[292] The date of this visit is certain from the formal act of abjuration, which is given in full in Raynaldus, ann. 1369, XI. Ducas, c. 11, and Chalc., I, p. 25, are in error in placing this voyage later. Berger de Xivrey, _Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions_, xix, 2e partie, p. 35, suggests that the Byzantine historians have confused this voyage with that of Manuel, thirty years later. [293] _Epp. secr._, viii. 37, 38, 80. [294] By an encyclical: _Epp. secr._, viii. 4. Cf. also his letters to the doges of Venice and Genoa, ibid., p. 24. [295] Ibid., viii. 55. [296] Phr., I. 22, pp. 52-3; Chalc., I, pp. 50-1; Morosini, p. 13. [297] Phr., I. 11, p. 46. [298] Gregory XI, _Epp. secr._ iii. 36, 58. [299] Chalc., I, pp. 51-2. [300] Raynaldus, ann. 1371, VIII. [301] _Epp. secr._, ii. 32, 87. Similar letter to Louis in December 1375, ibid. v. 46. Other letters reprinted in Fejér, 9e partie, iv. 583 4; v. 54-6; vi. 155-6. [302] Bernino, pp. 15-20. [303] Fejér, 9e partie, iv. 427-8. [304] Ibid., v. 52-3. [305] Rymer, _Acta Publica_, III, part 3, pp. 38-40. [306] On December 12, 1374, Gregory XI wrote to John from Avignon, predicting that his ‘alliance with Murad’ would bring about the destruction of the empire: _Epistolae secretae_, iv. 68. [307] Raynaldus, ann. 1378, XIX. [308] Jireček, _Geschichte der Bulgaren_, p. 317. [309] Cant. IV, 50, pp. 362-3. [310] Although Engel says 1353, others 1356, and the Rumanian chronicle 1371, there can be no question that 1365 is the correct date; for both Byzantine and Ottoman historians speak of Alexander as Bulgarian Czar in 1364, and do not mention him later, while Sisman and his brothers come immediately into prominence. [311] Schiltberger, Neumann ed., p. 93. [312] Orbini, pp. 472-3. [313] Bonfinius, II. 10. [314] Fessler, _Geschichte von Ungarn_, ii. 152. [315] Wadding, _Annales minorum_, ann. 1369, XI. [316] _Epp. secr._, VI. 131, 136. [317] Called Ishebol by the Ottoman historians. [318] By the second division of the Ottoman army under Timurtash. Murad himself had captured Sozopolis. Cf. Jireček, p. 326. [319] Seadeddin, i. 104. He does not give the name of the Serbian kral. [320] The peasantry around Samakov will point out to you the ridge, south-east of the modern town, over which he vanished. They believe that Sisman haunts the foothills of the Rhodope mountains, and rides headless in the night down into the plain. This tradition, and the statement of Ducange, viii. 289, that Sisman died in 1373 in Naples, makes possible the theory that there were three successive Sismans connected with the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria. [321] Hadji Khalfa, _Rumeli_, p. 38. [322] von Kállay, _Geschichte der Serben_, i. 152. [323] Ibid., i. 152-9; Jireček, op. cit., 319-20; Ljubić, _Monumenta spect. ad hist. Slav. merid._, iv. 189. [324] Cant. IV., 50, pp. 360-2; Müller, _Chron. Byz._, under 1364. [325] Miklositch, _Acta Serbica_, CLIII. [326] Ibid., CLX.