second bulgarian empire - European power
Picture of Frescoes from the Boyana Church (1259): Desislava
Resurrected Bulgaria occupied the territory between the Black Sea, the Danube and Stara Planina, including a part of eastern Macedonia and the valley of the Morava. It also exercised control over Wallachia and Moldova.

• • second bulgarian empire - European power - Kaloyan
    • Tsar Kaloyan (1197–1207) entered a union with the Papacy, thereby securing the recognition of his title of "Rex" although he desired to be recognized as "Emperor" or "Tsar". He waged wars on the Byzantine Empire and (after 1204) on the Knights of the Fourth Crusade, conquering large parts of Thrace, the Rhodopes, as well as the whole of Macedonia. He decisively defeated the Latins in the Battle of Adrianople (1205) and thus crushed their power in the very first year of its creation and prevented their influence on the larger parts of the Balkans. The power of the Hungarians, and to some extent the Serbs, prevented significant expansion to the west and northwest.
  • second bulgarian empire - European power - Ivan Asen II
    • After the death of Kaloyan during the reign of his cousin Boril (1207–1218), the country lost significant territories to Hungary, the Latin Empire and the Despotate of Epirus.