page_title: Dobruja
section_title: Return of Byzantine rule and late migrations, Second Bulgarian Empire and Mongol domination
hierarchical_section_title: Dobruja / History / Mikra Skythia / Return of Byzantine rule and late migrations, Second Bulgarian Empire and Mongol domination
caption_attribution_description: English: Kaliakra Fortress on the namesake Kaliakra headland in Kavarna municipality, Bulgaria.
context_page_description: Dobruja or Dobrudja is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. It is situated between the lower Danube River and the Black Sea, and includes the Danube Delta, Romanian coast, and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast. The territory of Dobruja is made up of Northern Dobruja, which is part of Romania, and Southern Dobruja, which is part of Bulgaria.
  The territory of the Romanian region Dobrogea is organised as the counties of Constanța and Tulcea, with a combined area of 15,500 km² and a population of slightly less than 900 thousand. Its main cities are Constanța, Tulcea, Medgidia and Mangalia. Dobrogea is represented by dolphins in the coat of arms of Romania.
  The Bulgarian region Dobrudzha is divided among the administrative regions of Dobrich and Silistra; the following villages of Razgrad Province: Konevo, Rainino, Terter and Madrevo; and the village General Kantardzhievo. This section has a total area of 7,565 km², with a combined population of some 310,000 people, the main towns being Dobrich and Silistra.
context_section_description: With financial encouragement from the Byzantine emperor, Nikephoros II Phocas, Sviatoslav I of Kiev agreed to assist the Byzantines in their war with the Bulgarians. Sviatoslav defeated the Bulgarians (led by Boris II) and proceeded to occupy the whole of northern Bulgaria. He occupied Dobruja in 968 and moved the capital of Kievan Rus' to Pereyaslavets, in the north of the region. Sviatoslav refused to turn his Balkan conquests over to the Byzantines, and the parties fell out as a result.  So the Byzantines under John I Tzimisces reconquered Dobruja in 971 and included it in the theme 'Mesopotamia of the West' (Μεσοποταμια της Δυσεον).
  According to some historians, soon after 976 or in 986, the southern part of Dobruja was included in the Bulgarian state then ruled by Samuel. The northern part remained under Byzantine rule, being reorganised in an autonomous klimata.  Other historians are of the view that Northern Dobruja was reconquered by Bulgarians as well. In 1000, a Byzantine army commanded by Theodorokanos reconquered the whole of Dobruja, organizing the region as the Strategia of Dorostolon and, after 1020, as Paristrion (Paradounavon).
  To prevent mounted attacks from the north, the Byzantines constructed three ramparts from the Black Sea down to the Danube, in the 10th–11th centuries. According to Bulgarian archaeologists and historians, these fortifications may have been built much earlier and were erected by the First Bulgarian Empire in response to the threat of Khazars' raids.
  From the 10th century, Byzantines accepted small groups of Pechenegs settling in Dobruja. In the spring of 1036, an invasion of the Pecheneg devastated large parts of the region, destroying the forts at Capidava and Dervent, and burning the settlement of Dinogeţia. In 1046 the Byzantines accepted the Pecheneg under Kegen settling in Paristrion as foederati. The Pecheneg dominated the region until 1059, when Isaac I Komnenos reconquered Dobruja.
  
  In 1064, an invasion by the Oghuz Turks affected the region. During 1072 to 1074, when Nestor (the new strategos of Paristrion) was in Dristra, he found that the Pecheneg ruler, Tatrys, was leading a rebellion. In 1091, three autonomous, probably Pecheneg, rulers were mentioned in the Alexiad: Tatos (Τατοῦ) or Chalis (χαλῆ), in the area of Dristra (probably the same person as Tatrys), and Sesthlav (Σεσθλάβου) and Satza (Σατζά) in the area of Vicina.
  The Cumans moved into Dobruja in 1094 and were influential in the region until the advent of the Ottoman Empire. In 1187 the Byzantines lost control of Dobruja to the restored Bulgarian Empire. In 1241, the first Tatar groups, under Kadan, invaded Dobruja starting a century long history of turmoil in the region. Around 1263–64, Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus gave permission to Sultan Kaykaus II to settle in the area with a group of Seljuk Turks from Anatolia. A missionary Turkish mystic, Sarı Saltuk, was the spiritual leader of this group. His tomb in Babadag (which was named after him) is still a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.
  Arab chronicles of the 13th century mentioned Dobrogea under the name “Şakji” and the Vlachs inhabitants under the names “al-Awalak” and “ulaqut”
  In 1265, the Bulgarian Emperor Constantine Tikh Asen hired 20,000 Tatars to cross the Danube and attack Byzantine Thrace. On their way back, the Tatars forced most of the Seljuk Turks, including their chief Sarı Saltuk, to resettle in Kipchak (Cumania).
  In the second part of the 13th century, the Turco–Mongolian Golden Horde Empire continuously raided and plundered Dobruja. The inability of the Bulgarian authorities to cope with the numerous raids became the main reason for the uprising, led by Ivailo (1277–1280), that broke out in eastern Bulgaria. Ivailo's army defeated the Tatars, who were forced to leave the Bulgarian territory; he next outed Constantine Tikh's army, and Ivailo was crowned Emperor of Bulgaria.
  The war with the Tatars continued. In 1278, after a new Tatar invasion in Dobruja, Ivailo was forced to retreat to the strong fortress of Silistra, where he 
caption: Kaliakra fortress, the seat of the autonomous Dobrujan Principality
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