Trachy - Theodor Svetoslav

Theodor Svetoslav seized the Bulgarian throne in 1300 after imprisoning his own father, George Terter I, and systematically eliminating rival claimants — a consolidation of power that shaped the aggressive political tone of his entire reign. His defeat of a Byzantine force at Skafida in 1304 forced Constantinople to cede significant Black Sea coastal territory to Bulgaria, reversing decades of imperial pressure on the Tarnovo court. Copper trachea of this period circulated in an economy increasingly disconnected from Byzantine monetary norms, as Bulgaria asserted financial independence from the empire it had just humiliated on the battlefield.