Momchil

Who was Momchil?

Momchil was a 14th-century Bulgarian brigand and local ruler. Initially a member of a bandit gang in the borderlands of Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia, Momchil was recruited by the Byzantines as a mercenary. Through his opportunistic involvement in the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, where he played the various sides against each other, he became ruler of a large area in the Rhodopes and western Thrace.

Momchil achieved initial successes against Turks and Byzantines alike, setting Turkish ships on fire and almost managing to kill one of his main opponents at the time, John VI Kantakouzenos. Despite this, he was defeated and killed by a joint Byzantine–Turkish army in 1345. Due to his opposition to the Turks, he is remembered in popular South Slavic legend as a fighter against the Turkish invasion of the Balkans.