Medieval Bulgarian literature is

Bulgarian literature Bulgarian literature is literature written by Bulgarians or residents of Bulgaria, or written in the Bulgarian language; usually the latter is the defining feature. Bulgarian literature can be said to be one of the oldest among the Slavic peopl ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. With the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...

welcoming the disciples of

Cyril and Methodius Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited wit ...

after they were expelled from

Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavs, Wes ...

, the country became a centre of rich literary activity during what is known as the

Golden Age of medieval Bulgarian culture The Golden Age of Bulgaria is the period of the Bulgarian cultural prosperity during the reign of emperor Simeon I the Great (889—927).Kiril Petkiv, The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture' ...

. In the late 9th, the 10th and early 11th century literature in Bulgaria prospered, with many books being translated from

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...

, but also new works being created. Many scholars worked in the

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 B ...

and

Ohrid Literary School The Ohrid Literary School or Ohrid- ''Devol'' Literary school was one of the two major cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire, along with the Preslav Literary School (Pliska Literary School). The school was established in Ohrid (in what is ...

s, creating the

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...

for their needs. Bulgarian scholars and works influenced most of the Slavic world, spreading

Old Bulgarian Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and other ...

(Old Church Slavonic), the Cyrillic and the

Glagolithic The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...

alphabet to

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

medieval Serbia Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second half ...

and

medieval Croatia Medieval Croatia included the following states and regions: * Pannonian Slavs#Principality, Duchy of Pannonian Croatia - medieval duchy from 9th century * Duchy of Croatia - medieval duchy, in existence between the 8th century and 925, in the cente ...

. Important work from this period is

Didactic gospels {{Short description, Collection of sermons Didactic gospels is a collection of sermons. Their prototype is considered the didactic of Bishop Constantine of Preslav in 894 written in the Church Slavonic language. List of known published gospels * ...

, a collection of sermons, with a prototype the didactic of Bishop

Constantine of Preslav Constantine of Preslav () was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and translator, one of the most important men of letters working at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. Biographical evidence ...

written in Old Bulgarian (Old Church Slavonic) language in 894. Another important work is Zakon Sudnyi Liudem, the oldest preserved Slavic legal text, written in Old Bulgarian in the late ninth or early tenth century, probably in Bulgaria. Its source was Byzantine law.Ludwig Burgmann, "Zakon Sudnyj Ljudem", in '' The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (Oxford, 1991 nline 2005. As the Bulgarian Empire was subjugated by the Byzantines in 1018, Bulgarian literary activity declined. However, after the establishment of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

followed another period of upsurge during the time of

Patriarch Evtimiy Saint Euthymius of Tarnovo (also ''Evtimiy''; , ''Sveti Evtimiy Tarnovski'') was Patriarch of Bulgaria between 1375 and 1393. Regarded as one of the most important figures of medieval Bulgaria, Euthymius was the last head of the Bulgarian Orth ...

in the 14th century. Evtimiy founded the

Tarnovo Literary School The Tarnovo Literary School ( bg, Търновска книжовна школа) of the late 14th and 15th century was a major medieval Bulgarian cultural academy with important contribution to the Medieval Bulgarian literature established in the ...

that had a significant impact on the literature of Serbia and

Muscovite Russia The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...

, as some writers fled the Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars. Bulgarian literature continued in the Ottoman empire. Important works from this period are: -

Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander, Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander, or Four Gospels of Ivan Alexander ( bg, Четвероевангелие на (цар) Иван Александър, transliterated as ''Chetveroevangelie na (tsar) Ivan Aleks ...

, 1355-1356 - one of the most famous works of the Tarnovo Literary School; - Sofia Psalter, 1337; -

Tomić Psalter The Tomić Psalter ( bg, Томичов псалтир, ''Tomichov psaltir'') is a 14th-century Bulgarian illuminated psalter. Produced around 1360, during the reign of Tsar Ivan Alexander, it is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Tarnov ...

, c. 1360. Medieval Bulgarian literature was dominated by religious themes, most works being hymns, treatises, religious miscellanies, apocrypha and hagiographies, most often heroic and instructive.

References

{{commons, Medieval Bulgarian literature * "Старобългарска литература",Донка Петканова * Илиев, И. Епитетът в славянобългарската агиография от 14-15 век. Пловдив. Пигмалион. 2005 * Епитетът в славянобългарската агиография от 14-15 век

See also

References