Portal:Bulgarian Empire
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The Bulgarian Empire was one of the most powerful countries in Medieval Europe. It was the first state that emerged on the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) and the later was forced to pay annual tribute to Bulgaria. After the Christianization of Bulgaria in 864 the country became the cultural and spiritual center of Slavic Europe and developed a thriving culture. Under the reign of Simeon I the Great (893-927) the First Bulgarian Empire was in its Golden Age. The Empire was destroyed by the Byzantines in 1018 but was reestablished in 1185. The Second Bulgarian Empire reached its zenith during Ivan Asen II (1218–1241) but by the end of the 14th century it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. |
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The First Bulgarian Empire (Bulgarian: Първо Българско царство, Parvo Balgarsko Tsarstvo), was the first country of the contemporary Bulgarian people located in Southeastern Europe. Since its foundation it occupied a large part of the Balkan peninsula and struggled with the Byzantine Empire for control of the region. Founded as a crude form of a confederacy between Bulgars and Slavs in 681 on the two banks of the Danube river, it became the first Slavic country and is the oldest state still in existence in Europe. In 802-805 it destroyed the Avar Khanate and expanded its territory twice covering the whole area of contemporary Romania. During the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century in the course of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars the Bulgarians took control of most of the Balkans. However in the mid 10th century the Empire suffered disastrous invasions of Magyars, Pechenegs and wars with Kievan Rus' and after a 50-year struggle it was destroyed by the Byzantines in 1018. After the Christianization of Bulgaria the country became a major center of culture and learning. Literature flourished in the Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools. The Bulgarian scholar Climent of Ohrid (840 - 916) invented the Cyrillic alphabet. The beauty and wealth of the new capital Preslav was compared by some contemporaries with Constantinople. In the 10th century in Bulgaria emerged one of the major heretic movements in Medieval Europe, the Bogomils.  In the 4th and 5th centuries the Bulgars took part in the raids of the Huns in Europe. In 630s Khan Kubrat united most of the Bulgars in Old Great Bulgaria which encompassed a vast area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. However, after his death in 668 the Bulgars desintegrated. His eldest son Batbayan fought against the Khazars who soon overran the country. His second son Kotrag headed to the north-east and founded the powerful Volga Bulgaria and his third son Asparukh marched westward and after his victory against the Byzantines in the battle of Ongal in 680 he laid the beginning of contemporary Bulgaria.  The Patriarch's Church in Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In the 13th and 14th centuries Tarnovo was among the largest and most significant cities in Eastern Europe. The city had three large fortresses along the river Yantra meanders linked with outer walls. 
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