Many south Germans volunteer to crusade in…

…Mesembria.

Reaching Mesembria (Nesebăr), …

…the imperial couple sail for Constantinople, where the enraged Michael VIII refuses to receive them for days for their cowardice.

In 1280 or 1281 Ivan Asen III travels to the Golden Horde, competing with Ivailo in a bid to win support for restoration in Bulgaria.

The Mongol chieftain Nogai Khan eventually has Ivailo murdered, but failed to restore Ivan Asen III in Bulgaria.

The latter returns to his family possessions in the Troad, where he will die in 1303.

The Asen dynasty will be followed by two others, both of Cuman origin, neither of which will succeed in restoring central authority.

Whatever sins Michael VIII may have committed in the eyes of the Orthodox Church, it is true that, by concentrating on the danger from the West, he has neglected, if he has not betrayed, the eastern provinces where he had come to power.

The Bulgarian tsar now turns to Constantinople, which had inspired the Tatar invasions and has managed to conquer many Bulgarian fortresses in Thrace.

As a consequence of his victories, Theodore Svetoslav feels secure enough to move on to the offensive by 1303 and capture the fortresses of northeastern Thrace, including Mesembria (Nesebăr), …

The city of Nesebar (Mesembria) and its citadel are captured on October 20.

The Mesembrians, having put up a stiff resistance that has caused the death of many Christian knights and squires, are put to the sword, women and children not spared, and the city is pillaged.

Tsar Shishman had sent word to Amadeus on December 23 that the emperor was being permitted to go from Vidin to Kaliakra, in Dobrotitsa's domain.

The count sends a welcoming party to await him there, and passes the winter at Nesebur, where he administers the city thoroughly, extracting taxes of all kinds.