Germans in Bulgaria

Germans (Bulgarian: немци, nemtsi or германци, germantsi) are a minority ethnic group in Bulgaria (German: Bulgarien). Although according to the 2001 census they only numbered 436, the settlement of Germans in Bulgaria has a long and eventful history and comprises several waves, the earliest in the Middle Ages.

Many Germans passed through Bulgaria during the eastern Crusades, as Bulgaria lies on the direct land route from Western and Central Europe to the Levant and the Holy Land. They were usually met with hostility as they were negatively disposed to the Orthodox population of the Byzantine Empire (which ruled Bulgaria at the time of the First and Second Crusades) and the Second Bulgarian Empire. Crusaders led by the Frankish noble Renier of Trit established the short-lived Duchy of Philippopolis around what is today Plovdiv, but in 1205 the Latins were routed by Kaloyan of Bulgaria in the Battle of Adrianople, their emperor Baldwin IX of Flanders was captured by the Bulgarians and died in Tarnovo. Kaloyan's daughter Maria was betrothed to the second Latin Emperor, Henry of Flanders, who she is thought to have poisoned.

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