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The Haemus Mountains and the Geopolitics of the First Bulgarian Empire: an Overview

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The Haemus Mountains and the Geopolitics of the First Bulgarian Empire: an Overview Зборник радова Византолошког института LI, 2014 Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta LI, 2014 UDC: 911.52(497.2):[94(495.02:497.2)“06/12“ DOI: 10.2298/ZRVI1451017M KIRIŁ MARINOW (University of Łódź, Poland) THE HAEMUS MOUNTAINS AND THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE FIRST BULGARIAN EMPIRE: AN OVERVIEW The role of the Haemus Mountains (that is Stara Planina and Sredna Gora) as a geographical factor is visible in the fact that between the close of the 7th century and the beginning of the 9th century, the eastern parts of that massif turned naturally into a political border between Bulgaria and Byzantium. Although in later times this border moved further to the south, even for longer periods, still the mountain ridge remained the most lasting demarcation element in the Byzantine-Bulgarian relations and the most certain determinant of the heart of the Bulgarian statehood (the so-called internal area of Bulgaria), which was concentrated in the years 680/681–971, i.e. excluding the period of the reign of the Komi- topouloi, in the area between the mountains and the Danube valley. If the Haemus was the political border of Bulgaria for almost a half of the functioning of this state during the period of 7th–11th c., it proves irrefutably that the massif was of great significance for the political history of Bulgaria and its contacts with Byzantium. Keywords: Haemus, Stara Planina, Sredna Gora, historical geography, geopolitics, me- dieval Bulgaria, political border In the Middle Ages the name of the Haemus (Gr. ὁ Αἷμος, Turc. Balkan) was used to describe the mountain range of today’s Stara Planina (The Balkan Range) and Sredna Gora (so-called Antibalkan). The range passes from the Iron Gates of the Danube River up to the western coast of the Black sea (The Stara Planina Range). Thus it separates the Sub-Balkan Valleys and the lowlands of Northern Thrace in the south from the Danube Plain on the northern side. The Haemus also enters between the plains of Northern Thrace and the Sofia Valley, thus forming a barrier from the east to the west (the massif of Sredna Gora). Sredna Gora is linked with the Rhodope Mountains in the south and separates the mountain area of western Balkans from the lowlands of Northern Thrace (so-called Succi, Imperial or Bulgarian Kleisura, Trajan’s 18 ЗРВИ LI (2014) 17-32 Gate – nowadays Ikhtiman Pass). In this way the Haemus separates all the above de- scribed areas from each other. Finally, the northern end of Stara Planina passes mildly into the Danube Plain, whereas its southern slopes fall steeply towards Thrace. Going eastwards, the mountains gradually decrease and in their eastern part they become easily accessible, however it is important to underline that the Haemus is (and was much more in the past) very strongly wooded and the climate therein is said to be the most unpleasant, compared to that in the other mountain ranges of Bulgaria1. All these characteristics of the Haemus played an important role in the early medieval history of the north-eastern Balkans. The borderline role of the Haemus determined the course of events on the ad- jacent territories. The areas north of the mountains were more open to the cultural influence and arrival of the nomads from the plains of the Black Sea. It was from there that the Bulgars came to Dobrudja and to the Danube Plain2. The areas on both banks of the Danube River had strong cultural links. Considering these links, some scholars regard the area limited from the west and north by the Carpathian mountains and by the Haemus from the south as a separate entity of similar culture3. These scholars also regard the Haemus as an extension to the Carpathian Mountains, separated only by the Danube line4. The actual southern border of that territory for them was Stara Planina rather than the Danube River. 1 On the ranges and their shapes cf. e.g. E. Oberhummer, Haimos, ed. W. Kroll, Paulys Real-En- cyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. VII/2, Stuttgart 1912, 2221–2226; Swoboda W., Ha- emus, edd. W. Kowalenko – G. Labuda – T. Lehr-Spławiński, Słownik Starożytności Słowiańskich. Encyklo- pedyczny zarys kultury Słowian od czasów najdawniejszych do schyłku wieku XII (further: SSSł), vol. II, F – K, Wrocław 1964, 182; Z. Czeppe – J. Flis – R. Mochnacki, Geografia fizyczna świata, Warszawa 1969, 238–244; H. Maruszczak, Bułgaria, Warszawa 1971, 294–304, 316–319; I. Dujčev – R. Werner, Balkan, Lexi- kon des Mittelalters, vol. I, München – Zürich 1977, 1380–1381; K. Mišev, Južnobălgarska provincija, ed. idem, Geografija na Bălgarija v tri toma, vol. III, Fiziko-geografsko i socialno-ikonomičesko rajonirane, Sofija 1989, 113–135; P. Penčev – H. Tiškov – M. Daneva – D. Gorunova, Staroplaninska oblast, ed. K. Mišev, Geografija, 85–113; H. Tiškov – C. Mihajlov – L. Zjapkov – D. Gorunova, Predbalkanska oblast, ed. K. Mišev, Geografija, 65–85; P. Soustal, Thrakien (Thrakē, Rodopē und Haimimontos), Tabula Imperii Byzantini, vol. VI, Wien 1991, 279–280; K. Gagova, Trakija prez bălgarskoto Srednovekovie. Istoričeska geografija, 2Sofija 2002, 319–322; V. Nikolov – M. Jordanova, Planinite v Bălgarija, Sofija 2002, 9–57. 2 Cf. J. Cvijić, La Péninsule Balkanique. Géographie humaine, Paris 1918, 18, 19, 56–57, 468– 469, 470, 471, 474; H. Maruszczak, Bułgaria, 24, 158, 161; V. Gjuzelev, Ezičeska Bălgarija, edd. I. Božilov – V. Gjuzelev, Istorija na srednovekovna Bălgarija VII–XIV vek, Sofija 1999, 88, 91; H. Matanov, Balkanski horizonti. Istorija, obštestva, ličnosti, vol. I, Sofija 2004, 10, 17, 59–60, 78–79, 205. It is not accidental that the Dobrudja areas were attractive for Bulgarian settlers, as they resembled their native plains – V. Gjuze- lev, Ezičeska Bălgarija, 91; U. Fiedler, Bulgars in the Lower Danube region. A survey of the archaeological evidence and of the state of current research, edd. F. Curta – R. Kovalev, The Other Europe in the Middle Ages. Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans, Leiden – Boston 2008, 154. 3 D. Mitova-Džonovа, Obštonarodnoto i regionalnoto v kulturno-istoričeskoto razvitie na Du- navskata ravnina, Sofija 1989. However J. Cvijić, La Péninsule Balkanique, 27, 58, 91, 474–476, maintains that the Balkan, except its central part and Sredna Gora, is not a serious communication barrier on the north-southern line, he notes the cultural, anthropological and ethnic differences of the territories in both sides of the range and the fact that it separated Bulgaria from the Byzantine Empire. 4 J. Cvijić, La Péninsule Balkanique, 54, 56, 91; Z. Czeppe – J. Flis – R. Mochnacki, Geografia, 240; Cf. P. Penčev – H. Tiškov – M. Daneva – D. Gorunova, Staroplaninska oblast, 91. KIRIŁ MARINOW: The Haemus Mountains and the geopolitics 19 In the history of early medieval Bulgaria, with the exception of the rule of the Komitopouloi, the political, economic and social core of Bulgarian statehood was the territory limited by the Danube in the north, the Haemus in the south and west and by the Black Sea in the east5. It was the territory that had belonged to Bulgaria for the lon- gest time6, it was also there that major country’s centres were located and from which the country was ruled from the end of the 7th century up to the year 971. The signifi- cance of these territories is emphasized by the customary division of the areas occu- pied by the Bulgars into the inner and the outer circle. Roughly speaking, the former was limited just to the territory between the Stara Planina and the Danube7, while the latter encompassed all the other areas of the country8. With time also the Byzantines began to consider the Danube Plain as the main territory inhabited by the Bulgars, which could be proven by the widespread use from the second half of 10th century the name of Moesi (derived from a Thracian tribe that used to live in those area and from the ancient Roman province) on their description by the Byzantine authors9. 5 H. Maruszczak, Bułgaria, 107, 275–276; G. N. Nikolov, Centralizăm i regionalizăm v rannosred- novekovna Bălgarija (kraja na VII – načaloto na XI v.), Sofija 2005, 66; P. Sophoulis, Byzantium and Bul- garia, 775–831, Leiden – Boston 2012, 56–65, 147. That area was treated as the centre of their country already by medieval Bulgarian writers – M. Kajmakamova, Obrazuvaneto na bălgarskata dăržava v băl- garskata srednovekovna istoriopis, edd. M. Kajmakamova – H. Temelski – I. Iliev – L. V. Simeonova – G. N. Nikolov, Tangra. Sbornik v čest na 70-godišninata na akad. Vasil Gjuzelev, Sofija 2006, 71–72, 76, 86, 87. It should be noted that also medieval cartographic sources relate that area with the Bulgarian territory – P. S. Koledarov, Părvata bălgarska dăržava v srednovekovnata kartografija, Vekove 2.1 (1973) 18–22. 6 P. Mutafčiev, Teritorialni sădbini na bălgarskata dăržava, ed. V. Gjuzelev, Kniga za bălgarite, Sofija 1987, 124, 126; G. N. Nikolov, Centralizăm, 41, 66. 7 More precisely to the capital city and adherent areas, i.e. the centre of primary Bulgarian settle- ment, and predominantly to the tribe from which the rulers and their relatives descended. Cf. D. Stoime- nov, Vremenna vizantijska voenna administracija v bălgarskite zemi (971–987/989), Godišnik na Sofij- skija Universitet. Naučen Centăr za Slavjano-vizantijski proučvanija „Ivan Dujčev” 82/2 (1988) 49, 51–52, 54–55, according to which Byzantine administrative division in northwest Bulgaria in 971–986/987 at first consciously referred to the area of inner Bulgaria, and later also consciously broke off with it by merging the lands north and south of the Haemus (the strategy of Thrace and Ioannoupolis) in a single admin- istrative unit. It would consolidate the naturally separated territories and facilitate the control over Stara Planina passes. An interesting opinion on the importance of the Danube plain in the history of Bulgaria has expressed J.
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