Boniface of Montferrat killed in Bulgaria

1207

The Latin king of Thessalonica, one of the Fourth Crusade's leading figures, was ambushed and killed by Bulgarian forces in a mountain pass. His severed head was sent to Tsar Kaloyan. The fragile Latin states carved from the Byzantine corpse lost one of their ablest commanders, and the balance of power in the Balkans tilted further toward Bulgarian and Greek revanchism.