The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in AD 681 in the lands near the Danube Delta and disintegrated in AD 1018 after its annexation to the Byzantine Empire. At the height of its power it spread between three seas — the Black Sea to the east, the Aegean to the south and the Adriatic. It was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire, established in 1185.
- first bulgarian empire - Background
- During the time of the late Roman Empire, the lands of present-day Bulgaria had been organised in several provinces - Scythia Minor, Moesia (Upper and Lower), Thrace, Macedonia (First and Second), Dacia (south of the Danube), Dardania, Rhodope and Hemimont, and had a mixed population of Romanised Getae and Hellenised Thracians. Several consecutive waves of Slavic migration throughout the 6th and the early 7th century led to the almost complete slavicisation of the region.
- first bulgarian empire - The Bulgars
- Picture of Bulgar warriors slaughter Byzantines, from the Menology of Basil II, 10th century.
- first bulgarian empire - Establishment of the Bulgarian state
- There are two different dates for the year of establishment of present-day Bulgaria, based upon two different interpretations of history.
- first bulgarian empire - Territorial expansion
- Under the warrior Khan Krum (802-814), also known as Crummus and Keanus Magnus, Bulgaria expanded northwest and southwards, occupying the lands between middle Danube and Moldova, the whole territory of present-day Romania, Sofia in 809 and Adrianople (modern Edirne) in 813, and threatening Constantinople itself. According to some late sources Khan Krum implemented law reform intending to reduce the poverty and to strengthen the social ties in his vastly enlarged state. During the reign of Khan Omurtag (814-831), the northwestern boundaries with the Frankish Empire were firmly settled along the middle Danube by the 827 ad and magnificent palace, pagan temples, ruler’s residence, fortress, citadel, water-main and bath were built in Bulgarian capital Pliska, mainly of stone and brick.By the time of reign of Boris I, bulgarians conquered Macedonia. Under Boris I the Bulgarians became Christians, and the Ecumenical Patriarch agreed to allow an autonomous Bulgarian Archbishop at Pliska.
- first bulgarian empire - Cultural development
- Missionaries from Constantinople, Cyril and Methodius, devised the Glagolitic alphabet, which was adopted in the Bulgarian Empire around 886. The alphabet and the Old Bulgarian language gave rise to a rich literary and cultural activity centered around the Preslav and Ohrid Schools, established by order of Boris I in 886. In the beginning of 10th century AD, a new alphabet — the Cyrillic alphabet - was developed on the basis of Greek and Glagolitic cursive at the Preslav Literary School. According to an alternative theory, the alphabet was devised at the Ohrid Literary School by Saint Clement of Ohrid, a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Cyril and Methodius. A pious monk and hermit St. Ivan of Rila (Ivan Rilski, 876-946), became the patron saint of Bulgaria. After 893 Preslav
became truly new and in many aspects authentic Bulgarian capital.
- Missionaries from Constantinople, Cyril and Methodius, devised the Glagolitic alphabet, which was adopted in the Bulgarian Empire around 886. The alphabet and the Old Bulgarian language gave rise to a rich literary and cultural activity centered around the Preslav and Ohrid Schools, established by order of Boris I in 886. In the beginning of 10th century AD, a new alphabet — the Cyrillic alphabet - was developed on the basis of Greek and Glagolitic cursive at the Preslav Literary School. According to an alternative theory, the alphabet was devised at the Ohrid Literary School by Saint Clement of Ohrid, a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Cyril and Methodius. A pious monk and hermit St. Ivan of Rila (Ivan Rilski, 876-946), became the patron saint of Bulgaria. After 893 Preslav
- first bulgarian empire - The "Golden Age"
- Picture of The First Bulgarian Empire's greatest territorial extent during the reign of Tsar Simeon 2
- first bulgarian empire - Decline
- After Simeon's death, however, Bulgarian power declined. Under Peter I and Boris II the country was divided by the egalitarian religious heresy of the Bogomils, and distracted by wars with the Hungarians to the north and the breakaway state of Serbia to the west.
- first bulgarian empire - Footnotes
- first bulgarian empire - References
- first bulgarian empire - See also
- Bulgars
- first bulgarian empire - References
- first bulgarian empire - Related topics