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Episode 289 - Kaloyan, Tsar of Bulgaria

Episode 289 - Kaloyan, Tsar of Bulgaria

Released Wednesday, 10th April 2024
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Episode 289 - Kaloyan, Tsar of Bulgaria

Episode 289 - Kaloyan, Tsar of Bulgaria

Episode 289 - Kaloyan, Tsar of Bulgaria

Episode 289 - Kaloyan, Tsar of Bulgaria

Wednesday, 10th April 2024
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per month. Slows. Hello

1:10

everyone and welcome to the history

1:12

of Byzantium Episode Two Hundred and

1:15

Eighty Nine. Carlo.

1:17

Yeah, I'm Tsar of Bulgaria.

1:22

Across the last few episodes we've

1:24

seen several men fail to fill

1:26

the role of Emperor of Constantinople.

1:29

The to Byzantine still carrying that title

1:31

couldn't find a way to counter the

1:33

Latins. While. The two leading

1:35

crusaders were both lost in battle against

1:37

Bulgarian forces who knew the land much

1:40

better than they did. Before

1:43

it's sack, Constantinople had been

1:45

like the sun. Everyone.

1:47

In the Balkans, west, in Anatolia

1:50

and the Aegean were in it's

1:52

orbit. The. Fourth Crusade

1:54

had blurted it out, destabilizing

1:56

the gravitational pull which the

1:58

city had exerted. Over the region.

2:02

Now there was a vacuum. He

2:04

the someone could fill that space and

2:07

restart the dead star. All.

2:09

The lands of the empire would

2:11

fragments and different power centers would

2:13

begin seizing control for themselves. This.

2:19

Sounded like good news to

2:21

the Bulgarians. With Constantinople power

2:23

gone, the greatest threat to

2:25

their existence had been eliminated.

2:28

There. Was nothing to stop them developing

2:30

their home base into a prosperous and

2:32

peaceful land. But.

2:35

Then again the Bulgarian state was

2:37

not like by sent him a

2:39

wasn't a bureaucratic institution designed to

2:41

protect a Bulgarian homeland. It

2:44

was closer to a tribal organization.

2:46

were leading families competed with each

2:48

other for prominence, one which relied

2:51

on a strong man to hold

2:53

everything together. If

2:55

such a figure happened to be riding high.

2:58

When. Constantinople foul. Then.

3:00

It's possible. He. Could dream

3:02

the impossible dream. Rather

3:05

than reinforce his regional power base,

3:07

he could seize the dead saw

3:09

for himself. Reignited.

3:12

And. Become the first ever Emperor of

3:14

the Romans. And

3:16

Bulgarians. The

3:19

city has former. Followers

3:22

desire of Bulgaria received the

3:24

news of Constantinople. Small mixed

3:26

emotions. The humiliation of

3:29

his states great rival was a definite

3:31

boon to his cause. But

3:33

Kalyan had many concerns on

3:35

his mind. His fledgling kingdom

3:38

remained vulnerable despite the collapse

3:40

of Byzantine power. And

3:42

he wasn't at all sure if I'm Latin

3:45

empire based on the Bosphorus was going to

3:47

be a positive development for his people. Kelly.

3:52

And was born around Eleven seventy

3:54

two, a family of flack chiefs

3:56

who were operating reasonably happily within

3:59

the Roman. The old of matter will

4:01

com de nos. As

4:03

best we can tell his baptismal

4:05

name was Ivan, but since his

4:08

older brother had the same name,

4:10

he was known to most of

4:12

his kin as Joe an Easter

4:14

Little Ivan. In Greek

4:16

his name was understood as John and

4:18

in his positive press he was known

4:21

as John the Handsome. Carlos.

4:23

Your anus, As in Taliban

4:25

and since that's what I call him

4:27

before I researched all of this will

4:29

stick with it. As

4:32

his press in Roman circles got

4:34

worse, he was rebranded as Sky

4:36

Low He oh how nice. John

4:38

the Dog. Around

4:42

the time he was fifteen, his

4:44

older brother Peter and Awesome launched

4:46

their rebellion against the Romans. Laying.

4:49

Claim to the historic heritage of

4:51

the Bulgarian state. The

4:53

forces of Isaac and Gloss responded,

4:55

and in Eleven Eighty Eight, they

4:57

captured our son's wife. In

5:00

order to secure her release, Kalyan

5:03

was dispatched to Constantinople as a

5:05

hostage. He seems to have

5:07

escaped or been released at some point in

5:09

the next few years. When

5:12

he's older brother our son was

5:14

murdered at Turnover in Eleven Ninety

5:17

Six, Peter quickly had Kalyan elevated

5:19

to rule with him. A smart

5:21

move since Peter died shortly afterwards.

5:24

Kalyan. Was able to see have

5:26

a serious usurpation attempt and secure his

5:29

position as are by the end of

5:31

Eleven Ninety Seven. The

5:35

next few years were incredibly busy.

5:37

Kalyan continued to war with the

5:39

Romans until Alexi as angle of

5:42

Communists agreed to peace and the

5:44

recognition of his realm. He also

5:46

let his forces westward towards Belgrade,

5:49

both to reward his followers and

5:51

secure his border with Hungary and

5:53

Serbia. this proved

5:55

tough as the hungarians were opposed to

5:58

the establishment of a new kingdom along

6:00

the Danube. They had

6:02

spilled a lot of blood in their wars with

6:04

Manuil Cominoss, and after his death they had grabbed

6:06

the fortresses along the southern bank of the Great

6:09

River. To see

6:11

an expansionist Bulgarian state on their

6:13

doorstep was not what they wanted,

6:16

and so the King of Hungary sent troops

6:18

to oppose them, allied with

6:20

the Serbian state, which was also trying

6:23

to establish itself further south. Caloyan

6:27

also had to manage his Cuman

6:29

allies with care. The

6:31

steppe riders were the key to his military

6:33

success. The Vlak cavalry

6:35

and Bulgarian foot soldiers were

6:37

perfectly competent and could go

6:39

toe to toe with their Balkan rivals, but

6:42

the nomads gave them a cutting edge

6:44

they otherwise lacked. The

6:49

Cuman's, like all steppe confederations, were not

6:51

easy to control. They had

6:53

raided Bulgarian lands on a couple of occasions,

6:56

and so Caloyan had to ride

6:58

this particular tiger very carefully. He

7:01

married a Cuman bride as evidence

7:03

of his commitment to keeping them

7:05

onside. Amidst

7:09

all this conflict, Caloyan entered lengthy

7:11

negotiations with the Papacy. Not

7:14

only had he used this as a

7:16

bargaining chip in simultaneous negotiations with the

7:18

Byzantines, but Caloyan had watched

7:20

the passage of the Third Crusade through the

7:23

Balkans. He knew that it was

7:25

the Latins who were the coming power in Europe, and

7:28

it was important to be on their side. Legitimacy

7:32

granted by the Pope was vital.

7:35

It would protect him from attack and make

7:37

it harder for the Catholic Hungarians to

7:40

remain bellicose. Caloyan

7:43

emerged from these challenges with

7:45

his reputation greatly enhanced. Since

7:48

becoming a teenager, his life had been

7:50

on fast forward. He'd

7:52

been forced to learn quickly how to be

7:55

a soldier, leader and diplomat all at once.

7:58

He was juggling domestic and international concerns

8:00

all while wearing a massive target

8:02

on his back. It

8:05

was now that news arrived that the

8:07

Fourth Crusade was camped outside the walls

8:10

of Constantinople. The

8:12

Czar sent an embassy to ask the Latins

8:14

if they would grant him the recognition he

8:16

desired. He knew they

8:18

were on a papally sanctioned mission and so

8:20

might have the authority to confirm him in

8:23

his rights as monarch. In

8:25

exchange he was more than happy to

8:27

send troops to aid them in their

8:29

siege. But

8:32

as I mentioned two episodes ago

8:34

the Latins were taking their cue

8:36

from their Byzantine allies like Alexios

8:38

Angelos. The Romans

8:40

spoke dismissively of the Bulgarians as

8:42

cattle rustlers and rebels and the

8:45

Latins concurred. The

8:47

response Kaloyan received was that he

8:49

should leave imperial territory or

8:51

he would be forced to. This

8:54

was not what he wanted to hear at all. A

8:57

few months after Constantinople fell Kaloyan finally

8:59

got what he wanted a crown

9:02

from the Pope. A papal

9:05

legate entered Tronovo and crowned him

9:07

as king of the Bulgarians and

9:09

Vlax. The pontiff

9:12

refused to acknowledge the title Czar

9:14

since that meant Emperor and

9:16

there were only meant to be two of those. However

9:20

the Latins at Constantinople don't seem

9:22

to have heard, understood or cared

9:24

that the Bulgarians were now under

9:26

the pontiff's spiritual authority and

9:28

to be fair nothing had

9:30

yet changed in Bulgaria itself. Its

9:33

clergy continued to use the Orthodox

9:36

right and would never fully align

9:38

themselves with Catholic practice. So

9:42

it was that the new Emperor

9:44

Baldwin remained belligerent, that

9:46

Kaloyan made an alliance with Byzantine

9:48

officials in Thrace and that the

9:51

two sides clashed in April 1205

9:53

outside Adrianople. The

9:55

victory which Kaloyan won could not have

9:57

been more crushing. Baldwin was

9:59

in chains, most of his knights were

10:02

dead, and the Latins were fleeing with

10:04

haste back to Constantinople. The

10:07

question now was how

10:09

to follow up this magnificent victory? As

10:12

Latin resistance melted before him, he

10:14

must have had an idle thought

10:16

or two about whether a direct

10:18

assault on Constantinople might succeed. But

10:22

such dreams were easily brushed aside. Without

10:25

naval support, such an attack would have

10:27

been fruitless, the land walls

10:29

remained formidable, and the Venetian fleet

10:31

dominated the Golden Horn. But

10:35

what about Thessaloniki? The

10:37

empire's second city was now wide

10:39

open, and capturing it

10:41

would be the greatest victory in

10:43

Bulgarian history. The

10:46

Tsar allowed most of his human allies to

10:49

roam free across Thrace in the aftermath of

10:51

the battle. Some made

10:53

it to the vicinity of Constantinople, pursuing

10:56

fleeing Latins, looting and pillaging

10:58

as they went. Calleon

11:00

led the rest of his army west

11:02

towards the city of St. Demetrius. As

11:06

his route became clear, messengers raced

11:08

south into Greece, desperate to find

11:11

King Boniface, who was off besieging

11:13

Naplion. As we

11:15

talked about last week, there was

11:17

panic inside Thessaloniki, and some Slav

11:20

rabble-rousers actually chased the authorities into

11:22

the citadel. Was the

11:24

city about to be sacked again by a

11:26

foreign army? Fortunately

11:29

for Boniface and the Roman population,

11:31

the fortress of Ceres bought them some

11:34

time. Ceres guarded

11:36

one of the approaches to Thessalonica,

11:38

and Boniface's men held it against

11:40

Calleon's attack. It took

11:42

several days for the defenders and the

11:45

local Byzantines trapped inside to run out

11:47

of food and surrender. The

11:49

terms of the deal meant that if those inside

11:51

opened the gates voluntarily, they would be

11:54

allowed to leave unharmed. We

11:56

don't know exactly what happened next, but when they

11:58

emerged from the stronghold, Calleon appears

12:00

to have broken his word, enslaved

12:02

most of them, and had

12:04

them deported north. As

12:08

I say, we don't know

12:10

exactly what happened, but many Romans concluded

12:12

that the Czar couldn't be trusted and

12:14

would never be welcome as their new

12:16

overlord. Remember

12:18

that some Byzantine officials and soldiers were

12:21

now marching with the Czar, which

12:23

was a complication in the normal

12:25

Bulgarian operating procedure. In

12:28

order to keep his Vlax, Bulgarians, and

12:30

Cumans happy, Calleon usually allowed them

12:33

to take whatever they wanted from Roman lands,

12:35

but now he had to consider the feelings of

12:38

those who'd switched sides. It

12:40

was another difficult balancing act. The

12:44

army moved on to Veria, to the

12:46

west of Thessalonica, and a similar scene

12:48

played out. Calleon was

12:50

capturing the forts he needed to isolate

12:52

the city, but he

12:54

was also taking Roman captives and dragging

12:56

them away. Boniface

12:59

managed to race back from Greece and

13:01

reoccupy his city, which for the time

13:03

being warded Calleon off. The

13:05

Czar didn't want to risk all he'd gained by pushing

13:07

his men too far. The

13:10

summer was slowly passing, and so he turned

13:12

away from Thessaloniki and began to make his

13:14

way north. He

13:16

wasn't going home without another prize, though,

13:19

and so he headed towards Philopopolis, one

13:22

of the major Byzantine towns of Thrace. The

13:26

citizens of this region had been terrorised by

13:28

the Bulgarians for two decades now, so had

13:30

no incentive to join his side. The

13:33

Latin commander abandoned the city as

13:35

the Czar approached, recognising

13:37

that resistance was futile, but

13:40

a Byzantine general named Alexios

13:42

Aspietes stood firm and tried

13:44

to rally the population to defend their city.

13:48

This seems to have angered Calleon, who presumably

13:50

felt that he was doing the Romans a

13:52

favour by driving the Latins out. Various

13:55

stories are told about the siege, one

13:58

blames the city's Bogomil population. a

14:00

heretical Christian sect for betraying the gates

14:03

to the Bulgarians. But

14:05

whatever really happened, Kalyan captured the

14:07

city, executed the local leadership and

14:09

enslaved many of its inhabitants. Kalyan's

14:13

strategy was becoming clearer. He

14:16

would eliminate any Latin garrisons he found

14:18

and depopulate Thrace in favor of his

14:20

own territory north of the Hymnus Mountains.

14:24

Romans and their animals would be settled

14:26

there to boost his own economy, while

14:29

Thrace would become a wasteland which would

14:31

be unable to resist his incursions or

14:33

to provide the base necessary to support

14:35

a Latin empire. He

14:38

had one eye on Dassaloniki, but he

14:40

needed conditions to be truly in his

14:42

favor. Those

14:45

who bore the brunt of these actions

14:47

were, of course, ordinary Romans. It

14:50

was they who would suffer the depredations of

14:52

his army's marches. Many

14:55

of those who defected to Kalyan's

14:57

banner began to have serious reservations.

15:00

The Bulgarians were freeing them of Latin rule,

15:02

but at what price? Perhaps

15:05

they would be better off with the Westerners

15:07

after all. It

15:11

seems like Kalyan didn't go home that winter.

15:14

Presumably, he stayed at Philippopolis. He

15:17

was determined to make the most of

15:19

this extraordinary opportunity. As

15:21

1206 dawned, he led his men through

15:23

the January weather to the southern coast

15:26

of Thrace. There he

15:28

began attacking the forts which the Latin still held.

15:31

It's hard to know what to believe about the

15:33

extent of this campaign. The Latin

15:36

historians name about half a dozen towns

15:38

he either broke into or terrorized from

15:40

the outside, while the Byzantine

15:42

sources name a dozen or more. At

15:45

some, the Latin garrison was massacred, at

15:47

others the Roman population were enslaved and

15:50

deported. The raiding continued

15:52

up to about 30 kilometers from

15:54

Constantinople itself, a

15:56

demonstration of Bulgarian power. Was

16:00

there a possibility that the Latins would give

16:02

up and sail away? Not

16:05

really. It would be too

16:07

humiliating and it would betray the sacrifice of

16:09

all the crusaders who died for this cause.

16:13

The Latins accepted that Baldwin was

16:15

now dead and elected his brother

16:17

Henry, or Henri, to replace him.

16:20

The new emperor gathered the forces he

16:22

could muster and prepared to fight a

16:24

guerrilla campaign against Callahan's men. As

16:28

you can imagine, the roads of Thrace were

16:31

choked with refugees. People were running in terror

16:33

from the Bulgarian army and trying to find

16:35

a safe haven. Many

16:37

flocked to Adrianople, whose sturdy walls

16:39

seemed their best hope for survival.

16:42

The city had been the epicenter of the

16:44

original revolt in favor of Callahan, but the

16:47

mood had now turned against him. If

16:50

this was the alternative to Latin rule, then

16:52

it was definitely the greater of two evils.

16:55

This was when Callahan became John the Dog

16:58

in the eyes of the Romans. Interestingly,

17:01

in Bulgarian circles, his amazing success

17:03

led to the creation of a

17:05

different nickname, the

17:07

Romanslayer, a

17:09

deliberate riposte to Basil II,

17:11

whose campaigns he seemed to

17:13

be reversing. The

17:18

men in charge of Adrianople agreed

17:21

to switch sides and seek Latin

17:23

help. The new emperor

17:25

Henry had been having similar thoughts. If

17:27

his empire was going to survive, he

17:29

had to incorporate the Byzantines into his

17:31

command structure. He found

17:34

the ideal first responder in the

17:36

figure of Theodore Vranas. You

17:39

may remember his father, Alexius Vranas,

17:41

who rebelled against Isaac Angelos from

17:43

his base at Adrianople. Vranas

17:45

was one of the few rebels of that era

17:47

who actually did march on the capital and try

17:49

to seize the throne, where

17:51

he was defeated in battle by

17:54

Conrad of Montferrat, Boniface's older brother.

17:57

Stay with me. Theodore had

17:59

married married Agnes, the daughter of the

18:01

King of France, last seen as a

18:04

child bride being married to filthy old

18:06

Andronicus. Agnes had

18:08

stayed in Constantinople, gone native, and

18:10

hooked up with Ranas. This

18:13

gave Theodore a huge advantage over his

18:16

contemporaries. His wife had a

18:18

natural position within the Latin's feudal

18:20

network, so they understood exactly where

18:22

Ranas fit in their pecking order.

18:26

When the two sides made contact, Henry was

18:28

more than happy to forgive the people of

18:30

Adrianople for their betrayal and send them Ranas

18:32

to act as their new governor. The

18:36

tide of battle finally turned that summer. In

18:39

June 1206, Callaghan tried to

18:41

sack the city of Didymotechion on

18:43

the road towards Adrianople. Despite

18:46

battering the walls with siege engines and

18:48

diverting a river to cut off the

18:50

water supply, the defenders held out. Hopeful

18:53

that reinforcements were on the way. And

18:56

indeed they were. The Emperor Henry

18:58

was advancing cautiously towards their position.

19:01

Despite his numerical advantage, Callaghan did not

19:03

want to get trapped between the city

19:05

and the oncoming Latin army, and so

19:07

he abandoned his siege and moved north.

19:10

As he passed Adrianople, he was angry

19:13

to discover that the city had turned

19:15

against him. This lengthened

19:17

his supply lines and made his wagon

19:19

train filled with booty and slaves more

19:22

vulnerable. His cumin troops

19:24

had already departed and he was

19:26

feeling vulnerable. Slowly

19:28

Henry closed the gap on him as the

19:30

Hymas Mountains came into view. Callaghan

19:33

made it safely home, but his lieutenants

19:35

were left to deal with the baggage

19:37

train and were attacked by Henry's advancing

19:39

army. Panic spread, the

19:41

Bulgarians fled, and thousands of

19:44

Roman captives broke free from

19:46

their chains. As

19:49

they headed home, Henry continued to

19:51

press north and sacked several

19:53

Bulgarian fortresses along the coast.

19:56

His message was clear. The Latin

19:58

Empire was here to stay. day. Frustrated

20:03

by these developments, Calian made plans

20:06

for another assault on Roman Thrace.

20:09

The following spring, 1207, he rushed

20:11

to Adrianople to try and capture the

20:13

city before the Latins could respond. Apparently

20:16

he brought 33 large counterweight

20:19

trebuchets to batter the walls, but

20:22

Theodore Vranas led a resolute defense.

20:24

His people worked through the night to

20:27

repair the destruction inflicted on different sections

20:29

of the wall, and after

20:31

a month Calian called off the siege and

20:33

his cumin allies disappeared north of the

20:35

Danube now that the easy pickings were

20:38

gone. Henry

20:40

was also active. Taking a

20:42

leaf from the book of Nyciferous Focus,

20:45

he ignored Calian's army and attacked the

20:47

Bulgarian forts south of the Hymas Mountains,

20:49

trying to draw the Czar away from

20:52

Latin strongholds. Then with

20:54

autumn approaching, the Emperor met up with

20:56

King Boniface to exchange oaths of allegiance.

21:00

This brings us to the events that closed

21:02

last week's episode. On

21:04

his way home to Thessalonica, Boniface was

21:06

killed in an ambush by Calian's men.

21:10

When he received the king's head, Calian

21:12

knew his chance had come. He

21:15

marched his army of 10,000, straight

21:17

for Thessaloniki. With

21:20

Boniface dead, the city would be vulnerable.

21:23

He had waited for an opportunity like

21:25

this. He could either sack the city

21:27

and take the rich harvest home, or

21:29

occupy it, and attempt to force the

21:31

Romans to acknowledge him as their new

21:33

master. The precedent had been

21:35

set by the Norman Fack 20 years

21:37

earlier. The city could be taken.

21:40

It was that event, after all,

21:42

which had provided the spiritual justification

21:44

for the Bulgarian revolt, that

21:47

Saint Demetrios had abandoned the

21:49

Romans and had relocated to

21:51

Tranova, Calian's capital.

21:56

The Bulgarians bypassed the city's surrounding forts

21:58

and went straight for the jugular.

22:01

Inside the city, faction fighting again threatened

22:03

to leave the people defenseless. They

22:06

were Romans and Slavs, intriguing against

22:08

the Latins and infighting amongst the

22:11

Westerners themselves. But

22:13

Margaret, Boniface's widow, remained

22:16

nominally in charge, and

22:19

the one thing everyone could agree on was that

22:21

they did not want to surrender to Callegan. The

22:24

Czar focused his attack on the north of the

22:26

city. The plan was to fill

22:28

in the moat with wood and other debris, and

22:30

then attempt to scale the wall with ladders. The

22:33

northern moat was quickly filled up, as

22:35

trebuchets pounded the walls above. It

22:38

was autumn, and the attack had to be

22:40

pressed before supplies began to run out. Then

22:44

suddenly, in the middle of the night, a

22:47

cry went up from the Czar's camp. Callegan

22:51

was dead. The

22:53

siege was immediately called off, and

22:56

the Bulgarians returned home. Predictably,

23:01

in the aftermath of this shocking turn

23:03

of events, the Bulgarian realm

23:05

fell into conspiracy and civil war. Their

23:08

opportunity to become masters of the Balkans

23:11

had passed. The

23:14

Latins and Romans strengthened their

23:16

alliance, and the Emperor

23:18

Henry held onto his throne. The

23:21

great strength and great weakness of

23:24

states like Bulgaria is

23:26

their dependence on the competence,

23:28

charisma, and longevity of

23:30

one man. Callegan

23:33

was about 37 years old, and

23:36

seemed a healthy specimen. Later

23:38

on, a Roman historian said

23:41

that he died of pleurisy. And

23:43

as ever in the medieval world, ill health

23:45

is always a safe bet in cases of

23:47

sudden death. But

23:49

the rumor at the time was that the Czar

23:52

had been killed. Perhaps

23:54

by one of his boyars, his

23:56

nobleman, who had already stirred up

23:58

some trouble in Tranovo. the

24:00

previous year. Or

24:03

was it one of the Romans still

24:06

serving the Czar but now determined to

24:08

prevent him from capturing Thessalonica? Or

24:12

maybe it was Saint Demetrius

24:14

who had turned his back on the

24:17

Bulgarians and returned his favor to the

24:19

city on the Aegean. The

24:22

latter was widely reported and believed at the

24:24

time, and not just in

24:26

Roman circles. One scholar

24:28

argues that had Calian died of natural

24:30

causes, the stories of murder would not

24:33

have spread so quickly. Who

24:35

can say? But the legend

24:38

that Demetrius had visited the Czar's tent that

24:40

night and delivered a fatal blow is

24:43

a tale which gripped the Balkan imagination.

24:46

The image of the Saint eliminating

24:49

Calian can be seen in

24:51

at least five Balkan churches and

24:53

on many icons. It's

24:57

a backhanded tribute to the impressive

24:59

figure that Calian cut. When

25:02

he was growing up, the idea of

25:04

reviving the Bulgarian Empire was just a

25:07

fantasy. By the

25:09

time he died, the thought that

25:11

a Bulgarian Czar might annex the Roman

25:13

Empire was not so far-fetched.

25:17

The thought that his rapid rise to power was

25:19

one laced with sin and that

25:22

God had delivered his judgment at the

25:24

gates of Thessaloniki was

25:26

one which gained wide currency. For

25:30

now then, the Balkan theater of war had

25:33

reached stalemate. The

25:35

Latins had clung on to their new possessions

25:37

in Thrace and Greece. The

25:40

Bulgarians were off to kill one another until

25:42

a new strongman emerges and

25:44

the Romans breathed a sigh of relief that

25:47

they weren't going to be slaughtered next spring.

25:51

It wasn't clear to anyone in the Balkans what

25:53

the future had in store. No

25:55

one seemed strong enough to step

25:58

into Manuil Komninos' long-winded life. vacated

26:00

shoes. But

26:03

of course the Roman world was not just in

26:05

Europe. Across the

26:07

waters in Anatolia a new

26:09

power was emerging, one

26:11

that could conceivably dominate the entire

26:13

west coast. If

26:15

that was to happen, then Constantinople would

26:17

be but a short boat ride away.

26:21

Next time we go back once more to the

26:23

fall of New Rome and follow

26:25

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