X-Nico

unusual facts about Ivan Asen II



Klokotnitsa

The village is famous for the great battle on 9 March 1230, between the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II and the Byzantine Greek despot Theodore Komnin of Epirus.


see also

Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria

According to a Byzantine author, Ivan Asen II loved Eirene "no less than Antony loved Cleopatra", and she may have been his mistress for some years before their marriage in 1237.

Medieval Bulgarian army

After several setbacks under Boril I (1207–1218), Ivan Asen II decisively defeated the Despotate of Epirus in the battle of Klokotnitsa, in which the much smaller Bulgarian army outmaneuvered its enemy.