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Group: Palaestina Salutaris
People: Bernard VII
Topic: Ivaylo, Uprising of
Location: Odense Fyn Denmark

Ivaylo, Uprising of

Years: 1277 - 1280

The Uprising of Ivaylo is an uprising of the Bulgarian peasantry against the Emperor Constantine Tikh and the Bulgarian nobility.

The revolt is fueled by resentment at the beginning feudalization of the Bulgarian Empire, as well as by the failure to confront the Mongol menace over northeastern Bulgaria, especially the region of Dobrudzha.

Ivaylo proves to be a successful general, defeating the Mongols and the Tsar's armies, and forced the nobility to recognize him as Emperor of Bulgaria.The East Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos tries to exploit this situation and to help the nobility to quell the rebellion, but the imperial forces suffer two major defeats at the hands of Ivaylo.

The Mongol intervention, however, forces him to flee to the important fortress of Drastar (Silistra), where he is besieged.

Thereupon, the nobility uses his absence from the capital Tarnovo to proclaim George Terter I as emperor.

Surrounded by enemies and with diminished support, Ivaylo has to flee to Nogai Khan and is later murdered by the Mongols.

“Let us study things that are no more. It is necessary to know them, if only to avoid them. The counterfeits of the past assume false names, and gladly call themselves the future. Let us inform ourselves of the trap. Let us be on our guard. The past has a visage, superstition, and a mask, hypocrisy. Let us denounce the visage and let us tear off the mask."

― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862)