Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775–831 East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 General Editor Florin Curta VOLUME 16 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/ecee Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775–831 By Panos Sophoulis LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover illustration: Scylitzes Matritensis fol. 11r. With kind permission of the Bulgarian Historical Heritage Foundation, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Brill has made all reasonable efforts to trace all rights holders to any copyrighted material used in this work. In cases where these efforts have not been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sophoulis, Pananos, 1974– Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775–831 / by Panos Sophoulis. p. cm. — (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, ISSN 1872-8103 ; v. 16.) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20695-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Byzantine Empire—Relations—Bulgaria. 2. Bulgaria—Relations—Byzantine Empire. 3. Byzantine Empire—Foreign relations—527–1081. 4. Bulgaria—History—To 1393. I. Title. DF547.B9S67 2011 327.495049909’021—dc23 2011029157 ISSN 1872-8103 ISBN 978 90 04 20695 3 Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. 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CONTENTS Preface ............................................................................................................ ix A Note on Transliteration ........................................................................... xi List of Maps and Illustrations .................................................................... xiii Abbreviations ................................................................................................ xv Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1. The Sources .............................................................................................. 5 1.1 TheChronographia ........................................................................ 5 1.1.1 Authorship and Date of Composition .......................... 5 1.1.2 Theophanes and the Bulgars ........................................... 14 1.1.3 The Bulgar Narrative ........................................................ 15 a) The Years 775–802 ...................................................... 15 b) The Years 802–810 ...................................................... 17 c) The Campaign of 811 ................................................. 18 d) The Years 811–813 ...................................................... 20 1.2 TheChronicle of 811 and the Scriptor Incertus de Leone Armenio ........................................................................................... 23 a) The Campaign of 811 .................................................. 32 b) The Years 813–814 ...................................................... 32 1.3 George the Monk, the Logothete’s Chronicle and the Scriptores Post Theophanem ......................................................... 34 a) The Battle of Mesembria ............................................ 36 1.4 Hagiography ................................................................................... 37 a) The Story of the Martyrs of Adrianople .................. 38 1.5 Other Byzantine Literary Sources ............................................... 39 1.6 Syriac, Arabic, Armenian and Frankish Sources ..................... 41 1.7 The Proto-Bulgarian Inscriptions ............................................... 44 1.8 Archaeology .................................................................................... 47 2. The Geographical and Historical Setting ............................................ 51 2.1 The Physical Context, Routes and Cities ................................... 51 2.2 The Internal Organization of the Khanate ................................ 65 2.2.1 Social, Political and Military Organization .................. 65 2.2.2 The Religion of the Proto-Bulgarians ............................ 79 vi contents 2.3 The Historical Background of the Conflict ............................... 89 2.4 The Byzantine and Bulgar Defence ............................................ 95 3. Bulgaria’s Northern Neighbours and the Black Sea Zone in the Seventh to Ninth Centuries ............................................. 105 3.1 From “Old Great Bulgaria” to the Danube Khanate. The Historical Background to Asparuch’s Migration to the Balkans ...................................................................................... 105 3.2 Bulgaria’s Northern Neighbours, Late Seventh to Early Ninth Century: A Brief Overview ............................................... 112 3.2.1 The Geographical Setting ................................................. 113 3.2.2 Wallachia and the Bulgars ............................................... 117 3.2.3 The Southern Regions of the Carpathian Basin .......... 119 3.2.4 Transylvania ....................................................................... 124 3.2.5 The Steppes North of the Black Sea .............................. 129 3.2.6 The Crimea ......................................................................... 135 4. Conflict and Contact, 775–802 ............................................................. 143 4.1 The Byzantine Empire under Leo IV (775–780) ...................... 143 4.2 Byzantine-Bulgar Relations under Leo IV ................................ 146 4.3 The Empire under Irene and Constantine VI (780–802) ....... 149 4.4 Byzantium and Bulgaria, 780–802 .............................................. 159 5. Emperor versus Khan: Byzantium and Bulgaria, 802–811 ..........................................................................................173 5.1 The Byzantine Empire under Nikephoros I .............................. 173 5.2 Byzantine-Bulgar Relations from 802 to 810 ............................ 180 5.2.1 The Collapse of the Avar Qaghanate and the Bulgars 180 5.2.2 Nikephoros’ Balkan Expansion and the War with Bulgaria ............................................................................... 184 5.3 The Campaign of 811 .................................................................... 192 6. The Bulgar Offensive, 811–814 ............................................................. 217 6.1 The Empire under Michael I (811–813) .................................... 217 6.2 The Byzantine-Bulgar War During the Reign of Michael I ... 221 6.2.1 From Nikephoros’ Defeat to the Fall of Mesembria .... 221 6.2.2 The Byzantine Campaign of 813 and the Battle of Versinikia ........................................................................... 234 contents vii 6.3 The War in Leo V’s Reign ............................................................ 245 6.3.1 Byzantium under Leo V (813–820) ............................... 245 6.3.2 The Bulgar Siege of Constantinople ............................... 249 6.3.3 The War until the Death of Krum (April 814) ............ 258 7. The Last Phase of the War and the Conclusion of the Thirty Years’ Peace ........................................................................... 265 7.1 TheInternal Crisis in Bulgaria and the Battle of Mesembria ... 265 7.2 The Thirty Years’ Peace ................................................................. 275 8. The Reign of Omurtag and the Transformation of Early Medieval Bulgaria ..................................................................... 287 8.1 Reconstructing Omurtag’s Power ............................................... 287 8.2 Bulgaria and Byzantium During the Reign of Omurtag ......... 306 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 311 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 321 Index ............................................................................................................... 361 PREFACE This book stems from a doctoral thesis which I defended at the University of Oxford in July 2005. A project of this duration inevitably accumulates numerous debts of gratitude. I must begin by acknowledging the encourage- ment and help of James Howard-Johnston who first stimulated my interest in medieval Bulgarian history and supervised the thesis. Elizabeth Jeffreys and Jonathan Shepard, who examined the thesis, have been generous with advice and support. Jonathan Shepard, in particular, read drafts of papers reworked for the book and supplied me with bibliographical information and assistance. Special thanks are due to Florin Curta, who read the whole text in draft and made many helpful observations, all of which have sig- nificantly