Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantium and the Crusades

Foreign policy of the Angeli 

Page 4

Some elements of Bulgarian and Roumanian nationalism have become involved in this question, so that it is necessary to reconsider it with all possible scholarly detachment and disinterestedness. On the basis of reliable evidence, the conclusion is that the liberating movement of the second half of the twelfth century in the Balkans was originated and vigorously prosecuted by the Wallachians, ancestors of the Roumanians of today; it was joined by the Bulgarians, and to some extent by the Cumans from beyond the Danube. The Wallachian participation in this important event cannot be disregarded. The best contemporary Greek source, Nicetas Choniates, clearly stated that the insurrection was begun by the Vlachs (Blachi); that their leaders, Peter and Asen (Asan), belonged to the same race; that the second campaign of the Byzantine Empire during this period was waged against the Vlachs; and that after the death of Peter and Asen the Empire of the Vlachs passed to their younger brother John. Whenever Nicetas mentioned the Bulgarians, he gave their name jointly with that of the Vlachs: Bulgarians and Vlachs. The western cleric Ansbert, who followed the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in his crusade (1189-1190), narrated that in the Balkans the Emperor had to fight against Greeks and Vlachs, and calls Peter or Kalopeter Emperor of the Vlachs and of the most part of the Bulgarians (Blacorum et maxime partis Bulgarorum dominus) or imperator of the Vlachs and Cumans, or simply Emperor of the Vlachs who was called by them the Emperor of Greece (Kalopetrus Bachorum (Blachorum) dominus itemque a suis dictus imperator Grecie). Finally, Pope Innocent III in his letters to the Bulgarian King John (Calojoannes) in 1204 addressed him as King of Bulgarians and Vlachs (Bulgarorum et Blacorum rex); in answering the pope, John calls himself imperator omnium Bulgarorum et Blacorum, but signs himself imperator Bulgariae Calojoannes; the archbishop of Trnovo calls himself totius Bulgariae et Blaciae Primas.

Previous / First / Next Page of this section

A History of the Byzantine Empire - Table of Contents

Next Chapter : The Third Crusade and Byzantium

Previous Chapter : Foreign affairs under the last Comneni, Alexius II and Andronicus I

Constantinople

 

Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/foreign-policy-angeli.asp?pg=4