Miroslava of Bulgaria
Encyclopedia
Samuil of Bulgaria
Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...
and Kosara of Bulgaria
Kosara of Bulgaria
Kosara or Cossara was a Bulgarian Empress, the wife of Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria. She married about 970.Her father was John Chryselios from Dyrrhachium. His name and his heresy drive us towards the middle of the Armenians Paulicians....
. Princess Miroslava fell in love with the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
noble captive Ashot Taronites, who was of Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
origin, and threatened to commit suicide if she was not allowed to marry him. Samuel conceded and appointed Ashot governor of Dyrrhachium.
Later Ashot made contact with the local Byzantines and the influential 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...
, Samuel's father-in-law. Ashot and Miroslava boarded one of the Byzantine ships that were beleaguering the town and fled to Constantinople. In Constantinople the Emperor Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
granted Ashot the title of patrikios and Miroslava was honoured with the title of zoste patrikia
Zoste patrikia
Zōstē patrikia was a Byzantine court title reserved exclusively for women. A very high title, its holder ranked as the first woman after the empress herself in the imperial court.-History and functions:...
(Lady-in-Waiting).