Tsar Samuel Against Emperor Basil II: Why Did Bulgaria Loose the Battle with the Byzantine Empire at the Beginning of the 11th Century
Journal Title: Studia Ceranea. Journal of the Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe - Year 2011, Vol 1, Issue
Abstract
At the beginning of the 11th century, after decades of almost incessant wars with the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarian state lost its political independence. In many research works on the period in question there is emphasis put on the stabilization of the Empire at the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century as a major factor or a reason for the loss of our political independence for a century and a half. Naturally, the internal political state of affairs in the Bulgarian Tsardom and the decline of its military power resulting from the loss of independence also made it easier for Emperor Basil II to put pressure on the Balkans. This article deals with the issue of the reasons for the decline in the Bulgarian military power at the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century, the changes in the military stratagems observed in the wars of tsar Samuel and his successors to the throne. Why did Samuel avoid pitched battles? Why do the sources speak mostly about lightly-equipped Bulgarian armies? Why did the Bulgarians of the time take over fortresses after prolonged sieges and mainly through starvation and military stratagems? The present article attempts to give an answer to these questions, based on the written sources of the period and the works of historians.
Authors and Affiliations
Ivelin Ivanov
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP266665
- DOI -
- Views 73
- Downloads 0
Le “chiavi tematiche bibliche” nel contesto della tradizione retorica e letteraria europea: un capitolo di poetica storica
The article deals with the case of the so-called “biblical thematic clue” (a definition introduced by R. Picchio), that is a rhetorical device allegedly widely spread in the medieval Church Slavonic literary code. Despi...
The Image of the Town: Medieval Sofia in Original Bulgarian Works from the 16th Century
The paper follows out the way of denomination and description of Sofia town in manuscripts from different genre during the period of the 15th –17th centuries, namely: the original hagiographic and hymnographic works of...
Some Anti-heretic Fragments in the 14th Century Bulgarian Canon Law Miscellanies
It is well known that the major anti-heretic written source from the Second Bulgarian Empire is the Tsar Boril’s Synodicon, proved to have been compiled to serve the Synod against the Bogomils, convened in Tărnovo in 121...
Book Reviews: Священное Писание как фактор языкового и литературного развития. Материалы Международной конференции „Священное Писание как фактор языкового и литературного развития (в ареале авраамических религий)”, Санкт-Петербург, 30 июня 2009 г., ed. Е.Н. Мещерская, Издательство «Дмитрий Буланин», Санкт-Петербург 2011, pp. 336.
Book Review.
St. Symeon the New Theologian and Western Dissident Movements
The trial at Orleans in 1022 of a group of aristocratic clergy, who included the confessor of Queen Constance of France, and their followers on the charge of heresy is the most fully reported among the group of heresy...