Shishmanids and Basarabs

The article deals with the relations between the Bulgarian royal family, the Shishmanids (Shishmanovtsi), and that of the recently founded Principality of Wallachia, the Basarabs, in the 14th century. Their relations are examined in the context of the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans and the separatism, typical of all the countries in the region during the Late Middle Ages. The other important factors influencing the political development of the region of the Lower Danube in this period are also taken into account as here the interests of many states intersected – Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Wallachia, Moldova, the Golden Horde, Poland. The author underlines the three different stages of the relations between the Shishmanids and the Basarabs. At first the Basarabs were loyal allies and vassals of Bulgaria but after the divorce between Tsar Ivan Alexander and his Wallachian wife Theodora in the middle of the 14th century they tried to gain more financial and territorial independence from Bulgaria which at that point was divided into three separate parts: the Kingdom of Tarnovo, the Kingdom of Vidin and the Despotate of Dobruja. Finally, when Bulgaria was conquered by the Turks at the end of the 14th or perhaps at he beginning the 15th century, the Basarabs in their turn attempted to occupy some territories in Dobruja (Northeast Bulgaria) in order to have access to the Black Sea. Finally, at the beginning of the 15th century the Basarabs turned into Ottoman vassals who paid tribute to the Sultans