By the second half of the 14th century, the once mighty Byzantine Empire had been reduced to little more than the city of Constantinople. In 1391, the Ottoman ruler Sultan Bayazid I 'The Lightning' besieged the city. Pope Boniface IX preached a crusade and a French-led army of 10,000 marched east. At Nicopolis they met the Ottoman army in battle. Ignoring the advice of their Hungarian and Transylvanian allies, the Crusaders charged the Turks and were in turn smashed by the Ottoman heavy cavalry. The last Crusade ended on the banks of the Danube as the Crusaders desperately sought to escape from the pursuing Turks.
Armies of the Middles Ages Vol. 2 - The Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Near Est
This book could easily have been called 'Armies and Enemies of the Ottoman Empire', since of all the nations or political entities it covers only the peoples of India never came into conflict with the Ottoman Turks during this period. The Balkans receive particular attention, where in the mid-15th century charismatic historical figures such as Scanderbeg, Dracula, and Janos Hunyadi led wonderfully colorful armies against the Turks.
The old world cultures of Thracia, Greece and Rome settled and built towns and cities in what is now Bulgaria, followed by the proto-Bulgarians and the Turks. The greatest builders were the Romans and then the Byzantines. Most often the towns they built were successors of older settlements. The Turks created a small number of new towns, though this was done mainly with a view to turning Bulgaria into a military-feudal controlled land. During the 15th to 17th centuries, upsurge in Bulgarian crafts was observed.
