{{flagicon|Serbian Empire}}[[Serbian Empire]]
{{flagicon|Second Bulgarian Empire}}[[Second Bulgarian Empire]]"},"combatant2":{"wt":"{{flagicon|Byzantine Empire}}[[John VI Kantakouzenos|John Kantakouzenos]]
{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire|1299}}[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Beylik]]"},"commander1":{"wt":"{{flagicon|Serbian Empire}}[[Gradislav Borilović]]"},"commander2":{"wt":"{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire|1299}}[[Orhan]]"},"strength1":{"wt":"4,000–6,000 Serbian cavalry,
unknown number of Bulgarian troops"},"strength2":{"wt":"10,000 Ottoman cavalry"},"casualties1":{"wt":"4,000–7,000 killed"},"casualties2":{"wt":"Unknown"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwBA">@media all and (min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .desktop-float-right{box-sizing:border-box;float:right;clear:right}}.mw-parser-output .infobox.vevent .status>p:first-child{margin:0}
Battle of Demotika | |||||||
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Part of the Byzantine civil war of 1352–1357 | |||||||
Walls of old Demotika | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
John V Palaiologos Serbian Empire Second Bulgarian Empire | John Kantakouzenos Ottoman Beylik | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Gradislav Borilović | Orhan | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
4,000–6,000 Serbian cavalry, unknown number of Bulgarian troops | 10,000 Ottoman cavalry | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
4,000–7,000 killed | Unknown |
The Battle of Demotika took place during the Byzantine civil war which began in 1352 between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and those of the Serbian Empire and Second Bulgarian Empire.
John Palaiologos obtained the help of Serbia, while John Kantakouzenos sought help from Orhan, the Ottoman bey. [1] Kantakouzenos marched into Thrace to rescue his son, Matthew, who was attacked by Palaiologos shortly after being given this appanage and then refusing to recognize John Palaiologos as heir to the throne. [1] Ottoman troops retook some cities that had surrendered to John Palaiologos, and Kantakouzenos allowed the troops to plunder the cities, including Adrianople. Thus it seemed that Kantakouzenos was defeating John Palaiologos, who now retreated to Serbia. [1]
Emperor Stefan Dušan sent Palaiologos a cavalry force of 4,000 [1] or 6,000 [2] under the command of Gradislav Borilović [3] [2] while Orhan provided Kantakouzenos 10,000 horsemen. [1] Also Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander sent an unknown number of troops to support Palaiologos and Dušan. The two armies met at an open-field battle near Demotika (modern Didymoteicho) in October 1352, [1] which would decide the fate of the Byzantine Empire, without the direct involvement of the Byzantines. [4] The more numerous Ottomans decisively defeated the Serbs and Bulgarians, and Kantakouzenos retained power, while Palaiologos fled to Venetian Tenedos. [4] According to Kantakouzenos about 7,000 Serbs fell at the battle (deemed exaggerated), while Nikephoros Gregoras (1295–1360) gave the number as 4,000. [3]
The battle was the first major battle of the Ottomans on European soil, and it made Stefan Dušan realize the major threat of the Ottomans to Eastern Europe. [4]
Andronikos III Palaiologos, commonly Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus, was the Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341. He was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia. He was proclaimed co-emperor in his youth, before 1313, and in April 1321 he rebelled against his grandfather, Andronikos II Palaiologos. He was formally crowned co-emperor in February 1325, before ousting his grandfather outright and becoming sole emperor on 24 May 1328.
John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. His long reign was marked by constant civil war, the spread of the Black Death and several military defeats to the Ottoman Turks, who rose as the dominant power of the region.
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, also known as Dušan the Mighty, was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355. Dušan is considered one of the greatest medieval Balkan conquerors.
The Serbian Empire was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state.
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Irene Asanina, was the empress consort of John VI Kantakouzenos of the Byzantine Empire. She is known to have participated in military issues in a degree uncommon for a Byzantine empress. She commanded the garrison of Didymoteicho during the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, and organized the defense of Constantinople against the Genoese in 1348, and the forces of John V in 1353.
The Battle of Stephaniana was a small-scale battle between the forces of the Medieval Serbian Kingdom and the Emirate of Aydin, allies of Byzantine emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. It was the first battle between the Serbs and Turks, as an earlier battle in Gallipoli was fought between troops sent by King Milutin and Turcopole Halil Pasha (1312).
The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War, was a conflict that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son and heir, John V Palaiologos. It pitted on the one hand Andronikos III's chief minister, John VI Kantakouzenos, and on the other a regency headed by the Empress-Dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV Kalekas, and the megas doux Alexios Apokaukos. The war polarized Byzantine society along class lines, with the aristocracy backing Kantakouzenos and the lower and middle classes supporting the regency. To a lesser extent, the conflict acquired religious overtones; Byzantium was embroiled in the Hesychast controversy, and adherence to the mystical doctrine of Hesychasm was often equated with support for Kantakouzenos.
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The Kingdom of Serbia, or the Serbian Kingdom, was a medieval Serbian kingdom in Southern Europe comprising most of what is today Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro, as well as southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, parts of coastal Croatia south of the Neretva river, Albania north of the Drin River, North Macedonia, and a small part of western Bulgaria. The medieval Kingdom of Serbia existed from 1217 to 1346 and was ruled by the Nemanjić dynasty. The Grand Principality of Serbia was elevated with the regal coronation of Stefan Nemanjić as king, after the reunification of Serbian lands. In 1219, Serbian Orthodox Church was reorganized as an autocephalous archbishopric, headed by Saint Sava. The kingdom was proclaimed an empire in 1346, but kingship was not abolished as an institution, since the title of a king was used as an official designation for a co-ruler of the emperor.
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