Tsardom of Vidin

The Tsardom of Vidin was a medieval Bulgarian state centred in the city of Vidin from 1356 to 1396. Early history In 1257, Rostislav Mikhailovich attacked the Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo, but failed to take it, so he retreated to Vidin where he established himself, claiming the title of Tsar of Bulgaria, and the Hungarians recognized him with this title. Since the middle of the 13th century, the area of Vidin had been autonomous under ineffective Bulgarian overlordship, and was ruled successively by Yakov Svetoslav (died 1276), Shishman (died between 1308 and 1313), and then his son Michael Shishman, who received the high courtly title of despotēs from his cousin, Theodore Svetoslav, and was referred to in a contemporary Venetian source as a Despot of Bulgaria and Lord of Vidin. Jacob Svetoslav was the ruler of a widely autonomous domain of the Second Bulgarian Empire most likely located around Sofia. Seeking further independence and claiming the title of Emperor of Bulgaria, he twice changed allegiance from Bulgaria to the Kingdom of Hungary and vice versa, and the Hungarians recognized his Bulgarian royal rank as their vassal and ruler of Vidin (medieval Bdin).