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Prespa (medieval Town)
Prespa ( bg, Преспа, mk, Преспа) was a medieval town, situated in the homonymous area in south-western Macedonia. It was a residence and burial place of the Bulgarian emperor Samuel and according to some sources capital of the First Bulgarian Empire and seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in the last decades of the 10th century. Location The toponym ''Prespa'' is used for a lake, an island settlement or simply an island.Георгиев (2003) The exact borders and character of the town are difficult to define by the historical sources. It has been searched in the valley of the Lake Prespa, surrounded by the mountains Baba, Petrino, Galičica, Zvezda and Korbets. It is situated in the territories of three modern countries: Albania, North Macedonia and Greece. According to the archaeological research, in the Early Middle Ages there were construction activities in the following sites: *On the island of Saint Achilleios in the Little Prespa Lake (today in Greece)Prinz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prespa
Prespa ( mk, Преспа, sq, Prespa, el, Πρέσπα) is a region shared between North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen in North Macedonia with 9,000 inhabitants. History In today's borders, the region is divided between three countries, which is result of the division of the Ottoman territories of Europe after the two Balkan Wars. Prespa itself has an important geostrategic position. During the Roman rule through Prespa, the famous ancient Roman road "Via Egnatia" was built. In addition to road, several settlements were also built. In the 6th and 7th centuries in Prespa didn't settle permanently Slavic tribes. The Slavs skipped the region that had been already plundered and depopulated, but continued south to the Mediterranean coast. In the late 10th and early 11th centuries, during the reign of the Cometopuls, besides Prespa Lake was mentioned also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maligrad
Maligrad ( sq, Maligrad, also ''Qytet i Vogël'' "small city"; mk, Мал Град, ''Mal Grad'' "small city/town") is an island situated deep within the Albanian part of Lake Prespa, with many caves suitable for wildlife and a circular cliff. Shaped like a tadpole, it contains some trees and an area of sand. The island contains a famous Saint Mary Church, built by Kesar Novak (Qesar Novaku), a local noble, in 1369. It has an area of almost 5 hectares. See also * St. Mary's Church, Maligrad *Golem Grad Golem Grad ( mk, Голем Град), meaning ''Big City/Town'', also known as Snake Island, is an island in North Macedonia. The island covers an area of more than 20 hectares. It is located in Lake Prespa, a few kilometers from the Greek and A ... References Lake islands of Albania Geography of Korçë County Prespa National Park (Albania) {{Korçë-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David (noble)
Archangels Chapel in Rila Monastery David of Bulgaria - 1845. David ( cu, Даві́дъ bg, Давид) (died 976) was a Bulgarian noble, brother of Emperor Samuel and eldest son of ''komes'' Nicholas, member of the Cometopuli dynasty.Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900-1996, Peter Lang, 2010, , p. 91. After the disastrous invasion of Rus' armies and the fall of North-eastern Bulgaria under Byzantine occupation in 971, he and his three younger brothers took the lead of the defence of the country. They executed their power together and each of them governed and defended a separate region. He ruled the southernmost parts of the realm from Prespa and Kastoria and was responsible for the defence the dangerous borders with Thessalonica and Thessaly. In 976 he participated in the major assault against the Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cometopuli
The Kometopuli dynasty ( Bulgarian: , Bulgarian; ; Byzantine Greek: , ) was the last royal dynasty in the First Bulgarian Empire, ruling from ca. 976 until the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018. The most notable member of the dynasty, Tsar Samuel, is famous for successfully resisting Byzantine conquest for more than 40 years. Sometimes the realm of the Cometopuli is called Western Bulgarian Kingdom or ''Western Bulgarian Empire''. Origin and members The actual name of the dynasty is not known. Cometopuli ( Bulgarian: , ; Byzantine Greek: , ) is merely the nickname which is used by Byzantine historians to address rulers from the dynasty as its founder, Nicholas, was a ''komes'' (governor, cognate to "count"; Byzantine Greek: , , from the Latin '' comes''; Bulgarian: , ) either of the region of Sredets (the present-day capital of Bulgaria, Sofia) or of the region of Prespa. According to the 11th century Armenian historian, Stepanos Asoghik, the dynasty was of A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sviatoslav I Of Kiev
; (943 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazars, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. He conquered numerous East Slavs, East Slavic tribes, defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgaria, Volga Bulgars, and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Hungarian people, Magyars (Hungarians). His decade-long reign over the Kievan Rus' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley, the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe, and the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital in 969 from Kiev (modern-day Ukraine) to Pereyaslavets (identified as the modern village of Nufăru, Romania) on the Danube. In contrast with his mother's conversion to History of Christianity#High Middle Ages (800–1299), Christianity, Sviatosl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rus'–Byzantine War (970–971)
Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria refers to a conflict beginning in 967/968 and ending in 971, carried out in the eastern Balkans, and involving the Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, and the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines encouraged the Rus' ruler Sviatoslav to attack Bulgaria, leading to the defeat of the Bulgarian forces and the occupation of the northern and north-eastern part of the country by the Rus' for the following two years. The allies then turned against each other, and the ensuing military confrontation ended with a Byzantine victory. The Rus' withdrew and eastern Bulgaria was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire. In 927, a peace treaty had been signed between Bulgaria and Byzantium, ending many years of warfare and establishing forty years of peace. Both states prospered during this interlude, but the balance of power gradually shifted in favour of the Byzantines, who made great territorial gains against the Abbasid Caliphate in the East and formed a web of alliances surroun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preslav
The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav ( bg, Велики Преслав, ), former Preslav ( bg, link=no, Преслав; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new Bulgarian: ''obshtina''), which in turn is part of Shumen Province, Bulgaria. Veliki Preslav is situated at an altitude of 132 m (92 m above sea level). A former village, it assumed the name of the medieval capital in 1878 and became a town in 1883. As of December 2009, it had a population of 8,951 inhabitants. Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities in medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a national archaeological reserve. History The name of Preslav is of Slavic origin; apparently it was initially founded and functioned as a S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliska
Pliska ( , cu, Пльсковъ, translit=Plĭskovŭ) was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the Middle Ages and is now a small town in Shumen Province, on the Ludogorie plateau of the Danubian Plain, 20 km northeast of the provincial capital, Shumen. Pliska was the first capital of Bulgaria, and according to legend founded by Asparuh of Bulgaria in the late 7th century; this legend is archaeologically unsubstantiated. The site was originally an encampment, with the first tent-shaped buildings at Pliska of uncertain date. No evidence exists of a settlement before the 9th century, and claims that the site dates from Late Antiquity have been contested. By the early 9th century, Pliska was surrounded by a defensive wall and of land was further enclosed by an outer earthwork with stone revetment long. After the Byzantine army sacked and burned Pliska in 811, led by the emperor Nikephoros I (), Pliska was rebuilt by Omurtag of Bulgaria, Omurtag (), who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Basilica, Pliska
The Great Basilica of Pliska ( bg, Голяма базилика в Плиска, translit=Golyama bazilika v Pliska) is an architectural complex in Pliska, the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, which includes the cathedral, an archbishop's palace and a monastery. The basilica was constructed on the orders of the ''knyaz'' of Bulgaria, Boris I (), after his baptism in 864 and the resultant Christianization of Bulgaria. Completed around 875, the basilica was long and wide. The complex includes Great Basilica itself – a basilica used as the cathedral church – and the attached monastery and episcopal palace inhabited by Christian monks and the bishop of Pliska. Description The basilica was built at the place of what is known as the cross-shaped Mausoleum, an older religious building that is thought by some researchers to be an unknown kind of Bulgar heathen temple. According to the Shumen architectural museum's research, an early Christian martyrium that included a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianization Of Bulgaria
The Christianization of Bulgaria was the process by which 9th-century medieval Bulgaria converted to Christianity. It reflected the need of unity within the religiously divided Bulgarian state as well as the need for equal acceptance on the international stage in Christian Europe. This process was characterized by the shifting political alliances of Boris I of Bulgaria (ruled 852-889) with the kingdom of the East Franks and with the Byzantine Empire, as well as his diplomatic correspondence with the Pope. Because of Bulgaria's strategic position, the churches of both Rome and Constantinople each wanted Bulgaria in their sphere of influence. They regarded Christianization as a means of integrating Slavs into their region. After some overtures to each side, the Khan adopted Christianity from Constantinople in 870. As a result, he achieved his goal of gaining an independent Bulgarian national church and having an archbishop appointed to head it. Background When Khan Boris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris I Of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail (Michael) and ''Bogoris'' ( cu, Борисъ А҃ / Борисъ-Михаилъ bg, Борис I / Борис-Михаил; died 2 May 907), was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III. The historian Steven Runciman called him one of the greatest persons in history. Despite a number of military setbacks, the reign of Boris I was marked with significant events that shaped Bulgarian and European history. With the Christianization of Bulgaria in 864 paganism (i.e. Tengrism) was abolished. A skillful diplomat, Boris I successfully exploited the conflict between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Papacy to secure an autocephalous Bulgarian Church, thus dealing with the nobility's concerns about Byzantine interference in Bulgaria's internal affairs. When in 885 the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius were bani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
