Battle of Plovdiv (1208)

Battle of Philippopolis

Territorial losses of Bulgaria after the defeat at Plovdiv.

Date	30 June 1208
Location	Surroundings of Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
Result	Latin victory

Belligerents

Bulgarian Empire

Latin Empire

Commanders and leaders

Boril

Henry of Flanders

Strength

27 000 - 30 000, incl. 7000 Cuman light and missile cavalry and 6000 Bulgarian heavy cavalry, 1,800 - 2,200 arier guard (Gyuzelev, Angelov)

18 000 - 24 000, incl.6000 - 9000 Cuman light cavalry(Dimitrov)

33 000 (by Henry de Walansain chronicle)

around 30 000 (incl. 8000 heavy cavalry, of which ca. 400 knights (Gyuzelev, Angelov)

20 000 - 24 000 total: Latin heavy cavalry, Latin and Greek infantry (Dimitrov)

Casualties and losses

unknown

27 000 - 30 000, incl. 7000 Cuman light and missile cavalry and 6000 Bulgarian heavy cavalry, 1,800 - 2,200 arier guard (Gyuzelev, Angelov)

18 000 - 24 000, incl.6000 - 9000 Cuman light cavalry(Dimitrov)

around 30 000 (incl. 8000 heavy cavalry, of which ca. 400 knights (Gyuzelev, Angelov)

The Battle of Philippopolis or Battle of Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Битка при Пловдив) took place on 30 June 1208 in the surroundings of Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria) between the armies of the Bulgarian Empire and the Latin Empire. The Crusaders were victorious.

After the armies of the Fourth Crusade seized Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, in 1204, they established a new empire on previously Byzantine territories and continued to fight the states which emerged from the Byzantine Empire - the Despotate of Epiros in Europe and the Nicaean Empire in Asia Minor. Its Emperor Baldwin I rejected the peace proposal of the Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan and on the following year the Crusader army was annihilated by the Bulgarians in the battle of Adrianople and Baldwin himself was captured and died as a prisoner in Tarnovo.

However, Kaloyan was murdered during the siege of Thessaloniki in 1207. The conspirators were organized by his cousin Boril who succeeded the Bulgarian crown. The new Emperor had to cope with the supporters of the country's legitimate heir Ivan Asen II who was juvenile at that time. This gave precious time for the Latin Empire to reorganize.

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Wikipedia