Political and Ecclesiastical Relations Between Epiros and Bulgaria, 1207–1241

Before the fall of Constantinople and in the first years of the Latin empire the Bulgarian state had focused its interests on Thrace and Macedonia, but after the death of Kalojan in 1027 the struggle between the claimants to the throne led to the establishment of two autonomous domains in the southwestern provinces of the Bulgarian kingdom. Its leaders, Strets and Alexios Slav, sought for external allies to support their claims to the Bulgarian throne, enlisting the help of Bulgaria’s neighbours Serbia and Latin Constantinople. The Epirote state, which had no borders with Bulgaria, profited from the turmoil that ensued and after Strets’ death in 1214 incorporated its domains. Both the Bulgarian crown and the still independent Slav established good relations with Epiros, recognizing its growing power and importance for the power balance of the region. Those relations became gradually uneasy both in the secular sphere, due to the Epirote eastward expansion under Theodore, and in ecclesiastical matters, with the pretensions of Demetrios Chomatenos, the archbishop of Ohrid, over the Bulgarian Church. The situation came to an unexpected development when the army of Ivan Asen II, Boril’s successor, vanquished that of Theodore at the battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230, putting all of his domains under direct or indirect control of the Bulgarian tsar. The paper will provide an overview of the political and ecclesiastical relations between Bulgaria and Epiros in the period between the death of Kalojan in 1207 and the death of Ivan Asen II in 1241, focusing on the peaceful relations between the two polities rather than just on the violent encounter of Klokotnitsa; the ecclesiastical politics of Demetrios Chomatenos’ towards Bulgaria and the Bulgarian administration of the lands formerly belonging to Theodore between 1230 and 1241 will be also taken into account.