Everything about Simeon I Of Bulgaria totally explained
Simeon (also
Symeon)
I the Great (transliterated
Simeon I Veliki; ) ruled over
Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the
First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the
Byzantines,
Magyars and
Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary
Eastern Europe. His reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the
Golden Age of
Bulgarian culture.
During Simeon's rule, Bulgaria spread over a territory between the
Aegean, the
Adriatic and the
Black Sea, and the new Bulgarian capital
Preslav was said to rival
Constantinople. The newly-independent
Bulgarian Orthodox Church became the first new
patriarchate besides the
Pentarchy and Bulgarian
Glagolitic translations of
Christian texts spread all over the
Slavic world of the time. Halfway through his reign, Simeon assumed the title of
Emperor (
Tsar), having prior to that been styled
Prince (
Knyaz).
Biography
Background and early life
Simeon was born in 864 or 865 as the third son of Knyaz
Boris I As Boris was the ruler who
Christianized Bulgaria in 865, Simeon was a Christian all his life. As his eldest brother
Vladimir was designated heir to the Bulgarian throne, Boris intended Simeon to become a high-ranking cleric, possibly Bulgarian archbishop, and sent him to the leading
University of Constantinople to receive theological education when he was thirteen or fourteen. as a novice in a monastery in Constantinople. He also learned fluent
Greek, to the extent that he was referred to as "the half-Greek" in Byzantine chronicles. He is speculated to have been tutored by
Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople, but this isn't supported by any source.}}
Around 888, Simeon returned to Bulgaria and settled at the newly-established royal monastery of
Preslav "at the mouth of the
Tiča", where, under the guidance of
Naum of Preslav, he engaged in active translation of important religious works from Greek to
Old Church Slavonic (
Old Bulgarian), aided by other students from Constantinople. forcing Boris to assume the throne for a second time only to depose and punish Vladimir and promptly appoint Simeon as the new ruler. This was done at an assembly in Preslav which also proclaimed Bulgarian as the only language of state and church and decided to move the Bulgarian capital from
Pliska to Preslav. It isn't known why Boris didn't place his second son, Gavril, on the throne, but instead preferred Simeon.
Forced to take action, in the autumn of 894 Simeon invaded the Byzantine Empire from the north, meeting with little opposition due to the concentration of most Byzantine forces in eastern
Anatolia to counter
Arab invasions. Informed of the Bulgarian offensive, the surprised Leo sent an army consisting of guardsmen and other military units from the capital to halt Simeon, but his troops were routed somewhere in the
theme of Macedonia. These events were later called "the first trade war in
medieval Europe" by Bulgarian historians. Leo VI may have also concluded an agreement with Arnulf to make sure that the
Franks didn't support Simeon against the Magyars. In addition, the talented commander Nikephoros Phokas was called back from
Italy to lead a separate army against Bulgaria in 895 with the mere intention to overawe the Bulgarians. Simeon, unaware of the threat from the north, rushed to meet Phokas' forces, but the two armies didn't engage in a fight. Instead, the Byzantines offered peace, informing him of both the Byzantine foot and maritime campaign, but intentionally didn't notify him of the planned Magyar attack. Simeon didn't trust the envoy and, after sending him to prison, ordered the Byzantine navy's route into the Danube closed off with ropes and chains, intending to hold it until he'd dealt with Phokas.
Despite the problems they encountered because of the fencing, the Byzantines ultimately managed to ferry the Magyar forces led by
Árpád's son Liüntika across the Danube, possibly near modern
Galaţi, and assisted them in pillaging the nearby Bulgarian lands. Once notified of the surprise invasion, Simeon headed north to stop the Magyars, leaving some of his troops at the southern border to prevent a possible attack by Phokas. Simeon's two encounters with the enemy in
Northern Dobruja resulted in Magyar victories, After pillaging much of Bulgaria and reaching Preslav, the Magyars returned to their lands, but not before Simeon had concluded an armistice with Byzantium towards the summer of 895. A complete peace was delayed, as Leo VI required the release of the Byzantine captives from the Trade War.
Anti-Magyar campaign and further wars with Byzantium
Having dealt with the pressure from the Magyars and the Byzantines, Simeon was free to plan a campaign against the Magyars looking for retribution. He negotiated a joint force with the Magyars' eastern neighbours, the
Pechenegs, and imprisoned the Byzantine envoy Leo Magister in order to delay the release of the captives until after the campaign against the Magyars. This would allow him to renegotiate the peace conditions in his favour. In an exchange of letters with the envoy, Simeon refused to release the captives and ridiculed Leo VI's
astrological abilities.
Using a Magyar invasion in the lands of the neighbouring Slavs in 896 as a
casus belli, Simeon headed against the Magyars together with his Pecheneg allies, defeating them completely in the
Battle of Southern Buh and making them leave
Etelköz forever and settle in
Pannonia. Simeon once again invaded Byzantium in the summer of 896, heading directly to Constantinople. He was met in
Thrace by a hastily-assembled Byzantine army, but annihilated the Byzantine forces in the
Battle of Bulgarophygon (at modern
Babaeski,
Turkey). Arming Arab captives and sending them to fight with the Bulgarians as a desperate measure, Leo VI managed to repel the Bulgarians from Constantinople, which they'd besieged. The war ended with a peace treaty which formally lasted until around Leo VI's death in 912 Under the treaty, the Byzantines also ceded an area between the Black Sea and
Strandža to the Bulgarian Empire. Meanwhile, Simeon had also imposed his authority over Serbia in return for recognizing
Petar Gojniković as their ruler.
Simeon often violated the peace treaty with Byzantium, attacking and conquering Byzantine territory on several occasions, such as in 904, when the Bulgarian raids were used by Arabs led by the Byzantine renegade
Leo of Tripoli to undertake a maritime campaign and seize Thessaloniki. After the Arabs plundered the city, it was an easy target for Bulgaria and the nearby Slavic tribes. In order to dissuade Simeon from capturing the city and populating it with Slavs, Leo VI was forced to make further territorial concessions to the Bulgarians in the modern region of
Macedonia. With the treaty of 904, all Slavic-inhabited lands in modern southern Macedonia and southern
Albania were ceded to the Bulgarian Empire, with the border line running some 20 kilometres north of Thessaloniki.
Recognition as Emperor
The death of Leo VI on
11 May 912 and the accession of his infant son
Constantine VII under the guidance of Leo's brother
Alexander, who expelled Leo's wife Zoe from the palace, constituted a great opportunity for Simeon to attempt another campaign against Constantinople, the conquest of which remained a dream of his all his life. In the spring of 913, Simeon's envoys, which had arrived in Constantinople to renew the peace of 896, were sent away by Alexander, who refused to pay the annual tribute, urging Simeon to prepare for war.
Before Simeon could attack, Alexander died on
6 June 913, leaving the empire in the hands of a regency council headed by
Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos. Many of the residents of Constantinople didn't recognize the young emperor and supported the pretender Constantine Doukas, which, exacerbated by revolts in southern
Italy and the planned Arab invasion in eastern Anatolia, was all to Simeon's advantage. Constantine Nicholas tried to discourage Simeon from invading Byzantium in a long series of pleading letters, but the Bulgarian ruler nevertheless attacked in full force in late July or August 913 and reached Constantinople without any serious resistance. However, the anarchy in Constantinople had ceased after the murder of the pretender Constantine Doukas and a government had promptly been formed with Patriarch Nicholas at the helm. This urged Simeon to raise his siege and enter peace negotiations, to the joy of the Byzantines. the promise that Constantine VII should marry one of Simeon's daughters in the
Blachernai Palace.
Shortly after Simeon's visit to Constantinople, Constantine's mother Zoe returned to the palace on the insistence of the young emperor and immediately proceeded to eliminate the regents. Through a plot, she managed to assume power in February 914, practically removing Patriarch Nicholas from the government, disowning and obscuring his recognition of Simeon's imperial title and rejecting the planned marriage of her son to one of Simeon's daughters. Simeon had to resort to war to achieve his goals. He invaded Thrace in the summer of 914 and captured
Adrianople. Zoe was quick to send Simeon numerous presents in order to conciliate him and managed to convince him to cede back Adrianople and withdraw his army. In the following years, Simeon's forces were engaged in the northwestern Byzantine provinces, around Drač (
Durrës) and Thessaloniki, but didn't make a move against Constantinople.
Victories at Anchialos and Katasyrtai
By 917, Simeon was preparing for yet another war against Byzantium. He attempted to conclude an anti-Byzantine union with the Pechenegs, but his envoys couldn't match the financial resources of the Byzantines, who succeeded in outbidding them. The Byzantines hatched a large-scale campaign against Bulgaria and also tried to persuade the Serbian Prince Petar Gojniković to attack the Bulgarians with Magyar support.
In 917, a particularly strong Byzantine army led by Leo Phokas, son of Nikephoros Phokas, invaded Bulgaria accompanied by the Byzantine navy under the command of
Romanos Lekapenos, which sailed to the Bulgarian Black Sea ports. En route to Mesembria (
Nesebǎr), where they were supposed to be reinforced by troops transported by the navy, Phokas' forces stopped to rest near the river of Achelaos, not far from the port of Anchialos (
Pomorie). Once informed of the invasion, Simeon rushed to intercept the Byzantines, and attacked them from the nearby hills while they were resting disorganized. In the
Battle of Anchialos of
20 August 917, one of the largest in medieval history, the Bulgarians completely routed the Byzantines and killed many of their commanders, although Phokas managed to escape to Mesembria. Decades later,
Leo the Deacon would write that "piles of bones can still be seen today at the river Achelaos, where the fleeing army of the Byzantines was then infamously slain".
The planned Pecheneg attack from the north also failed, as the Pechenegs quarrelled with admiral Lekapenos, who refused to transport them across the Danube to aid the main Byzantine army.
Simeon's army quickly followed up the victory of Anchialos with another success. The Bulgarian regiments attacked and again defeated the Byzantines, destroying some of their last units before returning to Bulgaria.
Suppression of Serbian unrest and late campaigns against Byzantium
Immediately after that campaign, Simeon sought to punish the Serbian ruler Petar Gojniković who had attempted to betray him by concluding an alliance with the Byzantines.
Meanwhile, the Byzantine military failures forced another change of government in Constantinople: the admiral Romanos Lekapenos replaced Zoe as regent of the young Constantine VII in 919, forcing her back into a convent. Romanos betrothed his daughter
Helena Lekapene to Constantine and advanced to the rank of co-emperor in December 920, effectively assuming the government of the empire, which was largely what Simeon had planned to do.
No longer able to climb to the Byzantine throne by diplomatic means, the infuriated Simeon once again had to wage war to impose his will. Between 920 and 922, Bulgaria increased its pressure on Byzantium, campaigning in the west through
Thessaly and in the east in Thrace, reaching the
Dardanelles and the
Isthmus of Corinth. Simeon's forces appeared before Constantinople in 921, when they demanded the deposition of Romanos and captured Adrianople, and 922, when they were victorious at
Pigae, burned much of the
Golden Horn and seized
Bizye. In the meantime, the Byzantines attempted to ignite Serbia against Simeon, but he substituted Pavle with Zaharije Pribisavljević, a former refugee at Constantinople that he'd captured.
In Serbia, Zaharije was persuaded by the Byzantines to revolt against Simeon. Zaharije was supported by many Bulgarians exhausted from Simeon's endless campaigns against Byzantium. The Bulgarian emperor sent his troops under Sigrica and
Marmais, but they were routed and the two commanders beheaded, which forced Simeon to conclude an armistice with Byzantium in order to concentrate on the suppression of the uprising. Simeon sent an army led by
Ceslav, son of Klomimir in 924 to depose Zaharija. He was successful as Zaharije fled to Croatia. After this victory, the Serbian nobility was invited to come to Bulgaria and bow to the new Prince. However he didn't appear at the supposed meeting and all of them were beheaded. Bulgaria annexed Serbia directly. A large portion of its population fled to Tomislav of Croatia, one part was taken into slavery and there were also refugees to Byzantine and to a lesser extent Hungarian territory.
In the summer of 924, Simeon nevertheless arrived at Constantinople and demanded to see the patriarch and the emperor. He conversed with Romanos on the Golden Horn on
9 September 924 and arranged a truce, according to which Byzantium would pay Bulgaria an annual tax, but would be ceded back some cities on the Black Sea coast. During the interview of the two monarchs, two eagles are said to have met in the skies above and then to have parted, one of them flying over Constantinople and the other heading to Thrace, as a sign of the irreconcilability of the two rulers. In his description of this meeting,
Theophanes Continuatus mentions that "the two
emperors… conversed", which may indicate renewed Byzantine recognition of Simeon's imperial claims.
War with Croatia and death
Most likely after (or possibly at the time of) Patriarch Nicholas' death in 925, Simeon raised the status of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to a patriarchate. This may be linked to Simeon's diplomatic relations with the
Papacy between 924 and 926, during which he demanded and received Pope
John X's recognition of his title as "Emperor of the Romans", truly equal to the Byzantine emperor, and possibly the confirmation of a patriarchal dignity for the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
In 926, Simeon's troops under
Alogobotur invaded Croatia, at the time a Byzantine ally, but were completely defeated by the army of King
Tomislav in the
Battle of the Bosnian Highlands. In the last months of his life, Simeon prepared for another siege of Constantinople
On
27 May 927, Simeon died of
heart failure in his palace in Preslav. Byzantine chroniclers tie his death to a legend, according to which Romanos decapitated a statue which was Simeon's inanimate double, and he died at that very hour.
He was succeeded by his son
Peter I, with George Sursuvul, the new emperor's maternal uncle, initially acting as a regent.
Culture and religion
During Simeon's reign, Bulgaria reached its cultural apogee, becoming the literary and spiritual centre of
Slavic Europe. In this respect, Simeon continued his father Boris' policy of establishing and spreading Slavic culture and attracting noted scholars and writers within Bulgaria's borders. It was in the
Preslav Literary School and
Ohrid Literary School, founded under Boris, that the main literary work in Bulgaria was concentrated during the reign of Simeon.
The late 9th and early 10th century constitute the earliest and most productive period of medieval
Bulgarian literature.
Simeon turned the new Bulgarian capital Preslav into a magnificent religious and cultural centre, intended more as a display of his realm's heyday and as a royal residence than as a military fortress.
Family
Simeon was married twice. By his first wife, whose identity is unknown, Simeon had a son called
Michael, who was born before 913. He was excluded from the succession in 927 and sent to a monastery. He died in 931, shortly after organizing a revolt.
Simeon also had several daughters, including one who was arranged to marry Constantine VII in 913, and was thus born before that date.
Family tree of Simeon I
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Boris I(d. 907, ruled 852—889)
| Maria |
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Vladimir(ruled 889–893)
| Gabriel (Gavril) |
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Jacob (Jakov) |
Eupraxia (Evpraksija) |
Anna |
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1
unknown wife |
Simeon I(b. 864/865, d. 927, ruled 893–927) |
2
daughter of
George Sursuvul |
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| 1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
? |
| Michael(d. 931) |
Peter I(b. after 912, d. 970,
ruled 927–969) |
Ivan |
Benjamin |
daughters |
Legacy and popular culture
Tsar Simeon I has remained among the most highly valued Bulgarian historical figures, as indicated by popular vote in the
Velikite Bǎlgari (a spin-off of
100 Greatest Britons) television programme, which in February 2007 placed him fourth among the greatest Bulgarians ever. The last Bulgarian monarch,
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was named after Simeon I. A brand of high-quality grape
rakija,
Car Simeon Veliki, also bears his name, and an
Antarctic peak on
Livingston Island of the
South Shetland Islands was named
Simeon Peak in his honour by the
Antarctic Place-names Commission.
Simeon
the Great has also been regularly featured in fiction. Bulgarian national writer
Ivan Vazov dedicated a children's patriotic poem to him, "Car Simeon", and it was later arranged as a song, "Kraj Bosfora šum se vdiga" ("Noise Is Being Made Near the
Bosphorus"). An eleven-episode drama series filmed in 1984,
Zlatnijat vek (
Golden Age), retells the story of Simeon's reign. In the series, the tsar is played by Marius Donkin. A historical
drama play called
Car Simeon — Zlatnijat vek and produced by Stefan Stajčev, director of the Silistra Theatre, debuted in December 2006. Ivan Samokovliev stars in the part of Simeon.
Timeline
Timeline of Simeon I's life
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Simeon I Of Bulgaria'.
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