First Bulgarian Empire
Encyclopedia
The First Bulgarian Empire (modern ) was a medieval Bulgaria
n state founded in the north-eastern Balkans
in c. 680 by the Bulgars
, uniting with seven South Slavic
tribes. At the height of its power it spread between Budapest
and the Black Sea
and from the Dnieper River in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic Sea
.
As the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered on a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire
. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantium
's chief antagonist in the Balkans, resulting in several wars
. The two powers however also enjoyed periods of peace and alliance, most notably during the Second Arab siege of Constantinople, where the Bulgarian army played a crucial role in breaking the siege. Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity
by Bulgaria in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khanate, the Bulgarians expanded their territory up to the Pannonian Plain (in present-day Hungary). Later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia.
During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Tsar Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines, and expanded the Bulgarian Empire to its apogee. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Bulgarians laid siege to Constantinople in 923 and 924. The Byzantines eventually recovered, and in 1014 under Basil II
, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion
. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire
, and the First Bulgarian Empire had ceased to exist. It was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire
in 1185.
After the adoption of Christianity
in 864 Bulgaria became the cultural center of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was further consolidated with the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet
in its capital Preslav
, and literature produced in the Old Bulgarian language soon began spreading North. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of Eastern Europe, where it came to be known as Old Church Slavonic
. In 927 the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. Later, as a reaction against Byzantine influences in the church, the influential Bogomil
sect was born in Bulgaria in the mid-10th century.
which emerged from another Bulgar group. During its early existence the country is also called Bulgar state or Bulgar qaghnate. Between 864 and 917/927 the country was known as Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria.
In English language sources the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire.
Created as a union between Bulgars and Slavs, for mutual protection against the Byzantine Empire to the south and the Avars to the north-west, the First Bulgarian Empire was ruled according to the Bulgar tradition with the head of state being the Khan. The Slavs kept significant autonomy and eventually their language and traditions shaped the Bulgarian culture and people with Bulgaria becoming a Slavic country
.
, the lands of present-day Bulgaria had been organised in several provinces - Scythia Minor
, Moesia
(Upper and Lower), Thrace
, Macedonia
(First and Second), Dacia
(north of the Danube), Dardani
a, Rhodope and Hemimont, and had a mixed population of Romanised Getae
and Hellenised Thracians
. Several consecutive waves of Slavic
migration throughout the 6th and the early 7th century led to the almost complete Slavicisation
of the region, at least linguistically.
and probably Scytho-Sarmatian elements, formed part of the Western Turkic Khaganate
. Several tribes of them conquered north-eastern areas of the Balkan peninsula
by the 680s. Khan Asparukh occupied what is today the southern part of Bessarabia
. He was followed by 40,000 to 50,000 Bulgars. After a successful war with Byzantium
in 680, Asparukh's khanate settled in Dobrudja. Asparukh and Byzantine Constantine IV Pogonatus signed a treaty in 681. Asparukh's khanate went on to conquer Moesia Superior. The year 681 is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of modern Bulgaria
.
and converting to Christianity (of the Byzantine rite) under Boris I of Bulgaria
in 864. Modern Bulgarians are normally considered to be of Southern Slavic
origin. However, the Slavs were only one of the communities that had been present on the Bulgarian lands, themselves being recent migrants in the Balkans. Several other peoples were eventually absorbed into the new ethnicity. At that time the process of absorption of the remnants of the old Thraco-Roman
and Thraco-Byzantine
population had already been significant in the formation of this new ethnic group
. The new single identity nation would continue to identify as Bulgarian and uphold the eponymous state as its own (in contrast to Slavs/Croats who outnumbered Romance-speaking people in Ragusa to turn the country into the Republic of Dubrovnik upon doing so). Modern Bulgarians continue to celebrate the original non-Slavic Bulgar state and Thracian ancestors, while embracing a Slavic identity at the same time. This can be compared to other nations such as Serbs
and Croats
both of whom are Slavic peoples but realise that their nominal ancestors were less than likely Slavic, only later to assimilate a Slavic character when coming into contact with Slavs that would dissimilate them.
There are two different dates for the year of establishment of present-day Bulgaria, based upon two different interpretations of history. According to the first, after their defeat by the Khazars, another Bulgar tribe, led by Khan Asparuh
, moved westward, occupying today's Southern Bessarabia
. After a successful war with Byzantium in AD 680, Asparuh's khanate conquered Moesia
and Dobrudja and was recognised as an independent state under the subsequent treaty signed with the Byzantine Empire in AD 681. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of present-day Bulgaria.
Another theory is that although Great Bulgaria suffered major territorial losses from the Khazars
, it managed to defeat them in the early 670s. Under this interpretation, Khan Asparuh was the direct successor of Khan Kubrat
. Therefore, according to some researchers, the year of establishment of present-day Bulgaria has to be considered 632 (the year of the founding of Old Great Bulgaria
by Khan Kubrat
), rather than 681.
to the East continued and in 700 Khan Asparough perished in battle with them. The Bulgars lost the territories to the East of the Dnester River, but managed to hold the lands to the West. The Bulgars and the Slavs signed a treaty according to which the head of the state became the Khan of the Bulgars, who had also the obligation to defend the country against the Byzantine, while the Slavic leaders gained considerable autonomy and had to protect the Northern borders along the Carpathian mountains against the Avars
.
Khan Asparuh's successor, Khan Tervel
helped the deposed Byzantine Emperor Justinian II
to regain his throne in 705. In return he was given the area Zagore in Northern Thrace
, which was the first expansion of the country to the South of the Balkan mountains. However, three years later Justinian tried to take it back by force, but his army was defeated at Anchialus
. In 716 Khan Tervel signed an important agreement
with Byzantium. During the siege of Constantinople
in 717–718 he sent 50,000 troops to help the besieged city. In the decisive battle the Bulgarians massacre
d around 30,000 Arabs and Khan Tervel was called The saviour of Europe by his contemporaries.
who was the last scion of the Dulo clan
. With his death the Khanate fell into a long political crisis during which the young country was on the verge of destruction. In just 15 years, seven Khans ruled, all of whom were murdered. There were two main factions; some nobles wanted uncompromising war against the Byzantines, while others searched for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. That instability was used by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V
(745–775) who launched nine major campaigns aiming at the elimination of Bulgaria. In 763 he defeated the Bulgarian Khan Telets
at Anchialus
, but the Byzantines were unable to advance further North. In 775 Khan Telerig
, by tricking Constantine to reveal those loyal to him in the Bulgarian Court, executed all the Byzantine spies in the capital Pliska
. Under his successor Khan Kardam
, the war took a favourable turn after the great victory in the battle of Marcelae
in 792. The Byzantines were thoroughly defeated and forced once again to pay tribute to the Khans. As a result of the victory, the crisis was finally overwhelmed and Bulgaria entered the new century stable, stronger and consolidated.
Under the great Khan Krum
(803–814), also known as Crummus and Keanus Magnus, Bulgaria expanded Northwest and Southwards, occupying the lands between middle Danube and Moldova
, the whole territory of present-day Romania
, Sofia
in 809 and Adrianople (modern Odrin) in 813, and threatening Constantinople
itself. Between 804 and 806 the Bulgarian armies thoroughly eliminated the Avar Khanate and a border with the Frankish Empire
was established along the middle Danube
. In 811 a large Byzantine army was decisively defeated in the battle of the Varbitsa Pass
. The Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I was slain along with most of his troops and his skull was used as a drinking cup. Krum immediately took the initiative and moved the war towards Thrace
, defeating the Byzantines once more at Versinikia
in 813. After a treacherous Byzantine attempt to kill the Khan during negotiations, Krum pillaged the whole of Thrace, seized Odrin and resettled its 10,000 inhabitants in "Bulgaria across the Danube
". He made enhanced preparation to capture Constantinople: 5,000 iron-plated waggons were built to carry the siege equipment, the Byzantines even pleaded for help from the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious
. Due to the sudden death of the great Khan, however, the campaign was never launched. Khan Krum implemented law reform, which established equal rules and punishment for all peoples, living within the country's boundaries, intending to reduce the poverty and to strengthen the social ties in his vastly enlarged state.
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Khan Omurtag (814–831) concluded a 30-year peace treaty
with the Byzantines, thus allowing both countries to restore their economy and finance after the bloody conflicts in the first decade of the century. During his reign, the Northwestern boundaries with the Frankish Empire were firmly settled along the middle Danube by 827. Extensive building was undertaken in the capital Pliska, which included the construction of a magnificent palace, pagan temples, ruler's residence, fortress, citadel, water-main and bath; mainly from stone and brick.
During the short reign of Khan Malamir
(831–836), the important city of Plovdiv
was incorporated into the country. Under Khan Presian (836–852), the Bulgarians took most of Macedonia
and the borders of the country reached the Adriatic
and Aegean Sea
s. The Byzantine historians do not mention any resistance against the Bulgarian expansion in Macedonia, which bring the conclusion that it was largely peaceful. Between 839 and 842 the Bulgarians waged war on the Serbs, but did not make any progress for three years.
(852–889) began with numerous setbacks. For ten years the country fought against the Byzantine and Eastern Frankish Empires, Great Moravia
, the Croats
and the Serbs
forming several unsuccessful alliances and changing sides. In August 863 there was a period of 40 days of earthquakes and there was a lean year, which caused famine throughout the country. To cap it all, there was an incursion of locusts.
invaded Bulgaria on suspicions that Khan Boris I prepared to accept Christianity in accordance with the Western rites. Upon the news of the invasion, Boris I started negotiations for peace. The Byzantines returned some lands in Macedonia and their single demand was that he accept Christianity from Constantinople rather than Rome. Khan Boris I agreed to that term and was baptised in September 865 assuming the name of his godfather, Byzantine Emperor Michael, and became Boris-Mihail. The pagan title "Khan
" was abolished and the title "Knyaz
" assumed in its place. The reason for the conversion to Christianity, however, was not the Byzantine invasion. The Bulgarian ruler was indeed a man of vision and he foresaw that the introduction of a single religion would complete the consolidation of the emerging Bulgarian nation, which was still divided on a religious basis. He also knew that his state was not fully respected by Christian
Europe and its treaties could have been ignored by other signatories on religious basis.
Тhe Byzantines' goal was to achieve with peace what they were unable to after two centuries of warfare: to slowly absorb Bulgaria through the Christian religion and turn it into a satellite state, as naturally, the highest posts in the newly founded Bulgarian Church were to be held by Byzantines who preached in the Greek language. Knyaz Boris I was well aware of that fact and after Constantinople refused to grant autonomy of the Bulgarian Church in 866, he sent a delegation to Rome
declaring his desire to accept Christianity in accordance with the Western rites along with 115 questions to Pope
Nicolas I
. The Bulgarian ruler desired to take advantage of the rivalry between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople as his main goal was the establishment of an independent Bulgarian Church in order to prevent both the Byzantines and the Catholics from exerting influence in his lands through religion. The Pope's detailed answers to Boris' questions were delivered by two bishops heading a mission whose purpose was to facilitate the conversion of the Bulgarian people. However, Nicolas I and his successor Pope Adrian II
also refused to recognize an autonomous Bulgarian Church, which cooled the relations between the two sides, but Bulgaria's shift towards Rome made the Byzantines much more conciliatory. In 870, at the Fourth Council of Constantinople, the Bulgarian Church was recognized as an Autonomous
Eastern Orthodox Church
under the supreme direction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. It was the first Church officially accepted, apart from the Churches of Rome and Constantinople. Eventually, in 893, the Old Bulgarian
language became the third official language, recognized by the Churches and used during services and in Christian literature.
and Saint Methodius created the Glagolitic alphabet
, the first Slavic alphabet by order of the Byzantine Emperor, who aimed to convert Great Moravia
to Orthodox Christianity. However, these attempts failed and in 886 their disciples Clement of Ohrid
, Naum of Preslav and Angelarius, who were banished from Great Moravia, reached Bulgaria and were warmly welcomed by Boris I. The Bulgarian Knyaz commissioned the creation of two theological academies to be headed by the disciples where the future Bulgarian clergy was to be instructed in the local vernacular. Clement was sent to Ohrid
in Southwestern Bulgaria, where he taught 3,500 pupils between 886 and 893. Naum established the literary school in the capital Pliska
, moved later to the new capital Preslav
. During the Council of Preslav
in 893, Bulgaria adopted the Glagolitic alphabet
and Old Church Slavonic
(Old Bulgarian) language as official language of the church and state, and expelled the Byzantine clergy. In the early 10th century the Cyrillic alphabet
was created at the Preslav Literary School
.
By the late 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, Bulgaria extended to Epirus
and Thessaly
in the South, Bosnia
in the West and controlled the whole of present-day Romania and Eastern Hungary to the North. Serbian state came into existence in the mid-9th century as a response to the Bulgarian expansion West of the Morava. Switching loyalties between Bulgaria and the Byzantines, the Serb rulers successfully resisted several Bulgarian invasions until 924 AD, when it was fully subordinated under the general and possibly Count of Sofia Marmais
. Under Tsar Simeon I
(Simeon the Great), who was educated in Constantinople, Bulgaria became again a serious threat to the Byzantine Empire and reached its greatest territorial extension. Simeon I hoped to take Constantinople and fought a series of wars with the Byzantines throughout his long reign (893–927). The border close to the end of his rule reached the Northern limits of Attica
in the South. Simeon I styled himself "Emperor (Tsar
) of the Bulgarians and Autocrat of the Greeks", a title which was recognized by the Pope, but not of course by the Byzantine Emperor nor the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church
. He was recognized "Emperor (Tsar) of the Bulgarians" by the Byzantine Emperor and the Patriarch only at the end of his rule.
Between 894 and 896 he defeated the Byzantines and their allies the Magyars in the so called "Trade War" because the pretext of the war was the shifting of the Bulgarian market from Constantinople to Solun
. In the decisive battle of Bulgarophygon
the Byzantine army was routed and the war ended with favourable for Bulgaria peace which was, however, often violated by Simeon I. In 904 he captured Solun which was previously looted by the Arabs and returned it to the Byzantines only after Bulgaria received all Slavic-populated areas in Macedonia
and 20 fortress in Albania, including the important town Drach
.
After the unrest in the Byzantine Empire that followed the death of Emperor Alexander in 913, Simeon I invaded Byzantine Thrace, but was persuaded to stop in return for official recognition of his Imperial title and marriage of his daughter to the infant Emperor Constantine VII
. Simeon I was supposed to become regent of the Emperor and temporary to rule the Byzantine Empire. However, after a plot in the Byzantine court, the mother of Emperor Constantine VII
, Empress Zoe, rejected the marriage and Simeon's title, and both sides prepared for a decisive battle. By 917 Simeon I broke every attempts of his enemy to form an alliance with the Magyars, the Pechenegs and the Serbs, and Byzantines were forced to fight alone. On 20 August the two armies clashed at Anchialus in one of the greatest battles in the Middle Ages
. The Byzantines suffered an unprecedented defeat leaving 70,000 killed on the battlefield. The pursuing Bulgarian forces defeated the reminder of the enemy armies at Katasyrtai
. However, Constantinople was saved by a Serb attack from the West; the Serbs were thoroughly defeated, but that gave precious time for the Byzantine admiral and later Emperor Romanos Lakepanos
to prepare the defense of the city. In the following decade the Bulgarians gained control of the whole Balkan peninsula with the exception of Constantinople and Pelopones.
In a Croatian–Bulgarian battle of 927, (also often called the Battle of the Bosnian Highlands), Duke Alogobotur
attacked Croatia
. The Croatian forces under the leadership of their King Tomislav, completely devastated the Bulgarian army, and stopped Simeon's extension westwards.
After Simeon's death, however, Bulgarian power slowly declined. In a peace treaty in 927 the Byzantines officially recognized the Imperial title of his son Peter I and the Bulgarian Patriarchate. Peace with Byzantium, however, did not bring prosperity to Bulgaria. In the beginning of his rule the new Emperor had internal problems and unrest with his brothers, and in the 930s was forced to recognize the independence of Rascia
. The biggest blow came from the North: between 934 and 965 the country suffered five Magyar invasions. In 944 Bulgaria was attacked by the Pechenegs, who looted the Northeastern regions of the Empire. Under Peter I
and Boris II
the country was divided by the egalitarian religious heresy of the Bogomils
.
In 968 the country was attacked by the Kievan Rus
, whose leader, Svyatoslav I
, took Preslav
and established his capital at Preslavets
. Three years later, Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes
interfered in the struggle and defeated Svyatoslav at Dorostolon. Boris II was captured and ritually divested of his imperial title in Constantinople, and eastern Bulgaria was proclaimed a Byzantine protectorate.
concentrated all power in his hands after the deaths of his eldest brother. When the rightful heir to the throne, Roman
, escaped from captivity in Constantinople, he was recognized as Emperor by Samuil in Vidin
and the later remained the chief commander of the Bulgarian army. A brilliant general and good politician, he managed to turn the fortunes to the Bulgarians. The new Byzantine Emperor Basil II was decisively defeated in the battle of the Gates of Trajan
in 986 and barely escaped. Five years later he eliminated the Serbian state of Rascia. In 997, following the death of Roman, who was the last heir of the Krum dynasty, Samuil was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria. After 1001, however, the war turned in favor of the Byzantines, who in that same year captured the old capitals Pliska and Preslav, and beginning ub 1004 launched annual campaigns against Bulgaria. The Byzantines further benefited from a war between Bulgaria and the newly established Kingdom of Hungary
1003.
The Byzantine victories of Spercheios
and Skopje decisively weakened the Bulgarian army and, in annual campaigns, Basil methodically reduced the Bulgarian strongholds. Eventually, at the Battle of Kleidion
in 1014, the Bulgarians were completely defeated. The Bulgarian army was captured; it is said that 99 out of every 100 men were blinded, with the remaining hundredth man left with one eye so as to lead his compatriots home (earning Basil the moniker "Bulgaroktonos"-the Bulgar Killer). When Tsar Samuil saw the broken remains of his army, he suffered a heart attack and died. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered and the First Bulgarian Empire was abolished.
The cultural heritage of the First Bulgarian Empire is usually defined in Bulgarian historiography as the Pliska-Preslav culture named after the first two capitals Pliska
and Preslav
where most of the surviving monuments are concentrated. Many monuments of that period have been found around Madara
, Shumen
, Novi Pazar
, the village of Han Krum
in north-eastern Bulgaria, as well in the territory of modern Romania where the Romanian archaeologists called it the Dridu culture Remains left by the First Empire have been discovered in southern Bessarabia
, now divided between Ukraine
and Moldova
.
but which was not used in the contemporary Byzantine Empire. There were two main types of construction employed in the building of Pliska. For the first one the construction matherials were timber and bricks. The second type was construction of defensive walls using large carved limestone blocks put together with plaster. The same method was used in the construction of the fortress of Preslav, the military camp at Han Krum, the hunting palace in Madara or in the fortress on the island of Păcuiul lui Soare. Fortresses were mainly situated in the plains unlike those constructed during the Second Bulgarian Empire
.
After the adoption of Christianity in 864 there was intensive construction of churches and monasteries throughout the Empire including the Great Basilica of Pliska
which was one of the biggest structures of the time with its length of 99 m and the splendid Golden Church in Preslav
. The churches built during that period were mostly with three nave
s. The Bulgarian capital was also famous for its ceramics which adorned the public and religious buildings. Beautiful icons and church altars were made of special ceramic tiles. There were numerous goldsmith and silversmith workshops who produced fine jewellery.
One of the most famous features of the Pliska-Preslav culture was the decoration of palaces and churches with lacquered ceramic plates, which may indicate a Near Eastern (Arabic) influence. The ceramic plates were painted mostly with geometric or vegetative elements, while a few feature depictions of saints. Among the most notable of the latter is the well-preserved 20-tile Icon of St Theodore, found in the ruins of the Saint Panteleimon Monastery in the outskirts of Preslav. The tiles were either flat or tubular, and were arranged to form friezes of repeating motifs. Due to the destruction of Pliska and Preslav only fragments and details of the ceramic decoration have survived. Most finds of tiles, as well as archaeological evidence of the workshops producing them, come from Preslav and the surrounding region (chiefly the village of Patleina).
The main sources for Bulgarian domestic use-oriented pottery
are the necropoleis
at Novi Pazar, Devnya
and Varna
. The vessels were made with a potter's wheel
, unlike Slavic practice. Two-storey ovens were used for the annealing of the pottery. The shape and decoration of the early Bulgarian pottery was similar to that found in northern Caucasus
, the Crimea
and the shores of the Sea of Azov
.
is the oldest Slavic literature. Missionaries from Thessalonica, Cyril
and Methodius, devised the Glagolitic alphabet
, which was adopted in the Bulgarian Empire around 886. The alphabet and the Old Bulgarian
language gave rise to a rich literary and cultural activity centered around the Preslav
and Ohrid
Schools, established by order of Boris I in 886. In the beginning of 10th century AD, a new alphabet—the Cyrillic alphabet
- was developed on the basis of Greek and Glagolitic cursive at the Preslav Literary School
. According to an alternative theory, the alphabet was devised at the Ohrid Literary School by Saint Clement of Ohrid
, a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Cyril and Methodius. A pious monk and hermit St. Ivan of Rila
(Ivan Rilski, 876–946), became the patron saint of Bulgaria.
During his reign Simeon gathered many scholars in his court who translated enormous number of books from Greek and wrote many new works. Among the most prominent figures were Constantine of Preslav
, John Exarch
and Chernorizets Hrabar
who is believed by some historians to have been Simeon himself. Chernorizets Hrabar wrote his popular work An Account of Letters, Clement of Ohrid worked on translations from Greek and is credited with several important religious books, John Exarch
wrote his Shestodnev and translated On Orthodox Christianity by John of Damascus
, Naum of Preslav also had a significant contribution. Bulgarian scholars and works influenced most of the Slavic world, spreading Old Church Slavonic
, the Cyrillic and the Glagolithic alphabet to Kievan Rus'
, medieval Serbia, medieval Croatia, and also to non-Slavic medieval Wallachia
and Moldavia
.
, the God of the Sky. When Omurtag
and Leo V the Armenian
concluded a peace treaty in 815, the Byzantine Emperor had to make an oath according to the Bulgarian traditions. The Byzantine historians recorded that the "most Christian" ruler had to perform different pagan rites including cutting dogs and use them as witnesses for his oath. The Slavs worshipped numerous deities. Their supreme god was Perun
. There are evidences that Christianity remained widespread in Bulgaria during the first 150 years of existence of the state.
In the mid 9th century Boris I decided to adopt Christianity in order to unite firmly the population of the country.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n state founded in the north-eastern Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
in c. 680 by the Bulgars
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
, uniting with seven South Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
tribes. At the height of its power it spread between Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
and from the Dnieper River in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
.
As the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered on a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
's chief antagonist in the Balkans, resulting in several wars
Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
The Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD...
. The two powers however also enjoyed periods of peace and alliance, most notably during the Second Arab siege of Constantinople, where the Bulgarian army played a crucial role in breaking the siege. Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity
Christianization of Bulgaria
The Christianization of Bulgaria was the process by which 9th-century medieval Bulgaria converted to Christianity. It was influenced by the khan's shifting political alliances with the kingdom of the East Franks and the Byzantine Empire, as well as his reception by the Pope of the Roman Catholic...
by Bulgaria in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khanate, the Bulgarians expanded their territory up to the Pannonian Plain (in present-day Hungary). Later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia.
During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Tsar Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines, and expanded the Bulgarian Empire to its apogee. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Bulgarians laid siege to Constantinople in 923 and 924. The Byzantines eventually recovered, and in 1014 under Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion
Battle of Kleidion
The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...
. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, and the First Bulgarian Empire had ceased to exist. It was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
in 1185.
After the adoption of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in 864 Bulgaria became the cultural center of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was further consolidated with the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
in its capital Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
, and literature produced in the Old Bulgarian language soon began spreading North. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of Eastern Europe, where it came to be known as Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
. In 927 the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. Later, as a reaction against Byzantine influences in the church, the influential Bogomil
Bogomilism
Bogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar I in the 10th century...
sect was born in Bulgaria in the mid-10th century.
Nomenclature
The First Bulgarian Empire became known simply as Bulgaria since its recognition by the Byzantine Empire in 681. Some historians use the terms Danube Bulgaria, First Bulgarian State or First Bulgarian Tsardom (Empire). Between 681 and 864 the country was also known as the Bulgarian Khanate, Danube Bulgarian Khanate or Danube Bulgar Khanate in order to differentiate it from Volga BulgariaVolga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria, or Volga–Kama Bolghar, is a historic Bulgar state that existed between the seventh and thirteenth centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers in what is now Russia.-Origin:...
which emerged from another Bulgar group. During its early existence the country is also called Bulgar state or Bulgar qaghnate. Between 864 and 917/927 the country was known as Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria.
In English language sources the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire.
Created as a union between Bulgars and Slavs, for mutual protection against the Byzantine Empire to the south and the Avars to the north-west, the First Bulgarian Empire was ruled according to the Bulgar tradition with the head of state being the Khan. The Slavs kept significant autonomy and eventually their language and traditions shaped the Bulgarian culture and people with Bulgaria becoming a Slavic country
Slavic Europe
Slavic Europe is a region of Europe where Slavic languages are spoken. This area is situated in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and includes the nations of Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia,...
.
Background
During the time of the late Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the lands of present-day Bulgaria had been organised in several provinces - Scythia Minor
Scythia Minor
Scythia Minor, "Lesser Scythia" was in ancient times the region surrounded by the Danube at the north and west and the Black Sea at the east, corresponding to today's Dobruja, with a part in Romania and a part in Bulgaria....
, Moesia
Moesia
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
(Upper and Lower), Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, Macedonia
Macedonia (Roman province)
The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon, the last Ancient King of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved...
(First and Second), Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
(north of the Danube), Dardani
Dardani
Dardania was the region of the Dardani .Located at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone, their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain. Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria by Strabo. The term used for their territory was , while for other tribes had...
a, Rhodope and Hemimont, and had a mixed population of Romanised Getae
Getae
The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...
and Hellenised Thracians
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
. Several consecutive waves of Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
migration throughout the 6th and the early 7th century led to the almost complete Slavicisation
Slavicisation
Slavicisation is a term used to describe a cultural change in which something non-Slavic becomes Slavic. The process can either be voluntary, or applied with varying degrees of force.* Bulgarisation* Croatisation* Czechification* Polonization...
of the region, at least linguistically.
The Bulgars
The Bulgars comprised TurkicTurkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
and probably Scytho-Sarmatian elements, formed part of the Western Turkic Khaganate
Western Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century after the Göktürk Khaganate had splintered into two politiesEastern and Western.The Western Turks initially sought friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire in order to expand their...
. Several tribes of them conquered north-eastern areas of the Balkan peninsula
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
by the 680s. Khan Asparukh occupied what is today the southern part of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. He was followed by 40,000 to 50,000 Bulgars. After a successful war with Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
in 680, Asparukh's khanate settled in Dobrudja. Asparukh and Byzantine Constantine IV Pogonatus signed a treaty in 681. Asparukh's khanate went on to conquer Moesia Superior. The year 681 is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of modern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
.
Formation of the Bulgarian ethnicity
It is likely that the Bulgars were greatly outnumbered by the Slavic population among whom they were settled. Between the 7th and the 10th centuries, the Bulgars gradually became absorbed by the Slavs, adopting a South Slav languageSlavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
and converting to Christianity (of the Byzantine rite) under Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...
in 864. Modern Bulgarians are normally considered to be of Southern Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
origin. However, the Slavs were only one of the communities that had been present on the Bulgarian lands, themselves being recent migrants in the Balkans. Several other peoples were eventually absorbed into the new ethnicity. At that time the process of absorption of the remnants of the old Thraco-Roman
Thraco-Roman
The terms Thraco-Roman and Daco-Roman refer to the culture and language of the Thracian and Dacian peoples who were incorporated into the Roman Empire and ultimately fell under the Roman and Latin sphere of influence.-Meaning and usage:...
and Thraco-Byzantine
Byzantine Greeks
Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greek or Hellenised citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor , Cyprus and the large urban centres of the Near East...
population had already been significant in the formation of this new ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
. The new single identity nation would continue to identify as Bulgarian and uphold the eponymous state as its own (in contrast to Slavs/Croats who outnumbered Romance-speaking people in Ragusa to turn the country into the Republic of Dubrovnik upon doing so). Modern Bulgarians continue to celebrate the original non-Slavic Bulgar state and Thracian ancestors, while embracing a Slavic identity at the same time. This can be compared to other nations such as Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
both of whom are Slavic peoples but realise that their nominal ancestors were less than likely Slavic, only later to assimilate a Slavic character when coming into contact with Slavs that would dissimilate them.
Establishment of Bulgaria
Asparukh of Bulgaria
Asparuh was ruler of a Bulgar tribe in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 680/681...
, moved westward, occupying today's Southern Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. After a successful war with Byzantium in AD 680, Asparuh's khanate conquered Moesia
Moesia
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...
and Dobrudja and was recognised as an independent state under the subsequent treaty signed with the Byzantine Empire in AD 681. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of present-day Bulgaria.
Another theory is that although Great Bulgaria suffered major territorial losses from the Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
, it managed to defeat them in the early 670s. Under this interpretation, Khan Asparuh was the direct successor of Khan Kubrat
Kubrat
Kubrat or Kurt was a Bulgar ruler credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in 632. He is said to have achieved this by conquering the Avars and uniting all the Bulgar tribes under one rule....
. Therefore, according to some researchers, the year of establishment of present-day Bulgaria has to be considered 632 (the year of the founding of Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria was а term used by Byzantine historians to refer to Onoguria during the reign of the Bulgar ruler Kubrat in the 7th century north of the Caucasus mountains in the steppe between the Dniester and Lower...
by Khan Kubrat
Kubrat
Kubrat or Kurt was a Bulgar ruler credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in 632. He is said to have achieved this by conquering the Avars and uniting all the Bulgar tribes under one rule....
), rather than 681.
Establishing a firm foothold in the Balkans
After the decisive victory at Ongala in 680 the armies of the Bulgars and Slavs advanced to the South of the Balkan mountains, defeating again the Byzantines who were then forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty which acknowledged the establishment of a new state on the borders of the Empire. They were also to pay an annual tribute to Bulgaria. In the same time the war with the KhazarsKhazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
to the East continued and in 700 Khan Asparough perished in battle with them. The Bulgars lost the territories to the East of the Dnester River, but managed to hold the lands to the West. The Bulgars and the Slavs signed a treaty according to which the head of the state became the Khan of the Bulgars, who had also the obligation to defend the country against the Byzantine, while the Slavic leaders gained considerable autonomy and had to protect the Northern borders along the Carpathian mountains against the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
.
Khan Asparuh's successor, Khan Tervel
Tervel of Bulgaria
Khan Tervel also called Tarvel, or Terval, or Terbelis in some Byzantine sources, was the Emperor of the Bulgarians at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 he received the title Caesar which was a precedent in history. He was probably a Christian like his grandfather Khan Kubrat...
helped the deposed Byzantine Emperor Justinian II
Justinian II
Justinian II , surnamed the Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine Emperor of the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711...
to regain his throne in 705. In return he was given the area Zagore in Northern Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, which was the first expansion of the country to the South of the Balkan mountains. However, three years later Justinian tried to take it back by force, but his army was defeated at Anchialus
Battle of Anchialus (708)
The Battle of Anchialus occurred in 708 near the town of Pomorie, Bulgaria .- Origines of the conflict :In 705, the Bulgarian Khan Tervel helped the ex-emperor of Byzantium, Justinian II to regain his throne after 10 years in exile...
. In 716 Khan Tervel signed an important agreement
Treaty of 716
The Treaty of 716 was an agreement between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. It was signed by the son of the ruling Bulgarian Khan Tervel, Kormesiy and the Byzantine Emperor Theodosios III.- Background :...
with Byzantium. During the siege of Constantinople
Siege of Constantinople (718)
The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople was a combined land and sea effort by the Arabs to take the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. The Arab ground forces, led by Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, were held off by the massive city walls, decimated by an outbreak of plague and...
in 717–718 he sent 50,000 troops to help the besieged city. In the decisive battle the Bulgarians massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
d around 30,000 Arabs and Khan Tervel was called The saviour of Europe by his contemporaries.
Internal instability and struggle for survival
In 753 died Khan SevarSevar of Bulgaria
Sevar was a ruler of Bulgaria in the 8th century.The Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans, which states that he belonged to the royal Dulo clan and ruled for 15 years. According to the chronology developed by Moskov, Sevar would have reigned 721–737...
who was the last scion of the Dulo clan
Dulo clan
The Dulo Clan or the House of Dulo was the name of the ruling dynasty of the early Bulgars.This was the clan of Kubrat who founded Old Great Bulgaria, and his sons Batbayan, Kuber and Asparuh, the latter of which founded Danube Bulgaria....
. With his death the Khanate fell into a long political crisis during which the young country was on the verge of destruction. In just 15 years, seven Khans ruled, all of whom were murdered. There were two main factions; some nobles wanted uncompromising war against the Byzantines, while others searched for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. That instability was used by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V
Constantine V
Constantine V was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; ); .-Early life:...
(745–775) who launched nine major campaigns aiming at the elimination of Bulgaria. In 763 he defeated the Bulgarian Khan Telets
Telets of Bulgaria
Telets was the ruler of Bulgaria from 762 to 765.According to the Namelist of Bulgarian Rulers, Telets reigned for 3 years "instead of another", and he was a member of the Ugain clan. This is corroborated by the Byzantine sources, which indicate that Telets replaced the legitimate rulers of...
at Anchialus
Battle of Anchialus (763)
The battle of Anchialus occurred in 763, near the town of Pomorie on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast . The result was a Byzantine victory.- Origins of the conflict :...
, but the Byzantines were unable to advance further North. In 775 Khan Telerig
Telerig of Bulgaria
Telerig was the ruler of Bulgaria 768–777.Although Telerig is first mentioned in the Byzantine sources in 774, he is considered the immediate successor of Pagan, who was murdered in 768...
, by tricking Constantine to reveal those loyal to him in the Bulgarian Court, executed all the Byzantine spies in the capital Pliska
Pliska
Pliska is the name of both the first capital of Danubian Bulgaria and a small town which was renamed after the historical Pliska after its site was determined and excavations began....
. Under his successor Khan Kardam
Kardam of Bulgaria
Kardam was the ruler of Bulgaria .The name of Kardam is first encountered in the Byzantine sources in 791, when Emperor Constantine VI embarked on an expedition against Bulgaria, in retaliation for Bulgarian incursions in the Struma valley since 789. Kardam pre-empted the Byzantine invasion and...
, the war took a favourable turn after the great victory in the battle of Marcelae
Battle of Marcelae
The Battle of Marcellae took place in 792 at Markeli, near the modern town of Karnobat in south eastern Bulgaria. It is not to be confused with the earlier battle at the same place.-Prelude:...
in 792. The Byzantines were thoroughly defeated and forced once again to pay tribute to the Khans. As a result of the victory, the crisis was finally overwhelmed and Bulgaria entered the new century stable, stronger and consolidated.
Territorial expansion
Krum of Bulgaria
Krum the Horrible was Khan of Bulgaria, from after 796, but before 803, to 814 AD. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper and from Odrin to the Tatra Mountains. His able and energetic rule brought law and order to Bulgaria and...
(803–814), also known as Crummus and Keanus Magnus, Bulgaria expanded Northwest and Southwards, occupying the lands between middle Danube and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, the whole territory of present-day Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
in 809 and Adrianople (modern Odrin) in 813, and threatening Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
itself. Between 804 and 806 the Bulgarian armies thoroughly eliminated the Avar Khanate and a border with the Frankish Empire
Frankish Empire
Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
was established along the middle Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. In 811 a large Byzantine army was decisively defeated in the battle of the Varbitsa Pass
Battle of Pliska
The Battle of Pliska or Battle of Vărbitsa Pass was a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Nicephorus I Genik, and Bulgaria, governed by Khan Krum...
. The Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I was slain along with most of his troops and his skull was used as a drinking cup. Krum immediately took the initiative and moved the war towards Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, defeating the Byzantines once more at Versinikia
Battle of Versinikia
The Battle of Versinikia was fought in 813 between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, near the city of Adrianople in contemporary Turkey....
in 813. After a treacherous Byzantine attempt to kill the Khan during negotiations, Krum pillaged the whole of Thrace, seized Odrin and resettled its 10,000 inhabitants in "Bulgaria across the Danube
Bulgarian lands across the Danube
In the Middle Ages the Bulgarian Empire controlled vast areas to the north of the river Danube from its establishment in 681 to its fall in 1396. These lands were called by contemporary Byzantine historians Bulgaria across the Danube...
". He made enhanced preparation to capture Constantinople: 5,000 iron-plated waggons were built to carry the siege equipment, the Byzantines even pleaded for help from the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
. Due to the sudden death of the great Khan, however, the campaign was never launched. Khan Krum implemented law reform, which established equal rules and punishment for all peoples, living within the country's boundaries, intending to reduce the poverty and to strengthen the social ties in his vastly enlarged state.
Khan Omurtag (814–831) concluded a 30-year peace treaty
Treaty of 815
The Treaty of 815 was a 30-year peace agreement signed in Constantinople between the Bulgarian Khan Omurtag and the Byzantine Emperor Leo V the Armenian.- Background :...
with the Byzantines, thus allowing both countries to restore their economy and finance after the bloody conflicts in the first decade of the century. During his reign, the Northwestern boundaries with the Frankish Empire were firmly settled along the middle Danube by 827. Extensive building was undertaken in the capital Pliska, which included the construction of a magnificent palace, pagan temples, ruler's residence, fortress, citadel, water-main and bath; mainly from stone and brick.
During the short reign of Khan Malamir
Malamir of Bulgaria
Malamir was the ruler of Bulgaria 831–836.Malamir was a son of Omurtag and a grandson of Krum. His name may be of Slavic origin, and is claimed to be the first Bulgar khan to possess a Slavic name; however another theory is that it was an Iranian name, as there is an Iranian city named Malamir...
(831–836), the important city of Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
was incorporated into the country. Under Khan Presian (836–852), the Bulgarians took most of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
and the borders of the country reached the Adriatic
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
and Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
s. The Byzantine historians do not mention any resistance against the Bulgarian expansion in Macedonia, which bring the conclusion that it was largely peaceful. Between 839 and 842 the Bulgarians waged war on the Serbs, but did not make any progress for three years.
Bulgaria under Boris I
The reign of Boris IBoris I of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...
(852–889) began with numerous setbacks. For ten years the country fought against the Byzantine and Eastern Frankish Empires, Great Moravia
Great Moravia
Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
, the Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
forming several unsuccessful alliances and changing sides. In August 863 there was a period of 40 days of earthquakes and there was a lean year, which caused famine throughout the country. To cap it all, there was an incursion of locusts.
Christianization
In 864 the Byzantines under Michael IIIMichael III
Michael III , , Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian-Phrygian Dynasty...
invaded Bulgaria on suspicions that Khan Boris I prepared to accept Christianity in accordance with the Western rites. Upon the news of the invasion, Boris I started negotiations for peace. The Byzantines returned some lands in Macedonia and their single demand was that he accept Christianity from Constantinople rather than Rome. Khan Boris I agreed to that term and was baptised in September 865 assuming the name of his godfather, Byzantine Emperor Michael, and became Boris-Mihail. The pagan title "Khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
" was abolished and the title "Knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
" assumed in its place. The reason for the conversion to Christianity, however, was not the Byzantine invasion. The Bulgarian ruler was indeed a man of vision and he foresaw that the introduction of a single religion would complete the consolidation of the emerging Bulgarian nation, which was still divided on a religious basis. He also knew that his state was not fully respected by Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Europe and its treaties could have been ignored by other signatories on religious basis.
Тhe Byzantines' goal was to achieve with peace what they were unable to after two centuries of warfare: to slowly absorb Bulgaria through the Christian religion and turn it into a satellite state, as naturally, the highest posts in the newly founded Bulgarian Church were to be held by Byzantines who preached in the Greek language. Knyaz Boris I was well aware of that fact and after Constantinople refused to grant autonomy of the Bulgarian Church in 866, he sent a delegation to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
declaring his desire to accept Christianity in accordance with the Western rites along with 115 questions to Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Nicolas I
Pope Nicholas I
Pope Nicholas I, , or Saint Nicholas the Great, reigned from April 24, 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority and power, exerting decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe.He...
. The Bulgarian ruler desired to take advantage of the rivalry between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople as his main goal was the establishment of an independent Bulgarian Church in order to prevent both the Byzantines and the Catholics from exerting influence in his lands through religion. The Pope's detailed answers to Boris' questions were delivered by two bishops heading a mission whose purpose was to facilitate the conversion of the Bulgarian people. However, Nicolas I and his successor Pope Adrian II
Pope Adrian II
Pope Adrian II , , pope from December 14, 867 to December 14, 872, was a member of a noble Roman family, and became pope in 867, at an advanced age....
also refused to recognize an autonomous Bulgarian Church, which cooled the relations between the two sides, but Bulgaria's shift towards Rome made the Byzantines much more conciliatory. In 870, at the Fourth Council of Constantinople, the Bulgarian Church was recognized as an Autonomous
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
under the supreme direction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. It was the first Church officially accepted, apart from the Churches of Rome and Constantinople. Eventually, in 893, the Old Bulgarian
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
language became the third official language, recognized by the Churches and used during services and in Christian literature.
Creation of the Slavic Writing System
Although the Bulgarian Knyaz succeeded in securing an autonomous Church, its higher clergy and theological books were still Greek, which impeded the efforts to convert the populace to the new religion. Between 860 and 863 the Byzantine monks of Greek origin Saint CyrilSaints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
and Saint Methodius created the Glagolitic alphabet
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
, the first Slavic alphabet by order of the Byzantine Emperor, who aimed to convert Great Moravia
Great Moravia
Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
to Orthodox Christianity. However, these attempts failed and in 886 their disciples Clement of Ohrid
Clement of Ohrid
Saint Clement of Ohrid was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was the most prominent disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, especially their popularisation among...
, Naum of Preslav and Angelarius, who were banished from Great Moravia, reached Bulgaria and were warmly welcomed by Boris I. The Bulgarian Knyaz commissioned the creation of two theological academies to be headed by the disciples where the future Bulgarian clergy was to be instructed in the local vernacular. Clement was sent to Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
in Southwestern Bulgaria, where he taught 3,500 pupils between 886 and 893. Naum established the literary school in the capital Pliska
Pliska
Pliska is the name of both the first capital of Danubian Bulgaria and a small town which was renamed after the historical Pliska after its site was determined and excavations began....
, moved later to the new capital Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
. During the Council of Preslav
Council of Preslav
The People's Council of Preslav took place in 893. It was among the most important events in the history of the First Bulgarian Empire and was a cornerstone of the Christianization of Bulgaria under prince Boris I.-Background and sources:...
in 893, Bulgaria adopted the Glagolitic alphabet
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
and Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
(Old Bulgarian) language as official language of the church and state, and expelled the Byzantine clergy. In the early 10th century the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
was created at the Preslav Literary School
Preslav Literary School
The Preslav Literary School was the first literary school in the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It was established by Boris I in 885 or 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pliska...
.
The Golden Age
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
and Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
in the South, Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
in the West and controlled the whole of present-day Romania and Eastern Hungary to the North. Serbian state came into existence in the mid-9th century as a response to the Bulgarian expansion West of the Morava. Switching loyalties between Bulgaria and the Byzantines, the Serb rulers successfully resisted several Bulgarian invasions until 924 AD, when it was fully subordinated under the general and possibly Count of Sofia Marmais
Marmais
Marmais was a Bulgarian military commander, noble and komita of a western Bulgarian region during the reign of Emperor Simeon I . He was a descendant of an ancient Bulgarian family...
. Under Tsar Simeon I
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
(Simeon the Great), who was educated in Constantinople, Bulgaria became again a serious threat to the Byzantine Empire and reached its greatest territorial extension. Simeon I hoped to take Constantinople and fought a series of wars with the Byzantines throughout his long reign (893–927). The border close to the end of his rule reached the Northern limits of Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
in the South. Simeon I styled himself "Emperor (Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
) of the Bulgarians and Autocrat of the Greeks", a title which was recognized by the Pope, but not of course by the Byzantine Emperor nor the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
. He was recognized "Emperor (Tsar) of the Bulgarians" by the Byzantine Emperor and the Patriarch only at the end of his rule.
Between 894 and 896 he defeated the Byzantines and their allies the Magyars in the so called "Trade War" because the pretext of the war was the shifting of the Bulgarian market from Constantinople to Solun
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. In the decisive battle of Bulgarophygon
Battle of Bulgarophygon
The Battle of Boulgarophygon or Battle of Bulgarophygon was fought in the summer of 896 near the town of Bulgarophygon, modern Babaeski in Turkey, between the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire...
the Byzantine army was routed and the war ended with favourable for Bulgaria peace which was, however, often violated by Simeon I. In 904 he captured Solun which was previously looted by the Arabs and returned it to the Byzantines only after Bulgaria received all Slavic-populated areas in Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
and 20 fortress in Albania, including the important town Drach
Durrës
Durrës is the second largest city of Albania located on the central Albanian coast, about west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically important cities of Albania. Durres is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari...
.
After the unrest in the Byzantine Empire that followed the death of Emperor Alexander in 913, Simeon I invaded Byzantine Thrace, but was persuaded to stop in return for official recognition of his Imperial title and marriage of his daughter to the infant Emperor Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
. Simeon I was supposed to become regent of the Emperor and temporary to rule the Byzantine Empire. However, after a plot in the Byzantine court, the mother of Emperor Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
, Empress Zoe, rejected the marriage and Simeon's title, and both sides prepared for a decisive battle. By 917 Simeon I broke every attempts of his enemy to form an alliance with the Magyars, the Pechenegs and the Serbs, and Byzantines were forced to fight alone. On 20 August the two armies clashed at Anchialus in one of the greatest battles in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The Byzantines suffered an unprecedented defeat leaving 70,000 killed on the battlefield. The pursuing Bulgarian forces defeated the reminder of the enemy armies at Katasyrtai
Battle of Katasyrtai
The battle of Katasyrtai occurred in the fall of 917, shortly after the striking Bulgarian triumph at Acheloos near the village of the same names close to the Byzantine capital Constantinople, . The result was a Bulgarian victory....
. However, Constantinople was saved by a Serb attack from the West; the Serbs were thoroughly defeated, but that gave precious time for the Byzantine admiral and later Emperor Romanos Lakepanos
Romanos I
Romanos I Lekapenos was Byzantine Emperor from 920 until his deposition on December 16, 944.-Origin:...
to prepare the defense of the city. In the following decade the Bulgarians gained control of the whole Balkan peninsula with the exception of Constantinople and Pelopones.
In a Croatian–Bulgarian battle of 927, (also often called the Battle of the Bosnian Highlands), Duke Alogobotur
Alogobotur
Alogobotur was a Bulgarian noble and military commander during the reign of Tsar Simeon the Great . He was probably a komit of one of Bulgaria's provinces....
attacked Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...
. The Croatian forces under the leadership of their King Tomislav, completely devastated the Bulgarian army, and stopped Simeon's extension westwards.
Decline
Rascia
Rascia was a medieval region that served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. The term has been used to refer to various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages...
. The biggest blow came from the North: between 934 and 965 the country suffered five Magyar invasions. In 944 Bulgaria was attacked by the Pechenegs, who looted the Northeastern regions of the Empire. Under Peter I
Peter I of Bulgaria
Peter I was emperor of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969.-Early reign:Peter I was the son of Simeon I of Bulgaria by his second marriage to Maria Sursuvul, the sister of George Sursuvul. Peter had been born early in the 10th century, but it appears that his maternal uncle was very influential at...
and Boris II
Boris II of Bulgaria
Boris II was emperor of Bulgaria from 969 to 977 .-Reign:Boris II was the eldest surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria and Maria Lakapena, a granddaughter of Emperor Romanos I Lakapenos of Byzantium...
the country was divided by the egalitarian religious heresy of the Bogomils
Bogomilism
Bogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar I in the 10th century...
.
In 968 the country was attacked by the Kievan Rus
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
, whose leader, Svyatoslav I
Sviatoslav I of Kiev
Sviatoslav I Igorevich ; , also spelled Svyatoslav, was a prince of Rus...
, took Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
and established his capital at Preslavets
Pereyaslavets
Pereyaslavets or Preslavets was a trade city located at the mouth of the Danube...
. Three years later, Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes
John I Tzimiskes
John I Tzimiskes or Tzimisces, was Byzantine Emperor from December 11, 969 to January 10, 976. A brilliant and intuitive general, John's short reign saw the expansion of the empire's borders and the strengthening of Byzantium itself.- Background :...
interfered in the struggle and defeated Svyatoslav at Dorostolon. Boris II was captured and ritually divested of his imperial title in Constantinople, and eastern Bulgaria was proclaimed a Byzantine protectorate.
Fall
After the Byzantine betrayal, the lands to the west of the Iskar River remained in Bulgarian hands and resistance against the Byzantines was headed by the Comitopuli brothers. By 976, the fourth brother, SamuilSamuil of Bulgaria
Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...
concentrated all power in his hands after the deaths of his eldest brother. When the rightful heir to the throne, Roman
Roman of Bulgaria
Roman was emperor of Bulgaria from 977 to 997 .-Reign:Roman was the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria by his marriage with Maria Lakapene, the granddaughter of the Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lakapenos...
, escaped from captivity in Constantinople, he was recognized as Emperor by Samuil in Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
and the later remained the chief commander of the Bulgarian army. A brilliant general and good politician, he managed to turn the fortunes to the Bulgarians. The new Byzantine Emperor Basil II was decisively defeated in the battle of the Gates of Trajan
Battle of the Gates of Trajan
The Battle of the Gates of Trajan was a battle between Byzantine and Bulgarian forces in the year 986. It took place in the pass of the same name, modern Trayanovi Vrata, in Sofia Province, Bulgaria. It was the largest defeat of the Byzantines under Emperor Basil II...
in 986 and barely escaped. Five years later he eliminated the Serbian state of Rascia. In 997, following the death of Roman, who was the last heir of the Krum dynasty, Samuil was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria. After 1001, however, the war turned in favor of the Byzantines, who in that same year captured the old capitals Pliska and Preslav, and beginning ub 1004 launched annual campaigns against Bulgaria. The Byzantines further benefited from a war between Bulgaria and the newly established Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
1003.
The Byzantine victories of Spercheios
Battle of Spercheios
The Battle of Spercheios took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the river of the same name in present-day central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, that in the previous year had penetrated far south into Greece, and a Byzantine army under the command of Nikephoros...
and Skopje decisively weakened the Bulgarian army and, in annual campaigns, Basil methodically reduced the Bulgarian strongholds. Eventually, at the Battle of Kleidion
Battle of Kleidion
The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...
in 1014, the Bulgarians were completely defeated. The Bulgarian army was captured; it is said that 99 out of every 100 men were blinded, with the remaining hundredth man left with one eye so as to lead his compatriots home (earning Basil the moniker "Bulgaroktonos"-the Bulgar Killer). When Tsar Samuil saw the broken remains of his army, he suffered a heart attack and died. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered and the First Bulgarian Empire was abolished.
Culture
Pliska
Pliska is the name of both the first capital of Danubian Bulgaria and a small town which was renamed after the historical Pliska after its site was determined and excavations began....
and Preslav
Preslav
Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...
where most of the surviving monuments are concentrated. Many monuments of that period have been found around Madara
Madara (village)
Madara is a village in northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen municipality, Shumen Province. Madara lies east of the city of Shumen, at the western foot of the Madara plateau....
, Shumen
Shumen
Shumen is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and capital of Shumen Province. In the period 1950–1965 it was called Kolarovgrad, after the name of the communist leader Vasil Kolarov...
, Novi Pazar
Novi Pazar, Bulgaria
-External links:*...
, the village of Han Krum
Han Krum (village)
Han Krum is a village in the municipality of Preslav, Shumen Province, north-eastern Bulgaria. As of 2007 it has 408 inhabitants.Up to 1899 the village was called Chatalar and was then renamed to Tsar Krum and in 1977 to Khan Krum, after Krum who ruled Bulgaria between 803 and 814...
in north-eastern Bulgaria, as well in the territory of modern Romania where the Romanian archaeologists called it the Dridu culture Remains left by the First Empire have been discovered in southern Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, now divided between Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
.
Architecture
The most important feature of the early Bulgarian architecture was the monumental construction known to the RomansNames of the Greeks
The Greeks have been called by several names, both by themselves and by other people. The most common native ethnonym is Hellenes ; the name Greeks was used by the Romans and then in all European languages....
but which was not used in the contemporary Byzantine Empire. There were two main types of construction employed in the building of Pliska. For the first one the construction matherials were timber and bricks. The second type was construction of defensive walls using large carved limestone blocks put together with plaster. The same method was used in the construction of the fortress of Preslav, the military camp at Han Krum, the hunting palace in Madara or in the fortress on the island of Păcuiul lui Soare. Fortresses were mainly situated in the plains unlike those constructed during the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
.
After the adoption of Christianity in 864 there was intensive construction of churches and monasteries throughout the Empire including the Great Basilica of Pliska
Great Basilica of Pliska
The Great Basilica of Pliska is an architectural complex in Pliska, the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire , which includes a cathedral, an archbishop's palace and a monastery...
which was one of the biggest structures of the time with its length of 99 m and the splendid Golden Church in Preslav
Round Church, Preslav
The Round Church , also known as the Golden Church or the Church of St John , is a large partially preserved early medieval Eastern Orthodox church. It lies in Preslav, the former capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, today a town in northeastern Bulgaria...
. The churches built during that period were mostly with three nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
s. The Bulgarian capital was also famous for its ceramics which adorned the public and religious buildings. Beautiful icons and church altars were made of special ceramic tiles. There were numerous goldsmith and silversmith workshops who produced fine jewellery.
Ceramics
The main sources for Bulgarian domestic use-oriented pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
are the necropoleis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...
at Novi Pazar, Devnya
Devnya
Devnya is a town in Varna Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located about 25 km away to the west from the city of Varna and The Black Sea Coast. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Devnya Municipality...
and Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
. The vessels were made with a potter's wheel
Potter's wheel
In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in asma of round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during process of trimming the excess body from dried ware and for applying incised decoration or rings of color...
, unlike Slavic practice. Two-storey ovens were used for the annealing of the pottery. The shape and decoration of the early Bulgarian pottery was similar to that found in northern Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and the shores of the Sea of Azov
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...
.
Literature
The Bulgarian literatureBulgarian literature
Bulgarian literature is literature written by Bulgarians or residents of Bulgaria, or written in the Bulgarian language; usually the latter is the defining feature...
is the oldest Slavic literature. Missionaries from Thessalonica, Cyril
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
and Methodius, devised the Glagolitic alphabet
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
, which was adopted in the Bulgarian Empire around 886. The alphabet and the Old Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
language gave rise to a rich literary and cultural activity centered around the Preslav
Preslav Literary School
The Preslav Literary School was the first literary school in the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It was established by Boris I in 885 or 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pliska...
and Ohrid
Ohrid Literary School
The Ohrid Literary School was one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centres, along with the Preslav Literary School . The school was established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on orders of Boris I of Bulgaria simultaneously or shortly after the establishment of the Preslav...
Schools, established by order of Boris I in 886. In the beginning of 10th century AD, a new alphabet—the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
- was developed on the basis of Greek and Glagolitic cursive at the Preslav Literary School
Preslav Literary School
The Preslav Literary School was the first literary school in the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It was established by Boris I in 885 or 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pliska...
. According to an alternative theory, the alphabet was devised at the Ohrid Literary School by Saint Clement of Ohrid
Clement of Ohrid
Saint Clement of Ohrid was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was the most prominent disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, especially their popularisation among...
, a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Cyril and Methodius. A pious monk and hermit St. Ivan of Rila
John of Rila
Saint John of Rila was the first Bulgarian hermit. He was revered as a saint while he was still alive. The legend surrounding him tells of wild animals that freely came up to him and birds that landed in his hands. His followers founded many churches in his honor, including the famous Rila...
(Ivan Rilski, 876–946), became the patron saint of Bulgaria.
During his reign Simeon gathered many scholars in his court who translated enormous number of books from Greek and wrote many new works. Among the most prominent figures were Constantine of Preslav
Constantine of Preslav
Constantine of Preslav was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and translator, one of the most important men of letters working at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. Biographical evidence about his life is scarce but he is believed to have...
, John Exarch
John Exarch
John Exarch was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and translator, one of the most important men of letters working at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. Evidence about his life is scarce but his literary legacy suggests an excellent...
and Chernorizets Hrabar
Chernorizets Hrabar
Chernorizets Hrabar was a Bulgarian monk, scholar and writer who worked at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, developing Medieval Bulgarian literature and spreading Old Church Slavonic.- Name :...
who is believed by some historians to have been Simeon himself. Chernorizets Hrabar wrote his popular work An Account of Letters, Clement of Ohrid worked on translations from Greek and is credited with several important religious books, John Exarch
John Exarch
John Exarch was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and translator, one of the most important men of letters working at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. Evidence about his life is scarce but his literary legacy suggests an excellent...
wrote his Shestodnev and translated On Orthodox Christianity by John of Damascus
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
, Naum of Preslav also had a significant contribution. Bulgarian scholars and works influenced most of the Slavic world, spreading Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
, the Cyrillic and the Glagolithic alphabet to Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
, medieval Serbia, medieval Croatia, and also to non-Slavic medieval Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
and Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
.
Religion
After the creation of the Bulgarian state the Bulgars and the Slavs continued to practice their indigenous religions. The Bulgar religion was monotheistic and they believed in TangraTengri
Tengri or Tengger Tengri or Tengger Tengri or Tengger (Old Turkic: ; Mongolian: Тэнгэр, Tenger; Chinese: 腾格里, Mandarin: Ténggélǐ, Hungarian: Tengri, Turkish: Tanrı, Bulgarian: Tangra (Тангра) is a sky god, formerly the chief deity of the early Turkic peoples, including the Xiongnu, Huns, Bulgars,...
, the God of the Sky. When Omurtag
Omurtag of Bulgaria
Omurtag was a Great Khan of Bulgaria from 814 to 831. He is known as "the Builder".In the very beginning of his reign he signed a 30-year peace treaty with the neighboring Eastern Roman Empire which remained in force to the end of his life...
and Leo V the Armenian
Leo V the Armenian
Leo V the Armenian was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 813 to 820. A senior general, he forced his predecessor, Michael I Rangabe, to abdicate and assumed the throne. He ended the decade-long war with the Bulgars, and initiated the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm...
concluded a peace treaty in 815, the Byzantine Emperor had to make an oath according to the Bulgarian traditions. The Byzantine historians recorded that the "most Christian" ruler had to perform different pagan rites including cutting dogs and use them as witnesses for his oath. The Slavs worshipped numerous deities. Their supreme god was Perun
Perun
In Slavic mythology, Perun is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. His other attributes were the fire, mountains, the oak, iris, eagle, firmament , horses and carts, weapons and war...
. There are evidences that Christianity remained widespread in Bulgaria during the first 150 years of existence of the state.
In the mid 9th century Boris I decided to adopt Christianity in order to unite firmly the population of the country.
See also
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Medieval Bulgarian Army The medieval Bulgarian army was the primary military body of the First and the Second Bulgarian Empires. During the first decades after the foundation of the country, the army consisted of a Bulgar cavalry and a Slavic infantry. The core of the Bulgarian army was the heavy cavalry, which consisted... Ahtum Ahtum, also Achtum or Ajtony , was a local ruler in the region of Banat in the first decades of the 11th century. King Saint Stephen I of Hungary sent Csanád - one of Ahtum’s former retainers - to fight against him... - Bulgarian who established the Voivodeship of Ahtum, north of the Bulgarian empire Bulgarian-Hungarian Wars The Bulgarian–Hungarian wars were a series of conflicts which took place between the Bulgarian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary between the 9th and 14th centuries... Bulgarian-Serbian Wars (medieval) The Bulgarian-Serbian wars were a series of conflicts which took place between the Bulgarian Empire and the medieval Serbian states of Raška, Duklja and the Kingdom of Serbia between the 9th and 14th centuries... Croatian-Bulgarian wars The Croatian-Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts that erupted three times during the 9th and 10th centuries between the medieval realms of Croatia and Bulgaria... Comitopuli dynasty The Cometopuli dynasty was the last royal dynasty in the First Bulgarian Empire, ruling from ca. 976 until the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018. The most notable member of the dynasty, tsar Samuel is famous for successfully resisting Byzantine conquest for more than 40 years.-Origin... |