Balkan Wars and Peaces: Sofia’s Contested Sovereignty in the 13th – 14th Centuries

According to the prevailing view in Bulgarian historiography, following the capture of Sofia by the Asen brothers in the 1190s, the city and its surrounding region were incorporated into the Second Bulgarian Empire and remained under the control of Tarnovo until their conquest by the Ottomans nearly two centuries later. This article challenges that narrative by re-evaluating the scarce but significant evidence preserved in contemporary written and numismatic sources. It proposes a new interpretation of Sofia’s history in the 13th–14th centuries, arguing that the city initially belonged to an independent domain whose rulers maintained close ties—including dynastic ones—with the Serbian royal family. In the following century, control over the city and region was repeatedly contested, shifting among several political entities: the Tarnovo Tsardom, the Serbian Kingdom, and the Tsardom of Vidin. Moreover, aspects of the region’s socio-economic structure, as reflected in charters issued by Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371–1396), suggest that prior to his reign, Serbian influence in the area had been considerable. The region’s social organization appears to reflect characteristics more typical of Serbian than of Bulgarian medieval statehood.