Chapter 17 - Revival of the Macedonian State, Language and Culture - Part 02

previously captured. As a wedding gift he gave the newlyweds Governorship of Dyrrachium with king Vladimir’s full approval. The ungrateful Ashot, however, fled to Tsari Grad and for his loyalty was awarded the title of Magistrate, by the Byzantines. In the meantime his wife, Miroslava, became a lady-in-waiting at the Tsari Grad court. Soon after Ashot fled, the city leaders of Dyrrachium broke off relations with Vladimir and surrendered their city to the Byzantines. In retaliation and hoping to stir trouble for Basil in Tsari Grad, Samoil began a propaganda campaign promoting Vatatz, a family member from the Basil Glavas family as his ally. The Basil Glavas family and a number of other nobles had taken refuge with Samoil to avoid persecution from Basil. Instead of creating trouble, Samoil’s actions further infuriated Basil prompting him to initiate a new military offensive. Taking a route via Philippopolis, Basil destroyed most cities in the region of Serdica. In the year 1000 he dispatched a large army and attacked all fortified cities, capturing Great and Little Preslav and Pliska, near the River Maritsa. In 1001 Basil himself joined the offensive and marched his army by Solun in the direction of Berroea, where he captured Dobromir. Basil then captured Kolidron, near Berroea, and put Servia under siege. In spite of Servia’s brave resistance, the city fell into Basil's hands anyway. Nikolitsa, Servia’s Governor, was taken captive to Tsari Grad but instead of being thrown in jail, Basil conferred upon him the honour of a patrician. Nikolitsa, however, was not satisfied and fled to Samoil and together they attacked Servia. Basil retaliated and again captured Nikolitsa but this time he conferred upon him the honour of serving in chains in exile in his jail in Tsari Grad. After subduing Servia, Basil took his campaign to Thessaly. He took back and made repairs to the damaged fortresses which Samoil’s troops had held. He then refortified the fortresses with fresh Byzantine garrisons. After that he turned his attention to Voden and took the city by force from the aggressive Governor Drazhan. Drazhan was captured and sent to Solun as Basil’s prisoner. Upon his arrival in Solun, Basil dispatched Uranus to Antioch to deal with the Arabs. Uranus was replaced with the patrician David Arijant as Solun’s new military commander. In 1002 Basil made his way to Vidin and after an eight-month siege he broke through the defenses and captured the town. On the same day Samoil forced marched his troops through Thrace, looting and trashing Endrene (Adrianople). If Samoil’s intent was to get Basil’s attention by trashing Endrene, he succeeded. Basil now moved his campaign to Skopje, where he caught up with Samoil. Unexpectedly Samoil fled without a fight and Skopje’s governor surrendered the city to Basil. From Skopje, Basil took his campaign to the fortress of Pernik where he encountered heavy resistance from the great warrior Krakras. Basil failed to take the town and incurred great losses in the process and was forced to return to Tsari Grad. As if Samoil did not have enough problems with the Byzantines he now made the Hungarians angry. His son, who was married to a Hungarian princess, decided to leave her thus bringing disgrace to his family and an end to the cordial

relations between Samoil and King Stephen I. After the embarrassing incident, King Stephen abandoned his alliance with Samoil and joined Basil who had offered him an alliance of his own. In the recent past, Byzantine attacks and plundering of Samoil's territory were more frequent and of greater intensity. Samoil felt it was time do something and soon. His chance came in 1014 when Basil’s forces were about to enter a gorge in the Rhodope Mountains. Samoil surrounded the gorge with a strong force in what was going to be a surprise attack. Unfortunately Basil must have anticipated Samoil’s move and ordered one of David Arijant’s generals to force march his troops around Samoil’s forces. When a fierce battle broke out between Basil and Samoil, Samoil's army was attacked from the rear and trapped. Unable to withdraw, many of Samoil’s soldiers were slain and even more were captured. Samoil himself was saved by his son who aided his escape to the fortress of Prilep. After his victory Basil rounded up all his prisoners and had his soldiers gouge their eyes out. According to accounts there were fifteen thousand Macedonian soldiers captured that day. To lead the blind soldiers back to Samoil, Basil ordered that one out of every hundred men be left with one eye intact. This was indeed a gruesome act, a real tragedy not only for Samoil but for Macedonia as well. Shaken by the sight of this tragedy Samoil died of shock two days later. Samoil’s son Gabriel Radomir succeeded him. When Samoil died in 1014, his kingdom was vast and included the whole of Macedonia (except for Solun), Thessaly, Epirus, the coastal sclavenes of Oiocleia, Travunya and Zachlumia, the Neretva region (excluding the islands) as far as Cetina, Serbia, Bosnia and a considerable part of Bulgaria. For the most part, the majority of the population living in Samoil’s empire was Macedonian with large Slav pockets south of Olympus down to the Peloponnesus. To a lesser extent there lived Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, Romani, Albanians and Vlachs. Additionally there lived migrants such as Vardariot Turks and Armenians who were recently settled there by former Byzantine emperors and some by Samoil. While many Armenians existed in Thrace, Samoil had also settled some in Pelagonia, Prespa and Ohrid. The Romani were known to exist mostly in coastal regions. Samoil’s kingdom was a newly created state with a completely different nucleus of people and with completely different domestic and foreign policies than any of his neighbours. The center of Samoil’s state was in the far south of the Balkans, inside today's Republic of Macedonia. Samoil had a number of capitals, which he used from time to time. During his reign Samoil moved his capital to several places including Prespa, Ohrid, Prilep, Bitola, Pronishte and Setin, all of which were inside Macedonia. According to ancient sources, very little is known about the socio-economic conditions and the organization of Samoil's state. It is likely that the majority of people in Samoil’s kingdom were peasants, most of whom were freemen, but those working on the feudal estates were either serfs or churchmen. The serfs worked on both secular and church lands while churchmen worked exclusively

on church lands. Being of a slightly better social class, the churchmen were exempt from heavy taxes. However, the churchmen were obliged to donate extra labour, probably in community service, in lieu of taxes. The noble class in Samoil’s state was made up mostly of feudal lords and aristocrats who were allied behind Samoil and supported his policies. After his death the alliances began to erode and the nobles went their separate ways in pursuit of their own interests which led them closer and closer towards the Byzantines. Slavery was rarely practiced but on occasion slaves were captured and sold, usually outside the kingdom. The main source of slaves was prisoners of war. It is well known, for example, that Samoil enslaved the population of Larissa after their city fell. Most of Samoil’s income came from imperial land-holdings, sale of livestock, judicial fines and military plunder. Samoil's treasury contained many valuables including gold and money. Having no coins of his own minted, the currency circulated in Samoil's kingdom was Byzantine. As for his military makeup, Samoil was supreme commander and enlisted his forces almost exclusively from his own kingdom. He had an enormous army consisting of both infantry and cavalry. Samoil was an able strategist who personally took part not only in planning but also in executing battles. For the most part, Samoil’s weaponry and military dress was similar to the Byzantine. His soldiers wore a short outer tunic, trousers and a shirt of steel. They also wore a helmet with a pivoting extension which could be lowered down to the chin to protect the warrior’s face. Each soldier was armed with a defensive shield, long spear and sword. Other accessories included bugles and standards. Besides his regular army, Samoil also employed his own bodyguards. Samoil had no navy or any type of war vessel. The official language of Samoil's kingdom was Macedonian (Slavonic) although Koine was also used occasionally as the language of diplomacy at the imperial palace. Samoil built some of the most significant buildings in his kingdom including the Basilica of St. Achilles, his various palaces and a number of churches situated in the southern parts of his kingdom. The famous and historic Archbishopric of Ohrid was created during Samoil's reign. Initially the Archbishopric was seated in Prespa but when Samoil moved to Ohrid, he brought it with him. Ohrid became his capital as well as his religious center. After its consolidation, the new archbishop was given authority over all bishops who fell under Samoil’s jurisdiction. Unfortunately the Byzantines refused to recognize the Archbishop of Ohrid, probably because the Roman church which crowned Samoil had consecrated it. During Samoil's rule the Macedonian church was quite popular and the clergy, especially the bishops, enjoyed their privileged positions. When Basil II found out that Samoil had died, he marched his army to Polog via Solun and razed Samoil’s imperial palace in Bitola. His troops stormed Prilep and Shtip bringing devastation to everything that stood in their path.

In the spring of 1015 Basil set out for Voden and subdued an uprising. He then moved the town’s inhabitants to Voler. He garrisoned Voden with Byzantine lancers (mounted soldiers armed with long spears) and dispatched two of his military commanders to the Meglen region to seize the town. The siege turned out to be more difficult than expected and the conflict drew in Basil himself. The town finally fell and was destroyed. To draw the war away from his kingdom, Radomir, Samoil’s son and heir, decided to attack the Byzantines on their own territory. He would have succeeded had it not been for Vladislav’s treachery. It seems that Basil secretly promised Vladislav (Radomir's nephew) the Macedonian crown and convinced him to murder his uncle. Vladislav slew Radomir in 1015, somewhere near Ostrovo, during a hunting expedition. On his accession, Vladislav took a vow of loyalty to Basil and became a vassal king of the Byzantines. After his accession, Vladislav went after Vladimir, Samoil’s son-in-law, his only remaining opposition and with the help of the wretched Archbishop David, Vladislav enticed Vladimir to come to Prespa, where he was murdered. With no internal opposition, Vladislav now consolidated his power and immediately broke off relations with Basil. Basil in turn declared war on the Macedonian kingdom and went in pursuit of Vladislav. While his military commanders were devastating Pelagonia, Basil set out for Ohrid. On his way forces loyal to Vladislav engaged him. To minimize his losses and create fear among Vladislav’s allies, Basil ordered the gauging of the eyes of all those caught fighting against him. In spite of heavy opposition, Basil took Ohrid and set course for Dyrrachium. On his way news reached him that Ivets, one of Vladislav's military commanders, had completely routed Basil’s army in Pelagonia. Basil abandoned his course for Dyrrachium and immediately went in pursuit of Ivets but was unable to engage him in battle. Basil then left for Solun and from there went to Mosynopolis on a totally different campaign. For a while Basil was busy fighting a war against the Khazars in the Crimea and it was not until the middle of the following year, in 1016, that he was able to renew his Balkan offensive. This time he made his way via Philippopolis to the district of Serdica and surrounded the fortified town of Pernik for a second time in fourteen years. The siege was taking too long so Basil left again for Mosynopolis and then, in the spring of 1017, invaded southern Macedonia by way of Solun. He again dispatched his two commanders to Pelagonia while he himself set out for Kostur. On his way he received news that the great warrior Krakras had allied himself with Vladislav and that the two intended to invade Byzantine territories. Basil immediately halted his advance and went in pursuit, razing and burning several fortresses on his way. When he arrived in the vicinity of Ostrovo, Basil captured Setina and immediately dispatched his elite detachments in pursuit of Vladislav. Basil followed with the main army. The sight of the huge Byzantine army struck panic among the ranks of Vladislav's soldiers, especially since Basil

threatened to gauge their eyes out. Defeat for Vladislav was inevitable but, for reasons unknown, Basil withdrew his pursuit and returned to Tsari Grad in January 1018. Vladislav, in the meantime, regrouped his army and took the offensive with aims of occupying Dyrrachium and taking possession of Vladimir's lands. Unfortunately Vladislav was killed during the city’s siege. As soon as Vladislav died his commanders sent Basil a letter offering him their allegiance and the surrender of the fortresses and towns in their possession. After taking possession of some sixty or so fortresses and towns, Basil went to Ohrid and took possession of Samoil’s extremely rich treasury. Even after Vladislav’s fall, some of his loyal supporters like Fruzhin, Vladislav's eldest son, and the Dukes Ivets and Nikolitsa refused to surrender. Fruzhin took a diplomatic approach and eventually surrendered and was given a pardon and title. Ivets resisted and set camp in southern Prespa in an attempt to organize an insurrection. Unfortunately, through deception, the Byzantines captured Ivets, gauged out his eyes and cast him into prison. Nikolitsa too refused to surrender but after being surrounded with no hope of escape, he yielded to the Byzantine emperor and received a prison sentence in Solun. By August 1018, Basil II succeeded in destroying the last remnants of Samoil's forty-two year reign (976-1018) of his Macedonian kingdom. By now Basil II was an old man and after finishing with Samoil, he took his campaign to Armenia. Some historians believe this was a mistake. By destroying Armenia he destroyed an effective buffer zone between the Byzantines and the Islamic powers. Basil II died in 1025 and so did the revived strength and energy of the Byzantine Empire. Basil was succeeded by his younger brother Constantine VIII, the last prince of the Macedonian dynasty. Constantine died in 1028 and for the next twenty-six years the Byzantine emperors were the successive husbands of Constantine VIII's daughter Zoe: Romanus III Argyrus (1028-1034), Michael IV (1034-1041), Michael V Calaphates (1041-1042) and Constantine IX Monomachus (1042-1054).