Tsardom of Vidin

Tsardom of Vidin
Видинско царство

 

1356-1365
Hungarian(1365-1369)
1369–1396
 


Coat of Arms of Shishman dynasty

The Tsardom of Vidin
Capital Vidin
Languages Bulgarian
Religion Orthodox Christianity
Government Principality, Tsardom
Historical era Middle Ages
 -  Established 1356
 -  Disestablished 1396
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The Tsardom of Vidin (Bdin) (Bulgarian: Видинско (Бдинско) царство, Vidinsko (Bdinsko) tsarstvo) was a medieval Bulgarian state centred in the town of Vidin. In 1257 the local lord Rostislav Mikhailovich was crowned as Tzar of Bulgaria in Tarnovo, but soon withdrew to Vidin. In 1356, Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander isolated Vidin from the Bulgarian monarchy and appointed his son Ivan Stratsimir (1356–1396) as absolute ruler of the domain of Vidin.

In 1365, the state was occupied by Hungarian crusaders, but the occupation was short-lived. In 1369, a Bulgarian and Wallachian campaign drove out the Hungarian military, then in 1393 the whole of Bulgaria, along with the rest of the surrounding region, fell to the Ottoman Empire. This brought an end to Bulgaria's medieval state empire. Vidin was now the only region controlled by the indigenous Bulgarian population and not the invading Ottoman Turks.

The Ottomans went on to conquer the despotates of Dobruja, Prilep and Velbazhd as well. Vidin's independence did not last long. In 1396, Stratsimir contributed soldiers to assist the Christian nations' bid to overturn the Ottoman Empire. Following defeat at the hands of the Ottomans outside the city of Nicopolis, Vidin finally fell under the sphere of the Ottomans led by Bayezid I.[1][2]

Princes and Tsars of Vidin

References

  1. A Concise History Of Bulgaria, Cambridge Concise Histories, R. J. Crampton, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0521616379, p. 28.
  2. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0472082604, pp. 423-425.

Further reading