Despotate of Lovech

Despotate of Lovech Деспотство Ловеч (Bulgarian) Despotstvo Lovech (Bulgarian)
1330–1446
Coat of arms (14th century)
Status	Despotate
Capital and largest city	Lovech 43°08′05″N 24°43′02″E / 43.13472°N 24.71722°E / 43.13472; 24.71722
Common languages	Middle Bulgarian
Religion	Bulgarian Orthodoxy
Government	Monarchy
Despot
• 1330–1371	Ivan Alexander
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Appointment of Ivan Alexander	1330
• Conquest by the Ottomans	1446
Currency	Various coins
Preceded by Succeeded by Second Bulgarian Empire Ottoman Empire
Today part of	Bulgaria

Part of a series on the
History of Bulgaria
Odrysian kingdom 460 BC – 46 AD Roman times 46–681 Dark Ages c. 6th–7th cent. Old Great Bulgaria 7th cent., 632–668 First Bulgarian Empire 681–1018 Christianization Golden Age 896–927 Cometopuli dynasty 968–1018 Byzantine Bulgaria 1018–1185 Second Bulgarian Empire 1185–1396 Second Golden Age 1230–1241 Mongol invasion 1274–1300 Darman and Kudelin 1273–1291 Recovery and expansion 1300–1371 Fragmentation and fall 1371–1396 Vidin Dobruja Lovech Ottoman Bulgaria 1396–1878 Resistance after 1413 National Revival 1762–1878 Early Late Establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate 1870 April Uprising 1876 Liberation War 1877–1878 Third Bulgarian State 1878–present Serbo-Bulgarian War 1885 Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903 Balkan Wars 1912–1913 World War I 1915–1918 World War II 1941–1945 Communist era 1946–1990 Transition era since 1990
List of monarchs Military history Struggle for Macedonia 1893–1944
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The Despotate of Lovech (Bulgarian: Деспотство Ловеч, romanized: Despotstvo Lovech), was a Bulgarian state, covering parts of the territory of what is now Lovech Province, formed in 1330 after Ivan Alexander was appointed to govern Lovech, the capital of the despotate, and the nearby area around the town. It was dissolved after the fall of the Lovech Fortress in 1446 to the Ottomans.

The state was the last independent Bulgarian state after 1396, before its conquest by the Ottoman Empire. It was ruled by the Sratsimir dynasty.