Die Ehe Gavril Radomirs und der Tochter des ungarischen Königs
The Marriage of Gavrilo Radomir with the Daughter of Hungarian King

Summary/Abstract: According to sources, the daughters of the Bulgarian tsar Samuel (Miroslava and Theodora Kosara) concluded their marriages after the defeat at Spercheios river (997). These relationships – both marital and political – were motivated, of course, by this great Bulgarian defeat. The same reasons led to the marriage of Radomir, of which a source tells that he married a „daughter of the king of Hungary“. During this period a change on the throne took place in Hungary, but only Géza could have played the role of a princely father-inlaw since Saint Stephen couldn’the yet have had an adult daughter. Prince Géza married his children into royal and princely families, so Samuel must have already been the tsar of the Bulgarians at the time.46 Two dates are to be assumed as the beginning of Samuelʼs autocracy: 976/980 or 997, but Bulgarian historians rather accepted the latter because of the overall source data. Since Bishop Michael of Devol mentioned the daughter of the „King of Hungary“, it indicates that in his source – on which his additions to the work of Skylitzes were based – Géza was known as the ruler of Hungary. With regard to all of the facts above mentioned, it can be said that Radomir, the heir to the Bulgarian throne, married the daughter of Géza in the year 997 (or at least 998). This marital union was dissolved by Radomir because he had received no Hungarian military aid for his struggle against Byzantium.

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