Battle of Adrianople (1205)

Battle of Adrianople

Date	April 14, 1205
Location	Surroundings of Adrianople
Result	Decisive Bulgarian victory and capture of the Latin Emperor Baldwin I

Belligerents

Second Bulgarian Empire and Cumans

Latin Empire

Commanders and leaders

Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria

Baldwin I of Constantinople

Strength

Around 40,000 Bulgarian troops - infantry, cavalry and archers.
Around 14,000 Cuman light and missile cavalry.

Unknown, probably several tens of thousands. Certain number - 300 West European heavy mounted knights, mainly from France.

Casualties and losses

Unknown, light.

Several thousand soldiers and almost all of the knights.

The Battle of Adrianople occurred around Adrianople on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians and Cumans under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I, who only months before had been crowned Emperor of Constantinople. It was won by the Bulgarians, who took Baldwin prisoner.

Due to the financial difficulties of the Crusaders, who could not repay the leases on Venetian shipping, the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, suggested that the armies of the Fourth Crusade deviate from their intended goal of Jerusalem. Instead of continuing onwards, on the 12–13 April, year 1204 AD, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, was captured and sacked. Numerous cultural treasures were either destroyed or stolen, such as sacred texts, relics, manuscripts, icons, archives, works of art, as well as much wealth. The heart of Orthodox Christianity suffered irreparable damage, both from the sack and the fires caused by the Crusader siege. The capture of Constantinople created the Latin Empire, which initially only controlled the environs of Constantinople and the province of Thrace, but eventually expanded into Bithynia, Thessaly and central and southern Greece.

Around the same time, Tsar Kaloyan, the Tsar of Bulgaria, successfully completed negotiations with Pope Innocent III. The Bulgarian ruler was granted the title "rex", i.e. king, while the Bulgarian archbishop gained the title "primas", a title equal to that of patriarch.

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