After the legalisation of Christianity under
the Byzantine Empire in the 4th Century, the
region of what we now call Bulgaria went through
a long period of relative stability.
Bulgaria remained a profitable part of the
Byzantine Empire, churches were built across
the country, and cities like Sofia and Plovdiv
continued to thrive.In the 5th Century, Attila
the Hun did try to shake things up a bit.
For four years from 443 - 447 AD Attila the
Hun’s forces ravaged the Byzantine — or
Eastern Roman — Empire and the Western Roman
Empire.
Attila the Hun was from an area called Pannonia
on the fringes of the Roman Empire in what
is now western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern
Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia,
western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As you tell by the long list of borders which
now divide up Attila the Hun’s homeland,
he and his troops’ long lasting impact on
Europe isn’t all that great.
However, Attila the Hun’s attempt to destroy
the Eastern and Western Roman Empires — while
sacking what are now the cities of Sofia and
Plovdiv in Bulgaria as well as other cities
— reveals many things.Firstly, it goes to
show how important Plovdiv and Sofia were
to the Byzantine Empire during this period.
If those cities weren’t important, old Attila
wouldn’t have bothered lacing up his boots.
Secondly, it goes to show how stable Byzantine
rule made Bulgaria during this period.
For a few hundred years, Attila the Hun was
the only real threat to the Byzantine Empire.
After Attila the Hun’s death, the Byzantine
Empire was so secure that it began to surpass
the falling Roman Empire, which was being
ravaged by Germanic tribes to the west.By
the end 5th Century, the Roman Empire was
long forgotten relic — having fallen in
476 — and Byzantine Empire was a thriving
thing.Still, while Attila the Hun’s attack
on what is now Bulgaria and what was then
part of the Byzantine empire was a complete
failure, it foreshadows the event which most
defines modern Bulgaria: the invasion of the
Bulgars.Like Attila the Hun and his troops,
the Bulgars were nomadic people.
Unlike Attila the Hun and his troops, however,
the Bulgars weren’t just from the fringes
of the Roman Empire.
They were from completely outside it.
Also, unlike Attila the Hun, the Bulgars didn’t
fail to conquer Bulgaria.
Like, the country is called Bulgaria because
of the Bulgars’ success.Historians and experts
believe that the Bulgars would have travelled
to Bulgaria on horseback from somewhere in
“Central Asia” — a vague area which
now consists of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
However, it’s very difficult to be much
more accurate than that because nomads like
the Bulgars didn’t tend to build stuff.
They’re too busy riding on horseback and
drinking from the skulls of their enemies.Oh,
we’ll get to the skull drinking later.By
and large, modern day Bulgarians are the descendants
of the Bulgars and they arrived in what was
then the Byzantine Empire in the late 7th
Century.
This was good timing from their point of view
because by then the once strong Byzantine
Empire was beginning to crack.The Justinian
Dynasty was long over, the Byzantine Army
was stretched fighting and losing battles
on the fringes of its empire, and the Umayyad
Caliphate had laid siege to Constantinople
from 674 to 678 AD.
So, when the Bulgars arrived just three years
later in 681 AD, the Byzantines must have
been exhausted.
As such, for the next 700 years, the Bulgars
carved out — more or less — the borders
of modern day Bulgaria with the rise and fall
of the First Bulgarian Empire and the rise
and fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire.During
all this time, the main enemy of the army
of the Bulgars was the army of the Byzantine
Empire.
Bulgaria in 2017 is the result of this longstanding
conflict as it is a fusion of the history
and culture of both empires.By the 9th Century,
the First Bulgarian Empire was at its peak
as the Byzantine Empire shrunk.
The success of the Bulgars is often attributed
to brutal men like Khan Krum “The Dreadful”.
He’s the one famous for drinking wine from
the skulls of his enemies and for making visiting
diplomats also drink from these skulls.Of
course, while gruesome details like that are
perhaps interesting, the First Bulgarian Empire
wasn’t all violence and bloodshed.
In 814 AD, Khan Krum “The Dreadful” died.
And, pretty much as a direct result of the
skull drinking tyrant’s death, the Bulgarian
Empire and Byzantine Empire made peace two
years later.
Had he lived, Khan Krum’s plan was to invade
Constantinople.
Presumably so he could add more skulls to
his wine glass collection.
— — —Khan Krum “The Dreadful” was
followed Khan Omurtag and Khan Presian.
These guys weren’t given the moniker “The
Dreadful” and they weren’t known for drinking
from the skulls of their enemies, but they
weren’t exactly peaceful either.
They helped to expand Bulgaria’s borders
into what is now Romania, Moldova, Macedonia,
and parts of Greece.
This brought many new ethnicities into the
Bulgarian empire.Presian’s son, Boris I,
remains one of the most famous Bulgarian rulers
because of two things.First, in 864, under
Boris’ rule, the Bulgarian Empire officially
adopted Orthodox Christianity as its main
religion — after being courted by both representatives
of Catholicism from the Western Roman empire
— or what was the Western Roman Empire — and
Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire.
Rome — the capital of the what was the Western
Roman Empire — and Constantinople — the
capital of the Byzantine Empire — both wanted
spiritual influence over Bulgaria because,
at the time, the First Bulgarian Empire was
quite strong.In the end, the Bulgarians chose
the Byzantine religion of Orthodox Christianity,
choosing to answer to a Patriarch in Constantinople
rather than a Pope in Rome.
The Byzantines Empire may have seen this as
a victory, but in 2017 Bulgaria stills exists
and the Byzantine Empire does not.
The Byzantines may have won a spiritual battle,
but the Bulgarians won the war.Then again,
you could argue that the legacy of Byzantine
Empire lives on in Bulgarian churches.
As mentioned earlier, Modern Bulgaria is a
result of the fusion between Byzantine and
Bulgar culture.The second thing Boris I did
was to preside over the invention the Bulgarian
language.
I say “invention” because it really was
an invention.
The Cyrillic alphabet was created under Boris’
rule and it’s often attributed to two monks:
Cyril — from who we get the word Cyrillic
— and his brother Methodius.They were monks
on a mission to convert Slavs in what is now
Slovakia to Orthodox Christianity.
After being banished from Great Morovia, an
empire which lasted from 833 AD to 907 AD,
Boris I gave them refuge and the resources
to continue their mission.In order to do this,
they had to translate the bible into an understandable
written language.
It was as a result of this that the Cyrillic
alphabet was born.
In turn, this lead to the development of the
Bulgarian language, Bulgarian literature,
and — by extension — Bulgarian culture
and national identity.
———
However, some historians have pointed out
that — while Cyril and Methodius and indeed
Boris deserve some credit for their work — the
students of Cyril and Methodius also deserve
a lot of credit for helping to develop the
Cyrillic alphabet which eventually became
the backbone of the Bulgarian language.Like,
if you found it frustrating that your manager
Jerry at work got all the praise for designing
the new budget spreadsheet you helped to design,
imagine how furious you’d be at the two
guys who got all the praise for the entire
freaking alphabet that you helped design.
Today, the Cyrillic alphabet is used by 252
million people in 12 different countries — officially.
It’s also used unofficially in many other
countries.
Because of the alphabet’s huge influence,
it’s only fair that those students get a
nod of approval.So, well done guys.The Cyrillic
alphabet was also important politically as
it gave the Bulgarians more independence from
the Byzantine Empire, even in matters of the
church.
With a written language which was understood
by the locals of the Bulgarian Empire, the
text of the bible was no longer foreign to
Bulgarians.
As such, the Bulgarians could develop a much
more complex and independent relationship
with their faith and with their national identity
than they had before.———When Boris I
tried to retire to monastery in 889, he handed
power over to his son, Vladimir.
However, Vladimir was a moron.
Against the will of both the general population
and the aristocracy, he tried to reverse the
Christianization of Bulgaria change the state
religion back to Tengrianism, which was the
religion of the Bulgars before they arrived
in Europe.And so it was that Boris I came
out of retirement in the monastery and — like
an ageing hero in the fifth act of an 80s
action movie — rose up against his son,
took the throne from him, and placed his other
son, Simeon, in charge.
So, alls well that ends well……Except for
Vladimir, who was then blinded by Boris and
spent the rest of his rest in a dungeon.Anyway,
Simeon proved to be a much better ruler than
his blinded, dungeon-dwelling brother.
From the beginning of his rule in 893, he
helped Bulgaria to expand its borders even
further and — by the end of his rule in
927 — the Bulgarian Empire was the biggest
it ever has been.
During his reign, there was a Golden Age of
writing, art, and architecture.But, as great
as the beginning of the 10th Century was for
the First Bulgarian Empire, the good times
wouldn’t last.
If they had, I wouldn’t be talking about
the First Bulgarian Empire.
I’d be talking about the only Bulgarian
Empire.
There is a rule in human history that is so
well-observed it’s almost a science: Empires
fall.
In just this one video, I’ve mentioned the
fall of the Roman Empire, the fall of the
Moravian Empire, and though I’ve not mentioned
the fall of Byzantine Empire, that too would
cede to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th Century.
And, in turn, the Ottoman Empire would fall
as well.
Some would argue that the First Bulgarian
Empire is no different.
It too fell around 11th Century and, though
there was an attempt at a Second Bulgarian
Empire, that fell apart as well.On the other
hand, the nation state which is now called
Bulgaria sits in the same place where the
Bulgarian Empire once was.
Most of the people who live there are native
Bulgarians who speak the Bulgarian language,
worship the same religion as Boris I, and
share a culture and history which is intimately
tied with the Bulgarian Empire.So, Empires
rise and Empires fall.
But people, stories, history, and culture:
these things live on.
And that’s good thing because, in the end,
those things are a lot more important.All
of which is important to bear in mind next
time when I’ll be talking about the fall
of the First Bulgarian Empire, the rise and
fall of Second Bulgarian Empire, and the arrival
of Ottoman Empire.
For now, however, thanks for watching.
