Albania under the Bulgarian Empire
Encyclopedia
The territory of modern Albania
was part of the Bulgarian Empire
during certain periods in the Middle Ages
and some parts in what is now eastern Albania were populated and ruled by the Bulgarians
for centuries. Most of Albania became part of the First Empire
in the early 840s during the reign of Khan Presian. Some coastal towns such as Durrës
remained in the hands of the Byzantines
for most of that period. The castles of the inner mountainous country remained one of the last Bulgarian strongholds to be conquered by the Byzantines in 1018/1019 during the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire. During the Byzantine rule Albania was one of the centres of a major Bulgarian uprising. The last Bulgarian Emperor to govern the whole territory was Ivan Asen II
(1218–1241) but after his successors the Bulgarian rule diminished. Much of that area corresponded with the Bulgarian historical region Kutmichevitsa
.
During the 6th century the territory of the whole Balkan Peninsula including Albania was settled by the Slavs who came from the north. The Eastern Roman Empire was incapable of defending its Balkan possessions and most of the indigenous population found refuge in the large coastal towns while inland they were slowly assimilated by the Slavs. With the arrival of the Bulgars
in the region during the 7th century, one Bulgar group led by Kuber
settled in Macedonia
and eastern Albania.
in 681 determined the political doctrine of the new state — incorporation of the Slavic tribes in the Balkans under the Bulgar rulers. The major successes over the Byzantines during the reign of Krum
enabled the Slavic expansion to the south-west. In the 840s most of what is now Albania and Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria ruled by Presian and his kavkhan
(first minister) Isbul
. After the Christianization of Bulgaria
in the mid 9th century under Presian's son and successor, Boris I
, many towns in southern and eastern Albania such as Devol
, Belgrad
or Glavinitsa
became major cultural centres. That area including western Macedonia became the second cultural centre of the Bulgarian Empire under the influence of the Ohrid Literary School
. That region was known under the name Kutmichevitsa
. Around 896 the new and energetic Bulgarian ruler Simeon I
seized more than 30 fortresses around Dyrrhachium, the only major town in Byzantine hands, but could not take the town itself. Dyrrhachium was captured in the second half of the 10th century by Emperor Samuil. In 996 Samuil appointed the noble Byzantine captive Ashot for governor of the town who later escaped to Constantinople
. In 1005 the Byzantines managed to recapture Dyrrhachium after its new governor John Chryselios
handed it over in exchange for the title of patrician for himself and his sons. In an attempt to recover following the disastrous defeat of the Bulgarian army
in the battle of Kleidion
(1014), Emperor Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
launched an attack on Dyrrhachium but was killed in the battle marking the end of the First Empire. Resistance in separate fortresses in Albania continued until 1019 led by one of Samuil's generals Ibatzes.
under the leadership of the soldier Tihomir
following the discontent of the Bulgarian population by the heavy taxes required by the Byzantine administration. Soon the rebellion encompassed the whole of Albania and the rebels joined forces with Peter Delyan
who claimed to have been a successor of Samuil. Following the defeat of the Bulgarians in 1041 the Byzantines restored their control over Albania. In 1072 another uprising
broke out under Georgi Voiteh
but it was also crushed.
After the restoration of the Bulgarian state
, most of eastern Albania was incorporated into the Empire by Kaloyan
(1197–1207) but was lost to the Despotate of Epiros after his death. However, in 1230 the Epirote armies were decisively defeated by the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II
and most of its lands joined Bulgaria without resistance including the whole of Albania. In an inscription in the SS. Forty Martyrs Church
in the capital Tarnovo was written that he conquered "the whole land of Theodore Komnenos
from Adrianople to Durrës". Due to the lack of a successor of age and the internal struggle among the nobility, Bulgaria lost most of Albania without any decisive defeat in 1256 after a humiliating treaty signed from the Bulgarian side by the Russian noble Rostislav Mikhailovich. That treaty cost the life of Emperor Michael Asen I
. The decline of Bulgaria continued and the country lost its last fortresses in Albania under Constantine Tikh Asen
(1257–1277).
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
was part of the Bulgarian Empire
Bulgarian Empire
Bulgarian Empire is a term used to describe two periods in the medieval history of Bulgaria, during which it acted as a key regional power in Europe in general and in Southeastern Europe in particular, rivalling Byzantium...
during certain periods in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and some parts in what is now eastern Albania were populated and ruled by the Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
for centuries. Most of Albania became part of the First Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
in the early 840s during the reign of Khan Presian. Some coastal towns such as Durrës
Durrës
Durrës is the second largest city of Albania located on the central Albanian coast, about west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically important cities of Albania. Durres is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari...
remained in the hands of the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
for most of that period. The castles of the inner mountainous country remained one of the last Bulgarian strongholds to be conquered by the Byzantines in 1018/1019 during the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire. During the Byzantine rule Albania was one of the centres of a major Bulgarian uprising. The last Bulgarian Emperor to govern the whole territory was Ivan Asen II
Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria
-Early rule:He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena . Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants...
(1218–1241) but after his successors the Bulgarian rule diminished. Much of that area corresponded with the Bulgarian historical region Kutmichevitsa
Kutmichevitsa
Kutmichevitsa was an administrative region of the Bulgarian Empire as well as Byzantine Empire during much of the Middle Ages, corresponding roughly with the territory of modern southern Albania, with some parts in present southwestern Macedonia, commonly taken too be the area included in the...
.
Background
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
in the region during the 7th century, one Bulgar group led by Kuber
Kuber
Khan Kuber was a Bulgar leader, brother of Khan Asparukh and member of the Dulo clan, who according to the Miracles of St Demetrius, in the 670s was the leader of a mixed Christian population of Bulgars, ‘Romans’, Slavs and Germanic people that had been transferred to the Syrmia region in Pannonia...
settled in Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
and eastern Albania.
First Bulgarian Empire
The formation of the Bulgarian state as a coordinated effort of Bulgars and Slavs under Khan AsparukhAsparukh of Bulgaria
Asparuh was ruler of a Bulgar tribe in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 680/681...
in 681 determined the political doctrine of the new state — incorporation of the Slavic tribes in the Balkans under the Bulgar rulers. The major successes over the Byzantines during the reign of Krum
Krum of Bulgaria
Krum the Horrible was Khan of Bulgaria, from after 796, but before 803, to 814 AD. During his reign the Bulgarian territory doubled in size, spreading from the middle Danube to the Dnieper and from Odrin to the Tatra Mountains. His able and energetic rule brought law and order to Bulgaria and...
enabled the Slavic expansion to the south-west. In the 840s most of what is now Albania and Macedonia were annexed by Bulgaria ruled by Presian and his kavkhan
Kavkhan (title)
The kavhan was one of the most important officials in the First Bulgarian Empire. According to the generally accepted opinion, he was the second most important person in the state after the Bulgarian ruler. He had a number of responsibilities and concentrated huge power and authority. The kavhan...
(first minister) Isbul
Isbul
Isbul was the kavhan, or first minister, of the First Bulgarian Empire during the reigns of Omurtag, Malamir and Presian I...
. After the Christianization of Bulgaria
Christianization of Bulgaria
The Christianization of Bulgaria was the process by which 9th-century medieval Bulgaria converted to Christianity. It was influenced by the khan's shifting political alliances with the kingdom of the East Franks and the Byzantine Empire, as well as his reception by the Pope of the Roman Catholic...
in the mid 9th century under Presian's son and successor, Boris I
Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...
, many towns in southern and eastern Albania such as Devol
Devol (Albania)
Devol , also Deabolis or Diabolis) was a medieval fortress and bishopric in western Macedonia, located south of Lake Ohrid in what is today the south-eastern corner of Albania . Its precise location is unknown today, but it is thought to have been located by the river of the same name , and on...
, Belgrad
Berat
Berat is a town located in south-central Albania. As of 2009, the town has an estimated population of around 71,000 people. It is the capital of both the District of Berat and the larger County of Berat...
or Glavinitsa
Ballsh
-Overview:The city's surrounding fields are rich in crude petroleum and are dotted by a series of oil wells established during the communist dictatorship. Only a fraction of these wells are operating today, but the city includes a working refinery, and outputs of naphthas are significant...
became major cultural centres. That area including western Macedonia became the second cultural centre of the Bulgarian Empire under the influence of the Ohrid Literary School
Ohrid Literary School
The Ohrid Literary School was one of the two major medieval Bulgarian cultural centres, along with the Preslav Literary School . The school was established in Ohrid in 886 by Saint Clement of Ohrid on orders of Boris I of Bulgaria simultaneously or shortly after the establishment of the Preslav...
. That region was known under the name Kutmichevitsa
Kutmichevitsa
Kutmichevitsa was an administrative region of the Bulgarian Empire as well as Byzantine Empire during much of the Middle Ages, corresponding roughly with the territory of modern southern Albania, with some parts in present southwestern Macedonia, commonly taken too be the area included in the...
. Around 896 the new and energetic Bulgarian ruler Simeon I
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
seized more than 30 fortresses around Dyrrhachium, the only major town in Byzantine hands, but could not take the town itself. Dyrrhachium was captured in the second half of the 10th century by Emperor Samuil. In 996 Samuil appointed the noble Byzantine captive Ashot for governor of the town who later escaped to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. In 1005 the Byzantines managed to recapture Dyrrhachium after its new governor John Chryselios
John Chryselios
John Chryselios was a Byzantine provincial magnate in late 10th-century Dyrrhachium, and the father-in-law of Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria.Chryselios was the "leading man" of Dyrrhachium. At some point the Bulgarian tsar Samuel married Chryselios' daughter Kosara, thereby acquiring control over the...
handed it over in exchange for the title of patrician for himself and his sons. In an attempt to recover following the disastrous defeat of the Bulgarian army
Medieval Bulgarian Army
The medieval Bulgarian army was the primary military body of the First and the Second Bulgarian Empires. During the first decades after the foundation of the country, the army consisted of a Bulgar cavalry and a Slavic infantry. The core of the Bulgarian army was the heavy cavalry, which consisted...
in the battle of Kleidion
Battle of Kleidion
The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...
(1014), Emperor Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....
launched an attack on Dyrrhachium but was killed in the battle marking the end of the First Empire. Resistance in separate fortresses in Albania continued until 1019 led by one of Samuil's generals Ibatzes.
Later rule
In 1040 an uprising broke out in the area around DurrësDurrës
Durrës is the second largest city of Albania located on the central Albanian coast, about west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically important cities of Albania. Durres is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari...
under the leadership of the soldier Tihomir
Tihomir of Bulgaria
For other uses, see TihomirTihomir was a 11th century Bulgarian military commander of Dyrrhachium, who had been sent to tackle an uprising in the north, against the Bulgarian Peter II Delyan, but he refused and instead joined him in the revolts...
following the discontent of the Bulgarian population by the heavy taxes required by the Byzantine administration. Soon the rebellion encompassed the whole of Albania and the rebels joined forces with Peter Delyan
Peter Delyan
Peter Delyan was the leader of the local Bulgarian uprising against the Byzantine rule, started in the Theme of Bulgaria during summer of 1040. He was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria, as Samuel`s grandson in Belgrade...
who claimed to have been a successor of Samuil. Following the defeat of the Bulgarians in 1041 the Byzantines restored their control over Albania. In 1072 another uprising
Uprising of Georgi Voiteh
The Uprising of Georgi Voiteh was a Bulgarian uprising against the Byzantine Empire in 1072. It was the second major attempt to restore the Bulgarian Empire after the Uprising of Peter Delyan in 1040-1041....
broke out under Georgi Voiteh
Georgi Voiteh
Georgi Voiteh was a 11th century Bulgarian aristocrat from Skopje and the organizer of a major uprising against the Byzantine rule. He was from a Kavkhan family....
but it was also crushed.
After the restoration of the Bulgarian state
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
, most of eastern Albania was incorporated into the Empire by Kaloyan
Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire...
(1197–1207) but was lost to the Despotate of Epiros after his death. However, in 1230 the Epirote armies were decisively defeated by the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II
Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria
-Early rule:He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena . Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants...
and most of its lands joined Bulgaria without resistance including the whole of Albania. In an inscription in the SS. Forty Martyrs Church
SS. Forty Martyrs Church
The Holy Forty Martyrs Church is a medieval Eastern Orthodox church constructed in 1230 in the town of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria, the former capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire....
in the capital Tarnovo was written that he conquered "the whole land of Theodore Komnenos
Theodore Komnenos Doukas
Theodore Komnenos Doukas was ruler of Epirus from 1215 to 1230 and of Thessalonica from 1224 to 1230.-Life:...
from Adrianople to Durrës". Due to the lack of a successor of age and the internal struggle among the nobility, Bulgaria lost most of Albania without any decisive defeat in 1256 after a humiliating treaty signed from the Bulgarian side by the Russian noble Rostislav Mikhailovich. That treaty cost the life of Emperor Michael Asen I
Michael Asen I of Bulgaria
Michael II Asen of Bulgaria , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1246 to 1256. He was the son of Ivan Asen II and his third wife Irene Komnene of Epirus , daughter of Theodore I Ducas of the Despotate of Epirus...
. The decline of Bulgaria continued and the country lost its last fortresses in Albania under Constantine Tikh Asen
Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria
Constantine I , which includes the shortened form of the name of his father as a patronymic), ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from 1257 to 1277....
(1257–1277).