Глаголически следи в България
Traces of Glagolitic Script in Bulgaria

Author(s): Desislava Naydenova
Subject(s): Language studies, Middle Ages
Published by: Кирило-Методиевски научен център при Българска академия на науките
Keywords: medieval Bulgaria; Glagolitic script; Cyrillic script; manuscripts; epigraphy.
Summary/Abstract: Usually, when it comes to the Bulgarian contribution to the Sts Cyril and Methodius’ oeuvre, we are used to think about the Cyrillic alphabet. In the Bulgarian narrative of history the Glagolitic script is almost completely absent at the expense of discussing the significance of the Cyrillic alphabet which was invented in Preslav towards the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century. The neglect of Glagolitic script as a site of memory and as one of the most important traces of Cyrillo-Methodian tradition in mediaeval Bulgaria is at some extent due to a prevailing and long-standing thesis of the prominent Bulgarian scholar Vasil Zlatarski. He established that in 893 a Council was held in Preslav and that one of the decisions of this Council was to replace the Glagolitic script with Cyrillic. However, modern historical, archaeological and philological studies have proved that such a Council has never been held. What is more, but also Cyrillic and Glagolitic script were both known and used by Bulgarian scribes for a long period until the middle of the XIV c. The present article is an attempt to trace the Glagolitic scripts in different monuments – manuscripts and inscriptions, which are important site of memory as concerns the history of the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition and the Bulgarian national identity.

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