The consequences after the of defeat of Petar Delyan’s
uprising were severe, and Bulgaria was ruthlessly devastated. A considerable number of
its inhabitants were enslaved by the emperor, and many lost their estates. In order to
break up the ethnic unity of the Bulgarians, Constantinople settled foreign colonists in
the region.
However, a new uprising in Larissa, Thessaly, was begun in 1066 by the Vlach population.
In a familiar, cycle, the Larissa uprising was also betrayed by its leader, Nikulitsa
Delphin, a feudal lord, who took the first opportunity to surrender to Emperor Constantine
X Ducas. Although unsuccessful, this revolt sought to spread and include the Bulgarian
population as well, and did succeed in assisting the beginnings of a latter uprising in
Skopje under the leadership of Georgi Voyteh.
In 1072, only six
years after the uprising in Thessaly, Bulgaria was shaken anew by a rebellion triggered by
new financial policies of Byzantium following its defeats in Italy and Asia Minor. At the
battle of Manzikert, Byzantium was defeated by the Seljuq Turks and thus lost the rich
lands of Asia Minor; the occupation of Bari by the Normans cost Byzantium its last
possessions in southern Italy. To respond to these emergencies heavy taxation was levied
throughout the empire, cutting deeply into the Bulgarian population. The uprising of 1072
centered in Skopje and was led by Georgi Voyteh. The insurgents gathered in Prizren and
sought the aid of Michail, King of Zeta, who was related to Samuil: Michail was the son of
Prince Stephan Voislav, the son of Samuel’s daughter Kossara (who had married Prince
Jovan Vladimir). King Michail was thus the great-grandson of Samuel and the rebels,
respecting his bloodline, applied to him for aid. He had promised in the past that he
would support their desire to restore Samuel’s empire; he now gathered 300 soldiers
and sent them to Prizren, accompanied by his son Constantine Bodin. There Bodin was
proclaimed as tsar, changing his name from Constantine to Petar in honor of Petar Delyan.
Nicephorus Bryennius witnessed these events in Bulgaria, and wrote in his History:
"The emperor Michail [Michail VII Ducas] had many difficulties at that time, because
the Scythians [the Pechenegs] made sudden attacks on Thrace and Macedonia, and the Slavs
rejected Romaean slavery and devastated and plundered the Bulgarian country. Skopje and
Nish were conquered..." As noted in Bryennius's chronicle, the uprising was very
successful in its beginning: beside Skopje and Nish, part of the rebels, led by Petrilo,
occupied Ohrid and advanced to Kostur, where they were defeated. This encouraged the
Byzantines to undertake a counteroffensive, and a huge army, led by Michael Saronit, set
out for Skopje. Georgi Voyteh, frightened by the advance, surrendered the town without
resistance. Tsar Bodin, who had in the meantime occupied Nish, set back for Skopje. The
insurgents and Saronit's soldiers met in a decisive battle near present-day Paun on the
plains of Kosovo, where Bodin was defeated. He and Georgi Voyteh were captured and sent to
Constantinople. Voyteh died on the journey, but Bodin-after many months of
imprisonment-was released after payment of a ransom and returned back to Zeta. On two
occasions Byzantium sent armies to Bulgaria to put an end to the uprising, and warfare
devastated the region. Many towns were damaged, and the imperial palaces built in Prespa
during the time of Tsar Samuel were destroyed. Nicephorus Bryennius was a general during
the counteroffensive, and by the end of 1073 he "mastered the people of the
Slavs" and subjugated it again to Byzantine authority. However, Constantine Bodin
could not remain at peace. Theophylact of Ohrid wrote in a letter: "In Ohrid matters
are terrifying. The region of Mokra [a part of the Ohrid theme] is seized by the captive
[Bodin] and surrendered, while Bagora [a Bulgarian mountain] has been occupied by the
rebel. In a word, everything is bad."
Devastation, suffering, hunger and death stalked the Bulgarian countryside as wave after
wave of warfare and rebellion swept through it. Jovan Zvonara in his Chronicle writes that
in 1064 "the Gagauz Turks passed the Danube River and halved the entire country along
the river. There were 60,000 people, they say, who could carry arms. From there they
invaded Macedonia, plundered it and reached as far as Hellas." Rudolf Cadonensi in
his Jerusalem Expedition (1083-1085) states that "...the messenger... upset Emperor
Alexius: Bohomund Giuscard [son of the Duke of Normandy] crossed the Adriatic and occupied
Macedonia." The Byzantine writer Ephraim laments: "Alas! Alas! The town of
Thessaloniki has been occupied, I say, the metropolis of the Bulgarians."
In 1096, Crusaders of the First Crusade passed through Bulgaria on their way to Jerusalem.
Robert the Monk, a direct participant in the First Crusader and author of the History of
Jerusalem writes that "the Crusaders finally entered a region [Durres] very rich with
all kinds of treasures, and going from village to village, from one fortress to another,
from town to town, arrived at Kastoria [Kostur] where they celebrated Christ's birth and
then rested for a few days. However, when they asked the inhabitants for a market, they
could not get it because everyone ran out of their sight, thinking that our people had
come to rob and devastate the country. For that reason our people, lacking food, were
forced to plunder: to steal sheep, pigs and everything that could be used for food... They
left Kastoria and came to Pelagonia, where there was a heretics' fortress, and they
attacked it from all sides... While the trumpets blared and the spears and arrows flew,
they robbed it and burned down all its riches together with the inhabitants
themselves..."
The History of Jerusalem contains a great deal of information about the campaign through
Bulgaria; for example, the last reference seems to indicate a renewed upsurge of
Bogomilism in Bulgaria during the time of the Comnenus dynasty (1081-1085). The destroyed
fortress in Pelagonia was probably Bogomilean, and the victimized inhabitants were
Bogomils.
Only ten years after this, Theophylact of Ohrid wrote to John Comnenus, son of the
emperor's elder brother: "One of the monks and clergymen [the Bogomil leader, the
priest Vasiliy], to my misfortune, scorned God and became a prey to shamelessness,
rejecting the human feeling of shame, and assumed the figure of a harlot, rejected his own
image and ate meat rather than fasting, [became] libertine rather than forbearing... That
is why I ordered that this contagious and common disease be expelled from these
territories. If by chance I capture him, he will die in the tower as a social and state
evil."
The Bogomilean and Paulician movements were particularly strengthened after the death of
Alexis I Comnenus (1118). Paulicianism emerged as a sect in Western Armenia in the 7th
century; its essence is represented by the dualism of God: a god of good and a god of
evil. The good god of Heaven, and the bad god of Hell-creator of darkness, the visible
world and our bodies. The Paulicians claimed that human beings were created by the Devil
and that Jesus was sinless in the imagination only and was not, in fact, real. They also
claimed that Mary gave birth to other children as well, in a relationship with a mortal
man. The Paulicians denied the official church as Satanic. They held their prayers day and
night: in light they prayed with their faces turned towards the sun, at night turned
towards the moon. They supported freedom in marital and sexual relations, opposing
marriage as an institution of the Devil. The Bulgarian Paulician church held to a strict
dualistic orientation. Before the Turkish conquest of the Balkans, a number of the
worshippers of this church grew closer to official Orthodox doctrine, while others, upon
the arrival of the Turks, accepted Islam.
Apparently, the execution of Vasiliy and his fellow heretics in Constantinople in 1111 did
not affect the spread of Bogomilism. The Hagiography of Bishop Hilarion of Meglen states
that Emperor Manuil I Comnenus (1143-1180) himself "almost" submitted to the
influence of this heresy, and Hilarion and Theophylact of Ohrid were given exceptional
powers by Constantinople to liquidate Bogomilism. The extent to which Bogomil movement had
spread in Bulgaria is indicated by the fact that in 1140, 1143 and 1156/57 church meetings
were held at the Byzantine capital with the sole purpose of determining how to destroy
Bogomilism.
In the late 12th century Bogomilism had spread throughout Bulgaria; not difficult to
achieve, since Bogomilism was anti-feudal in nature, preaching equality and democracy in
poverty, living a modest and simple life and disobedience to authorities. All these
elements were very close to the thoughts of the Bulgarian peasant masses, and they widely
accepted the heresy.
In the late 12th and early 13th century, Byzantium was faced with economic, social and
political crisis. Under pressure by the Normans, Byzantine rule had collapsed in much of
Bulgaria, and Byzantine control over acquisitions in the northwest was also shattered.
Newly-emerging feudal forces in Serbia and Bulgaria gained strength as serious political
factors, and feudal lords of Slavic descent started to enlarge their estates and political
power. Among those who broke their ties with the Byzantine court was Dobromir Hrs, the
administrator of Strumica with 500 soldiers at his command. He rose against Constantinople
and from Strumica occupied the town of Prosek in 1185, located where the Vardar River
passes through the Demir Kapija Gorge. Hrs moved his capital to Prosek, extending his
holdings in 1186 to Prilep, part of Pelagonia and some parts of Thessaly. In 1201, the
Byzantine army recovered Strumica, Prilep and Pelagonia and advanced towards Prosek;
Bulgarian military forces were activated at the same time. In 1203 the Byzantines entered
Prosek, occupied it and put an end to the independence of Hrs. In 1204 Constantinople
itself was attacked by the Crusaders. Its armed forces were not strong enough to resist
either armies of the Crusaders or the fleets of Venice, let alone combined attack.
Byzantium collapsed, and a part of Bulgaria was incorporated by the Crusaders into the new
Empire of Thessaloniki. Some Bulgarian towns were garrisoned by detachments of Crusading
knights; other Bulgarian towns like Skopje, Ohrid and Veria fell under Bulgarian
authority.
After the death of the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan, Tsar Strez strengthened his authority in
Bulgaria. Although of Bulgarian imperial descent he was aided by the Serbs in extending
his rule over territories along the Vardar River to Thessaloniki and to Ohrid in the west.
After his death in 1214, parts of Bulgaria including Skopje and Ohrid fell under Epirote
authority; ten years later, the Epirotes occupied Thessaloniki. Following their defeat by
the Bulgarians at Klokotnitsa in 1230, Macedonia, Thrace and a part of Albania were
incorporated within the borders of the restored Bulgarian Empire. In the eparchies as well
as in secular administration Greeks were replaced by Bulgarians. The significance of the
Archbishopric of Ohrid, Greek by hierarchical composition and function, decreased. |
