The fall of Bulgaria to Byzantine in 1018

Byzantine rule lasted for nearly two hundred years with the Empire founded from the Greeks speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages based in Constantinople.

From the time of Khan Krum (802-14) Bulgaria threatened Byzantine military while at the same time, falling increasingly under Byzantine ecclesiastical and cultural influence. The Byzantines under Basil II invaded Bulgaria but were defeated by the Bulgars under Czar Samuel near Sofia in 981.

Basil II

Basil’s army overwhelmed Samuel’s army at Balathista in 1014, and about 15,000 Bulgarian soldiers were captured. Blinding virtually the entire Bulgarian army, Basil sent it back to Samuel, who thereupon died from the shock of seeing his blinded soldiers.

Much of Bulgaria’s existing empire was gradually infiltrated and encompassed by the Byzantines. Its finally succumbed in 1018 with the entire nation of Bulgarian under Byzantine rule of Bail II who was nicknamed Slayer of the Bulgars’. However, he allowed the country practical autonomy.

Members of the royal family and great nobles were co-opted in the Byzantine ruling class. The Byzantine emperor introduced a tax system in the Old Bulgarian kingdom and ordered the Bulgarian patriarchy to be downgraded although may of the Bulgarian aristocrats retained their position as landlord.
The fall of Bulgaria to Byzantine in 1018