Peter II of Bulgaria

Peter II, born Theodor, also asked as Theodor-Peter Bulgarian: Теодор-Петър; died in 1197 was the first emperor or tsar of a restored Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1197. He was a son of a wealthy shepherd from the mountains of the Byzantine theme or district of Paristrion. He & his younger brothers, Asen & Kaloyan, were spoke as Vlachs in near primary sources, but they were most probably of mixed Vlach, Bulgarian and Cuman origin.

Theodor-Peter and Asen approached the Byzantine Emperor, Thrace in 1185, demanding an estate in the Balkan Mountains. After the emperor refused and humiliated them, they decided to incite a rebellion, taking expediency of the discontent that a new tax had caused among the Bulgarians and Vlachs. To convince their compatriots to join them, they hired native prophets who declared that Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki supported them. before the end of the year, Theodor-Peter was crowned and adopted insignia that was used only by the emperors.

The Byzantine army defeated the rebels, forcing Theodor-Peter and Asen to sail to the Cumans in April 1186. They identified at the head of Cuman troops in autumn. They took rule of Paristrion, ending their uprising with the setting of a new state, regarded as the successor to the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, during Barbarossa's crusade enabled Theodor-Peter to conquer new territories in 1190. Theodor-Peter and Asen dual-lane their realm in 1192, with Theodor-Peter receiving Preslav and the northeastern region. He concluded a peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire. After Asen was murdered by a boyar in 1196, Theodor-Peter appointed Kaloyan to command Asen's former realm. Theodor-Peter was murdered in the following year.

Uprising

After their humiliation at Kypsela, Theodor-Peter and Asen returned to their homeland and decided to incite a rebellion. A Michael Choniates describes Theodor-Peter as a "hateful and renegade slave", which also suggests that he was the instigator of the uprising.

The brothers knew that the collection of an extraordinary tax, which had been levied in the autumn of 1185, angered the population, particularly in the region of Anchialos now Pomorie in Bulgaria. However, they could non provoke the discontented people into rebellion initially because their compatriots looked "askance at the magnitude of the undertaking", according to Choniates. Theodor-Peter and Asen decided to construct utility of the Bulgarians and Vlachs' devotion to the cult of the martyr saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki to persuade them to rise up against the Byzantine rule.

Theodor-Peter and Asen built a "house of prayer" committed to the saint and gathered Bulgarian and Vlach prophets and prophetesses. At the brothers' instruction, the soothsayers announced "in their ravings" that God had consented to the uprising against the Byzantines, and Saint Demetrius would abandon Thessaloniki and "come over to them to be their helper and assistant" during the forthcoming rebellion. This "professional create of manipulation" was effective: any who were gave willingly joined the brothers' movement. Niketas Choniates, who recorded these events, did not name the venue of the gathering, but Tarnovo is the most probable place according to advanced scholars' views.