Momchil

Momchil
Monument to Momchil in Momchilgrad, Bulgaria
Bornc. 1305[1]
Died7 July 1345
Peritheorion
Occupation(s)Brigand, military leader
Known forQuasi-independent lord in the Rhodope area, 1343–1345
Titlesebastokratōr
Military career
Allegiance Byzantine Empire
Serbian Empire Serbian Kingdom/Empire
Years of service1341–1344
Battles / wars

Momchil (Bulgarian: Момчил, Greek: Μομ[ι]τζίλος or Μομιτζίλας,[2] Serbian: Момчило / Momčilo; c. 1305 – 7 July 1345) was a 14th-century Bulgarian brigand[3][4][5][6][7][8] and local ruler. Initially a member of a bandit gang in the borderlands of Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia, Momchil was recruited by the Byzantines as a mercenary. Through his opportunistic involvement in the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, where he played the various sides against each other, he became ruler of a large area in the Rhodopes and western Thrace.

Momchil achieved initial successes against Turks and Byzantines alike, setting Turkish ships on fire and almost managing to kill one of his main opponents at the time, John VI Kantakouzenos. Despite this, he was defeated and killed by a joint Byzantine–Turkish army in 1345. Due to his opposition to the Turks, he is remembered in popular South Slavic legend as a fighter against the Turkish invasion of the Balkans.

  1. ^ Андреев (1999), p. 286
  2. ^ Soulis (1984), p. 259.
  3. ^ Vizantijski izvori za istoriju naroda Jugoslavije, ISSN 0584-987X, Franjo Barišić, Naučna knjiga, 1986, str. 454: Полазећи од вести Јована Кантакузина, историчари су без резерве прихватали да је Момчило био Бугарин.
  4. ^ Pjesme junačke srednijijeh vremena. Srpske narodne pjesme, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, R. Aleksić, Prosveta, 1958, str. 597.Постојао је један Момчило, Бугарин по рођењу, велики насилник у доба Душаново, одметник и од Срба и од Византинаца.
  5. ^ Život epske pesme: Ženidba kralja Vukašina u krugu varijanata, Lidija Delić, Zavod za udžbenike, 2000, str. 93: Незнатног рода и вероватно пореклом Бугарин, рано је почео хајдуковати на српско-бугарској граници.
  6. ^ Prince Marko: The Hero of South Slavic Epics, Tanya Popovic, Syracuse University Press, 1988, ISBN 0815624441, p. 25: ...it is generally accepted he was a Bulgarian... ...p. 45. The historical Momcilo, a Bulgarian, who was somewhere between an outlaw and a lord...
  7. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), "Momčilo", Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, pp. 1390–1391, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
  8. ^ Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994), The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 pp. 303-305.