Gavril Radomir ( bg, Гаврил Радомир; el, Γαβριὴλ Ρωμανός, Gavriil Romanos;
anglicized
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
as "Gabriel Radomir"; died 1015) was the emperor (
tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
) of the
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europ ...
from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of tsar
Samuel
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...
(r. 997–1014).
Biography
During his father's reign, his cousin
Ivan Vladislav
Ivan Vladislav ( cu, Їѡаннъ Владиславъ; bg, Иван/Йоан Владислав; died February 1018) ruled as emperor (tsar) of the First Bulgarian Empire from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is ...
and Ivan's entire family were all sentenced by Samuel to death for treason. Gavril's intervention saved at least his cousin. He is said to have saved his father's life in the disastrous defeat of the
Battle of Spercheios
The Battle of Spercheios ( bg, Битка при Сперхей, el, Μάχη του Σπερχειού) took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the Spercheios river near the city of Lamia in central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army ...
, and he was described as a gallant fighter.
Around the same time that Emperor
Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...
captured the bulk of Samuel's army, Gavril and his forces
defeated
Defeated may refer to:
* "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song)
* "Defeated" (Anastacia song)
*"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love''
*Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community
*''The Defeated
''The Defeated'', al ...
the army of
Theophylact Botaneiates Theophylact Botaneiates ( el, Θεοφύλακτος Βοτανειάτης, ''Theophylaktos Botaneiates'') was an 11th-century Byzantine general and governor of Thessalonica.
Life
Theophylact Botaneiates is only mentioned in the history of John ...
. Having inherited Samuel's war with the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, Gavril Radomir raided Byzantine territory, reaching as far as
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. However, the Byzantines secured the assistance of Ivan Vladislav, who owed his life to Radomir. Vladislav murdered Radomir while hunting near
Ostrovo, and then took the throne for himself.
Some sources connect Gavril Radomir with the medieval dualist sect,
Bogomilism
Bogomilism (Bulgarian and Macedonian: ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Pete ...
, a popular heretic movement that flourished in the Bulgarian region of
Kutmichevitsa
Kutmichevitsa ( bg, Кутмичевица) was an administrative region of the Bulgarian Empire during 9th-11th cent., corresponding roughly with the northwestern part of the region of Macedonia and the southern part of Albania, broadly taken t ...
during his and his father's reign.
Gavril married twice. His possible son
Peter Delyan
Petar II Delyan (reigned 1040–1041) ( bg, Петър II Делян, Greek: Πέτρος Δελεάνος) was the leader of an uprising against Byzantine rule in the Theme of Bulgaria during the summer of 1040. He was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgari ...
played a role in attempting to secure independence for Bulgaria several decades later.
Ian Mladjov inferred that
Agatha, the wife of
Edward the Exile
Edward the Exile (1016 – 19 April 1057), also called Edward Ætheling, was the son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. He spent most of his life in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary following the defeat of his father by Cnut the Great.
Exi ...
, was granddaughter of Agatha Cryselia, daughter of Gavril Radomir, by his short-lived first marriage to a Hungarian princess thought to have been the daughter of
Duke Géza of Hungary. According to the ''
Polish–Hungarian Chronicle
The ''Polish–Hungarian Chronicle'' or ''Hungarian–Polish Chronicle'' (from la, Chronicon Hungarico-Polonicum) is a medieval chronicle which exists in two redactions in five manuscripts kept in Polish libraries, including the Zamojski Codex fr ...
'', that princess was Adelaide, the daughter of
Doubravka of Bohemia
Doubravka of Bohemia, Dobrawa ( cs, Doubravka Přemyslovna, pl, Dobrawa, Dąbrówka; ca. 940/45 – 977) was a Bohemian princess of the Přemyslid dynasty and by marriage Duchess of the Polans.
She was the daughter of Boleslaus I the Cruel, ...
and
Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was the first ruler of Poland and the founder of the first independent Polish state, the Duchy of Poland. His reign stretched from 960 to his death and he was a member of the Piast dynasty, a son of Siemomysł and ...
.
Family tree
See also
*
History of Bulgaria
The history of Bulgaria can be traced from the first settlements on the lands of Bulgaria, modern Bulgaria to its formation as a nation-state, and includes the history of the Bulgarians, Bulgarian people and their origin. The earliest evidence of ...
*
Cometopuli dynasty
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 ...
*
Bitola inscription
The Bitola inscription is a stone inscription from the First Bulgarian Empire written in the Old Church Slavonic language in the Cyrillic alphabet. Currently, it is located at the Institute and Museum of Bitola, North Macedonia among the permanent ...
Sources
История на българската държава през средните векове, Том I. История на Първото българско царство. Част II. От славянизацията на държавата до падането на Първото царство (852—1018). Васил Н. Златарски 4.Приемниците на цар Самуил и покорението на България от Василий II Българоубиец.
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgaria, Gavril Radomir Of
10th-century births
1015 deaths
11th-century Bulgarian emperors
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
Bulgarian people of Armenian descent
Cometopuli dynasty
Murdered Bulgarian monarchs
Bulgarian people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars
Burials at the Church of St Achillios (Lake Prespa)
Sons of emperors