Bulgarian Kingdom

Bulgaria Under the Rule of Tsar Simeon The Great (893 - 927)

There are all reasons to say that the time of king Simeon marked the highest point in the development of the Bulgarian Kingdom in the middle ages. In the first quarter of the 10th century Bulgaria is an unparalleled in south-eastern Europe and one of the most civilized states in the Christian world. Under king Simeon Byzantium controls only 1/3 of the Balkan territories and is true worried about its future presence on the Peninsula. For the more sagacious contemporaries of the events it is clear that SIMEON intends to change the status of Bulgaria. Byzantine and to create a new imperial system in which the Bulgarians will dominate. The young prince whom the Patriarch of Constantinople Nikolay the Mystic called “THE SO OF PEACE”, was born after the conversion to Christianity and had Christian upbringing Later he continues his education in the famous School of Magnaura. In Constantinople the third son of king BORIS, who is preparing for a clerical career, comes to know the source of imperial power, which spring not from human and natural resources, but from thousands of years of cultural tradition that gave the Byzantines self-confidence and pride. Years later, on coming back to his home country, SIMEON makes use of his knowledge to set the beginnings of the period of cultural flourish for Bulgaria, known as THE GOLDEN AGE.
There are several most important aspects in the development of old Bulgarian Christian culture. In monumental art and architecture most impressive are the constructions in the new capital - GREAT PRESLAV - the Round Church and Simeon’s Palace, the painted ceramics and decorative plastic art. In their character those monuments have no parallel in the art of construction of the previous periods. This marks even more sharply the ambition of the king to set the beginnings of a new civilization, which must parallel but also oppose Byzantine culture.By general agreement highest glory during the “The Golden Age” is attributed to the literary achievements of Simeon’s circle. It is no wonder then that the literary pieces of that period have remained forever in the cultural treasure of Bulgaria: “Simeon’s Collection”, “Golden Flow”, “Alphabetical Prayer”, “Teaching Gospel”, “Six-Days Prayer”. “The Words” of St. Kliment Ohridski” and many others.

The first ten years of the rule of SIMEON pass in creative construction and four wars imposed by the circumstances. Between 894 and 904 Bulgarian troops invade Byzantium for several times and the result is territorial acquisitions in the southwest. The attempt of the empire to use again “the foreign hand”, the Magyars, fails. King SIMEON drives them far to the northwest and strikes the border mark at 20 km north of Thessaloniki.

Between 904 and 913 extends the last peaceful period in the rule of SIMEON. When old Bulgarian literature extols him as “the new Ptolomy” and “lover of books”, it has in mind that period exactly. The death of Emperor Leo VI and the coming to the throne of his brother Alexander drastically changed the interrelations with the empire. The grave offense offered on Bulgarian emissaries takes King SIMEON out of the noble dreaming over books and sends him off on the battlefield where he is to remain till the end of his days. In the summer of 913 his troops march towards Constantinople with the intention - as Patriarch Nikolay the Mystic puts it - “to grasp the imperial power” (in Byzantium). What is changed? After the early death of Emperor Alexander the crown is inherited by the under-aged Constantine VII Bagrenorodni whose regent is the ambitious Patriarch Nikolay the Mystic. The situation of Byzantium gives hope to King SIMEON that with some effort and pressure he will succeed in receiving the craved crown of the Roman Basilevs and will set the beginning of a Bulgarian-Byzantine empire with a new orientation. But military demonstrations and the negotiations that followed give no results. Byzantium refuses to recognize the kingly worthiness of the Bulgarian ruler, which means reopening of the war. On August 20, 917, at the river Aheloi, the Byzantines suffer mortal defeat doubled by still another victory of the Bulgarians at Karasirti. After these victories SIMEON proclaims him­self KING, and the archbishop of Bulgaria becomes PATRIARCH.

King SIMEON succeeds in raising the status of Bulgaria to that of the First permanent Kingdom in Christian Europe and to established the independent status of the Bulgarian Church as the first local public church.

By 926 he fought with Croatia under King Tomislav, but suffered a defeat in the Battle of the Bosnian Highlands. Simeon died of a heart attack on May 27, 927, after 14 years of war against the Byzantine Empire.

Bulgarians Golden Age

By the late 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, Bulgaria extended to Epirus and Thessaly in the south, Bosnia in the west and controlled the whole of present-day Romania and eastern Hungary to the north. A Serbian state came into existence as a dependency of the Bulgarian Empire.

Under Tsar Simeon I (Simeon the Great), who was educated in Constantinople, Bulgaria became again a serious threat to the Byzantine Empire. Simeon hoped to take Constantinople and make himself Emperor of both Bulgarians and Greeks, and fought a series of wars with the Byzantines through his long reign (893-927). The war boundary towards the end of his rule reached Peloponnese in the south. Simeon proclaimed himself “Tsar (Caesar) of the Bulgarians and the Greeks,” a title which was recognised by the Pope, but not of course by the Byzantine Emperor.

The peak in the Bulgarian cultural and political development in the Middle Ages was the 10th century, named the Golden Age of Bulgaria.

The adoption of Christianity as a state religion in 865 gave new scope to monastery building. The excavations in the old Bulgarian capitals of Pliska and Preslav are a convincing proof of the fact that it was in the monastery complexes that the new Christian culture in Bulgaria came into being. From the very beginning the monastic community was called upon to fight for the establishment of a coherent ethnic structure by joining the Proto-Bulgarian and Slav population to common rites and religious traditions thus creating and developing an all-Bulgarian culture.

After the adoption of Christianity in the second half of the 9th century the monasteries built near Pliska and Preslav and bearing similarities to the Byzantine ones, carried out, apart from their church-and-ritual functions broad cultural, educational and economic activities. There appeared art studios for ceramic icons, scriptorium in which liturgical books were translated into Slavonic, new literary works were created, literary miscellanies were compiled which satisfied the necessity of propagating and consolidating the new religion. At that time the monasteries near Preslav gave shelter to such prominent men of letters as Konstantin of Preslav, Chernorizets Hrabr and Exarch Yosif who created works of extreme cultural and historical value thus marking the so-called Golden Age of Bulgarian literature.

However, the monasteries were not only literary, cultural and artistic centres. A large-scale construction was carried out there and in their environs. The ceramic, glass and sculptural workshops set up during the First Bulgarian Kingdom (9th-lOth c.) were~ the monastery complexes. At that time the architecture of Central and Western Europe was quite austere and dull while in the Byzantine Empire they were mostly interested in the architecture of inner spaces. In contrast to it Bulgarian architecture created dynamic silhouettes, broken - up colorful facades decorated with plastics. Despite the monastic asceticism the monastery buildings beam with their marvellous architecture - flexible and multicolored, an apotheosis of the organic merger and interaction of pagan traditions and achievements of the Christian culture. Later on, in the l0th-11th century, this pictorial style was adopted by Byzantine architecture and the architectural practices in Russia, Serbia and other Orthodox states.

Tsarevets - The fortification for Bulgarian kings of the second Bulgarian kingdom

The river Yantra, as it runs through the city of Veliko Tarnovo, forms a natural semi island, which, after being fortified by the Bulgarian tsars, has been used as their power base. It is called Tsarevets (Tsar's place)

Veliko Tarnovo - the capital of Bulgaria during the second Bulgarian kingdom

Veliko Tarnovo has been a city before the establishment of Bulgaria as an independent country back in the year of 681. It has been reinforced by the Roman empire as a strategic city in it's periphery. It has a very long history. In more recent times, after the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman empire, the first Bulgarian constitution, called The constitution of Tarnovo, has been accepted and the independence of Bulgaria proclaimed in the city of Veliko Tarnovo.

Tsar Krum united 2 Bulgaria's: Misia with Macedonia

Bulgarian Tsar Kuber brother of Asparukh settle in Macedonia 30 years before.

Tsar Krum the Terrible

On July 26, 811 in Stara Planina Mountain Bulgarian army destroy Byzantine aggressor in Vurbitsa pass and kill emperor Nicephorus I Genik and his son crone price Stauracius. In the history of the Byzantine empire where killed in the fight only two emperors: Valens in 378 and Constantine in 1453.

The dead of two emperors at the same time make great impression in Europe and lifted the respect for Bulgarian kingdom. The name of the Bulgarian Tsar Krum will be remember centuries later and will be covered with legends. He was well known with very hard executive power. Krum is said to have made a drinking-silver cup of Nicephorus's skull. In the light of this anecdotic circumstances will be lost the consequences of the battle. Changing the European continent. European diversity of nations and cultures on place of unified Roman empire. The waves of the Great migration of the nations destroy the Roman empire united Europe till 3 century A.D. It rise many nations in Europe. Two of them are established from Tsar Asparukh in Misia and Tsar Kuber in Macedonia.

From the new nations in Europe around year 800 remain only the two Bulgaria's. Resources for them are very limited compared to the Byzantine empire. But in 803 in the North Bulgaria come to power a talented leader Tsar Krum. He recognize that the politic of the 8 century to keep the conquered territories and to fight the Byzantine army was not the right one. To keep the Bulgarian kingdom intact he needs a new policy. Bulgaria need to gain in territories, land and resources. Tsar Krum stake on expansion and unification of the two Bulgarian state and this can't be achieved without war with Byzantine empire.

In 809 he win over Byzantine army in Macedonia and take Serdika and unite the two Bulgarian state, which the historians in Skopje called false conquer of Macedonia, because Macedonia was long before already inhabited by Slavs and Bulgarians. Continue the expansionist policy he incorporate in Bulgaria Aegean Thrace and Rodopi mountain. This expansion and unification of the Bulgarian state alarm Byzantine emperor who started unprecedented attack on Bulgaria in July 811. It take part the whole Byzantine army. They passed the Stara Planina mountain and defeat the 15 000 Bulgarian army and take the Bulgarian capitol Pliska. After the palace was destroyed Krum was said to sue for peace offering Nicephorus I anything he wants. The Byzantine emperor refused the proposal. The Byzantine army enjoy the win in drinking and plunder. Tsar Krum prepare for revenge, fill his army with soldiers from distant area and block the retreat of the Byzantine army when he take all possible passes in Stara Planina mountain. Nicephorus I recognize that he is in the trap. He choose to retreat true Vurbitsa pass. The Byzantine army is attacked from the early morning of the July 26, 811 from the Bulgarian army. Elite forces attacked the emperor camp. Nicephorus is surprised in the tent with his men lovers and is killed instantly. His son Stauracius was so badly wounded and die month later. The Byzantines were crushed like never before. The consequences for Byzantine empire a catastrophically. Having taken his revenge, Krum proposed peace. When met with a refusal, he led his army south to the area between the Struma and the Maritsa, seizing Byzantine towns and strongholds. The population was sent to territories beyond the Danube, so as to incorporate new lands more easily into the Bulgarian state. Then he extended another proposal for peace. Despite his victories, he set a very modest condition: renewal of the treaty from Tsar Tervel's time.

FROM THE BYZANTINE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 'SVIDAS'
Under the Emperor Justinian, Tervel, the ruler of the Bulgarians (700-721), was at the height of his prosperity. Justinian himself, and Constantine, the son of Heraclius, paid him tribute. He would put down his shield, which he carried in time of war, and turn it upside down, then the whip he used to guide his horse, and have money piled on to them until both were covered. He would lay his spear on the ground and from one end to the other and to a great height he would have silk garments piled on it. Filling purses with gold and silver coins, he distributed them to the soldiers, throwing gold with his right hand and silver with his left hand.

In 705 Khan Tervel's army helped Emperor Justinian II to regain his throne. The grateful basileus welcomed the Bulgarian Khan in Constantinople with great honors, putting a royal mantle on his shoulders and showering him with gifts. Khan Tervel and Emperor Justinian stood together as equals at the parade of Byzantine troops. And best of all, under the new treaty of 716 Bulgaria received, for the first time, lands south of the Balkan range: the region of Zagora in Eastern Thrace, through which many strategic routes passed. Defeated and humiliated, Byzantium was committed to pay annual tribute to Bulgaria. Furthermore, the Khan was awarded the title of Caesar, making him second only to the emperor. This was the first time in Byzantine history that a foreigner was bestowed such a title, and a lead seal reading "Mother of God, help the Caesar Tervel" attests to the honor.

The brilliant victory over Byzantine army bring Tsar Krum to the idea to attack the capitol. And so at the beginning of the 9 century the Bulgarians for the first time lay claim to conquer the "Second Rome" Constantinople. The theatre of the battle is southeast Thrace. Krum conquers Messembria (Nessebar) and in his hands is fallen the secret Greek weapon: "Greek fire".

A memorable battle was fought by the town of Versinikia, not far from Adrianople, on 22 June 813. Once again the Byzantine army was routed and Tsar Krum triumphed.

The new emperor Leo V Gnuni, the Armenian (813-820) prepare for a long defense of Constantinople. Tsar Krum stand on July 17, 813 for the walls and he knows the need to be very good prepared for such a move but first he again purpose a peace. Leo V took the proposal seemingly with secret intention to kill Krum. Tsar Krum come to the the appointed place but immediately recognize the trap throw him selves on the horse and run. Despite he was covered with arrows but remain unhurt. His aids was killed or captured. Byzantine insidiousness make Tsar Krum very mad and he straiten the siege of Adrianople, use stone heating and wall heating machines and took the city. Adrianople fell, giving Krum the nickname of Strashny (the Terrible): a stern ruler, merciless to his enemies. 10 000 of the fighters was taken captive and send in Danube Bulgaria. The special preparation for the taking Constantinople take place in the winter months of 814. Tsar Krum took in his army Slavs and Avars. Special attention was taken to have the modern for time military equipment. His 30 000 men army was "dressed full in metal". The transportation of the battering-rams alone required the building of 5,000 iron-bound carts and 10,000 oxen. The Khan's sudden death on 13 April 814 put an end to his dream to enter the imperial palace as a victor.

With his dead Bulgarians loose one of the greatest and courageous ruler. Only in one decade Bulgaria gain immense on territories including new Slavic tribes. Despite he do not achieved what he was planed against Byzantine, he removed Byzantine as a serious enemy for near 200 years. The territorial expansion of the Bulgarian state demand reform of the organizing structure of the state and change to centralized ruling. This way can be reach stability and no place for separatism. The second half of the 8 century shows that internal instability is often more dangerous, than strong foreign enemy.

Clashes with Avars and Byzantines never deterred Tsar Krum from proceeding with the consolidation of his state. He would even learn from his enemy, using Byzantine experience in warring and governing. He ask captive Avars after overwhelming win against Avars for the reasons of the undergoing Avar civilization. They told him that drinking, slander, theft and other viciously crime are the main reason. This urged Krum to introduce law and order in Bulgaria - Bulgaria's first written laws.

The new law in Bulgaria protect private property from theft. Special attention require the new law to give to the beggar enough to stop begging. Against thefts, slanders and drinkers are taken strong punishments. The violators are to be punished with taking properties, cutting extremities or death.

The low and order are the first serious step to erase the differences between Slavs and Bulgarians. The law is equal for all citizen. Byzantine encyclopedia "Svidas" in the X century mention that Tsar Krum to fight drinkers order to eradicate all vineyards.

The next Tsar Omurtag Krum's son make the peace agreement in which the Byzantine empire confirm and accept all Bulgarian territories and recognize the new superpower on the Balkan - Bulgarian Kingdom.

Ivan Asen II
(Bulgarian: Иван Асен II, pronounced [iˈvan aˈsɛn ˈftɔri]; also Йоан Асен II, Yoan Asen II), in English sometimes known as John Asen II, ruled as Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241, during the Second Bulgarian Empire.

Early rule

He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena (religious name Evgenija). Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants. Ivan Asen II's father was one of the two founders of the Asen dynasty and the Second Bulgarian Empire. Under Ivan Asen II's rule, the empire would become the dominant force in the Balkans for about a decade, 1230–1241.

After the death of his uncle Kaloyan in 1207, Ivan Asen's cousin, Boril, usurped the throne and forced him to flee to the Rus principality of Galicia-Volhynia. With its support Ivan Asen returned to Bulgaria in 1218 to successfully overthrow his cousin and be crowned as emperor. Having established himself on the throne, Ivan Asen II set about recovering the losses sustained by Bulgaria during the reign of Boril.

Initial relations with neighbouring powers

The return of Andrew II of Hungary from the Fifth Crusade in 1218 provided an opportunity to establish a marriage alliance and to obtain (probably in 1221) the return of the disputed territories around Belgrade on the Danube as the dowry of Princess Anna Maria of Hungary. Ivan Asen II also made an alliance with Theodore Komnenos Doukas of Epirus to his south, although the latter had expanded his control over various Bulgarian-inhabited territories, including Ohrid. The alliance was cemented with the marriage of Ivan Asen II's daughter to Theodore's brother Manuel.

After the death of the Latin Emperor Robert of Courtenay in 1228, the barons in Constantinople considered Ivan Asen II as a possible choice of regent or guardian of the minor Baldwin II. By this time Theodore of Epirus had reconquered Thessalonica from the Latin Empire in 1224, had himself crowned emperor there by the autocephalous archbishop of Ohrid, had taken Adrianople and was poised to strike at Constantinople itself. Fearing Ivan Asen II's intervention in the Latin Empire, Theodore diverted his army, including many western mercenaries, northwards into Bulgaria in 1230. According to tradition, Ivan Asen II had the text of the broken treaty carried like a standard on a spear, and managed to decisively defeat and capture Theodore in the battle of Klokotnitsa. This victory allowed Ivan Asen II to sweep into Theodore's lands and to conquer the Epirote possessions from the Black Sea and Adrianople in the east to the Adriatic and Durazzo in the west.

Further south Epirus proper and the region of Thessalonica were left to Ivan Asen II's son-in-law Manuel, who governed from Thessalonica with the title of despot. The success of Ivan Asen II was due as much to his effective defeat of Theodore's army as to his humane treatment of the prisoners of war (recorded by the Byzantine historians), whom he released and allowed to return home unharmed. This restraint made it possible to readily obtain the submission of most of Theodore's fortresses.

Hungarian invasions and Bulgarian intervention in the Latin Empire

The Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Ivan Asen II.

The alliance between Bulgaria and Nicaea, directed against the Latin Empire, provoked reprisals by the papacy and the kingdom of Hungary. In 1232 the Hungarians seized the Belgrade area and attacked Sredec (Sofia), but were defeated by Ivan Asen II's brother Alexander. In 1233, under the leadership of the future king Béla IV, the Hungarians invaded again, this time seizing Little or Western Wallachia (Oltenia) and setting up the banate of Severin. It is unclear how long the Hungarians were able to hold on to their conquests, but they had been recovered by Ivan Asen II before the Mongol invasion of 1240–1241. Both the Belgrade region and the banate of Severin were reconquered by Hungary in 1246.

The new pro-Nicaean alignment of Bulgaria culminated with the marriage between Elena of Bulgaria ,Ivan Asen II's daughter, and the future Theodore II Laskaris, the son of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea. The dynastic union was celebrated in 1235 and coincided with the restoration of the Bulgarian patriarchate with the consent of the eastern patriarchs. In the aftermath Ivan Asen II and John III campaigned together against the Latin Empire in Europe, effectively dividing its territories in Thrace. The death of John of Brienne in 1237 gave Ivan Asen II new hopes of intervention in the Latin Empire, to the point of projecting the marriage of a daughter with Baldwin II and even abducting his own daughter Elena, whom he had married to the heir to Nicaea. However, this change of policy came to naught the same year, when, while besieging Nicaean Caenophrurion in alliance with the Latins, Ivan Asen II received news of the simultaneous deaths of his wife, one of his children, and the Patriarch of Tarnovo. Taking these events as signs of divine displeasure, Ivan Asen II broke off the siege and returned home, sending his daughter Elena back to her husband in Nicaea.

End of rule

The last years of Ivan Asen II's reign show unwillingness to fully commit on either side in the continued struggle between the Latin Empire and Nicaea. Although the Nicaean alliance was renewed, Ivan Asen II allowed Cuman detachments and a 60-thousand strong western army to cross his lands and reinforce the Latin Empire in 1240.

Following the death of his wife Anna Maria of Hungary, Ivan Asen II married Eirene, the daughter of Theodore of Epirus, who had remained a prisoner in the Bulgarian court since his capture in 1230, and had been blinded for conspiracy. According to a Byzantine author, Ivan Asen II loved Eirene "no less than Antony loved Cleopatra", and she may have been his mistress for some years before their marriage in 1237. Marrying Eirene, Ivan Asen II would have broken church canons, as his daughter from a previous marriage was married to Eirene's uncle Manuel of Thessalonica. There is moot evidence that the Bulgarian church opposed the marriage and that a patriarch (called either Spiridon or Visarion) was deposed or executed by the irate tsar. The marriage resulted in the release of Theodore, who returned to Thessalonica, chased out his brother Manuel (who retained control of Thessaly), and imposed his own son John as despot.

The last recorded action of Ivan Asen II is his defeat of a column of the Mongol army of Batu Khan in the course of its retreat from Hungary in 1241. This was not a decisive defeat, and a new Mongol invasion in 1242 forced Bulgaria to become tributary to the Golden Horde. By this time, however, Ivan Asen II was already dead, having died on 24 June 1241.

Overview

Тsar Ivan Asen II is considered, with good reason, one of the most important and successful rulers of Bulgaria. His work included the restoration of the autocephalous Bulgarian patriarchate in 1235 (after a long hiatus since 1018), the minting of the first Bulgarian non-imitation coinage in both gold and copper, the suppression of the centrifugal forces that had plagued his predecessor's reign, and the expansion of Bulgaria's frontiers in all directions. Ivan Asen II had sought to bolster the effectiveness of his state by providing for some level of administrative control and concluding a commercial treaty with the republic of Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik), a dependency of Venice. He showed restraint on the field of battle and sought to face challenges through diplomatic solutions. However, his policies exhibit considerable inconsistencies, especially in the relationship towards Nicaea and the Latin Empire. It is possible that Ivan Asen II could not decide which of these rivals was more dangerous to him or more profitable as an ally. In the long run his actions (including the victory over Theodore of Epirus and the general preference for Nicaea) secured the position of Nicaea as the Byzantine successor state best able to reconquer Constantinople. Bulgarian influence over Serbia and Thessalonica lapsed on his death. The rudimentary administrative apparatus he left behind proved insufficient to cope with the challenges of two successive minorities on the throne, and led to significant territorial losses to Nicaea, Epirus, and Hungary in 1246, not to mention Bulgaria's status as a tributary to the Golden Horde in 1242. It is difficult to say to what extent Ivan Asen II may have been able to prevent these developments, but he may be credited with presiding over a period of rare prosperity, internal peace, and external hegemony for Medieval Bulgaria.

Family

Ivan Asen II was married three times. His first wife may be the Anna (religious name Anisia) mentioned in the Synodik of the Bulgarian Church. She may have been a concubine instead of a legitimate spouse, and she may have been the mother of his two eldest daughters:

1. Maria (?), who married Manuel of Thessalonica.
2. Beloslava (?), who married Stefan Vladislav I of Serbia.

His second wife was Anna Maria of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. She died in 1237 and by her he had several children, including:

1. Elena, who married Theodore II Doukas Laskaris of the Nicaea.
2. Thamar, at one point alleged to be engaged to the future Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
3. Kaliman Asen I, who succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1241–1246.
4. Peter, who died in 1237.

By his third wife, Eirene (religious name Xene) of Thessalonica, a daughter of Theodore of Epirus and Maria Petraliphaina, he had three children:

1. Anna (or Theodora), who married the sebastokrator Peter before 1253.
2. Maria, who married Mitso Asen, who succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1256–1257.
3. Michael Asen I, who succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1246–1256.