Steven Runciman A history of the First Bulgarian Empire

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.Omortag, though less violent, was equally minded.Under his rule the maimedArchbishop Manuel finally met his death [2]; and he was1.The rather different, almost Iranian, spirit of the stele of the horseman found at Madara is probablydue to an Armenian artist.2.Ditzeng s persecution is mentioned in the Slavonic Prologue (loc.cit.), Tsok s in the Menologium (loc.cit.).The author of the Menologium says that Manuel had his arms cut off and was killed by Krum;whereupon the Bulgars, in disgust, strangled their inhuman ruler.This may refer to Ditzeng smutilation of his arms, and to the sudden fall of Ditzeng or another of the boyar Khans, the piousauthor having muddled and united the stories to give them a moral tone.That Manuel was actuallykilled by Omortag is stated in Theophanes Continuatus, p.217.80also probably the Khan who, according to Theodore of Studium, ordered allChristians to eat meat in Lent.Fourteen refused; so Omortag killed one as anexample and sold his wife and children into captivity.But the rest remainedobdurate, so all were slain.[1] Even a captive called Cinamon, whom Krum hadgiven to Omortag, and to whom Omortag was deeply attached, was thrown intoprison for his persistency in remaining Christian, and remained there till Omortag sdeath.[2]S.Runciman - A history of the First Bulgarian empire - 2.2 Page 9 of 24Both these architectural and these anti-Christian activities were part of the samepolicy, the aggrandisement of the power and prestige of the Khan.In this Omortagcarried on his father s work, and, like Krum, probably furthered it by encouragingthe Slavs against the Bulgar aristocracy.There is no more evidence for the internalstate of Bulgaria under Omortag; but it seems that in the Balkans the two races wereby now mixing.In the lower classes the Slavs were easily able to absorb the fewBulgars; it was only in the upper classes that there was still a distinction.The Bulgarnobility, the almost feudal military caste, was untainted, while the Slav nobility,brought forward by Krum, was a court nobility with no hereditary basis, made ormarred by the whim of the Khan.Of the state of affairs beyond the Danube weknow even less.Here there was not the same solid Slav background.On the plainsof Wallachia and Bessarabia, and in the mountains of Transylvania, there was aconglomeration of mongrel tribes Slavs, Avars, and Vlachs clinging in places tothe Latin speech and culture left behind by Trajan s Dacian colonists, but wild anddisorganized.Over these peoples the Khan ruled, it seems, by a system of militaryoutposts that controlled the districts1.Theodore Studites, Parva Catechesis , pp.220 ff.2.Theophylact, op.cit., pp.193 ff.81around; and where possible, as in Bessarabia, a Great Fence guarded the frontier.[1]It was to these northern frontiers that Omortag directed the attention of hisdiplomacy and his arms.A memorial tablet set up by the Khan tells of his servantthe zhupan Okorses, of the family of Tzanagares, who met his death in the waters ofthe Dnieper when proceeding to the Bulgar camp.[2] Things had changed on theSteppes since two centuries ago the sons of Kubrat had spread Bulgarias from theDanube to the Volga and the Kama.The Khazar power was declining, and fiercenew tribes were pouring in from the east.About the year 820 the Magyars advancedbeyond the River Don, striking for ever a wedge between the two great Bulgarstems.It was against this danger that the army which Okorses never reached wentout beyond the Dnieper.It achieved its objects.For a few more years the Magyarsstayed outside of the frontier.But the main scene of Omortag s foreign policy lay further to the west, where theBulgar frontier ran from the fortress of Belgrade up the River Theiss.Over thisS.Runciman - A history of the First Bulgarian empire - 2.2 Page 10 of 24frontier lay the struggling kingdom of Croatia, and its oppressor the great power ofthe West, the Frankish Empire.The rule of the Sublime Khan lay heavily on thetribes that lived in this corner of his dominions, and they determined to search forrelief.In the year 818 the Emperor Louis the Pious was holding his Court at Heristal; andamongst the embassies that waited on his pleasure was one from the Slavs of theTimok (just south of Belgrade) and the Abodriti, a Slav race to the north of theDanube, just opposite.These tribes had1.Aboba-Pliska, pp.524-5.Rivers seem to have been able to take the place of fences.Actually inOmortag s day the Theiss and the Dnieper appear to have been the frontiers.In the Responsa Nicolai ,Chapter xxv., we learn how much the Bulgars valued their entrenchments.2.Aboba-Pliska, p.190: Zlatarski, Edin ot Provadiiskitie Omortagovi Nadpici, pp.94 -107.82revolted from the Khan and wanted help.Louis was not sure what policy he shouldadopt in the East; so the Timocians, in despair, threw in their lot with Liudevit, thePrince of Pannonian Croatia, who also was represented at Heristal and who seemedlikely for a moment to found a realm free from Frank and Bulgar alike [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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