Kaloyan of Bulgaria

Kaloyan or Kalojan, also known as Ivan I,^[1] Ioannitsa or Johannitsa (Bulgarian: Калоян, Йоаница; c. 1170 – October 1207), 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.

After the successful siege of Varna in 1201 against the Byzantine Empire, the defenders and governors of the city were tied and thrown into the moat of the fortress walls and covered with dirt by the Bulgarians. After they were buried alive in this way, Kaloyan declared himself a Bulgarian avenger, adopting the moniker "the Romanslayer" by analogy with the emperor Basil II the Bulgar Slayer, who blinded an entire Bulgarian army of 15,000 people.

To obtain an imperial title from the Holy See, Kaloyan entered into correspondence with Pope Innocent III, offering to acknowledge papal primacy. His expansionist policy brought him into conflict with the Byzantine Empire, Hungary, and Serbia. In 1204, King Emeric of Hungary allowed the papal legate who was to deliver a royal crown to Kaloyan to enter Bulgaria only at the Pope's demand. The legate crowned Kaloyan "king of the Bulgarians and Vlachs" on 8 November 1204, but Kaloyan continued to style himself as tsar (emperor).

Kaloyan took advantage of the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders or "Latins" in 1204. He captured fortresses in the themes of Macedonia and Thrace and supported the local population's riots against the Crusaders. He defeated Baldwin I, Latin Emperor of Constantinople, in the Battle of Adrianople on 14 April 1205. Baldwin was captured and later died in Kaloyan's prison. Kaloyan launched new campaigns against the Crusaders and Romans, capturing or destroying dozens of their fortresses. He died under mysterious circumstances during the siege of Thessalonica in 1207.