High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Shishman, Despot of Vidin (Bulgarian: Шишман; fl. 1270s/1280s — before 1308/1313) was a Bulgarian noble (boyar) who ruled a semi-independent realm based out of the Danubian fortress of Vidin in the late 13th and early 14th century. Shishman, who was bestowed the title of "despot" by Bulgarian emperor George Terter I, was of Cuman extraction, and may have been established as lord of Vidin as early as the 1270s.