Published by baksanir in Battles & Wars, Bulgars, First Bulgarian Empire, Historical Persons, History, Origin, Persons & Characters, Rulers, Slavs, Thracians, Tsars
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
Without losing any more time, Knyaz Boris asked the Pope to appoint Formosa of Portua for Bulgarian Archbishop. Unfortunately for the Roman Church, the Pope flatly refused. It is likely that Nicholas I had some personal reasons for this, because his official argument that Formosa already had an eparchy of his own was untrue.
The Pope then ordered new leaders of the mission to be sent to Bulgaria — Dominic of Trivena and Grimwald of Polimarthia. Pope Nicolas I died soon after. His successor Pope Adrian II (867-872) turned out to be even less negotiable about Knyaz Boris’ demand that the archbishop be appointed by him.
The knyaz raised another candidature for Bulgarian archbishop, the Pope not sensing how important the moment was and refusing again. Instead, he suggested a cleric named Silvester, who stood so low in the hierarchy that he was not even allowed to carry out liturgy by himself. After a three-day stay in Pliska, Silverster was sent back to Rome, accompanied by emissaries carrying a rather impolite letter by Knyaz Boris.
Continue reading The Christianization of Bulgaria part III
Naturally, the German King Leudowick was not satisfied with Boris’ to convert to Orthodox Christianity, although things didn’t not escalate to open conflict.
The Christianization of Bulgaria was carried out simultaneously with the destruction of the old pagan holy places. There was opposition met among the conservative aristocratic circles. In 865, malcontents from all ten administrative regions (komitats) revolted against Boris (now titled Knyaz), accusing for giving them “a bad law”. The rebels moved towards the capital with the intention to capture and kill the knyaz, then restore the old religion.
Nothing is known about how the conflict went on, except that Knyaz Boris gathered the people loyal to him and suppressed the revolt. 51 of the boils who had taken the lead of the revolt were executed “along with their whole families”, but the common-folk that “wished to do penance” were allowed to go without harm. The reasons for this harsh measure should not be regarded as something normal in that age. Until the end of his life, Knyaz Boris was haunted by suspicions about the moral price of his decision in 865. In his later correspondence with Pope Nicholas I, the knyaz asked whether his actions had crossed the borders of Christian humility. The pope answered:
Continue reading The Christianization of Bulgaria part II
The Christianization of Bulgaria is the process of converting 9th-century medieval Bulgaria to Christianity. Prior to the Christianization, the First Bulgarian Empire was one of the last remaining pagan states of Europe. When Khan Boris began his reign in 852, the international situation was very complicated. The conflict with the Byzantine Empire for the rulership over the Slavic tribes in modern-day Macedonia and Thrace was still far from being resolved. In the middle Danube region, Bulgaria’s interests crossed with those of the newly created kingdom of the East Franks and the principality of Great Moravia. It was about that period when Croatia emerged on the international scene, carrying its own ambitions and demands for territories in the region.
On a more global scale, the tensions between Constantinople and Rome were tightening. Both centres were competing for the christianization that would precede the integration of the Slavs in South and Central Europe. The Bulgarian Khanate and the Kingdom of the East Franks had established diplomatical relations as soon as the 20s and 30s of the 9th century. In 852, at the beginning of the reign of Khan Boris, a Bulgarian embassy was sent to Mainz to inform Louis II for the change in Pliska, the Bulgarian capital. Most probably this embassy was also to renew the Bulgarian-German alliance.
Continue reading The Christianization of Bulgaria part I
Khan Boris {or Bars} ascended the throne in 852, he was Presiyan’s son. Boris I was not an outstanding military commander. He often suffered defeat but the state’s borders remained unchanged. Boris I was a skillful diplomat. But his greatest act of diplomacy was a domestic one. Boris was surrounded by Christians, Christians everywhere! To the west of him, the Pope, to the east - the Byzantine Patriarch. Bulgaria was a pagan island in an ocean of Christianity.
When Boris inherited the throne from his father, Bulgaria’s territorial, military, and political potential had made it one of the largest states in Europe. Bulgaria’s approximate frontiers were the Dnieper River in the northeast, the Carpathian Mountains in the north, the Tisa {Tisza} River in the northwest, the Adriatic Sea in the west, and the Tomorr {Tomor}, Belasica, Pirin, Rhodope, and Strandzha mountains in the south. Many Slavic tribes lived within the boundaries of the state, together with the Thracians {Vlachs}, and the Bulgars. All of them had different religions, ethnicities, and languages.
Continue reading Tsar Boris the ruler who Christianised Bulgaria and enlarged it greatly
