, Bulgaria regained some of the conquered territories such as Ihtiman and Samokov, and began nearly ten years of uneasy peace with the Turks. Despite the vassalage and the peace treaty, Ottoman raids were renewed in the beginning of the 1380s and culminated in 1385 with the fall of Sofia
, the last stronghold of Ivan Shishman to the south of the Balkan Mountains.
In the meantime, Ivan Shishman was engaged in a war against the voivode of Wallachia
, Dan I
, between 1384 and 1386. There are few details about that war, only a brief note in the Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle
that Ivan Shishman killed Dan I on 23 September 1386. The war was linked to the hostilities between Ivan Shishman and Ivan Sratsimir, who had the support of the Wallachian rulers and was married to Anna of the House of Basarab
.
and the Kingdom of Bosnia
managed to defeat the Ottomans in the Battle of Pločnik
. Encouraged by the Christian success, Ivan Shishman immediately invalidated his vassalage to Murad I and refused to send troops in his support in 1388. The Ottomans reacted by sending a 30,000-strong army, under the command of the grand vizier
Ali Pasha, to the north of the Balkan Mountains. The Ottoman troops seized the fortresses of Shumen
, Madara
, Venchan
and Ovech. Ivan Shishman left Tarnovo and headed to Nikopol
, where he was besieged and forced to ask for peace. The Ottomans requested that he reconfirm his vassalage in addition to surrendering Silistra
, at the time the most populous Bulgarian city along the Danube
. However, Ivan Shishman, reassured by his neighbours that he would receive support and the preparations of Serbia for war, not only refused to let the Ottomans in the city, but also strengthened its walls. Ali Pasha crossed the Balkan Mountains for a second time to consecutively capture Shumen, Cherven
, Svishtov
and once again besiege Ivan Shishman in Nikopol. Surprised by the swift Ottoman response and having not received the promised assistance, the Bulgarian emperor had to ask for peace. His pleas were accepted, but the terms were harsher than the original: not only Silistra was to be surrendered, but Ottoman garrisons were to be stationed in other Bulgarian cities, most notably Shumen and Ovech.
After the defeat of the Serbs and Bosniaks in the Battle of Kosovo
on 15 June 1389, Ivan Shishman had to seek help from Hungary. During the winter of 1391–1392, he entered into secret negotiations with the King of Hungary Sigismund
, who was planning a campaign against the Turks. The new Ottoman sultan Bayezid I
pretended to have peaceful intentions in order to cut off Ivan Shishman from his alliance with the Hungarians. However, in the spring of 1393 Bayezid gathered a large army from his dominions in the Balkans
and Asia Minor
and attacked Bulgaria. The Ottomans marched to the capital Tarnovo and besieged it. The defence of the capital was led by Patriarch Evtimiy because Ivan Shishman was located in Nikopol, presumably for better communication with Sigismund. After a three-month siege, Tarnovo fell
on 17 July. According to the contemporary Bulgarian scholar and cleric Gregory Tsamblak
, the city was not captured because of the Ottoman military strength but due to treason. The Ottoman campaign of 1393 devastated Bulgaria; in the wake of that invasion, the lands of Ivan Shishman were limited to Nikopol and several towns along the Danube. Upon his return from Wallachia after the Battle of Rovine
in 1395, Bayezid I passed through Nikopol and, according to the Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle, beheaded Ivan Shishman on 3 June 1395. A Byzantine chronicle gives the date as 29 October. However, some sources suggest that the Bulgarian ruler was captured and died in prison.
The cultural revival that made the historians call the reign of Ivan Alexander a "Second Golden Age
of Bulgarian culture" continued under his son. The most prominent figure in that field during the last quarter of the 14th century was Patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo (r. 1375-1393), a disciple of Theodosius of Tarnovo
. In 1371 he established the Monastery of the Holy Trinity
, a few kilometres to the north of Tarnovo, and turned it into an important cultural center and a major hub of the Tarnovo Literary School
. Evtimiy wrote a number of religious works, including hagiographies, praises and letters, but is most famous with the orthographic reform and the standardization of the Bulgarian language
, which had an impact in Serbia, Wallachia and the Russian principalities. Evtimiy thought that many of the scholars were not sufficiently prepared, and that the translations of Greek texts in local dialects and peculiarities could lead to misinterpretation of the original and eventually to heretism. The texts regarding the reform did not survive, although its character has been partly recreated by the historians and linguists by analyzing the works of Evtimiy himself and his disciples. The orthography was inspired by the original Old Church Slavonic
during the heyday of the First Bulgarian Empire
; the reform also included syntax changes and enrichment of the lexicon with a number of synonyms to avoid repetition. To ensure the success of the reform, all texts had to receive approval before publishing, a move that was supported by Ivan Shishman in his edicts. The capital Tarnovo was the main cultural center at that time. Patriarch Evtimiy wrote about it:
Hesychasm
remained the main movement in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
during the reign of Ivan Shishman and the Patriarch was its supporter. Bulgaria was a major center of hesychast ideas along with the Byzantine Empire. Evtimiy was an active opponent to heresies, but it appears that since the mid 14th century the influence of the Bogomils
, the most prominent heretic movement in the Balkans at the time, had been greatly reduced in Bulgaria and no document mentions them after 1360. Other sects, such as the Barlaamites, were also persecuted and repressed. Evtimiy had strict views on moral and took firm positions against divorce and third or fourth marriages for widowers and widows. After the collapse of the Bulgarian Empire, many scholars emigrated to Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia and the Russian principalities; they brought Bulgarian cultural achievements, books, and hesychastic ideas to these lands. The Bulgarian influence was so great that is often referred to as a "Second South Slavic influence on Russia". Some of the most prominent Bulgarian émigrés included Constantine of Kostenets
, who worked in Serbia and Cyprian
, and Gregory Tsamblak
in the Russian lands. The economy was in decline since the loss of the major ports of Messembria
and Anchialus
to the Savoyard crusade
a few years before Ivan Shishman was crowned. After the death of Ivan Alexander and the breakaway of Dobrotitsa's Principality of Karvuna, Tarnovo also lost its most important port Varna
, leading to a reduction in commerce and tax revenues. The persistent Ottoman raids brought devastation, hunger and depopulation which led to a sharp decline in the cultivated lands.
and Louis II of Hungary, some of the lands in question were referred to as as terra cesaris Sysman, “the land of emperor Shishman”.
The memory of Ivan Shishman remained during the first centuries of the Ottoman rule. During the First Tarnovo Uprising
in 1598, the one of the rebels' leaders, whose name is unknown, claimed to have been a descendent of Ivan Shishman and was proclaimed emperor under the name Shishman III. Almost a century later, in 1686, a second uprising in Tarnovo
was headed by Rostislav Stratimirovic
, who also claimed to have belonged to the Shishman dynasty and styled himself as Prince of Bulgaria.
Ivan Shishman is now among the most popular and well known rulers in the Third Bulgarian State. There are a number of works dedicated to him or his rule, including the 1969 film Tsar Ivan Shishman by Yuri Arnaudov and the song "Tsar Ivan Shishman" by the heavy metal band Epizod
in the 2004 album "Saint Patriarch Evtimiy". Shishman Peak
on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands
, Antarctica is also named after him.
and Samokov
, though it extends to the Rhodope Mountains
, Sredna Gora
, Vratsa
, Pleven
, Prilep
, Varna
, etc. Near Samokov are the ruins of “Shishman's Fortress” with the emperor's wells, which reputedly spouted from the ruler's seven wounds. Further north, along the cliffs and heights of the Iskar Gorge
, are “Shishman's Holes”, the caves where he hid while fighting the Ottomans for seven years. Other related toponyms usually associated with the emperor's last stand
are Kokalyane
(derived from kokal, meaning “bone”), Cherepish (from cherep, “skull”) and Lyutibrod
(“Fierce Ford”), all thought to be hinting at the fate of the perished Bulgarian troops.
One of the most famous legends is about Shishman's final battle. The Ottomans camped at Kostenets
, near the origins of the Maritsa
river, while the Bulgarians were near Samokov, on a hill. After a fierce battle, Ivan Shishman was wounded seven times and retreated to the fortress, where he died; on the battlefield seven springs appeared, one for each of the emperor's wounds. He is also said to have fought in the Balkan mountains
at Shishkin grad ("Shishman's town"), between Sliven
and Kazanlak
, where he killed 10,000 janissaries
in a huge battle. The 18th century Bulgarian enlightener Paisius of Hilendar
wrote in his Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
that during the siege of Tarnovo
Ivan Shishman managed to reach Sofia with his boyar
s. He hid his treasury in the Iskar gorge and fought against the Turks for seven years before dying in battle. Some versions suggest that Kokalyanski Urvich remained the last fortress to fall and before Shishman died he buried treasure under the castle and tried to escape by cutting a passage through the mountain. The repeating motif of the treasure is a sacral symbol of the Bulgarian statehood and the usual locations of the imperial jewellery are monasteries, lakes or hideouts under rivers. Being undiscovered by the invaders, the treasure symbolises the sovereignty and power of the Bulgarian Empire and its inevitable resurrection. There are also a number of parallels between the legends about Ivan Shishman and the hagiography of saints, especially John of Rila
, including the almost identical route of the emperor, Tarnovo-Sofia-Samokov in Rila, and the route of the return of the relics of Saint John of Rila to the Rila Monastery
in 15th century – Tarnovo-Sofia-Rila, and also the motif of the immortal rulers who foresees the restoration of the country.
Extract of a folklore song, collected by the Miladinov Brothers
.
Ivan Shishman is one of the few rulers to be mentioned in the Bulgarian folklore songs and, as in the legends, is a subject of mystification. His figure can even be seen in Christmas carol
s, where he is presented either as a saint in the role of protector or as a hero fighting dragons
and oppressors, usually presented as Tatars because of the resemblance with the Tartarus
. The songs about Ivan Shishman contain many parallels with nature and collocations which are typical of Bulgarian folklore. In a song from the region of Sliven, the death of the emperor brings chaos to nature and rivers of "black blood" (typical folklore collocation) start flowing.
The place of Ivan Shishman in the Bulgarian legends and folklore is most likely attributed to the fact that he was the last Bulgarian emperor in Tarnovo. There are many similarities with his contemporary King Marko
, the ruler of Prilep, who did little to resist the Ottoman invasion but later became the most popular character in the Bulgarian folklore. The people desired to berhyme the image of the "ideal emperor", a defender and protector, whose strength they needed to survive under Ottoman domination, and not the actual historical personality. As time passed the mystification deepened and the legends became more distant from the actual events during his rule. During the Bulgarian National Revival
the tales about Ivan Shishman began to increasingly include patriotic elements.
, who died in the early 1380s. His second wife was Dragana Lazarević
, a daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia
and Milica Nemanjić and kin to the previous Serbian dynasty. His eldest son Alexander
converted to Islam
under the name Iskender, and died as governor of Smyrna
in 1418, while his second son Fruzhin
participated in revolts and campaigns against the Ottomans, trying to liberate his father's realm, and died in Hungary
after 1444. It has been speculated by historians, such as Plamen Pavlov, that Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople
was an illegitimate son of Ivan Shishman. The claim is based on a Byzantine text which says "They said that he [Jozeph II] was an illegitimate son of the emperor Shishman."
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
) of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
in Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
from 1371 to 3 July 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
. His indecisive and inconsistent policy did little to prevent the fall of his country under Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule. In 1393 the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
seized the capital Tarnovo. Two years later, they captured Ivan Shishman's last strongholds and executed him.
Despite the military and political weakness, during his rule Bulgaria remained a major cultural center and the ideas Hesychasm
Hesychasm
Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Byzantine Rite, practised by the Hesychast Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches,...
dominated the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...
. Patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo became the most prominent cultural figure of the country. A number of texts were written or translated and an orthographic reform of the Bulgarian language was issued with synchronised rules. After the fall of Bulgaria, a number of scholars found refuge in the other Orthodox countries and brought the achievements of the Bulgarian culture
Culture of Bulgaria
A number of ancient civilizations, most notably the Thracians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Slavs, and especially Bulgars, have left their mark on the culture, history and heritage of Bulgaria. Because of this Bulgarian nation has one of the richest folk heritage in the world...
to them.
His reign was inextricably connected to the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman domination. Although there exist no historical sources which prove that he took active role in the defence of the country, in Bulgarian folklore Ivan Shishman is portrayed as a legendary and heroic ruler who desperately fought against the overwhelming Ottoman forces. There are numerous sites, geographical features and fortresses named after him throughout Bulgaria.
Early life
Born in 1350 or 1351, Ivan Shishman was the eldest son of emperor Ivan AlexanderIvan Alexander of Bulgaria
Ivan Alexander , also known as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history...
(r. 1331-1371) and his second wife Sarah–Theodora, a Jewess converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
. His birth brought up the issue of the succession to the Bulgarian throne. Ivan Shishman had two elder brothers by the Ivan Alexander's first wife, Theodora of Wallachia
Theodora of Wallachia
Theodora of Wallachia was the daughter of Basarab I of Wallachia and Lady Margareta. She married Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria as his first wife. This marriage produced four children — Michael Asen, Ivan Sratsimir, Ivan Asen and Vasilisa. In 1345 Tsar Ivan Alexander divorced Tsaritsa Theodora and...
. The eldest one, Michael Asen, was proclaimed successor to the throne and co-emperor shortly after Ivan Alexander's accession to the throne. However, Michael Asen's early death in battle against the Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1355 put forward the question of succession once more. It is likely that Sarah–Theodora pressured Ivan Alexander to select her own son as his successor, although Ivan Sratsimir
Ivan Sratsimir of Bulgaria
Ivan Sratsimir or Ivan Stratsimir was emperor of Bulgaria in Vidin from 1356 to 1396. He was born in 1324 or 1325, and he died in or after 1397. Despite being the eldest surviving son of Ivan Alexander, Ivan Sratsimir was disinherited in favour of his half-brother Ivan Shishman and proclaimed...
would have come next under the majorat
Majorat
Majorat is the right of succession to property according to age . A majorat would be inherited by the oldest son, or if there was no son, the nearest relative. This law existed in some of the European countries and was designed to prevent the distribution of wealthy estates between many members of...
system. The issue was decided in Ivan Shishman's favour because the latter was born in the purple
Born in the purple
Traditionally, born in the purple was a term used to describe members of royal families although the term was later expanded to include all children born of prominent or high ranking parents. The parents must be prominent at the time of the child's birth so that the child is always in the spotlight...
(after his father was crowned), thus making him eligible as successor. By the end of 1355, Ivan Shishman had been proclaimed heir to the throne and co-emperor.
These events led to a conflict with Ivan Sratsimir, who was in turn given the rule of Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
, probably as a compensation. Another indirect piece of evidence for the feud is the fact that Ivan Sratsimir's portrait not included in the Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander, where the whole family of the emperor was otherwise presented. In 1356 Ivan Sratsimir proclaimed himself emperor of Vidin. Together with his father and younger brother Ivan Asen V
Ivan Asen V of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen V was the second son of emperor Ivan Alexander and his second wife Sarah-Theodora . He was probably named after his elder brother Ivan Asen IV who died in 1349 in battle against the Ottoman Turks near Ihtiman or Sofia....
, Ivan Shishman presided over the church synods at Tarnovo in the late 1360s.
Reign before 1388
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, parts of the Rhodope mountains
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
and northern Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. To the west, the areas centred around Vidin recognised Ivan Sratsimir as emperor of Bulgaria, while to the east, the Principality of Karvuna
Principality of Karvuna
The Principality of Karvuna or Despotate of Dobruja was a 14th-century quasi-independent state in the region of modern Dobruja. It emerged as a polity under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, and probably had a population composed of Bulgarians, Gagauz, Greeks, Tatars, and Vlachs.The...
, encompassing the coastal strip between the Danube Delta
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
and Cape Emine
Cape Emine
Cape Emine is a headland located at the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is located 49 miles south of Varna, 34 miles north of Burgas and 9 miles south of Obzor. It forms the tip of Stara Planina. Cape Emine is said to be Bulgaria's stormiest cape....
and under the rule of despot Dobrotitsa
Dobrotitsa
Dobrotitsa was a Bulgarian noble, ruler of the de facto independent Principality of Karvuna and the Kaliakra fortress from 1354 to 1379–1386....
, did not recognise the authority of the emperor of Tarnovo either. Contemporary chroniclers such as Johann Schiltberger
Johann Schiltberger
Johann Schiltberger was a German traveller and writer. He was born of a noble family, probably at Hollern near Lohhof halfway between Munich and Freising.- Travels:...
speak of three regions, all of which were called Bulgaria. Thus, the country was divided on the eve of the Ottoman invasion, despite Ivan Shishman's claims in his royal charters. In these, he styled himself as a primary emperor in an attempt to emphasise the existence of a hierarchy among the rulers of the three Bulgarias. However, that hierarchy remained only in paper; to further assert their independence from Tarnovo, both Ivan Sratsimir and Dobrotitsa separated their dioceses from the Bulgarian Patriarchate
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...
in Tarnovo. According to Fine, immediately after the death of Ivan Alexander, Ivan Sratsimir tried to conquer the whole of Bulgaria. He was able to capture Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
and managed to hold the city for one or two years. The rivalry between the two brothers for Sofia had a strong tradition in the Bulgarian historiography since the time of Konstantin Jireček
Konstantin Josef Jirecek
Konstantin Josef Jireček , son of Josef Jireček, was a Czech historian, diplomat and slavist.He entered the Bulgarian service in 1879, and in 1881 became minister of education at Sofia...
, but it has been dismissed by many modern Bulgarian historians.
Only a few months after the ascension of Ivan Shishman to the throne, on 26 September 1371, the Ottoman Turks defeated a large Christian army led by the Serbian brothers Vukašin Mrnjavčević
Vukašin Mrnjavcevic
Vukašin Mrnjavčević was a Serbian ruler in modern-day central and northwestern Macedonia, who ruled from 1365 to 1371. According to 17th-century Ragusan historian Mavro Orbin, his father was a minor noble named Mrnjava from Zachlumia, whose sons Vukašin and Uglješa were born in Livno in western...
and Jovan Uglješa
Jovan Ugljesa
Jovan Uglješa Mrnjavčević was a 14th-century Serbian noble and brother of Serbian ruler Vukašin Mrnjavčević.-Life:Uglješa was the son of Mrnjava, a treasurer of Helen of Anjou, the queen consort of Stephen Uroš I of Serbia....
in the Battle of Chernomen
Battle of Maritsa
The Battle of Maritsa, or Battle of Chernomen, took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen on September 26, 1371 between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the...
. Although Uglješa had tried to create a broad coalition that would include Bulgaria, Ivan Shishman, who had to strengthen his own authority, did not join. After their victory at Chernomen, the Turks immediately turned on Bulgaria. Ottoman sultan Murad I
Murad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
forced Ivan Shishman to retreat to the north of the Balkan Mountains
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...
and conquered northern Thrace, the Rhodopes, Kostenets
Kostenets
Kostenets is a village in the Sofia Province southwestern Bulgaria, located in the Kostenets Municipality . As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 4,201...
, Ihtiman
Ihtiman
Ihtiman is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the Ihtimanska Sredna Gora mountains and lies in a valley 48 km from Sofia and 95 km from Plovdiv, close to Trakiya motorway....
and Samokov
Samokov
Samokov is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a kettle between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia...
. Unable to resist the attacks, Ivan Shishman had to negotiate with the Ottomans in 1373. He was forced to become an Ottoman vassal and to allow his sister Kera Tamara
Kera Tamara
Kera Tamara was the daughter of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander and his second wife Sarah-Theodora. Kera Tamara was a sister of Ivan Shishman and Ivan Sratsimir. She was born in the 1340s and originates from the Shishman dynasty....
, who was known for her beauty, to become a wife of Murad I. Under this agreement, Bulgaria regained some of the conquered territories such as Ihtiman and Samokov, and began nearly ten years of uneasy peace with the Turks. Despite the vassalage and the peace treaty, Ottoman raids were renewed in the beginning of the 1380s and culminated in 1385 with the fall of Sofia
Siege of Sofia
The Siege of Sofia took place in 1382 or 1385 during the course of the Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars. Unable to defend his country from the Ottomans, in 1373 the Bulgarian emperor Ivan Shishman agreed to become an Ottoman vassal and to marry his sister Kera Tamara to their sultan Murad I, while the...
, the last stronghold of Ivan Shishman to the south of the Balkan Mountains.
In the meantime, Ivan Shishman was engaged in a war against the voivode of Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, Dan I
Dan I of Wallachia
Dan I was a voivode of the principality of Wallachia . During the war with Bulgaria he perished in battle against the troops of Tsar Ivan Shishman...
, between 1384 and 1386. There are few details about that war, only a brief note in the Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle
Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle
Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle is a term used for several anonymous chronicles written in Bulgaria during the Middle Ages.-11th/12th centuries:...
that Ivan Shishman killed Dan I on 23 September 1386. The war was linked to the hostilities between Ivan Shishman and Ivan Sratsimir, who had the support of the Wallachian rulers and was married to Anna of the House of Basarab
House of Basarab
The Basarabs were a family which had an important role in the establishing of the Principality of Wallachia, giving the country its first line of Princes, one closely related with the Muşatin rulers of Moldavia...
.
Fall of Bulgaria
In 1387, the united forces of the Principality of SerbiaMoravian Serbia
The Moravian Serbia was one of the states that emerged from the collapse of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. The state was created through political and military activities of its first ruler Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, who later fought and perished at the Battle of Kosovo.-History:Lazar...
and the Kingdom of Bosnia
Kingdom of Bosnia
The Kingdom of Bosnia or the Bosnian Kingdom was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Balkans, existing between 1377 and 1463.- Establishment :...
managed to defeat the Ottomans in the Battle of Pločnik
Battle of Plocnik
The Battle of Pločnik was fought in 1386 , at the village of Pločnik, near Prokuplje in today's southeastern Serbia, between the Serbian forces of prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and the invading Ottoman Turks of sultan Murad I.It was the second clash between the Ottomans and forces commanded by Lazar,...
. Encouraged by the Christian success, Ivan Shishman immediately invalidated his vassalage to Murad I and refused to send troops in his support in 1388. The Ottomans reacted by sending a 30,000-strong army, under the command of the grand vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
Ali Pasha, to the north of the Balkan Mountains. The Ottoman troops seized the fortresses of Shumen
Shumen
Shumen is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and capital of Shumen Province. In the period 1950–1965 it was called Kolarovgrad, after the name of the communist leader Vasil Kolarov...
, Madara
Madara (village)
Madara is a village in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen municipality, Shumen Province. Madara lies east of the city of Shumen, at the western foot of the Madara plateau....
, Venchan
Venchan
Venchan is a village in the Provadiya Municipality, Varna Province, north-eastern Bulgaria. It is situated at 7 km to the north-west of Provadiya. As of 2007 the village has 364 inhabitants....
and Ovech. Ivan Shishman left Tarnovo and headed to Nikopol
Nikopol, Bulgaria
Nikopol is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 km downstream from the mouth of the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley...
, where he was besieged and forced to ask for peace. The Ottomans requested that he reconfirm his vassalage in addition to surrendering Silistra
Silistra
Silistra is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country's border with Romania. Silistra is the administrative centre of Silistra Province and one of the important cities of the historical region of Southern Dobrudzha...
, at the time the most populous Bulgarian city along the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. However, Ivan Shishman, reassured by his neighbours that he would receive support and the preparations of Serbia for war, not only refused to let the Ottomans in the city, but also strengthened its walls. Ali Pasha crossed the Balkan Mountains for a second time to consecutively capture Shumen, Cherven
Cherven (fortress)
The stronghold of Cherven was one of the Second Bulgarian Empire's primary military, administrative, economic and cultural centres between the 12th and the 14th century...
, Svishtov
Svishtov
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...
and once again besiege Ivan Shishman in Nikopol. Surprised by the swift Ottoman response and having not received the promised assistance, the Bulgarian emperor had to ask for peace. His pleas were accepted, but the terms were harsher than the original: not only Silistra was to be surrendered, but Ottoman garrisons were to be stationed in other Bulgarian cities, most notably Shumen and Ovech.
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
on 15 June 1389, Ivan Shishman had to seek help from Hungary. During the winter of 1391–1392, he entered into secret negotiations with the King of Hungary Sigismund
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
, who was planning a campaign against the Turks. The new Ottoman sultan Bayezid I
Bayezid I
Bayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...
pretended to have peaceful intentions in order to cut off Ivan Shishman from his alliance with the Hungarians. However, in the spring of 1393 Bayezid gathered a large army from his dominions in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and attacked Bulgaria. The Ottomans marched to the capital Tarnovo and besieged it. The defence of the capital was led by Patriarch Evtimiy because Ivan Shishman was located in Nikopol, presumably for better communication with Sigismund. After a three-month siege, Tarnovo fell
Siege of Tarnovo
The siege of Tarnovo occurred in the spring of 1393 and resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory. With the fall of its capital, the Bulgarian Empire was reduced down to a few fortresses along the Danube.- Origins of the conflict :...
on 17 July. According to the contemporary Bulgarian scholar and cleric Gregory Tsamblak
Gregory Tsamblak
Gregory Tsamblak ; was a Bulgarian writer and cleric, metropolitan of Kiev between 1413 and 1420. His name is also spelled Gregorije Camblak....
, the city was not captured because of the Ottoman military strength but due to treason. The Ottoman campaign of 1393 devastated Bulgaria; in the wake of that invasion, the lands of Ivan Shishman were limited to Nikopol and several towns along the Danube. Upon his return from Wallachia after the Battle of Rovine
Battle of Rovine
The Battle of Rovine took place on 17 May 1395 between the Wallachian army led by Voivod Mircea cel Bătrân against the Ottoman invasion led by sultan Bayezid I. The Ottoman army, numbering approximately 40,000 men, faced the much smaller Wallachian army, which was about 10,000 men...
in 1395, Bayezid I passed through Nikopol and, according to the Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle, beheaded Ivan Shishman on 3 June 1395. A Byzantine chronicle gives the date as 29 October. However, some sources suggest that the Bulgarian ruler was captured and died in prison.
Culture and religion
Golden Age (metaphor)
A golden age is a period in a field of endeavour when great tasks were accomplished. The term originated from early Greek and Roman poets who used to refer to a time when mankind lived in a better time and was pure .-Golden Age in society:...
of Bulgarian culture" continued under his son. The most prominent figure in that field during the last quarter of the 14th century was Patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo (r. 1375-1393), a disciple of Theodosius of Tarnovo
Theodosius of Tarnovo
The Holy Venerable Theodosius of Tarnovo was a high-ranking 14th-century Bulgarian cleric and hermit and the person credited with establishing hesychasm in the Second Bulgarian Empire...
. In 1371 he established the Monastery of the Holy Trinity
Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity
The Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery in the vicinity of Veliko Tarnovo, north central Bulgaria. Founded in the Middle Ages, it was reconstructed in 1847 and again in the mid-20th century....
, a few kilometres to the north of Tarnovo, and turned it into an important cultural center and a major hub of the Tarnovo Literary School
Tarnovo Literary School
The Tarnovo Literary School of the late 14th and 15th century was a major medieval Bulgarian cultural academy with important contribution to the Medieval Bulgarian literature established in the capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo...
. Evtimiy wrote a number of religious works, including hagiographies, praises and letters, but is most famous with the orthographic reform and the standardization of the Bulgarian language
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, which had an impact in Serbia, Wallachia and the Russian principalities. Evtimiy thought that many of the scholars were not sufficiently prepared, and that the translations of Greek texts in local dialects and peculiarities could lead to misinterpretation of the original and eventually to heretism. The texts regarding the reform did not survive, although its character has been partly recreated by the historians and linguists by analyzing the works of Evtimiy himself and his disciples. The orthography was inspired by the original Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
during the heyday of the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
; the reform also included syntax changes and enrichment of the lexicon with a number of synonyms to avoid repetition. To ensure the success of the reform, all texts had to receive approval before publishing, a move that was supported by Ivan Shishman in his edicts. The capital Tarnovo was the main cultural center at that time. Patriarch Evtimiy wrote about it:
Радва се днес славният град Търнов и призовава царуващия над градовете, като казва: Радвай се с мен, майко на градовете, защото ония, които ти отгледа, с тях се славя сега аз, че ги придобих за помощници и застъпници. Наистина блажен съм аз сред градовете, защото добри съкровища събрах - честитите мощи на светците, чието застъпничество като притежавам, от всякакви злини се избавям. |
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Hesychasm
Hesychasm
Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Byzantine Rite, practised by the Hesychast Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches,...
remained the main movement in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...
during the reign of Ivan Shishman and the Patriarch was its supporter. Bulgaria was a major center of hesychast ideas along with the Byzantine Empire. Evtimiy was an active opponent to heresies, but it appears that since the mid 14th century the influence of the Bogomils
Bogomilism
Bogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar I in the 10th century...
, the most prominent heretic movement in the Balkans at the time, had been greatly reduced in Bulgaria and no document mentions them after 1360. Other sects, such as the Barlaamites, were also persecuted and repressed. Evtimiy had strict views on moral and took firm positions against divorce and third or fourth marriages for widowers and widows. After the collapse of the Bulgarian Empire, many scholars emigrated to Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia and the Russian principalities; they brought Bulgarian cultural achievements, books, and hesychastic ideas to these lands. The Bulgarian influence was so great that is often referred to as a "Second South Slavic influence on Russia". Some of the most prominent Bulgarian émigrés included Constantine of Kostenets
Constantine of Kostenets
Constantine of Kostenets , also known as Konstantin Kostenechki and Constantine the Philosopher , was a medieval Bulgarian writer and chronicler...
, who worked in Serbia and Cyprian
Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow
Cyprian was Metropolitan of Moscow , Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia . He lived for some time at Mount Athos...
, and Gregory Tsamblak
Gregory Tsamblak
Gregory Tsamblak ; was a Bulgarian writer and cleric, metropolitan of Kiev between 1413 and 1420. His name is also spelled Gregorije Camblak....
in the Russian lands. The economy was in decline since the loss of the major ports of Messembria
Nesebar
Nesebar is an ancient town and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Nesebar Municipality...
and Anchialus
Pomorie
Pomorie is a town and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, located on a narrow rocky peninsula in Burgas Bay on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is situated in Burgas Province, 20 km away from the city of Burgas and 18 km from the Sunny Beach resort. The ultrasaline lagoon...
to the Savoyard crusade
Savoyard crusade
The Savoyard crusade was born out of the same planning that led to the Alexandrian Crusade. It was the brainchild of Pope Urban V and was led by Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, against the Ottoman Empire in eastern Europe...
a few years before Ivan Shishman was crowned. After the death of Ivan Alexander and the breakaway of Dobrotitsa's Principality of Karvuna, Tarnovo also lost its most important port Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
, leading to a reduction in commerce and tax revenues. The persistent Ottoman raids brought devastation, hunger and depopulation which led to a sharp decline in the cultivated lands.
Assessment and legacy
Bulgarian historians have had mostly negative assessments of Ivan Shishman. He is often viewed as having intruded onto the throne due to the intrigues of his mother and thus taking the place of the rightful successor, his elder brother Ivan Sratsimir. This eventually resulted in the division of the country on the eve of the Ottoman invasion. There are no direct historical sources to suggest any significant attempts by Ivan Shishman to fight off the Turks. The inconsistent policy of Ivan Shishman has been described as revealing his weakness and inability to cope with the situation. His rule, however, was still remembered in the 16th century. In a treaty signed in 1519 between the Ottoman sultan Selim ISelim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
and Louis II of Hungary, some of the lands in question were referred to as as terra cesaris Sysman, “the land of emperor Shishman”.
The memory of Ivan Shishman remained during the first centuries of the Ottoman rule. During the First Tarnovo Uprising
First Tarnovo Uprising
The First Tarnovo Uprising was a Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman rule based in the former Bulgarian capital, Tarnovo, that broke out in 1598 and was severely crushed by the Ottoman authorities....
in 1598, the one of the rebels' leaders, whose name is unknown, claimed to have been a descendent of Ivan Shishman and was proclaimed emperor under the name Shishman III. Almost a century later, in 1686, a second uprising in Tarnovo
Second Tarnovo Uprising
The Second Tarnovo Uprising was a Bulgarian uprising against Ottoman rule based in the former Bulgarian capital, Tarnovo, that broke out in 1686 and was severely crushed by the Ottoman authorities....
was headed by Rostislav Stratimirovic
Rostislav Stratimirovic
Rostislav Stratimirovic belongs to the Bulgarian nobility from the 17th century. Prince of Tarnovo and descendant of the medieval Bulgarian Shishman dynasty, he is the leader of the Second Tarnovo Uprising of the Bulgarians against the Ottoman Empire in 1686....
, who also claimed to have belonged to the Shishman dynasty and styled himself as Prince of Bulgaria.
Ivan Shishman is now among the most popular and well known rulers in the Third Bulgarian State. There are a number of works dedicated to him or his rule, including the 1969 film Tsar Ivan Shishman by Yuri Arnaudov and the song "Tsar Ivan Shishman" by the heavy metal band Epizod
Epizod
Epizod is a Bulgarian heavy metal band formed in 1988 in Sofia. The first songs of the band were inspired by the French poet François Villon. Epizod are famous in Bulgaria for their concerts which include theatre, an Orthodox church choir, and an ensemble for Bulgarian folk songs and dances.-...
in the 2004 album "Saint Patriarch Evtimiy". Shishman Peak
Shishman Peak
Shishman Peak rises to over 800 m in the east extremity of Levski Ridge, Tangra Mountains, eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The peak overlooks Iskar Glacier and Bruix Cove to the north-northeast and Magura Glacier to the south...
on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...
, Antarctica is also named after him.
Legends
Ivan Shishman is the most prominent medieval ruler in Bulgarian folklore. His name is heard in a number of legends, myths, tales and songs. He is represented as a heroic ruler who fought and died for his country, facing overwhelming enemy forces. There are a number of places throughout Bulgaria named after the him, ranging from castles and ruins to rocks, caves and localities. That legendary “geography” is mainly concentrated in the region of Sofia, IhtimanIhtiman
Ihtiman is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the Ihtimanska Sredna Gora mountains and lies in a valley 48 km from Sofia and 95 km from Plovdiv, close to Trakiya motorway....
and Samokov
Samokov
Samokov is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a kettle between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia...
, though it extends to the Rhodope Mountains
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
, Sredna Gora
Sredna Gora
Sredna Gora is a mountain range in central Bulgaria, situated south of and parallel to Balkan mountain range and extending from the river Iskar to the west and the elbow of Tundzha north of Yambol to the east. Sredna Gora is 285 km long, reaching 50 km at its greatest width...
, Vratsa
Vratsa
Vratsa is a city in northwestern Bulgaria, at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Vratsa Province. As of February 2011, the town has a population of 60,482 inhabitants....
, Pleven
Pleven
Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality...
, Prilep
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...
, Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
, etc. Near Samokov are the ruins of “Shishman's Fortress” with the emperor's wells, which reputedly spouted from the ruler's seven wounds. Further north, along the cliffs and heights of the Iskar Gorge
Iskar Gorge
The Iskar Gorge is a gorge passing through the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria. It connects Sofia and Mezdra.The road and railroad follow the course of the Iskar River through a winding, scenic canyon.-References:*...
, are “Shishman's Holes”, the caves where he hid while fighting the Ottomans for seven years. Other related toponyms usually associated with the emperor's last stand
Last stand
Last stand is a loose military term used to describe a body of troops holding a defensive position in the face of overwhelming odds. The defensive force usually takes very heavy casualties or is completely destroyed, as happened in "Custer's Last Stand" at the Battle of Little Big HornBryan Perrett...
are Kokalyane
Kokalyane
Kokalyane is a village in the municipality of Sofia, in the district of Pancharevo. As of 2007 it has 1,859. The village is situated at the foothills of the Vitosha mountain, at 18 km from the center of Sofia...
(derived from kokal, meaning “bone”), Cherepish (from cherep, “skull”) and Lyutibrod
Lyutibrod
Lyutibrod is a village in the Vratsa Province, western Bulgaria. As of 2007 it has a population of 452. The village is situated in the northern end of the Iskar Gorge, on the right bank of the river of the same name. On the opposite bank of the river are the Ritlite rock formation and the...
(“Fierce Ford”), all thought to be hinting at the fate of the perished Bulgarian troops.
One of the most famous legends is about Shishman's final battle. The Ottomans camped at Kostenets
Kostenets
Kostenets is a village in the Sofia Province southwestern Bulgaria, located in the Kostenets Municipality . As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 4,201...
, near the origins of the Maritsa
Maritsa
The Maritsa or Evros , ) is, with a length of 480 km, the longest river that runs solely in the interior of the Balkans. It has its origin in the Rila Mountains in Western Bulgaria, flowing southeast between the Balkan and Rhodope Mountains, past Plovdiv and Parvomay to Edirne, Turkey...
river, while the Bulgarians were near Samokov, on a hill. After a fierce battle, Ivan Shishman was wounded seven times and retreated to the fortress, where he died; on the battlefield seven springs appeared, one for each of the emperor's wounds. He is also said to have fought in the Balkan mountains
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...
at Shishkin grad ("Shishman's town"), between Sliven
Sliven
Sliven is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality. It is a relatively large town with 89,848 inhabitants, as of February 2011....
and Kazanlak
Kazanlak
Kazanlak, formerly Kazanlık is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain range, at the eastern end of the Rose Valley...
, where he killed 10,000 janissaries
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
in a huge battle. The 18th century Bulgarian enlightener Paisius of Hilendar
Paisius of Hilendar
Saint Paisius of Hilendar or Paisiy Hilendarski was a Bulgarian clergyman and a key Bulgarian National Revival figure. He is most famous for being the author of Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya, the second modern Bulgarian history after the work of Petar Bogdan Bakshev from 1667, “History of Bulgaria”...
wrote in his Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya
Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya is a book by Bulgarian scholar and clergyman Saint Paisius of Hilendar...
that during the siege of Tarnovo
Siege of Tarnovo
The siege of Tarnovo occurred in the spring of 1393 and resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory. With the fall of its capital, the Bulgarian Empire was reduced down to a few fortresses along the Danube.- Origins of the conflict :...
Ivan Shishman managed to reach Sofia with his boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s. He hid his treasury in the Iskar gorge and fought against the Turks for seven years before dying in battle. Some versions suggest that Kokalyanski Urvich remained the last fortress to fall and before Shishman died he buried treasure under the castle and tried to escape by cutting a passage through the mountain. The repeating motif of the treasure is a sacral symbol of the Bulgarian statehood and the usual locations of the imperial jewellery are monasteries, lakes or hideouts under rivers. Being undiscovered by the invaders, the treasure symbolises the sovereignty and power of the Bulgarian Empire and its inevitable resurrection. There are also a number of parallels between the legends about Ivan Shishman and the hagiography of saints, especially John of Rila
John of Rila
Saint John of Rila was the first Bulgarian hermit. He was revered as a saint while he was still alive. The legend surrounding him tells of wild animals that freely came up to him and birds that landed in his hands. His followers founded many churches in his honor, including the famous Rila...
, including the almost identical route of the emperor, Tarnovo-Sofia-Samokov in Rila, and the route of the return of the relics of Saint John of Rila to the Rila Monastery
Rila Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of above sea level...
in 15th century – Tarnovo-Sofia-Rila, and also the motif of the immortal rulers who foresees the restoration of the country.
Откак се е, мила моя майко ле, зора зазорила, Оттогас е, мила моя майко ле, войска провървяла, Кон до коня, мила моя майко ле, юнак до юнака, Сабите им, мила моя майко ле, както ясно слънце, Огън светка, мила моя майко ле, през гора зелена, Войвода им, мила моя майко ле, сам цар Иван Шишман, Отговаря, мила моя майко ле, сам цар Иван Шишман: Боже силни, мила моя майко ле, боже създателю, Помогни ни, мила моя майко ле, сила и юнаштво! Бой щем да се бием, мила моя майко ле, на софийско поле, Кръв ще леем, мила моя майко ле, за Христово име, Ще прославим, мила моя майко ле, християнска вяра. |
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Extract of a folklore song, collected by the Miladinov Brothers
Miladinov Brothers
The Miladinov Brothers , Dimitar Miladinov and Konstantin Miladinov , were Bulgarian poets and folklorists from Macedonia, authors of an important collection of folk songs, Bulgarian Folk Songs...
.
Ivan Shishman is one of the few rulers to be mentioned in the Bulgarian folklore songs and, as in the legends, is a subject of mystification. His figure can even be seen in Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
s, where he is presented either as a saint in the role of protector or as a hero fighting dragons
Slavic dragon
In Slavic mythology, the word “zmey” and its cognates zmiy and zmaj , are used to describe a dragon. These words are masculine forms of the Slavic word for "snake", which are normally feminine . In Romania, there is a similar figure, derived from the Slavic dragon and named zmeu...
and oppressors, usually presented as Tatars because of the resemblance with the Tartarus
Tartarus
In classic mythology, below Uranus , Gaia , and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld. In the Gorgias, Plato In classic mythology, below Uranus (sky), Gaia (earth), and Pontus...
. The songs about Ivan Shishman contain many parallels with nature and collocations which are typical of Bulgarian folklore. In a song from the region of Sliven, the death of the emperor brings chaos to nature and rivers of "black blood" (typical folklore collocation) start flowing.
The place of Ivan Shishman in the Bulgarian legends and folklore is most likely attributed to the fact that he was the last Bulgarian emperor in Tarnovo. There are many similarities with his contemporary King Marko
Prince Marko
Marko Mrnjavčević was de jure the Serbian king from 1371 to 1395, while de facto he ruled only over a territory in western Macedonia centered on the town of Prilep...
, the ruler of Prilep, who did little to resist the Ottoman invasion but later became the most popular character in the Bulgarian folklore. The people desired to berhyme the image of the "ideal emperor", a defender and protector, whose strength they needed to survive under Ottoman domination, and not the actual historical personality. As time passed the mystification deepened and the legends became more distant from the actual events during his rule. During the Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
the tales about Ivan Shishman began to increasingly include patriotic elements.
Family
Ivan Shishman was married first to a Bulgarian named Kira MariaKira Maria
Kira Maria , or only Maria, was a Bulgarian empress consort, first wife of Ivan Shishman . There are almost no historical sources about her. Her name is mentioned in the Boril obituary in the following manner:...
, who died in the early 1380s. His second wife was Dragana Lazarević
Dragana of Serbia
Dragana was a Bulgarian empress consort, second wife of Ivan Shishman . She was a daughter of the Serbian prince Lazar and Milica Nemanjić. There are almost no historical sources about her. There is a text in the Boril obituary concerning the consorts of Ivan Shishman:Based on that text, the...
, a daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia
Lazar of Serbia
Lazar Hrebeljanović , was a medieval nobleman that emerged as the most powerful Serbian ruler after the death of the previous, childless, Emperor Uroš the Weak, which resulted in years of instability in the Serbian realm. As Stefan Lazar, he was Prince of Serbia from 1371 to 1389, ruling what is...
and Milica Nemanjić and kin to the previous Serbian dynasty. His eldest son Alexander
Alexander (son of Ivan Shishman)
Alexander , subsequently Iskender , was the eldest son of Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman . Alexander was possibly made co-emperor by his father before the Ottoman conquest of the Tarnovo Tsardom in 1395. After the subjugation of Ivan Shishman's realm and his execution, Alexander converted to Islam...
converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
under the name Iskender, and died as governor of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
in 1418, while his second son Fruzhin
Fruzhin
Fruzhin was a 15th-century Bulgarian noble who fought actively against the Ottoman conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire. A son of one of the last Bulgarian tsars, Ivan Shishman of the Tarnovo Tsardom, Fruzhin co-organized the so-called Uprising of Konstantin and Fruzhin along with Constantine...
participated in revolts and campaigns against the Ottomans, trying to liberate his father's realm, and died in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
after 1444. It has been speculated by historians, such as Plamen Pavlov, that Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople
Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople
Joseph II was Patriarch of Constantinople from 1416 to 1439.Born the son of Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria in 1360, little is known of his early life before he became a monk on Mount Athos. He became Metropolitan of Ephesus in 1393, before being elected Patriarch of Constantinople on 21 May 1416...
was an illegitimate son of Ivan Shishman. The claim is based on a Byzantine text which says "They said that he [Jozeph II] was an illegitimate son of the emperor Shishman."
Timeline
- 1350 or 1351 — Ivan Shishman was born
- By 1355 — Proclaimed heir to the throne and co-emperor
- 17 February 1371 — Succeeds his father as Emperor of Bulgaria in Tarnovo
- 1373 — Becomes Ottoman vassal in return for some previously conquered lands
- 1378 — Issues the Rila Charter
- 1385 — Fall of Sofia
- 1384 to 1386 — Successful war against Wallachia
- 1388 — The Ottomans invade eastern Bulgaria and conquer a number of towns
- 17 July 1393 — Fall of Tarnovo
- 3 June 1395 — The Ottomans capture Nikopol and Ivan Shishman is executed