Nestoritsa was a Bulgarian

Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 noble and general during the reign of Emperors Samuil

Samuil 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...

 (997-1014); Gavril Radomir

Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria

Gavril Radomir , normally rendered as Gabriel Radomir in English and Gavriil Romanos in Greek, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of Samuel of Bulgaria. During his father's reign, his cousin Ivan Vladislav and Ivan's entire...

 (1014–1015) and Ivan Vladislav

Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria

Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....

 (1015–1018). He was one of 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...

's most skilful military commanders.

In 1014 when the Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 Emperor 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...

 was stopped by the wooden palisade around the village of Klyutch, Samuil decided to draw Basil's attention from there and sent Nestoritsa with a large army to strike in southern direction. Nestoritsa marched through the Vardar

Vardar

The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is long, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of river is ....

 valley to the second-biggest Byzantine city, Thessaloniki

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 vicinity of the city the Bulgarians were engaged by enemy forces under the governor of Solun Theophylactus Botaniates

Theophylactus Botaniates

Theophylact Botaniates was an 11th-century Byzantine general and governor of Thessalonica. In 1014 the Byzantine Emperor Basil II invaded Bulgaria and reached the ramparts around the village of Klyuch . To distract his attention, the Bulgarian emperor Samuel sent a large army under Nestoritsa...

 and his son Michail. The battle was bloody with heavy casualties for both sides but in the end the Byzantines emerged victorious and captured many soldiers and weapons. Soon after that followed the major defeat in 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...

.

Despite the defeat the Bulgarian resistance continued for four more years until the death of Emperor Ivan Vladislav finally broke the spirit for struggle and many noble decided to surrender keeping their title. Nestoritsa was among them surrendered with his troops to Basil II in the late 1018 along with Lasaritsa and Dobromir.