Emperor Basil II defeats Tsar Samouil – 14th century miniature.
One of the greatest tragedies in Bulgarian history occurred in 1014. The Byzantine Emperor Basil the Macedonian (for then Macedonia was the name of the region we call Thrace today) organized a new march. Samouil, who was too elderly to fight himself, sent his army against the Byzantines. The Bulgarians built a fortified camp in a narrow valley between two mountain slopes along the Stroumeshnitsa River, a hundred kilometers or so to the north of Salonika. The Byzantine army had no choice but to try a frontal attack. Or at least that was what the Bulgarian commanders thought, not so their enemy. Bribed guides led numerous companies along goat tracks and the surprised Bulgarians were attacked both front and back. The defeat was absolute, and 14,000 men were taken prisoners. Quite familiar with the significance of psychological warfare, Basil II decided on a step with few analogues in world history. All 14,000 prisoners of war were blinded upon his order, one in each hundred being left with one eye to lead the rest. Several days later, an indescribable column of thousands of blind men in their prime reached Samouil’s capital. The heart of the ruler could not stand the sight. He suffered a heart attack and died several days later. The Byzantine was called some time after Basil Bulgaroctonos (Slayer of Bulgarians) a name with which he has remained in the annals of history.
Continue reading The Decline of the First Bulgarian Kingdom part II
Byzantium sensed Bulgaria’s weakening and, although an open attack was to be feared, it had nothing against someone else being its cat’s paw. Thus the prince of Kievan Rus’ was encouraged to attack Bulgaria. At that time, Tsar Peter had already passed away, and it is widely known that the change of guard presents the best time for attack. Pagan Russian hordes came and galloped through the eastern Bulgarian territories. They liked the fertile and sunny land, however, and Prince Sviatoslav declared he intended to move his capital to the mouth of the Danube. Byzantium had not counted on such a turn and had to resort to its favorite tactics yet again. This time it was the Pechenegs who were driven to attack the Russians and the Bulgarians helped in this respect. Sviatoslav returned to defend his capital, where he was surprised by his enemies one night and lost his life.
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Bulgaria was in chaos and its southern neighbour took the opportunity. The Byzantine army crossed the passes of the Balkan range, took the capital of Great Preslav without any particular resistance, subjected it to plunder, took the Bulgarian tsar prisoner and had him marched through the streets of Constantinople in his ceremonial clothes as a sign of his subjugation. It seemed yet again, as it had happened on so many occasions, that the patience, cunning, and why not even the military might of the Byzantine Empire, had prevailed over a small barbarian state.
Continue reading The Decline of the First Bulgarian Kingdom part I
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Any neighbour of the dazzling empire found its wealth an attraction difficult to resist. King Simeon was no exception. Around the end of the 9th century he engaged in endless wars with Byzantium. He was led by the misguided ambition not only to annex the maximum of Byzantine territory but also, if possible, to sit on the throne of the emperors in Constantinople. The Bulgarian ruler’s
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military and diplomatic genius could not be doubted. They allowed him to turn the power of his extensive realm into a fist of iron and to make the very existence of the empire questionable on several occasions. From the walls of the imperial city the officials of Byzantium could repeatedly enjoy the picture of nimble Bulgarian companies engaged in plunder. Simeon was also helped by the international situation. The Arabs persistently attacked from the east, compelling the empire to fight on two fronts. Cornered as they were, the Byzantines were forced to make an extreme sacrifice: Simeon was recognised as Tsar, i.e. almost equal to the emperor, the head of the Bulgarian Church – as Patriarch, while Byzantium committed itself to pay the Bulgarians annual due. In those days that was equal to being declared a Great Power. (Some historians, by the way, question the official character of this recognition and insist that it was his son Peter who became Tsar.)
Tsar Simeon in battle with the Byzantines – 14th century miniature.
Continue reading The Rise of the First Bulgarian Kingdom part IV
Stealing Beauty The elder brother, Methodius, returned to Great Moravia only to encounter the growing hostility of the German clergy. He and his disciples were vilified, persecuted, and imprisoned. After his death some of the disciples were sold as slaves in Italian markets. Others, who were luckier, sailed down the Danube and found refuge in one of the Bulgarian ports on the river. From there they went to the capital Pliska, where Prince Boris welcomed them as dear guests and created all the necessary conditions for their work. Schools for future priests and administrators were opened, establishments that were to give their disciples the invaluable advantage of being able to read and write in their mother tongue. In this case the language was based on the Slavonic, albeit with many borrowings from the Bulgarian. The state, however, was vast and one literary centre did not suffice. That was why one of Cyril’s most able disciples, Clement, was consecrated bishop of Koutmichevitsa, a region in present-daySouthwest Macedonia with Ochrid as a centre. This was where the second literary centre was established in which more than 3,500 students were trained over a period of twenty years.
Continue reading The Rise of the First Bulgarian Kingdom part III
As it turned out, Byzantium had little reason to rejoice. In the next few decades the Bulgarians conquered a large part of the empire’s Balkan territories step by step and by engaging in open warfare. By the middle of the 9th century Bulgaria already included all of Macedonia, most of the territories of present-day Albania, and had gained a firm foothold on the Adriatic coast. Slavs of the Bulgarian language group inhabited most of these territories. The state had become one of the largest in Europe. Bulgaria’s sovereign Tsar Boris I (852 – 889) was full of self-esteem but suffered from the fact that Byzantium did not regard him as an equal. The empire saw his state as an unstable barbarian alliance. At that, being heathen, it did not meet one of the fundamental requirements to be accepted in the family of peoples headed by the basileus.
The fact that there were two basic religions in the country was also an obstacle in the way of Bulgarians and Slavs blending into one.
Continue reading The Rise of the First Bulgarian Kingdom part II
The victory of the Bulgarians over the Avars also marked the triumph of the ideas of sobriety. According to the chronicles,
Krum, filled with apprehension, asked the defeated what they thought was the reason for their downfall. Their answer was that their state had declined because of lies, theft, and drunkenness. Krum introduced severe laws in order to avoid this very end. Legislation provided terrible punishment for criminals, and vineyards were uprooted so their fruit could not be made into enticing juice. judging by subsequent information, as with later reformations of this type, the restrictions were met only with the insatiable thirst for wine and fell through soon after.While the emperor inspected his farthest eastern borders, Krum took the chance, invaded the empire, and took the city of Serdica in 809. Centuries later it was to become the capital of the state under the name of Sofia. The conquest was accompanied with the then customary plunder and atrocities, which did not surprise anyone. The valley of the river Strouma also became part of the Bulgarian state.
Continue reading The Rise of the First Bulgarian Kingdom part I
