In the summer of 1242, a Mongol force invaded the Latin Empire of Constantinople. This force, a detachment of the army under Qadan then devastating Bulgaria, entered the empire from the north. It was met by the Emperor Baldwin II, who was victorious in a first encounter but was subsequently defeated.
The encounters probably took place in Thrace, but little can be said about them owing to the paucity of sources. Subsequent relations between Baldwin and the Mongol khans have been taken as evidence by some that Baldwin was captured and forced to make submission to the Mongols and pay tribute. Together with the major Mongol invasion of Anatolia the following year (1243), the Mongol defeat of Baldwin precipitated a power shift in the Aegean world.
Sources
The Aegean world in the early 13th century. Adrianople was the chief city of Thrace.
There is only one primary source that explicitly mentions a Mongol raid into the Latin Empire: the anonymous Austrian Chronicle completed about 1327. Its account was copied into the Chronicle of Leoben and the Annals of Heiligenkreuz. The event is dated to 1243, an obvious error for 1242.[1] According to the Austrian chronicles:[2]
Tatars and Cumans, meeting no resistance or opposition, withdrew from Hungary with an endless booty of gold and silver, garments and animals, leading many captives of both sexes to the scandal of the Christians. Entering Greece, they depopulated the entire land except for the castles and well-fortified cities. But the king of Constantinople, named Baldwin, went out in battle against them, at first he was victorious, but the second time he was defeated by them.[3]
A brief account in the Chronography of the Syriac prelate Bar Hebraeus (died 1286) must refer to the Mongol invasions of Bulgaria and Thrace in 1242, although it is mis-dated to 1232:
And the Khan continued to wax strong. And he prepared to attack Constantinople from the quarter of the Bulgarians. And the kings of the Franks heard of this, and they gathered together and they met Batu in battle, and they broke him and made him flee.[4]
This passage seems to confirm that the Mongol armies in Bulgaria, which were under the overall command of Batu, attacked in the direction of Constantinople and were defeated at some point either by the Bulgars or the Latins.[4][5]
The avenger arriving from the East mows down everything he encounters And subdues the West with his sword. The leaders of Armenia are dead, the lords of Syria surrender, The Black Sea groans at the yoke of subjection. The Caucasus bows, the Danube offers up its weapons in surrender, Thrace, defeated, mourns its leader.[6]
Thrace was, at the time, a part of the Latin Empire. John seems to imply that its leader, Baldwin II, was killed defending Thrace against the Mongols. While this was not so, there is evidence that the rumour of Baldwin's death was current in western Europe in 1242. Philippe Mouskes in his Rhymed Chronicle of French history, which goes up to 1242, reports that in that year news reached the French court "from Greece ... that the emperor was dead." Prince Geoffrey II of Achaea, who was married to Baldwin's sister Agnes, even sailed with an army to Constantinople on the basis of this rumour, perhaps hoping to seize the throne.[3][7] There is contrary evidence, however, from papal letters that indicates that the false rumour of Baldwin's death was current only between the fall of 1243 and early 1244.[8]
The historian Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall in the nineteenth century was the first modern historian to notice the passage in the Chronicon Austriacum and attribute the attack to Qadan's army then passing through Bulgaria.[1][9]
Invasion
Baldwin II portrayed as a king on horseback on his seal.
Baldwin II had made an alliance with some Cumans under their leaders Saronius and Jonas by 1239.[10][11] It seems likely that he was giving shelter to Cumans fleeing the Mongols. The same act of giving shelter to the Mongols' Cuman enemies was the pretext for the Mongol invasion of Hungary, and probably also for the invasion of Bulgaria. It is likely that the attack on the Latin Empire resulted from the same motive: to punish the protectors of the Cumans.[5][12]
Baldwin II was in Constantinople on 12 February 1242, when he addressed a letter to King Louis IX of France. He was again in Constantinople when he addressed a letter to Louis's influential mother, Blanche of Castile, on 5 August 1243. The Mongol invasion must have taken place between these dates, since it drew Baldwin away from the capital.[13] The sources indicate only that the battles took place in Greece, a broad term in medieval sources, which could mean all the territory claimed by the Latin and Byzantine empires. It definitely included Thrace, which was part of the Latin Empire and bordered Bulgaria, which makes it the likely location of the Mongol raids.[14]
According to the Chronicon Austriacum, Baldwin fought two battles with the invading force, which included some Cuman allies of the Mongols. Historians have offered several explanations of the Austrian chronicle's two battles and for Baldwin's motive in riding out to meet the invader. Peter Jackson suggests that Baldwin's initial victory may have come at the expense of these Cumans before the Mongol force arrived to defeat him.[15] John Giebfried, on the other hand, suggests that the two battles may in fact be two phases of a single battle, making Baldwin II the victim of a feigned retreat. He argues, however, that Baldwin possessed sufficiently strong forces to have defeated a Mongol army. He had an alliance of his own with a group of Cumans and had recruited a large army in western Europe for his crusade against Tzurulon in 1239.[13]Jean Richard suggests that in 1242 Baldwin may have been defending his Cuman allies when they came under Mongol attack.[12]Henry Howorth suggests that he had been called to the defence of the young ruler of Bulgaria, Kaliman I, who was his vassal.[16]
Baldwin may have been captured after his defeat, which would explain how rumours of his death originated. In that event, he was likely forced to accept Mongol overlordship and to make annual tribute payments in return for release.[12][13]
Aftermath
By 1251 or 1252, Baldwin II certainly had diplomatic relations with the Mongol Empire, since he sent an ambassador, Baldwin of Hainaut, all the way to the imperial Mongol capital of Karakorum. In 1253, he gave William of Rubruck, a Franciscan missionary, letters of recommendation for Sartaq, the son of Batu, khan of the Golden Horde. Batu was Qadan's superior in 1242 and his army had also invaded Bulgaria.[12]
Jean Richard suggests that Baldwin of Hainaut's mission was a renewal of submission, since a new khan had been elected since 1242.[12][17] The Latin Empire is not listed by William of Rubruck among the tributaries of the Mongol Empire, however, nor was Baldwin II excommunicated for accepting Mongol overlordship as Bohemond V of Antioch was.[13]
The Mongol invasion of the Latin Empire took place just a year before the Mongols' crushing victory over the Seljuks of Anatolia at the battle of Köse Dağ (26 June 1243). Although Baldwin II had negotiated an alliance with the Seljuks in 1241, it was the Byzantine emperor John III Vatatzes who provided aid to the Seljuks, his erstwhile enemies, at a critical juncture in 1242 while they were under Mongol attack. As a result, the position of Vatatzes was strengthened with regards to the rump Seljuk state and the position of Baldwin, defeated by the Mongols himself, was weakened.[18][19] Moreover, a two-year truce between Baldwin and Vatatzes expired on 24 June 1243. The Byzantine emperor seems to have taken advantage of Baldwin's situation to attempt to retake Constantinople, albeit unsuccessfully, as reported in the chronicle of Martin da Canal.[20]
↑ Madgearu (2016), pp.230–31; Vásáry (2005), p.70n: Tartari et Chumani nemine resistente et occurrente, recesserunt ab Ungaria cum infinita preda auri et argenti, vestium, animalium, multos et captivos utriusque sexus ducebant in obproprium christianorum. Qui intrantes Greciam totam terram illam depopulabant, exceptis castellis et civitatibus valde munitis. Rex vero Constantinopolitanus nomine Paldwinus, congressus est cum eis, a quo primo victi in secunda congressione victus est ab eis.
Jackson, Peter (2005). The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410. Routledge.
Longnon, Jean (1969). "The Frankish States in Greece, 1204–1311"(PDF). In R. L. Wolff; H. W. Hazard (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Volume 2: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311. University of Minnesota Press. pp.234–74.
Madgearu, Alexandru (2016). The Asanids: The Political and Military History of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1280). Leiden: Brill.
Theodore II Doukas Laskaris or Ducas Lascaris was Emperor of Nicaea from 1254 to 1258. He was the only child of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes and Empress Irene Laskarina. His mother was the eldest daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, who had established the Empire of Nicaea as a successor state to the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor after the crusaders captured the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Theodore received an excellent education from two renowned scholars, Nikephoros Blemmydes and George Akropolites. He made friends with young intellectuals, especially with a page of low birth, George Mouzalon. Theodore began to write treatises on theological, historical and philosophical themes in his youth.
Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ivan I, Ioannitsa or Johannitsa, the Romanslayer, was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1196 to 1207. He was the younger brother of Theodor and Asen, who led the anti-Byzantine uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs in 1185. The uprising ended with the restoration of Bulgaria as an independent state. He spent a few years as a hostage in Constantinople in the late 1180s. Theodor, crowned Emperor Peter II, made him his co-ruler after Asen was murdered in 1196. A year later, Peter was also murdered, and Kaloyan became the sole ruler of Bulgaria.
The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek rump states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled when Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian armed forces during the Fourth Crusade, a military event known as the Sack of Constantinople. Like the other Byzantine rump states that formed due to the 1204 fracturing of the empire, such as the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus, it was a continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived well into the medieval period. A fourth state, known in historiography as the Latin Empire, was established by an army of Crusaders and the Republic of Venice after the capture of Constantinople and the surrounding environs.
These are lists of battles of the Mongol invasion of Europe.
From the 1220s into the 1240s, the Mongols conquered the Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania and Iranian state of Alania, and various principalities in Eastern Europe. Following this, they began their invasion into Central Europe by launching a two-pronged invasion of then-fragmented Poland, culminating in the Battle of Legnica, and the Kingdom of Hungary, culminating in the Battle of Mohi. Invasions were also launched into the Caucasus against the Kingdom of Georgia, the Chechens, the Ingush, and Circassia though they failed to fully subjugate the latter. More invasions were launched in Southeast Europe against Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Latin Empire. The operations were planned by General Subutai (1175–1248) and commanded by Batu Khan and Kadan, two grandsons of Genghis Khan. Their conquests integrated much of Eastern European territory into the empire of the Golden Horde. Warring European princes realized they had to cooperate in the face of a Mongol invasion, so local wars and conflicts were suspended in parts of central Europe, only to be resumed after the Mongols had withdrawn. After the initial invasions, subsequent raids and punitive expeditions continued into the late 13th century.
Nogai, or Noğay was a general and kingmaker of the Golden Horde. His grandfather was Bo'al/Baul/Teval, the seventh son of Jochi.
Ivan Asen I, also known as Asen I or John Asen I, was emperor or tsar of Bulgaria from 1187/1188 to 1196 as co-ruler with his elder brother, Peter II. Hailing from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, his exact place and date of birth are unknown. Most contemporaneous chronicles describe Asen and his brothers, Theodor (Peter) and Kaloyan, as Vlachs but they were probably of mixed Bulgarian, Cuman and Vlach ancestry.
Boril was the emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor, Kaloyan and Kaloyan's brothers, Peter II and Ivan Asen I, who had restored the independent Bulgarian state. After Kaloyan died unexpectedly in October 1207, Boril married his widow, a Cuman princess and seized the throne. His cousin, Ivan Asen, fled from Bulgaria, enabling Boril to strengthen his position. His other kinsmen, Strez and Alexius Slav, refused to acknowledge him as the lawful monarch. Strez took possession of the land between the Struma and Vardar rivers with the support of Stefan Nemanjić of Serbia. Alexius Slav secured his rule in the Rhodope Mountains with the assistance of Henry, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople.
Michael II Asen was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 1246 to 1256 or 1257. He was the son of Ivan Asen II and Irene Komnene Doukaina. He succeeded his half-brother, Kaliman I Asen. His mother or other relative must have ruled Bulgaria during his minority.
Konstantin Tih or Constantine I Tikh, was the tsar of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277, he was offered the throne from Mitso Asen. He led the Bulgarian Empire at a time when the nearby Byzantine Empire disintegrated into rump states. To strengthen his position, he forged an alliance with one of the rump state—Nicaea—by marrying Irene, a daughter of Theodore II of the prominent Laskaris family.
Peter II, born Theodor, also known as Theodor-Peter, was the first emperor or tsar of the restored Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1197. He hails from the Byzantine theme of Paristrion, although his exact place and date of birth are unknown.
The Bulgarian–Latin wars were a series of conflicts between the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) and the Latin Empire (1204–61). The wars affected the northern border of the Latin Empire throughout its existence.
A Byzantine-Mongol Alliance occurred during the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century between the Byzantine Empire and the Mongol Empire. Byzantium attempted to maintain friendly relations with both the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate realms, and was caught in the middle of growing conflict between the two. The alliance involved numerous exchanges of presents, military collaboration and marital links, but dissolved in the middle of the 14th century.
Mongol invasions of Anatolia occurred at various times, starting with the campaign of 1241–1243 that culminated in the Battle of Köse Dağ. Real power over Anatolia was exercised by the Mongols after the Seljuks surrendered in 1243 until the fall of the Ilkhanate in 1335. Because the Seljuk sultan rebelled several times, in 1255, the Mongols swept through central and eastern Anatolia. An Ilkhanate garrison was stationed near Ankara. Remains of the Mongol cultural heritage still can be seen in Turkey, including tombs of a Mongol governor and a son of Hulagu.
Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II, was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I – one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empire – was killed in 1196. His supporters tried to secure the throne for him after his uncle, Kaloyan, was murdered in 1207, but Kaloyan's other nephew, Boril, overcame them. Ivan Asen fled from Bulgaria and settled in the Rus' principalities.
During the Mongol invasion of Europe, Mongol tumens led by Batu Khan and Kadan invaded Serbia and then Bulgaria in the spring of 1242 after defeating the Hungarians at the battle of Mohi and ravaging the Hungarian regions of Croatia, Dalmatia and Bosnia.
The Empire of Thessalonica is a historiographic term used by some modern scholars to refer to the short-lived Byzantine Greek state centred on the city of Thessalonica between 1224 and 1246 and ruled by the Komnenodoukas dynasty of Epirus. At the time of its establishment, the Empire of Thessalonica, under the capable Theodore Komnenos Doukas, rivaled the Empire of Nicaea and the Second Bulgarian Empire as the strongest state in the region, and aspired to capturing Constantinople, putting an end to the Latin Empire, and restoring the Byzantine Empire that had been extinguished in 1204.
The Mongol invasion of Byzantine Thrace took place in the winter of AD 1263/1264. The Seljuk Sultan of Rûm Kayqubad II appealed to Berke, khan of the Golden Horde, to attack the Byzantine Empire in order to free his brother Kaykaus II.
The first Mongol invasion of Hungary started in March 1241, and the Mongols started to withdraw in late March 1242.
Baldwin of Hainaut was a knight and diplomat of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He undertook important missions to the Cumans (1240) and the Mongols (1251–52).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
