220-566: The First Bulgarian Empire ( Church Slavonic : блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ , romanized: blŭgarĭsko tsěsarǐstvije ; Bulgarian : Първо българско царство) was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars , led by Asparuh , moved south to the northeastern Balkans . There they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of
440-694: A 30-year peace treaty with the Byzantines establishing the border along the Erkesia trench between Debeltos on the Black Sea and the valley of the Maritsa River at Kalugerovo , thus allowing both countries to restore their economies and finance after the bloody conflicts in the first decade of the century. To the west the Bulgarians were in control of Belgrade (whose modern name was first known as Alba Bulgarica ) by
660-464: A bitter war after resolving to discontinue paying an annual tribute to Bulgaria. However, the military and ideological initiative was held by Simeon I, who was seeking casus belli to fulfil his ambition to be recognized as Emperor (in Bulgarian, Tsar ) and to conquer Constantinople, creating a joint Bulgarian–Roman state. In 917, the Bulgarian army dealt a crushing defeat to the Byzantines at
880-558: A series of successful campaigns against the Kingdom of Georgia . Despite near-constant warfare, Basil distinguished himself as an administrator, reducing the power of the great land-owning families who dominated the Empire's administration and military, filling its treasury, and leaving it with its greatest expanse in four centuries. Although his successors were largely incapable rulers, the Empire flourished for decades after Basil's death. One of
1100-512: A decisive victory over the Magyars , forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia . The ruling Bulgars and other non-Slavic tribes in the empire gradually mixed and adopted the prevailing Slavic language , thus gradually forming the Bulgarian nation from the 7th to the 10th century. Since the 10th century, the demonym Bulgarian gained prevalence and became permanent designations for
1320-569: A garrison at Larissa , and burnt three minor forts in the vicinity of Abu Qubais , Masyath and Arca . The siege of Tripoli in December failed while Emesa was not threatened. Basil's attention was diverted to developments in Georgia following the murder of David III Kuropalates ; he departed for Cilicia in January and dispatched another embassy to Cairo. In 1000, a ten-year truce was concluded between
1540-506: A greater or lesser extent. The Russian Orthodox Church, which contains around half of all Orthodox believers, still holds its liturgies almost entirely in Church Slavonic. However, there exist parishes which use other languages (where the main problem has been a lack of good translations). Examples include: What follows is a list of modern recensions or dialects of Church Slavonic. For a list and descriptions of extinct recensions, see
1760-500: A habit of rolling between his fingers when deep in thought or angry—and in later life a scant beard. Psellos also states that Basil was not an articulate speaker and had a loud laugh that convulsed his whole frame. Basil is described as having ascetic tastes and caring little for the pomp and ceremony of the Imperial court, typically wearing a sombre, dark-purple robe furnished with few of the gems that usually decorated imperial costumes. He
1980-540: A heart attack at the grisly sight and died two days later, on 6 October. Resistance continued for four more years under Gavril Radomir (r. 1014–1015) and Ivan Vladislav (r. 1015–1018), but after the demise of the latter during the siege of Dyrrhachium the nobility surrendered to Basil II and Bulgaria was annexed by the Byzantine Empire. The Bulgarian aristocracy kept its privileges, although many noblemen were transferred to Asia Minor , thus depriving
2200-563: A liberator, but Boris II was promptly forced to ritually abdicate in Constantinople. Although at the time the Byzantines controlled only the eastern regions of the country, Bulgaria was proclaimed a Byzantine province. The lands to the west of the Iskar River remained free and the Bulgarians were able to regroup headed by the four Cometopuli brothers. By 976, the youngest of them, Samuel , concentrated all power in his hands following
2420-648: A liturgical and literary language in all Orthodox countries north of the Mediterranean region during the Middle Ages , even in places where the local population was not Slavic (especially in Romania ). In recent centuries, however, Church Slavonic was fully replaced by local languages in the non-Slavic countries. Even in some of the Slavic Orthodox countries, the modern national language is now used for liturgical purposes to
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#17330854275992640-706: A major victory at the Battle of the Orontes against Bourtzes. Bourtzes' defeat forced Basil to intervene personally in the East; with his army, he rode through Asia Minor to Aleppo in sixteen days, arriving in April 995. Basil's sudden arrival and the exaggeration of his army's strength circulating in the Fatimid camp caused panic in the Fatimid army, especially because Manjutakin, expecting no threat, had ordered his cavalry horses to be dispersed around
2860-521: A marriage between his son and heir Gavril Radomir and Stephen's daughter, but eventually Gavril Radomir expelled his wife, and in 1004 Hungary participated with the Byzantine forces against Bulgaria. After 1000 the tides of the war turned in favor of the Byzantines under the personal leadership of Basil II, who launched annual campaigns of methodical conquest of the Bulgarian cities and strongholds that were sometimes carried out in all twelve months of
3080-483: A marriage would have no precedent in Imperial annals. Vladimir had researched various religions, having sent delegates to various countries. Marriage was not his main reason for choosing Christianity . When Vladimir promised to baptize himself and to convert his people to Christianity , Basil finally agreed. Vladimir and Anna were married in Crimea in 989. The Rus' warriors taken into Basil's army were instrumental in ending
3300-512: A number of fortresses, but after his death the empire was unable to face the threat of the Slavs due to the significant reduction of revenue and manpower. The Slavs , of Indo-European origin, were first mentioned in written sources to inhabit the territories to the north of the Danube in the 5th century AD, but most historians agree that they had arrived earlier. The group of Slavs that came to be known as
3520-417: A period of 40 years of peaceful relations between the two powers. During the first years of his reign, Peter I faced revolts by two of his three brothers, John in 928 and Michael in 930, but both were quelled. During most of his subsequent rule until 965, Peter I presided over a Golden Age of the Bulgarian state in a period of political consolidation, economic expansion and cultural activity. Despite
3740-507: A process of centralisation. As Bulgaria's territory steadily expanded, measures against tribal autonomy were deemed necessary in order to achieve more effective control and to prevent separatism. When in the 820s some Slavic tribes in western Bulgaria, the Timochani, Branichevtsi and Abodriti sought overlordship from the Franks, Khan Omurtag replaced their chieftains with his own governors. The country
3960-588: A profound effect on Basil's outlook and methods of governance. Psellos describes the defeated Skleros giving Basil the following advice, which he took to heart: "Cut down the governors who become over-proud. Let no generals on campaign have too many resources. Exhaust them with unjust exactions, to keep them busied with their own affairs. Admit no woman to the imperial councils. Be accessible to no-one. Share with few your most intimate plans." To defeat these dangerous revolts, Basil formed an alliance with Prince Vladimir I of Kiev , who in 988 had captured Chersonesos ,
4180-484: A result, the borrowings into Russian are similar to native Russian words, but with South Slavic variances, e.g. (the first word in each pair is Russian, the second Church Slavonic): золото / злато ( zoloto / zlato ), город / град ( gorod / grad ), горячий / горящий ( goryačiy / goryaščiy ), рожать / рождать ( rožat’ / roždat’ ). Since the Russian Romantic era and
4400-554: A separate class. The original Bulgar titles and many of the institutions from the pagan era were preserved after the Christianisation of Bulgaria until the very fall of the First Empire. The beginning of the 9th century was marked with a process of incorporation of both Slavs and Byzantine Greeks in the ranks of the Bulgarian nobility and privileged classes, which increased the power of the monarch that had been previously curtailed by
4620-549: A strong ruler. In the early years of his reign, administration remained in the hands of Basil Lekapenos. As president of the Byzantine Senate, Lekapenos was a wily, gifted politician who hoped the young emperors would be his puppets. The younger Basil waited and watched without interfering, devoting himself to learning the details of administrative business and military science. Nikephoros II and John I were brilliant military commanders but proved to be poor administrators. Towards
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#17330854275994840-411: A strongly fortified frontier in those highlands. Other Byzantine forces restored much of Southern Italy , which had been lost during the previous 150 years. Basil was preparing a military expedition to recover the island of Sicily when he died on 15 December 1025, having had the longest reign among any Byzantine or Roman emperor. At the time of his death, the Empire stretched from southern Italy to
5060-513: A treaty with the Doge of Venice Pietro II Orseolo under terms reducing Venice's custom duties in Constantinople from 30 nomismata to 17 nomismata . In return, the Venetians agreed to transport Byzantine troops to southern Italy in times of war. According to one estimate, a Byzantine landowning farmer might expect a profit of 10.2 nomismata after paying dues for half of his best-quality land. Basil
5280-558: A variety of internal factors, Boris I converted to Christianity in 864, assuming the title Knyaz (Prince). Taking advantage of the struggle between the Papacy in Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , Boris I brilliantly manoeuvred to assert the independence of the newly established Bulgarian Church . To check the possibility of Byzantine interference in
5500-540: A village that allowed performance of pagan rituals should be transferred in its entirety to the Church, and, should a rich landowner perform them, his lands were to be sold, and the revenue shared among the poor. After the formation of the Bulgarian state the ruling elite harboured deep distrust towards the Byzantines, against whose perfidy and sudden attacks they had to maintain constant vigilance in all directions. The Byzantine Empire never relinquished its claim over all lands to
5720-408: Is actually a set of at least four different dialects (recensions or redactions; Russian : извод , izvod), with essential distinctions between them in dictionary, spelling (even in writing systems), phonetics, and other aspects. The most widespread recension, Russian, has several local sub-dialects in turn, with slightly different pronunciations. These various Church Slavonic recensions were used as
5940-409: Is also described as a capable administrator who left a well-stocked treasury upon his death. Basil supposedly despised literary culture and affected scorn for the learned classes of Byzantium. According to the 19th century historian George Finlay , Basil saw himself as "prudent, just, and devout; others considered him severe, rapacious, cruel, and bigoted. For Greek learning he cared little, and he
6160-600: Is archaic and characteristic of written high style, while the other is found in common speech. In Russia, Church Slavonic is pronounced in the same way as Russian , with some exceptions: The Old Moscow recension is in use among Old Believers and Co-Believers . The same traditional Cyrillic alphabet as in Russian Synodal recension; however, there are differences in spelling because the Old Moscow recension reproduces an older state of orthography and grammar in general (before
6380-416: Is difficult to estimate. Vasil Zlatarski and John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. suggest that they were not particularly numerous, numbering some 10,000, while Steven Runciman considers that the tribe must have been of considerable dimensions. The Bulgars settled mainly in the north-east, establishing the capital at Pliska , which was initially a colossal encampment of 23 km protected with earthen ramparts. To
6600-568: Is further confirmed in the Responsa Nicolai ad consulta Bulgarorum (Responses of Pope Nicholas I to the Questions of the Bulgarians), where Boris I wrote about primates and mediocres seu minores . Another privileged group were the tarkhans , although from the surviving inscriptions it is impossible to determine whether they belonged to the boilas or to the bagains , or were
6820-442: Is seen as a Greek national hero but is a despised figure among Bulgarians . The courtier and historian Michael Psellos , who was born towards the end of Basil's reign, gives a description of Basil in his Chronographia . Psellos describes him as a stocky man of shorter-than-average stature who nevertheless was an impressive figure on horseback. He had light-blue eyes, strongly arched eyebrows, luxuriant side whiskers —which he had
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7040-742: Is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus , Bulgaria , North Macedonia , Montenegro , Poland , Ukraine , Russia , Serbia , the Czech Republic and Slovakia , Slovenia and Croatia . The language appears also in the services of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia , the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese , and occasionally in
7260-651: Is the continuation of the liturgical tradition introduced by two Thessalonian brothers, Saints Cyril and Methodius , in the late 9th century in Nitra , a principal town and religious and scholarly center of Great Moravia (located in present-day Slovakia ). There the first Slavic translations of the Scripture and liturgy from Koine Greek were made. After the Christianization of Bulgaria in 864, Saint Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum of Preslav were of great importance to
7480-631: Is the use of Ґ in the Rusyn variant. Г is pronounced as h and Ґ is pronounced as G. For example, Blagosloveno is Blahosloveno in Rusyn variants. Typographically, Serbian and Ukrainian editions (when printed in traditional Cyrillic) are almost identical to the Russian ones. Certain visible distinctions may include: The variant differences are limited to the lack of certain sounds in Serbian phonetics (there are no sounds corresponding to letters ы and щ, and in certain cases
7700-486: The de facto ruler until 985. His reign of 49 years and 11 months was the longest of any Roman emperor . The early years of Basil's reign were dominated by civil wars against two powerful generals from the Byzantine Anatolian aristocracy: first Bardas Skleros and later Bardas Phokas , which ended shortly after Phokas' death and Skleros' submission in 989. Basil then oversaw the stabilization and expansion of
7920-585: The Byzantine Senate confirmed them as emperors with their mother as the nominal regent , de facto power passed for the time into the hands of the parakoimomenos Joseph Bringas . Theophano did not trust Bringas, however, and another enemy of the powerful parakoimomenos was Basil Lekapenos , an illegitimate , eunuch son of Emperor Romanos I – Basil's great-grandfather. Lekapenos himself had been parakoimomenos to Constantine VII and megas baioulos to Romanos II. Yet another enemy of Bringas
8140-755: The Caucasus and from the Danube to the Levant , which was its greatest territorial extent since the Muslim conquests four centuries earlier. Basil was to be buried in the last sarcophagus available in the rotunda of Constantine I in the Church of the Holy Apostles but he later asked his brother and successor Constantine VIII to be buried in the Church of St. John the Theologian ( i.e. ,
8360-601: The Chatalar Inscription : The Kanasubigi Omurtag is a divine ruler in the land where he was born. ... May God [ Tangra ] grant that the divine ruler may press down the [Byzantine] emperor with his foot so long as the Ticha flows... The second most important post in Bulgaria after the monarch was the kavhan , monopolised by the members of the tentatively known "Kavhan family". The kavhan had broad powers and commanded
8580-509: The Council of Preslav where it was decided that the capital of Bulgaria was to be moved from Pliska to Preslav , the Byzantine clergy was to be banished from the country and replaced with Bulgarian clerics, and Old Bulgarian language was to replace the Greek in liturgy. Bulgaria was to become the principal threat to the stability and security of the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century. The decisions of
8800-696: The Croatian , Slovak and Ruthenian Greek Catholics, as well as by the Roman Catholic Church (Croatian and Czech recensions). In the past, Church Slavonic was also used by the Orthodox Churches in the Romanian lands until the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as well as by Roman Catholic Croats in the Early Middle Ages . Church Slavonic represents a later stage of Old Church Slavonic , and
9020-629: The Danube by defeating – possibly with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV . During the 9th and 10th century, Bulgaria at the height of its power spread from the Danube Bend to the Black Sea and from the Dnieper River to the Adriatic Sea and became an important power in the region competing with the Byzantine Empire. As
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9240-928: The Eastern Orthodox faith and the Old Church Slavonic liturgy in the First Bulgarian Empire . The success of the conversion of the Bulgarians facilitated the conversion of the East Slavs . A major event was the development of the Cyrillic script in Bulgaria at the Preslav Literary School in the 9th century. The Cyrillic script and the liturgy in Old Church Slavonic, also called Old Bulgarian , were declared official in Bulgaria in 893. By
9460-618: The Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo, a Byzantine protectorate, perhaps expecting Basil would not interfere. Manjutakin invaded the emirate, defeated a Byzantine force under the doux of Antioch Michael Bourtzes in June 992, and laid siege to Aleppo. The city easily resisted. In early 993, after thirteen months of campaigning, a lack of supplies forced Manjutakin to return to Damascus. In 994, Manjutakin resumed his offensive and in September scored
9680-466: The Khazars in the east but after his demise Old Great Bulgaria disintegrated under strong Khazar pressure in 668 and his five sons parted with their followers. The eldest Batbayan remained in his homeland as Kubrat's successor and eventually became a Khazar vassal. The second brother Kotrag migrated to the middle Volga region and founded Volga Bulgaria . The third brother Asparuh led his people west to
9900-593: The Latin alphabet (a method used in Austro-Hungary and Czechoslovakia) just contain the letter "i" for yat. Other distinctions reflect differences between palatalization rules of Ukrainian and Russian (for example, ⟨ч⟩ is always "soft" (palatalized) in Russian pronunciation and "hard" in the Ukrainian one), different pronunciation of letters ⟨г⟩ and ⟨щ⟩ , etc. Another major difference
10120-1025: The Ostrog Bible of Ivan Fedorov (1580/1581) and as въ началѣ бѣ слово in the Elizabethan Bible of 1751, still in use in the Russian Orthodox Church. Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( Greek : Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος Basileios Porphyrogennetos ; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer ( Greek : ὁ Βουλγαροκτόνος , ho Boulgaroktónos ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but they were too young to rule. The throne thus went to two generals, Nikephoros Phokas ( r. 963–969) and John Tzimiskes (r. 969–976) before Basil became senior emperor, though his influential great-uncle Basil Lekapenos remained as
10340-462: The Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region, but some researchers say that their ethnic roots can be traced to Central Asia . They spoke a form of Turkic as their main language. The Bulgars included the tribes of Onogurs , Utigurs and Kutrigurs , among others. The first clear mention of the Bulgars in written sources dates from 480, when they served as
10560-412: The Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. The decline of the Roman Empire after the 3rd century AD and the continuous invasions of Goths and Huns left much of the region devastated, depopulated and in economic decline by the 5th century. The surviving eastern half of the Roman Empire, called by later historians the Byzantine Empire , could not exercise effective control in these territories other than in
10780-399: The Second Bulgarian Empire . The First Bulgarian Empire was a hereditary monarchy. The monarch was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces , a judge, and a high priest during the pagan period. He guided the external policy of the country and could conclude treaties personally or through authorised emissaries. In the pagan period the title of the ruler was Khan . After 864 Boris I adopted
11000-451: The battle of Achelous , resulting in Bulgaria's total military supremacy in the Balkans. In the words of Theophanes Continuatus "a bloodshed occurred, that had not happened in centuries", and Leo the Deacon witnessed piles of bones of perished soldiers on the battlefield 50 years later. The Bulgarians built on their success with further victories at Katasyrtai in 917, Pegae in 921 and Constantinople in 922. The Bulgarians also captured
11220-416: The theme of Iberia with the capital at Theodosiopolis . This forced the successor Georgian Bagratid ruler Bagrat III to recognize the new rearrangement. Bagrat's son George I , however, inherited a longstanding claim to David's succession. George, who was young and ambitious, launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates's succession to Georgia and occupied Tao in 1015–1016. He entered in an alliance with
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#173308542759911440-502: The 10 comitati . They were further divided into župi , that in turn consisted of zadrugi . The comita was appointed by the monarch, and was assisted by a tarkhan . The former had many civil and administrative functions, while the latter was responsible for military affairs. One of the few comitati known by name was Kutmichevitsa in south-western Bulgaria, corresponding to modern western Macedonia, southern Albania and north-western Greece. The first known written Bulgarian law code
11660-436: The 1650s). The most easily observable peculiarities of books in this recension are: A main difference between Russian and Ukrainian recension of Church Slavonic as well as the Russian " Civil Script " lies in the pronunciation of the letter yat (ѣ). The Russian pronunciation is the same as е [je] ~ [ʲe] whereas the Ukrainian is the same as и [i] . Greek Catholic variants of Church Slavonic books printed in variants of
11880-534: The 1760s, Lomonosov argued that Church Slavonic was the so-called "high style" of Russian, during the nineteenth century within Russia, this point of view declined. Elements of Church Slavonic style may have survived longest in speech among the Old Believers after the late-seventeenth century schism in the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian has borrowed many words from Church Slavonic. While both Russian and Church Slavonic are Slavic languages, some early Slavic sound combinations evolved differently in each branch. As
12100-413: The 560s subjugating various Bulgar and Slavic tribes in the process. Consumed in bitter wars with the Persian Sasanian Empire in the east, the Byzantines had few resources with which to confront the Slavs. The Slavs came in large numbers and the lack of political organisation made it very difficult to stop them because there was no political leader to defeat in battle and thereby force their retreat. As
12320-405: The 670s they crossed the Danube into Scythia Minor , nominally a Byzantine province, whose steppe grasslands and pastures were important for the large herd stocks of the Bulgars in addition to the grazing grounds to the west of the Dniester River already under their control. In 680 the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV (r. 668–685), having recently defeated the Arabs , led an expedition at
12540-469: The 820s, and the northwestern boundaries with the Frankish Empire were firmly settled along the middle Danube by 827. To the north-east Omurtag fought the Khazars along the Dnieper River, which was the easternmost limit of Bulgaria. Extensive building was undertaken in the capital Pliska, including the construction of a magnificent palace, pagan temples, ruler's residence, fortress, citadel, water-main, and bath, mainly from stone and brick. In 814 Omurtag began
12760-404: The Avars, creating a powerful confederation called Old Great Bulgaria , also known as Patria Onoguria , between the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Caucasus . Kubrat, who was baptised in Constantinople in 619, concluded an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) and the two countries remained in good relations until Kubrat's death between 650 and 665. Kubrat fought with
12980-428: The Black Sea. The Byzantine military successes further exacerbated the crisis in Bulgaria, but also rallied together many different factions to resist the Byzantines, as shown at the council of 766 when the nobility and the "armed people" denounced Khan Sabin with the words "Thanks to you, the Romans will enslave Bulgaria!". In 774 Khan Telerig (r. 768–777) tricked Constantine V into revealing his spies at
13200-399: The Bulgarian armies thoroughly eliminated the Avar Khaganate, which had suffered a crippling blow by the Franks in 796, and a border with the Frankish Empire was established along the middle Danube or Tisza. Prompted by the Byzantine moves to consolidate their hold on the Slavs in Macedonia and northern Greece and in response to a Byzantine raid against the country, the Bulgarians confronted
13420-441: The Bulgarian court in Pliska and had them all executed. The next year Constantine V died during a retaliatory campaign against Bulgaria. Despite being able to defeat the Bulgarians several times the Byzantines were able neither to conquer Bulgaria, nor to impose their suzerainty and a lasting peace, which is a testimony to the resilience, fighting skills and ideological coherence of the Bulgarian state. The devastation brought to
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#173308542759913640-434: The Bulgarian domination of the Balkans, restored the status of Bulgaria as a most favoured nation, abolished the commercial restrictions and obliged the Byzantine Empire to pay annual tribute. The peace treaty remained in force until 912 although Simeon I did violate it following the sack of Thessaloniki in 904, extracting further territorial concessions in Macedonia . In 913 the Byzantine emperor Alexander provoked
13860-402: The Bulgarian elite into Byzantine society. Because Bulgaria did not have a monetary economy to the same extent as Byzantium, Basil decided to accept Bulgarian taxes in kind. Basil's successors reversed this policy, a decision that led to considerable Bulgarian discontent and rebellion later in the 11th century. Although the Kievan Rus' had broken the power of the Khazar Khaganate in the 960s,
14080-438: The Bulgarian elite. It is likely that the relationship between the politically dominant Bulgars and the more numerous Slavs was the main issue behind the struggle but there is no evidence about the aims of the rival factions. Zlatarski speculates that the old Bulgar military aristocracy was leaning towards war while other Bulgars supported by the majority of the Slavs were inclined for peace with Byzantium. The internal instability
14300-409: The Bulgarians and the later submission of the Serbs fulfilled one of Basil's goals; the Empire regained its ancient Danubian frontier for the first time in 400 years. The rulers of neighbouring Croatia, Krešimir III and Gojslav , who were previously allies of Bulgaria, accepted Basil's supremacy to avoid the same fate as Bulgaria; Basil warmly received their offers of vassalage and awarded them
14520-411: The Bulgarians of their natural leaders. Although the Bulgarian Patriarchate was demoted to the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima and all Bulgaria (Archbishopric of Ohrid) , it retained its sees and enjoyed a privileged autonomy. Despite several major attempts at restoring its independence, Bulgaria remained under Byzantine rule until the brothers Asen and Peter liberated the country in 1185, establishing
14740-399: The Bulgarians to counter-attack in 1009 was defeated at the Battle of Kreta , to the east of Thessalonica. In 1014, Basil was ready to launch a campaign aimed at destroying Bulgarian resistance. On 29 July 1014, in the Battle of Kleidion , he and his general Nikephoros Xiphias outmaneuvered the Bulgarian army, which was defending one of the fortified passes. Samuel avoided capture through
14960-400: The Bulgarians took most of Macedonia , and the borders of the country reached the Adriatic Sea near Valona and Aegean Sea . Byzantine historians do not mention any resistance against the Bulgarian expansion in Macedonia, leading to the conclusion that the expansion was largely peaceful. With this, Bulgaria had become the dominant power in the Balkans. The advance further west was blocked by
15180-402: The Bulgarians were decisively defeated at Kleidion . Some 14,000 Bulgarians were 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 II the moniker "Bulgaroktonos", the Bulgar Killer. When the returning men arrived in Samuel's residence in Prespa , the Bulgarian Emperor suffered
15400-467: The Bulgarians, the prospect of the Byzantines losing all their Balkan themes was quite real. Threatened by an alliance between the Byzantines and the Serbian state of Duklja , in 997 Samuel defeated and captured its Prince Jovan Vladimir and took control of the Serb lands. In 997, following the death of Roman, the last heir of the Krum's dynasty , Samuel was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria. He established friendly relations with Stephen I of Hungary through
15620-401: The Bulgars and the local Slavs is a matter of debate depending on the interpretation of the Byzantine sources. Vasil Zlatarski asserts that they concluded a treaty, but most historians agree that they were subjugated. The Bulgars were superior organisationally and militarily and came to politically dominate the new state, but there was cooperation between them and the Slavs for the protection of
15840-927: The Bulgars occasionally raided the Byzantine Empire, but in the second half of the century the Kutrigurs were subjugated by the Avar Khaganate and the Utigurs came under the rule of the Western Turkic Khaganate . As the power of the Western Turks faded in the 600s the Avars reasserted their domination over the Bulgars. Between 630 and 635 Khan Kubrat of the Dulo clan managed to unite the main Bulgar tribes and to declare independence from
16060-603: The Bulgars were forced to retreat. The Bulgarians suffered a brutal invasion by Sviatoslav I Igorevich, the Grand-Prince of the Kievan Rus between 967 and 969, that saw the empire vassalised to the Rus. Sviatoslav was killed in 972 however, seeing the empire able to briefly recover, but was unable to reclaim lost territories north of the Danube, in Thrace and Southern Macedonia. Their old rivals,
16280-540: The Byzantine Emperor was bound to enforce the imperial sovereignty over them. This led to more than 40 years of increasingly bitter warfare. A capable general and good politician, at first Samuel 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 with his life. The Byzantine poet John Geometres wrote of
16500-466: The Byzantine Empire. At the start of the second millennium, he fought Samuel of Bulgaria , his greatest adversary. Bulgaria had been partly subjugated by John I after the invasion of Svyatoslav I of Kiev but parts of the country had remained outside Byzantine control under the leadership of Samuel and his brothers. Because the Bulgars had been raiding Byzantine lands since 976, the Byzantine government sought to cause dissension among them by allowing
16720-528: The Byzantine Empire. In 808 they raided the valley of the Struma River, defeating a Byzantine army, and in 809 captured the important city of Serdica (modern Sofia ). In 811 the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I launched a massive offensive against Bulgaria and seized, plundered and burned down the capital Pliska, but on the way back the Byzantine army was decisively defeated in the battle of
16940-457: The Byzantine generals Nikephoros Xiphias and Theodorokanos took the former Bulgarian capital Great Preslav , and the towns Lesser Preslav and Pliskova . In 1001, Basil, operating from Thessalonica , regained control of Vodena , Verrhoia and Servia . The following year, he based his army in Philippopolis and occupied the length of the military road from the western Haemus Mountains to
17160-433: The Byzantine point of view of the ensuing political turmoil in Bulgaria. They describe two factions struggling for power – one that sought peaceful relations with the Empire, which was dominant until 755, and one that favoured war. These sources present the relations with the Byzantine Empire as the main issue in this internal struggle and do not mention the other reasons, which could have been more important for
17380-524: The Byzantines and al-Dawla quickly began acting as an independent ruler. Al-Hakim's persecution of Christians in his realm and especially the 1009 destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at his orders strained relations and, along with Fatimid interference in Aleppo, provided the main focus of Fatimid–Byzantine diplomatic relations until the late 1030s. Basil sought to restore former territories of
17600-474: The Byzantines attempted to assassinate Krum. In response, the Bulgarians pillaged Eastern Thrace and seized the important city of Adrianople , resettling its 10,000 inhabitants in " Bulgaria across the Danube ". Krum made extensive preparations to capture Constantinople: 5,000 iron-plated wagons were built to carry the siege equipment; the Byzantines even pleaded for help from the Frankish Emperor Louis
17820-407: The Byzantines eventually recovered, and in 1014, under Basil II "the Bulgar Slayer", a crushing defeat was inflicted on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion . Basil famously ordered that every 100 of the captured 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners be blinded, with the 100th soldier spared one eye to guide the rest back home, forcing their communities to care for them for the rest of their lives. By 1018,
18040-475: The Byzantines had not been able to fully exploit the power vacuum and restore their dominion over Crimea and other areas around the Black Sea. In 1016, Byzantine armies in conjunction with Mstislav of Chernigov attacked the Crimea, much of which had fallen under the control of the Khazar successor kingdom of George Tzoul based at Kerch . Kedrenos reports that Tzoul was captured and the Khazar successor kingdom
18260-598: The Byzantines near the Calabrian coast. The Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos managed to avert a Bulgarian–Arab alliance by showering the Arabs with generous gifts. The war dragged on until Simeon I's death in May 927. By then Bulgaria controlled almost all Byzantine possessions in the Balkans, but without a fleet it did not attempt to storm Constantinople. Both countries were exhausted by
18480-589: The Byzantine–Bulgarian victory with stopping the Arab offensives against Europe . With the demise of Khan Sevar (r. 738–753) the ruling Dulo clan died out and the Khanate fell into a long political crisis during which the young country was on the verge of destruction. In just fifteen years seven Khans reigned, and all of them were murdered. The only surviving sources of this period are Byzantine and present only
18700-646: The Confessor wrote of the treaty: ... the Emperor [Constantine IV] signed peace with them [the Bulgars], and agreed to pay them tribute for shame of the Romans and for our many sins. For it was wondrous for faraway and close peoples to hear that he, who made everyone pay him tribute – to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, had been defeated by these unclean and newly emerged people. The relations between
18920-571: The Council of Preslav brought an end to the Byzantine hopes to exert influence over the newly Christianized country. In 894 the Byzantines moved the Bulgarian market from Constantinople to Thessaloniki , affecting the commercial interests of Bulgaria and the principle of Byzantine–Bulgarian trade, regulated under the Treaty of 716 and later agreements on the most favoured nation basis. The new Prince, Simeon I (r. 893–927), who came to be known as Simeon
19140-449: The Danube, cutting off communications between Samuel's Macedonian heartland and Paristrion (the lands south of the lower Danube). Following this success, Basil laid siege to Vidin , which fell after a prolonged resistance. Samuel reacted to the Byzantine campaign by launching a large-scale raid into the heart of Byzantine Thrace and took the major city of Adrianople by surprise. After turning homeward with his extensive plunder, Samuel
19360-462: The Danubian provinces and the East. Everywhere the might of Roman arms was respected and feared. The treasury was overflowing with the accumulated plunder of Basil's campaigns. Even the lamp of learning, despite the emperor's known indifference, was burning still, if somewhat dimly. The lot of ordinary folk in Constantinople must have been pleasant enough. For most of them life was gay and colourful, and if
19580-480: The Empire remained the most powerful political entity of the age. At the end of Basil II's reign, the Byzantine Empire had a population of approximately 12 million people. Although they were beneficial, Basil's achievements were reversed very quickly. Many of the Georgian, Armenian and Fatimid campaigns were undone after the succession crisis and eventual civil war after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Because many of
19800-475: The Empire's main base in the Crimean Peninsula . Vladimir offered to evacuate Chersonesos and to supply 6,000 of his soldiers as reinforcements to Basil. In exchange, he demanded to be married to Basil's younger sister Anna. At first, Basil hesitated. The Byzantines viewed all of the peoples of Northern Europe—namely Franks and Slavs —as barbarians . Anna objected to marrying a barbarian ruler because such
20020-628: The Empire's other enemies. The Byzantine civil wars had weakened the Empire's position in the east, and the gains of Nikephoros II and John I had nearly been lost to the Fatimid Caliphate . In 987–988, a seven-year truce with the Fatimids was signed; it stipulated an exchange of prisoners , the recognition of the Byzantine emperor as protector of Christians under Fatimid rule and of the Fatimid Caliph as protector of Muslims under Byzantine control, and
20240-562: The Evangelist) at the Hebdomon Palace complex outside the walls of Constantinople. The epitaph on Basil's tomb celebrated his campaigns and victories. His final resting place carried the following inscription: From the day that the King of Heaven called upon me to become the Emperor, the great overlord of the world, no one saw my spear lie idle. I stayed alert throughout my life and protected
20460-422: The Fatimid caliph of Egypt, al-Hakim, forcing Basil to refrain from an acute response to George's offensive. The Byzantines were also involved in a relentless war with the Bulgarians, limiting their actions to the west. As soon as Bulgaria was conquered in 1018 and al-Hakim was dead, Basil led his army against Georgia. Preparations for a larger-scale campaign against the Kingdom of Georgia were set, beginning with
20680-409: The Gates of Trajan . Basil escaped with the help of his Varangian Guard and attempted to recover his losses by turning Samuel's brother Aron against him. Aron was tempted by Basil's offer of his sister Anna in marriage, but the negotiations failed when Aron discovered the bride he was sent was an imposter. By 987, Samuel had eliminated Aron. Another brother of Samuel, called David, was killed in 976 by
20900-553: The Great, declared war and defeated the Byzantine army in Thrace. The Byzantines turned for aid to the Magyars , who at the time inhabited the steppes to the north-east of Bulgaria. The Magyars scored two victories over the Bulgarians and pillaged Dobrudzha , but Simeon I allied with the Pechenegs further east, and in 895 the Bulgarian army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Magyars in
21120-488: The Imperial treasury due to his prudent management. Despite his attempts to control the power of the aristocracy, they again took control of the government following his death. Basil II was praised by his army because he spent most of his reign campaigning with it rather than sending orders from Constantinople, as had most of his predecessors. This allowed his army to be largely supportive of him, often making his stance in political and church matters unquestionable. He lived
21340-572: The Nicaean soldiers to identify the corpse as the remains of Basil II. The body of Basil II was transferred to the Monastery of the Saviour at Selymbria . The following year Constantinople was recovered by the Byzantines. An assessment of the reign in the eyes of the subsequent generations is given by Psellos: He crushed rebellions, subdued the feudal landowners, conquered the enemies of the Empire, notably in
21560-483: The Pious . Due to the sudden death of Krum on 14 April 814, however, the campaign was never launched. Khan Krum implemented legal reforms and issued the first known written law code of Bulgaria that established equal rules for all peoples living within the country's boundaries, intending to reduce poverty and to strengthen the social ties in his vastly enlarged state. Krum's successor Khan Omurtag (r. 814–831) concluded
21780-517: The Russian recension). Many, but not all, occurrences of the imperfect tense have been replaced with the perfect. Miscellaneous other modernisations of classical formulae have taken place from time to time. For example, the opening of the Gospel of John , by tradition the first words written down by Saints Cyril and Methodius , (искони бѣаше слово) "In the beginning was the Word", were set as "искони бѣ слово" in
22000-551: The Slavic Knyaz (Prince), and since 913 the Bulgarian monarchs were recognised as Tsars (Emperors). The authority of the Khan was limited by the leading noble families and the People's Council. The People's Council, which included the nobility and the "armed people", was gathered to discuss issues of crucial importance for the state. A People's Council in 766 dethroned Khan Sabin because he
22220-519: The South Slavs was divided into Antes and Sclaveni who spoke the same language. The Slavic incursions in the Balkans increased during the second half of Justinian I's reign and while these were initially pillaging raids, large-scale settlement began in the 570s and 580s. This migration is associated with the arrival of the Avars who settled in the plains of Pannonia between the rivers Danube and Tisza in
22440-556: The Varangian Guard provided him and his successors with an elite mercenary force capable of changing battle outcomes and boosting morale that became feared by the emperor's enemies. At this time, the Macedonian Renaissance was taking effect, seeing the rise of classical Greek scholarship being assimilated into Christian art and the study of ancient Greek philosophy being widespread. The studies of these subjects, and
22660-466: The Varbitsa Pass . Nicephorus I himself was slain along with most of his troops, and his skull was lined with silver and used as a drinking cup. Krum took the initiative and in 812 moved the war towards Thrace , capturing the key Black Sea port of Messembria and defeating the Byzantines once more at Versinikia in 813 before proposing a generous peace settlement. However, during the negotiations
22880-453: The Vlachs, the guards of caravans, between Prespa and Kastoria. Although the titular emperor Roman of Bulgaria was captured in 991, Basil lost Moesia to the Bulgarians. While Basil was distracted with internal rebellions and recovering the military situation on his eastern frontier, Samuel had extended his rule from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea , recovering most of the territory that
23100-508: The addition of letter ⟨ě⟩ for yat ) or in Glagolitic script. Sample editions include: Church Slavonic is in very limited use among Czech Catholics. The recension was developed by Vojtěch Tkadlčík in his editions of the Roman missal: Although the various recensions of Church Slavonic differ in some points, they share the tendency of approximating the original Old Church Slavonic to
23320-464: The adoption of Christianity regulated their relations. The number of personally dependent peasants bound to nobility or ecclesiastical estates increased since the 10th century. Due to the limited remaining sources it is very difficult to reconstruct the administrative evolution and division of the country. Initially the Slavic tribes retained their autonomy but since the beginning of the 9th century commenced
23540-570: The allies of the Byzantine Emperor Zeno (r. 474–491) against the Ostrogoths , although an obscure reference to Ziezi ex quo Vulgares , with Ziezi being an offspring of Biblical Shem , son of Noah , is in the Chronography of 354 . In the 490s the Kutrigurs had moved west of the Black Sea while the Utigurs inhabited the steppes to the east of them. In the first half of the 6th century,
23760-534: The ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus were among the most recited in the empire during the expansion given the different confrontations against the caliphates that the Byzantines indiscriminately and classically called " Medes ". Despite the great expansion during his reign, his military and non-scholastic character led him to be criticized and related to the ancient Spartan monarchs or tyrants who at that time were remembered for being men of action, cruelty and decision who, like Basil, paid little attention to promoting
23980-486: The army at war and might have had the role of a foreign minister. Under his direct command were 1,300 soldiers. Historian Veselin Beshevliev assumes that the post might have been created under the reign of Khan Krum (r. 803–814), or earlier, in order to limit the power of the kavhan . Although initially the Bulgarians did not have their own writing system, the presence of numerous stone inscriptions, mainly in Greek, indicate
24200-445: The army under Basil II is unknown, but estimates put it as high as 110,000 men, excluding the imperial tagmata in Constantinople; a considerable force, compared with the nominal establishment force of c. 120,000 in the 9th–10th centuries, or the 150,000–160,000 of the field armies under Justinian I . At the same time, however, under Basil the practice began of relying on allied states—most notably Venice—for naval power, beginning
24420-623: The article on the Old Church Slavonic language. The Russian recension of New Church Slavonic is the language of books since the second half of the 17th century. It generally uses traditional Cyrillic script ( poluustav ); however, certain texts (mostly prayers) are printed in modern alphabets with the spelling adapted to rules of local languages (for example, in Russian/Ukrainian/Bulgarian/Serbian Cyrillic or in Hungarian/Slovak/Polish Latin). Before
24640-469: The arts or literary culture and preferred a military environment. Basil II lacked heirs due to the "dearth of cousins found within the Macedonian dynasty ", so he was succeeded by his brother Constantine and his family, who proved to be ineffective rulers. Nevertheless, fifty years of prosperity and intellectual growth followed because the funds of state were full, the borders were safe from intruders, and
24860-640: The assumption of the imperial title by its rulers in 913, the country is also referred to as the Principality of Bulgaria . In English-language sources, the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire . Parts of the eastern Balkan Peninsula were in antiquity inhabited by the Thracians who were a group of Indo-European tribes. The whole region as far north as the Danube River was gradually incorporated into
25080-436: The battle formation to avoid surprise attacks from the rear. The Bulgarian army used ambushes and feigned retreats, during which the cavalrymen rode with their backs to the horse, firing clouds of arrows on the enemy. If the enemy pursued disorganized, they would turn back and fiercely attack them. In 918 the Bulgarians took the capital of the Byzantine theme Hellas Thebes without bloodshed after sending five men with axes into
25300-478: The borders and the Byzantine tribute, regulated trade relations and provided for the exchange of prisoners and fugitives. When the Arabs laid siege to Constantinople in 717–718 Tervel dispatched his army to help the besieged city. In the decisive battle before the Walls of Constantinople the Bulgarians slaughtered between 22,000 and 30,000 Arabs forcing them to abandon the undertaking. Most historians primarily attribute
25520-710: The children of the New Rome, valiantly campaigning both in the West and at the outposts of the East ;... O, man, seeing now my tomb here, reward me for my campaigns with your prayers. In 1260, during the unsuccessful Nicean Byzantine siege of Constantinople , then held by the Latin Empire , a corpse was found, upright in a corner of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, with a shepherd's flute placed in its mouth. An inscription allowed
25740-482: The city for pasture. Despite having a considerably larger and well-rested army, Manjutakin was at a disadvantage. He burned his camp and retreated to Damascus without battle. The Byzantines besieged Tripoli unsuccessfully and occupied Tartus , which they refortified and garrisoned with Armenian troops. Al-Aziz now prepared to take to the field in person against the Byzantines and initiated large-scale preparations but they were abandoned upon his death. Warfare between
25960-495: The city of Sparta . He may have had an elder sister named Helena (born c. 955). Romanos succeeded Constantine VII as sole emperor upon the latter's death in 959. Basil's father crowned him as co-emperor on 22 April 960, and his brother Constantine (born 960 or 961, eventually to rule as sole emperor Constantine VIII in 1025–1028) in 962 or 963. Only two days after the birth of his youngest child Anna , Romanos II died on 15 March 963 at 24 years of age. His unexpected death
26180-538: The city's defensive fortifications were at some points in disrepair they had no cause to dread attacks. Basil II's reign is one of the most significant in Byzantine history. His constant military campaigns led to the zenith of Byzantine power in the Middle Ages . The restoration of the Danubian frontier helped establish a more stable and secure border for the empire in Europe, maintaining a stronger barrier against Hungarian and Pecheneg raiders. The conquest of Bulgaria and
26400-419: The city, who eliminated the guards, broke the hinges of the gates, and opened them to the main forces. The Bulgarians were also able to fight at night – e.g., their victory over the Byzantines in the battle of Katasyrtai . The Bulgarian army was well equipped with siege engines . The Bulgarians employed the services of Byzantine and Arab captives and fugitives to produce siege equipment, such as
26620-419: The coastal areas and certain cities in the interior. Nonetheless, it never relinquished the claim to the whole region up to the Danube. A series of administrative, legislative, military and economic reforms somewhat improved the situation but despite these reforms disorder continued in much of the Balkans. The reign of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) saw temporary recovery of control and reconstruction of
26840-510: The common people. The nobility were initially known as the boila but after the 10th century the word was transformed to bolyar , which was eventually adopted in many countries in Eastern Europe . Each boila clan had its own totem and was believed to have been divinely established, hence their staunch opposition to Christianity, which was seen as a threat to their privileges. Many of the clans had ancient origin that could be traced back to
27060-438: The conquered territories he introduced both the small themes or strategiai , centred around a fortress town, that were such a common feature of the 10th-century reconquests of the East under Phokas and Tzimiskes, as well as the extensive regional commands under a doux or katepano ( Iberia in 1000, Asprakania or Upper Media in 1019/22, Paristrion in 1000/20, Bulgaria in 1018, and Sirmium in 1019 ). The exact size of
27280-401: The corpus of work of the great Russian authors (from Gogol to Chekhov , Tolstoy , and Dostoevsky ), the relationship between words in these pairs has become traditional. Where the abstract meaning has not commandeered the Church Slavonic word completely, the two words are often synonyms related to one another, much as Latin and native English words were related in the nineteenth century: one
27500-458: The country by the nine campaigns of Constantine V firmly rallied the Slavs behind the Bulgars and greatly increased the dislike of the Byzantines, turning Bulgaria into a hostile neighbour. The hostilities continued until 792 when Khan Kardam (r. 777–803) achieved an important victory in the battle of Marcellae , forcing the Byzantines once again to pay tribute to the Khans. As a result of
27720-634: The country is also called by modern historians as the Bulgarian Khanate , or the Bulgar Khaganate , from the Turkic title of khan / khagan borne by its rulers. It is often further specified as the Danube Bulgarian Khanate , or Danube Bulgar Khanate in order to differentiate it from Volga Bulgaria , which emerged from another Bulgar group. From the country's Christianization in 864 and
27940-470: The country. The Slavs were allowed to retain their chiefs, to abide to their customs and in return they were to pay tribute in kind and to provide foot soldiers for the army. The Seven Slavic tribes were relocated to the west to protect the frontier with the Avar Khaganate , while the Severi were resettled in the eastern Balkan Mountains to guard the passes to the Byzantine Empire. The number of Asparuh's Bulgars
28160-468: The country. To cap it all, there was an incursion of locusts. Yet, despite all the military setbacks and natural disasters, the skilful diplomacy of Boris I prevented any territorial losses and kept the realm intact. In this complex international situation Christianity had become attractive as a religion by the mid 9th-century because it provided better opportunities for forging reliable alliances and diplomatic ties. Taking this into account, as well as
28380-478: The crown to his son Boris II (r. 969–971), who had little choice but to cooperate with Svyatoslav. The unexpected success of the Rus' campaigns led to a confrontation with the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes eventually defeated Svyatoslav's forces and compelled him to leave the Balkans in 971. In the course of their campaign the Byzantines seized Preslav and detained Boris II. Initially John I Tzimiskes presented himself as
28600-499: The death of his elder siblings. When in 976 the rightful heir to the throne, Boris II's brother Roman (r. 971–997), escaped from captivity in Constantinople, he was recognized as Emperor by Samuel, who remained the chief commander of the Bulgarian army. Peace was impossible; as a result of the symbolic ending of the Bulgarian Empire following Boris II's abdication, Roman, and later Samuel, were seen as rebels and
28820-612: The defeat: Even if the sun would have come down, I would have never thought that the Moesian [Bulgarian] arrows were stronger than the Ausonian [Roman, Byzantine] spears. ... And when you, Phaethon [Sun], descend to the earth with your gold-shining chariot, tell the great soul of the Caesar: The Istros [Bulgaria] took the crown of Rome. Take up arms, the arrows of the Moesians broke
29040-513: The development of a new Slavic state under Byzantine patronage, the Principality of Serbia . Between 839 and 842 the Bulgarians waged war on the Serbs but did not make any progress. Historian Mark Whittow asserts that the claim for a Serb victory in that war in De Administrando Imperio was wishful Byzantine thinking, but notes that any Serb submission to the Bulgarians went no further than
29260-586: The different elements under a single code of laws. However, since the text is not preserved its precise aims remain unknown. After the conversion to Christianity Boris I was concerned with the legal matters and asked Pope Nicholas I to provide legal texts. Eventually, the Законъ соудный людьмъ ( Zakon sudnyi ljud'm , Court Law for the People), was compiled, based heavily on the Byzantine Ecloga and Nomocanon, but adapted to Bulgarian conditions and valid for
29480-817: The early 12th century, individual Slavic languages started to emerge, and the liturgical language was modified in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and orthography according to the local vernacular usage. These modified varieties or recensions (e.g. Serbian Church Slavonic, Russian Church Slavonic , Ukrainian Church Slavonic in Early Cyrillic script, Croatian Church Slavonic in Croatian angular Glagolitic and later in Latin script , Czech Church Slavonic, Slovak Church Slavonic in Latin script, Bulgarian Church Slavonic in Early Cyrillic and Bulgarian Glagolitic scripts, etc.) eventually stabilized and their regularized forms were used by
29700-414: The early Bulgarians and were often decorated with golden, silver, bronze or copper buckles that reflected the illustrious origin of the holder. The most important part of the army was the heavy cavalry . In the early 9th century the Bulgarian Khan could muster 30,000 riders "all covered in iron" who were armoured with iron helms and chainmail. The horses too were covered with armour. As the capital, Pliska,
29920-438: The eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire and the complete subjugation of the First Bulgarian Empire , its foremost European foe, after a long struggle. Although the Byzantines had made a truce with the Fatimid Caliphate in 987–988, Basil led a campaign against the Caliphate that ended with another truce in 1000. He also conducted a campaign against the Khazar Khaganate that gained the Byzantine Empire part of Crimea and
30140-450: The eighteenth century, Church Slavonic was in wide use as a general literary language in Russia . Although it was never spoken per se outside church services, members of the priesthood, poets, and the educated tended to slip its expressions into their speech. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was gradually replaced by the Russian language in secular literature and was retained for use only in church. Although as late as
30360-487: The emperor's rear. In December, George's ally the Armenian king Senekerim of Vaspurakan , who was being harassed by the Seljuk Turks , surrendered his kingdom to the emperor. During early 1022, Basil launched a final offensive, defeating the Georgians at the Battle of Svindax . Menaced both by land and sea, George agreed to a treaty that handed over Tao, Phasiane, Kola, Artaan and Javakheti , and left his infant son Bagrat as Basil's hostage. In 992, Basil concluded
30580-451: The end of his reign, John had belatedly planned to curb the power of the great landowners; his death, which occurred soon after he spoke out against them, led to rumors that he had been poisoned by Lekapenos, who had illegally acquired vast estates and feared an investigation and punishment. At the start of his reign, the failures of his immediate predecessors left Basil II with a serious problem: Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas , members of
30800-514: The end of that year. Further expansion in the Western Balkans was checked by King Tomislav of Croatia , who was a Byzantine ally and defeated a Bulgarian invasion in 926. Simeon I was aware that he needed naval support to conquer Constantinople and in 922 sent envoys to the Fatimid caliph Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah in Mahdia to negotiate the assistance of the powerful Arab navy. The caliph sent representatives to Bulgaria to arrange an alliance, but his emissaries were captured en route by
31020-417: The engineer Eumathius, who sought refuge with Khan Krum after the capture of Serdica in 809. The 9th century anonymous Byzantine chronicler known as Scrptor incertus lists the contemporary machinery produced and used by the Bulgarians. These included catapults ; scorpions ; multi-storey siege towers with a battering ram on the bottom floor; testudos – battering rams with metal plating on
31240-405: The enlargement projects of the emperors, greatly expanded the library of the University of Constantinople , which again established itself as the main source of learning for its day. Though he was not a man of literature, Basil was a relatively pious ruler who involved himself in the construction of churches, monasteries and, to some extent, cities. Literary works, eulogies and poems were made by
31460-413: The escape of their captive emperor Boris II of Bulgaria . This ploy failed so Basil used a respite from his conflict with the nobility to lead a 30,000-strong army into Bulgaria and besiege Sredets ( Sofia ) in 986. Taking losses and worried about the loyalty of some of his governors, Basil lifted the siege and returned for Thrace but he fell into an ambush and suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of
31680-558: The estate declared null and the legal owners could reclaim it. In 1002, Basil also introduced the allelengyon tax as a specific law obliging the dynatoi (wealthy landholders) to cover for the arrears of poorer tax-payers. Though it proved unpopular with the wealthier sections of Byzantine society, Basil did not abolish the tax; the emperor Romanos III abolished the allelengyon in 1028. By 1025, Basil—with an annual revenue of 7 million nomismata —was able to amass 14.4 million nomismata (or 200,000 pounds/90 tonnes of gold ) for
31900-414: The existence of a chancellery to the Khan that was probably organised in the Byzantine manner. Part of the chancellery's staff might have been Greeks and even monks, despite the fact that the country was still pagan. According to an inscription dated from the reign of Khan Malamir (r. 831–836) there were three classes in pagan Bulgaria – boilas , bagains and Bulgarians , i.e.
32120-438: The fall of the yers is fully reflected, more or less to the Russian pattern, although the terminal ъ continues to be written. The yuses are often replaced or altered in usage to the sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Russian pattern. The yat continues to be applied with greater attention to the ancient etymology than it was in nineteenth-century Russian. The letters ksi , psi , omega , ot , and izhitsa are kept, as are
32340-404: The great cities of the Byzantine Empire that mostly tried to juxtapose the classic past of kingdoms and empires with the new expansion of Basil II in which he was compared with many important figures of the east such as Cyrus the Great and Artaxerxes . He was also particularly compared with Alexander the Great who was believed to be Basil's ancestor. Classical works such as " The Persians " by
32560-443: The head of a huge army and fleet to drive off the Bulgars but suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Asparuh at Onglos , a swampy region in or around the Danube Delta where the Bulgars had set a fortified camp. The Bulgars advanced south, crossed the Balkan Mountains and invaded Thrace . In 681, the Byzantines were compelled to sign a humiliating peace treaty, forcing them to acknowledge Bulgaria as an independent state, to cede
32780-531: The help of 12,000 Georgians of Tornikios and David III Kuropalates of Tao . The fall of Lekapenos occurred between the rebellions in 985; he was accused of plotting with the rebels and was punished with exile and the confiscation of his property. The relationship between the two generals was complicated; Phokas was instrumental in defeating the rebellion of Skleros but when Phokas later rebelled, Skleros returned from exile to support him. When Phokas died in battle, Skleros, whom Phokas had imprisoned, assumed
33000-426: The honorary title of patrikios . Croatia remained a tributary state to Basil until his death in 1025. Before returning to Constantinople, Basil celebrated his triumph in Athens . He showed considerable statesmanship in his treatment of the defeated Bulgarians, giving many former Bulgarian leaders court titles, positions in provincial administration, and high commands in the army. In this way, he sought to absorb
33220-467: The huge military efforts that had taken a heavy toll on the population and economy. Simeon's successor Peter I (r. 927–969) negotiated a favourable peace treaty . The Byzantines agreed to recognize him as Emperor of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as an independent Patriarchate, as well as to pay an annual tribute. The peace was reinforced with a marriage between Peter and Romanos's granddaughter Irene Lekapene . This agreement ushered in
33440-450: The important city of Adrianople in Thrace and seized the capital of the Theme of Hellas , Thebes , deep in southern Greece. Following the disaster at Achelous, Byzantine diplomacy incited the Principality of Serbia to attack Bulgaria from the west, but this assault was easily contained. In 924, the Serbs ambushed and defeated a small Bulgarian army, provoking a major retaliatory campaign that ended with Bulgaria's annexation of Serbia at
33660-415: The internal matters of Bulgaria, he sponsored the disciples of the brothers Cyril and Methodius to create literature in Old Bulgarian language . Boris I dealt ruthlessly with the opposition to the Christianisation of Bulgaria , crushing a revolt of the nobility in 866 and overthrowing his own son Vladimir (r. 889–893) after he attempted to restore the traditional religion. In 893 he convened
33880-408: The isolation of Samuel's core territories in the highlands of western Macedonia . Samuel was forced into an almost entirely defensive stance; he extensively fortified the passes and routes from the coastlines and valleys held by the Byzantines to the territory remaining in his possession. During the next few years, the Byzantine offensive slowed and no significant gains were made, although an attempt by
34100-435: The landed nobility and the higher clergy at the expense of the personal privileges of the peasantry, led to the emergence of Bogomilism , a dualistic heretic sect that in the subsequent centuries spread to the Byzantine Empire, northern Italy and southern France (cf. Cathars ). To the south, the Byzantine Empire reversed the course of the Byzantine–Arab wars against the declining Abbasid Caliphate and in 965 discontinued
34320-436: 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. 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
34540-407: The late 9th and early 10th centuries, Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines. Thereafter, he was recognized with the title of Tsar (Slavic for Caeser), and proceeded to expand the state to its greatest extent. 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 siege failed however, and
34760-452: The leadership of the rebellion. Basil's brother Constantine—who had no interest in politics, statecraft, or the military –led troops alongside Basil; this was the only military command Constantine would hold. The campaign ended without combat when Skleros was forced to surrender to Basil in 989. Skleros was allowed to live but he died blind, either through disease or from being blinded as punishment for his insurrection. These rebellions had
34980-425: The leading Bulgar aristocratic families. Since that time certain Slavic titles became more prominent, such as župan , and some of them mingled forming titles like župan tarkhan . The peasants lived in rural communities known as zadruga and had collective responsibility. The majority of the peasantry were personally free under the direct rule of the central administration and the legislation introduced following
35200-414: The left wing of the army, and at times the whole army. He could be a co-ruler or a regent during the minority of the monarch; the sources mention that Khan Malamir "ruled together with kavhan Isbul " (fl. 820s–830s) and kavhan Dometian is noted as an associate [in the government] of Gavril Radomir (r. 1014–1015). The third highest-ranking official was the ichirgu-boila , who commanded the right wing of
35420-435: The letter-based denotation of numerical values, the use of stress accents, and the abbreviations or titla for nomina sacra . The vocabulary and syntax, whether in scripture, liturgy, or church missives, are generally somewhat modernised in an attempt to increase comprehension. In particular, some of the ancient pronouns have been eliminated from the scripture (such as етеръ /jeter/ "a certain (person, etc.)" → нѣкій in
35640-426: The life of a soldier to the point of eating the same daily rations as the rest of the army. He also took the children of dead army officers under his protection and offered them shelter, food and education. Many of these children became his soldiers and officers, taking the places of their fathers. One of them, Isaac Komnenos , later became emperor himself. Basil did not innovate in terms of military organization: in
35860-444: The local Slavic vernacular. Inflection tends to follow the ancient patterns with few simplifications. All original six verbal tenses, seven nominal cases, and three numbers are intact in most frequently used traditional texts (but in the newly composed texts, authors avoid most archaic constructions and prefer variants that are closer to modern Russian syntax and are better understood by the Slavic-speaking people). In Russian recension,
36080-422: The local population, both in literature and in common parlance. The development of Old Church Slavonic literacy had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the South Slavs into neighbouring cultures, while stimulating the formation of a distinct Bulgarian identity. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the foremost cultural and spiritual centre of Slavic Europe . Its leading cultural position
36300-404: The lower Danube. The fourth one, Kuber , initially settled in Pannonia under Avar suzerainty but revolted and moved to the region of Macedonia , while the fifth brother Alcek settled in central Italy . The Bulgars of Asparuh moved westwards to what is now Bessarabia , subdued the territories to the north of the Danube in modern Romania , and established themselves in the Danube Delta . In
36520-447: The most important decisions taken during his reign was to offer the hand of his sister Anna Porphyrogenita to Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for military support, thus forming the Byzantine military unit known as the Varangian Guard . The marriage of Anna and Vladimir led to the Christianization of the Kievan Rus' and the incorporation of later successor states of Kievan Rus' within the Byzantine cultural and religious tradition. Basil
36740-546: The most widely used being sabres , swords , battle axes , spears , pikes , daggers , arkans , and bows and arrows . The soldiers were often trained to use both spears and bows. The Bulgarians wore helms, mail armor and shields for defence. The helms were usually cone-shaped, while the shields were round and light. The armor was of two types – wedge riveted mail consisting of small metal rings linked together, and scale armour consisting of small armour plates attached to each other. Belts were very important for
36960-410: The north-east the war with the Khazars persisted and in 700 Khan Asparuh perished in battle with them. Despite this setback the consolidation of the country continued under Asparuh's successor, Khan Tervel (r. 700–721). In 705 he assisted the deposed Byzantine Emperor Justinian II in regaining his throne in return for the Zagore region of Northern Thrace , the first expansion of Bulgaria to
37180-409: The palatalization is impossible to observe, e.g. ть is pronounced as т etc.). The medieval Serbian recension of Church Slavonic was gradually replaced by the Russian recension since the early 18th century. Nowadays in Serbia, Church Slavonic is generally pronounced according to the Russian model. This is in limited use among Croatian Catholics. Texts are printed in the Croatian Latin alphabet (with
37400-412: The payment of the tribute, leading to sharp deterioration in their relations. In 968 the Byzantines incited Kievan Rus' to invade Bulgaria . In two years the Kievan Prince Svyatoslav I defeated the Bulgarian army, captured Preslav and established his capital at the important Bulgarian city of Preslavets (meaning "Little Preslav"). In this desperate situation the aging Peter I abdicated, leaving
37620-406: The payment of tribute. The reign of Boris I (r. 852–889) began with numerous setbacks. For ten years the country fought against the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Francia , Great Moravia , the Croats and the Serbs, forming several unsuccessful alliances and changing sides. Around August 863 there was a period of 40 days of earthquakes and there was a lean harvest, which caused famine throughout
37840-450: The persecution of Christians, in particular against the Byzantine prisoners of war settled north of the Danube. The expansion to the south and south-west continued with Omurtag's successors under the guidance of the capable kavhan (First Minister) Isbul . During the short reign of Khan Malamir (r. 831–836), the important city of Philippopolis ( Plovdiv ) was incorporated into the country. Under Khan Presian (r. 836–852),
38060-407: The re-fortification of Theodosiopolis. In late 1021, Basil, at the head of a large Byzantine army reinforced by the Varangian Guard , attacked the Georgians and their Armenian allies, recovering Phasiane and continuing beyond the frontiers of Tao into inner Georgia. King George burned the city of Oltisi to prevent it falling to the enemy and retreated to Kola . A bloody battle was fought near
38280-400: The rebellion; they were later organized into the Varangian Guard . This marriage had important long-term implications, marking the beginning of the process by which the Grand Duchy of Moscow many centuries later would proclaim itself "The Third Rome ", and claim the political and cultural heritage of the Byzantine Empire. Once the internal strife was quelled, Basil turned his attention to
38500-461: The replacement of the name of the Abbasid caliph with that of the Fatimid caliph in the Friday prayer in the mosque at Constantinople . This lasted until the long-time vizier Yaqub ibn Killis died in 991. Fatimid caliph Al-Aziz Billah chose to pursue a more aggressive stance in Syria and appointed Manjutakin as governor of Damascus . Encouraged by the defectors after the death of emir Sa'd al-Dawla , Al-Aziz decided to renew his attacks on
38720-560: The scribes to produce new translations of liturgical material from Koine Greek , or Latin in the case of Croatian Church Slavonic. Attestation of Church Slavonic traditions appear in Early Cyrillic and Glagolitic script . Glagolitic has nowadays fallen out of use, though both scripts were used from the earliest attested period. The first Church Slavonic printed book was the Missale Romanum Glagolitice (1483) in angular Glagolitic, followed shortly by five Cyrillic liturgical books printed in Kraków in 1491. The Church Slavonic language
38940-445: The services of the Orthodox Church in America . In addition, Church Slavonic is used by some churches which consider themselves Orthodox but are not in communion with the Orthodox Church, such as the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and the Russian True Orthodox Church . The Russian Old Believers and the Co-Believers also use Church Slavonic. Church Slavonic is also used by Greek Catholic Churches in Slavic countries , for example
39160-430: The siege and destroyed the Arab army , thus preventing an Arab invasion of Southeastern Europe. Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate , the country expanded its territory northwest to the Pannonian Plain . Later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans , and achieved
39380-428: The slow decline of the Byzantine navy during the 11th century. Basil II later secured the annexation of the sub-kingdoms of Armenia and a promise that its capital and surrounding regions would be willed to Byzantium following the death of its king Hovhannes-Smbat . In 1021, he also secured the cession of the Kingdom of Vaspurakan by its king Seneqerim-John , in exchange for estates in Sebasteia . Basil created
39600-445: The south of the Balkan mountains. In addition Tervel obtained the title Caesar and, having been enthroned alongside the Emperor, received the obeisance of the citizenry of Constantinople and numerous gifts. However, three years later, Justinian tried to regain the ceded territory by force, but his army was defeated at Anchialus . Skirmishes continued until 716 when Khan Tervel signed an important agreement with Byzantium that defined
39820-404: The south of the Danube and made several attempts to enforce that claim. Throughout the existence of the First Empire Bulgaria could expect Byzantine onslaughts aimed at its destruction. The steppes to the north-east were home to numerous peoples whose unpredictable pillaging raids were also of concern. Therefore, military preparedness was a top priority. Guards always stood on the alert and if anyone
40040-425: The spears of the Ausonians. Immediately after the victory Samuel pushed east and recovered north-eastern Bulgaria, along with the old capitals, Pliska and Preslav. In the next ten years the Bulgarian armies expanded the country south annexing the whole of Thessaly and Epirus and plundering the Peloponnese Peninsula. With the major Bulgarian military successes and the defection of a number of Byzantine officials to
40260-409: The state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantium's chief antagonist to its north, resulting in several wars . The two powers also enjoyed periods of peace and alliance, most notably during the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople , where the Bulgarian army broke
40480-442: The steppes along the Southern Bug River. At the same time, the Pechenegs advanced westwards and prevented the Magyars from returning to their homeland. The blow was so heavy that the Magyars were forced to migrate west, eventually settling in the Pannonian Basin , where they eventually established the Kingdom of Hungary . In 896 the Byzantines were routed in the decisive battle of Boulgarophygon and pleaded for peace that confirmed
40700-466: The submission of the South Slavs created relative peace for the empire's Balkan lands, keeping larger cities—including Constantinople—safe from the previously frequent sieges and looting. Basil's military experience that allowed him to eventually turn the war against Bulgaria in the Byzantine Empire's favor were gained through the revolts of Phokas and Skleros in Anatolia that challenged his throne and sometimes got close to deposing him. Basil's creation of
40920-424: The system of immense estates in Asia Minor —which his predecessor Romanos I had endeavored to check —by executing a legal decree in January 996 that limited rights to property ownership. If the owner of an estate could prove that he claimed his estate prior to the Novels of Romanos, he would be allowed to keep it. If a person had illegally seized an estate following the Novels of Romanos, he would have his rights to
41140-406: The territories to the north of the Balkan Mountains and to pay an annual tribute. In his universal chronicle the Western European author Sigebert of Gembloux remarked that the Bulgarian state was established in 680. This was the first state that the empire recognised in the Balkans and the first time it legally surrendered claims to part of its Balkan dominions. The Byzantine chronicler Theophanes
41360-490: The time when the Bulgars inhabited the steppes to the north and east of the Black Sea. The Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans mentions monarchs of three clans that ruled Bulgaria until 766 – Dulo, Vokil and Ugain. The power of the principal noble families was greatly crippled in the aftermath of the anti-Christian rebellion of 866, when Boris I executed 52 leading boilas along with their families. The boila were divided into inner and outer boilas and it
41580-405: The top; τρίβόλοι – iron tridents placed hidden amidst the battlefield to hinder the enemy cavalry; ladders, etc. Iron-plated wagons were used for transportation. It is known that Khan Krum prepared 5,000 such wagons for his intended siege of Constantinople in 814. Wooden pontoon bridges were also constructed for crossing rivers. Church Slavonic language Church Slavonic
41800-463: The treaty and the largely peaceful era that followed, the strategic position of the Bulgarian Empire remained difficult. The country was surrounded by aggressive neighbours – the Magyars to the north-west, the Pechenegs and the growing power of Kievan Rus' to the north-east, and the Byzantine Empire to the south. Bulgaria suffered several devastating Magyar raids between 934 and 965. The growing insecurity, as well as expanding influence of
42020-460: The two powers continued as the Byzantines supported an anti-Fatimid uprising in Tyre . In 998, the Byzantines under Damian Dalassenos , the successor of Bourtzes, launched an attack on Apamea but the Fatimid general Jaysh ibn al-Samsama defeated them in battle on 19 July 998. This defeat drew Basil back into the conflict; he arrived in Syria in October 999 and remained there for three months. Basil's troops raided as far as Heliopolis , placed
42240-467: The two states. For the remainder of the reign of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ( r. 996–1021), relations remained peaceful as al-Hakim was more interested in internal affairs. Even the acknowledgement of Fatimid suzerainty by Abu Muhammad Lu'lu' al-Kabir of Aleppo in 1004 and the Fatimid-sponsored installment of Aziz al-Dawla as the city's emir in 1017 did not lead to a resumption of hostilities, especially because al-Kabir continued to pay tribute to
42460-442: The uprooting of all vineyards as a measure against drunkenness but this claim is refuted in the contemporary sources, which indicate that, after capturing Pliska in 811, the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I found large quantities of wine, and after the final Bulgarian victory Krum drank wine in the Emperor's skull. Krum's legal code is seen by many historians as an attempt to centralise the state and to homogenize society by putting
42680-446: The valor of his son Gabriel. Having crushed the Bulgarians, Basil exacted his vengeance cruelly—he was said to have captured 15,000 prisoners and fully blinded 99 of every 100 men, leaving one one-eyed man in each cohort to lead the rest back to their ruler. A possible reason for this vengeance was that, in Byzantine eyes, the Bulgarians were rebels against their authority, and blinding was the usual punishment meted out to rebels. Samuel
42900-448: The victory, the crisis was finally overcome, and Bulgaria entered the new century stable, stronger, and consolidated. During the reign of Krum (r. 803–814) Bulgaria doubled in size and expanded to the south, west and north, occupying the vast lands along the middle Danube and Transylvania , becoming European medieval great power during the 9th and 10th century along with the Byzantine and Frankish Empires . Between 804 and 806
43120-466: The village Shirimni at Lake Palakazio on 11 September; the emperor won a costly victory, forcing George I to retreat northwards into his kingdom. Basil plundered the country and withdrew for winter to Trebizond . Several attempts to negotiate the conflict failed. George received reinforcements from the Kakhetians and allied himself with the Byzantine commanders Nikephoros Phokas Barytrachelos and Nikephoros Xiphias in their abortive insurrection in
43340-461: The wars with Persia persisted, the 610s and 620s saw a new and even larger migration wave with the Slavs penetrating further south into the Balkans, reaching Thessaly , Thrace and Peloponnese and raiding some islands in the Aegean Sea . The Byzantines held out in Salonica and a number of coastal towns, but beyond these areas the imperial authority in the Balkans disappeared. The Bulgars were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in
43560-458: The wealthy military elite of Anatolia , had sufficient means to undertake open rebellion against his authority. Skleros and Phokas, both of whom were experienced generals, wanted to assume the Imperial position that Nikephoros II and John I had held, and thus return Basil to the role of impotent cypher. Basil, showing a penchant for ruthlessness, took to the field himself and suppressed the rebellions of both Skleros (979) and Phokas (989) with
43780-403: The whole population of the country. It combined elements of civil, criminal, canon and military law, as well as public and private law, and included substantive norms and procedural guidelines. The Court Law for the People dealt with combating paganism, testimony of witnesses, sexual morality, marital relations, distribution of war booty, etc. To eradicate the residual paganism the law provided that
44000-422: The year, instead of the usual short campaigning of the epoch with the troops returning home to winter. In 1001 they seized Pliska and Preslav in the east; in 1003 a major offensive along the Danube resulted in the fall of Vidin after an eight-month siege; and in 1004 Basil II defeated Samuel in the battle of Skopje and took possession of the city. This war of attrition dragged on for a decade until 1014, when
44220-423: Was intercepted near Skopje by a Byzantine army commanded by Basil, whose forces stormed the Bulgarian camp, defeating the Bulgarians and recovering the plunder from Adrianople. Skopje surrendered shortly after the battle, and Basil treated its governor Romanos with overt kindness. In 1005, the governor of Dyrrhachium Ashot Taronites surrendered his city to the Byzantines. The defection of Dyrrhachium completed
44440-491: Was a type of the higher Byzantine moral character, which retained far more of its Roman than its Greek origin". The modern historian John Julius Norwich wrote of Basil: "No lonelier man ever occupied the Byzantine throne. And it is hardly surprising: Basil was ugly, dirty, coarse, boorish, philistine and almost pathologically mean. He was in short deeply un-Byzantine. He cared only for the greatness of his Empire. No wonder that in his hands it reached its apogee". Basil II
44660-404: Was among their ranks that the holders of the highest military and administrative posts were selected. Most likely the outer boilas resided outside the capital, while the inner ones were member of the court under the direct influence of the monarch. The bagains were the second-ranking aristocratic class and were divided into numerous sub-ranks. The presence of two separate classes of nobility
44880-409: Was born in 958. He was a porphyrogennetos ("born into the purple"), as were his father Romanos II and his grandfather Constantine VII ; this was the appellation used for children who were born to a reigning emperor. Basil was the eldest son of Romanos and his Laconian Greek second wife Theophano , who was the daughter of a poor tavern-keeper named Krateros and may have originated from
45100-400: Was commonly thought at the time to be the result of poisoning with hemlock ; the chroniclers Leo the Deacon and John Skylitzes imply that Theophano was responsible, and according to Skylitzes, she had been complicit in an earlier attempt by Romanos II to poison Constantine VII. Basil and Constantine were too young to rule in their own right when Romanos died in 963. Therefore, although
45320-486: Was controlled by Bulgaria before the invasion of Svyatoslav. He also conducted damaging raids into Byzantine territory as far as central Greece. In 996, the Byzantine general Nikephoros Ouranos defeated a Bulgarian army raid at the Battle of Spercheios in Thessaly . Samuel and his son Gabriel narrowly escaped capture. Beginning in 1000, Basil was free to focus on a war of conquest against Bulgaria, which he fought with grinding persistence and strategic insight. In 1000,
45540-430: Was crowned emperor. On 20 September, Phokas married Theophano, but problems resulted; it was a second marriage for each spouse and Nikephoros was thought to be the godfather of Basil or his brother, perhaps both. Although Polyeuctus , the patriarch of Constantinople , disapproved of the marriage, the Church declared it to be valid. With it, Nikephoros secured his legitimacy and became the guardian of Romanos' sons. He
45760-410: Was destroyed. Subsequently, the Byzantines occupied southern Crimea. The integrity of the Byzantine Empire was threatened after a full-scale rebellion led by Bardas Skleros broke out in 976. After winning a series of battles, the rebels conquered Asia Minor. In the urgency of the situation, Georgian prince David III of Tao aided Basil; after a decisive loyalist victory at the Battle of Pankaleia , he
45980-404: Was divided into comitati , governed by a comita , although this term was used by Western European chroniclers, who wrote in Latin. It is likely that the Bulgarians used the term земя ( zemya , meaning "land"), as mentioned in the Court Law for the People. Their number is unknown, but the Archbishop of Reims Hincmar mentioned that the 866 rebellion against Boris I was headed by the nobility of
46200-405: Was further consolidated with the adoption of the Glagolitic alphabet , the invention of the Early Cyrillic alphabet shortly after in the capital Preslav , and the literature produced in Old Church Slavonic soon began spreading north. Old Church Slavonic became the lingua franca of much of Eastern Europe. In 927, the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. During
46420-406: Was issued by Khan Krum at a People's Council in the very beginning of the 9th century but the text has not survived in its entirety and only certain items have been preserved in the 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda . It prescribed the death penalty for false oaths and accusations and severe penalties for thieves and those who gave them shelter. The Suda also mentioned that the laws foresaw
46640-469: Was murdered in December 969 by Theophano and his nephew John Tzimiskes , who then became emperor John I and exiled Theophano. John married Theodora , a sister of Romanos II. Basil II acceded to the throne as effective ruler and senior emperor when John died on 10 January 976. He immediately had his mother brought back from her convent. Basil was a very successful soldier on horseback and through his achievement he proved himself to be an able general and
46860-399: Was popular with the country farmers, the class that produced most of his army's supplies and soldiers. To assure this continued, Basil's laws protected small agrarian property owners and lowered their taxes. Despite the almost constant wars, Basil's reign was considered an era of relative prosperity for the class. Seeking to protect the lower and middle classes, Basil made ruthless war upon
47080-433: Was rewarded by lifetime rule of key imperial territories in eastern Asia Minor. David's rebuff of Basil in Bardas Phokas' revolt of 987, however, evoked Constantinople's distrust of the Georgian rulers. After the revolt's failure, David was forced to make Basil the legatee of his extensive possessions. In 1001, after the death of David of Tao, Basil inherited Tao, Phasiane and Speri . These provinces were then organized into
47300-410: Was seeking peace with the Byzantines. According to the old Bulgarian tradition the Khan was first among equals, which was among the reasons why Boris I decided to convert to Christianity, as Christian monarchs ruled by the grace of God. However, the divinity of the Bulgarian ruler, as well as his superiority over the Byzantine Emperor, were already asserted by Khan Omurtag (r. 814–831), as stated in
47520-461: Was situated in an open plain, the cavalry was essential for its protection. The fortification system of the inner regions of the country was reinforced with several fortified trenches covering huge spaces and supporting the manoeuvrability of the cavalry. The army was well versed in the use of stratagems . A strong cavalry unit was often held in reserve and would attack the enemy at an opportune moment. Free horses would be sometimes concentrated behind
47740-404: Was struck down by the sight of his blinded army and died two days later on 6 October 1014 after suffering a stroke. Bulgaria fought on for four more years, its resistance fired by Basil's cruelty, but it submitted in 1018. This submission was the result of continued military pressure and a successful diplomatic campaign aimed at dividing and suborning the Bulgarian leadership. This victory over
47960-508: Was the successful and widely popular general Nikephoros Phokas , who had just returned from his conquest of the Emirate of Crete and a highly successful raid into Cilicia and Syria , which culminated in the sack of Aleppo . Phokas was proclaimed emperor by his men in July and marched on Constantinople. Bringas tried to bring in troops to stop his rival's advance, but the capital's populace supported Nikephoros. Bringas fled, leaving his post to Lekapenos, and on 16 August 963 Nikephoros Phokas
48180-412: Was to flee during a watch, the responsible guards were to be killed without hesitation. Before battle, a "most faithful and prudent man" was sent to inspect all the arms, horses, and materiel, and being ill-prepared or readied in a useless fashion was punishable by death. Capital punishment was also prescribed for riding war horses in peacetime. The Bulgarian army was armed with various types of weapons,
48400-473: Was used by the "soldier Emperor" Constantine V (r. 741–775), who launched nine major campaigns aiming to eliminate Bulgaria. Having contained the Arab threat during the first part of his reign, Constantine V was able to concentrate his forces on Bulgaria after 755. He defeated the Bulgarians at Marcellae in 756, Anchialus in 763 and Berzitia in 774, but lost the Battle of the Rishki Pass in 759 in addition to hundreds of ships lost to storms in
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