| Vlach-bulgar Rebellion |
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Nicetas Choniates tells us that Isaac II Angelus , in order to raise money for the wedding of the daughter of King Bela III Of Hungary , levied a new tax which fell heavily on the Vlach Transhumant shepherds of the Haemus Mountains . They sent two leaders ( Peter and Asen ) to negotiate with the emperor at Kypsella (now İpsala ) in Thrace . They asked to be added to the roll of the Byzantine army and to be granted land near Haemus to provide the monetary income needed to pay the tax. This was refused. Their response was to threaten revolt. After their return, many Vlachs were unwilling to join the rebellion. In response, Peter and Asen built a chapel dedicated to Saint Demetrius , claiming that the Saint had ceased to favour the Byzantines. This persuaded their followers to attack Byzantine cities, seizing prisoners and cattle. Preslav , capital of the First Bulgarian Empire , was raided, and it was after this symbolic incident that Peter assumed the insignia of Emperor . In spring 1186 Isaac started a counter-offensive. It was unsuccessful at first. During the solar eclipse of 21 April 1186 , the Byzantines successfully attacked the Vlachs, many of whom fled north of the Danube , making contact with the Cumans . In a symbolic gesture, Isaac II entered Peter's house and took the icon of Saint Demetrius, thus regaining the saint's favour. Still under threat of ambush from the hills, Isaac returned hastily to Constantinople to celebrate his victory. Thus, when the Vlachs returned with their Cuman allies, they found the region undefended and regained not only their old territory but the whole of Moesia , thus uniting Vlach and Bulgarian lands. The Emperor now entrusted the war to his uncle, John The Sebastocrator , who gained several victories against the rebels but then himself rebelled. He was replaced with the emperor's brother-in-law, John Cantacuzenus , a good strategist but unfamiliar with the Guerrilla tactics used by the Vlach and Bulgarian mountaineers. His army was ambushed, suffering heavy losses, after unwisely pursuing the enemy into the mountains. The third general in charge of fighting the rebels was Alexius Branas , who, in turn, rebelled and turned on Constantinople. Isaac defeated him with the help of a second brother-in-law, Conrad Of Montferrat , but this civil strife had diverted attention from the rebels and Isaac was able to send out a new army only in September 1187 . The Byzantines obtained a few minor victories before winter, but the Vlachs, helped by the Cumans and employing their mountain tactics, still held the advantage. In the spring of 1188 , Isaac attacked the fortress of Lovech , but failed to capture it after a three-month siege. The lands between the Haemus and the Danube were now lost to the Byzantine Empire. The Emperor's only consolation was to hold, as hostages, Asen's wife and a certain John, brother of the two Vlach-Bulgarian leaders. SOURCES
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