The siege of Serdica ( bg, Обсадата на Сердика) took place in the spring of 809 at modern

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. As a result, the city was annexed to the Bulgarian State and remained so until the fall 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 Eur ...

Historical background

After the destruction of the

Avar Khaganate The Pannonian Avars () were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai ( el, Βαρχονίτες, Varchonítes), or Pseudo-Avars ...

, Khan

Krum Krum ( bg, Крум, el, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome ( bg, Крум Страшни) was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territo ...

turned his gaze to the southwest to liberate the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, m ...

who populated the valley of the

Struma River The Struma or Strymónas ( bg, Струма ; el, Στρυμόνας ; tr, (Struma) Karasu , 'black water') is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. Its ancient name was Strymṓn ( Greek: Στρυμών ). Its drainage area is , of which in Bulgari ...

and Macedonia. The main obstacle to Krum's plan, however, was the strong Byzantine fortress at Serdica. 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 ...

, however, was the first to initiate conflict. In 807, the Byzantine emperor

Nikephoros I Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I ( gr, Νικηφόρος; 750 – 26 July 811) was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. Having served Empress Irene as '' genikos logothetēs'', he subsequently ousted her from power and took the throne himself. In ...

marched against Bulgaria but was soon forced to return to

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 ( ...

due to a mutiny of his troops at Adrianople. The following year, the Bulgarians, in response to an equestrian raid in the valley of the Struma River, defeated the Byzantines and captured their baggage.

The siege

In the spring of 809, Krum took the offensive and surprised the Byzantines by besieging Serdica. The garrison held out for several weeks even as food supplies shrunk and the number of men declined due to desertions and the release of mercenaries. At Easter, the Byzantines were ready to surrender the fortress. Krum promised to give safe conduct to the Byzantines on condition they yield the fortress. The Byzantines agreed and Krum entered Serdica before Easter. Despite Krum's promise of safe conduct, he killed the entire garrison of 6,000 along with some of the citizens. Nikephoros was unhappy with those Byzantines who abandoned the garrison and those who defected to the Bulgarians. One of those defecting was the highly skilled mechanic Evmat who would help Krum later on with the construction of siege machines.

Aftermath

The taking of Serdica was significant for Bulgaria in that the city was a major crossroad of

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...

. In addition, Serdica was used as a primary military position by later rulers of Bulgaria to expand borders and spread their influence.

Citations

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serdica (809)

Serdica Serdika or Serdica ( Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria. Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandovt ...

History of Sofia 809 9th century in Bulgaria 800s in the Byzantine Empire Sieges involving the First Bulgarian Empire

Military history of Bulgaria