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The research focuses on the main texts of the Old Bulgarian hagiographical cycle about Saint John of Rila. Text analysis of the post-biographical parts leads to the conclusion that the relics of the Rila saint extremely actualize their impact in historical periods that are dramatic for the ethnic destiny.
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Presented are two inscriptions accompanied by graffiti – drawings from the end of 9th and the beginning of the 10th century found in North-Eastern Bulgaria. It is believed that they are directly related to the spread of the cause of Cyril and Metho¬dius in Bulgaria since the mid-9th century. The first monument was discovered during archaeological excavations in the Old Bulgarian monastery near the village of Ravna, Provadiya region, east of the capitals of Pliska and Preslav. There is no doubt, there is written КΛΗΜΕΝΤΟΣ ΠΑΠΑ ΡΟΜ(Η)С (Clement Pope of Rome). Next to the sign, there is a dove against two dragons. Definitely the cult of Clement Pope of Rome, who lived in the first century, and died in exile in Chersonese, was introduced in Bulgaria by the Great Moravian students of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who arrived in Pliska in 886. The cult was reborn after Cyril found the remains of Clement Pope of Rome on January 30th 861 at the mission in Chersonese, then took them to Rome and formally submit them to the Pope Adrian II in 867. It is remarkable that the only Eulogy to Clement of Rome, written by Clement of Ohrid himself, compares the Pope to a dove brought up by Apostle Peter himself. The second monument is the inscription in Cyrillic and Glagolitic letters from the old Bulgarian fortress near the village of Tsar Asen, Silistra, that emerged around the end of 9th and the beginning of the 10th century. It reads: “On Gospozhina day has been placed the cross. Lord have mercy on me, Manasseh monk with serf through Byzantium“. It is assumed, that Manasseh is a new, unknown by name disciple of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who specifically warns that he comes from Byzantium, the old name of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. According to Naum’s biography, some of the Mora¬vian students of St. Methodius are sold by the German clergy in slavery. Later, with the support of the Emperor, they were purchased and received in Byzantium, and later, with the personal assistance of Prince Boris, they were brought to Bulgaria.
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This article attempts to shed light on the all too vague history of Rila Monastery until the end of the 14th century – both concerning its founding and based on new interpretations of some well-known sources, mainly hagiographical. Particular attention is paid to newly emerged hypotheses, which claims without argumentation that the Rila Monastery was deserted very early and was subsequently rebuilt anew during the 14th century.
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The practice, connected to the transferring of relics, imported to the Bulgarian tradition from Byzantium, can be treated as a part of Bulgarian rulers’ “Empire idea”, which has changed at the beginning of 13th century. The formation of an independent pantheon of saints helps to successfully Trinova’s competition with Constantinople and striving for the Bulgarian capital to become “Third Rome”. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, Bulgarian empire has claimed to be new Christian centre in the Balkans. The construction of its own pantheon of saints’ relics is a necessity for realization of the Bulgarian tsar’s imperial claims. The creation and following of this tradition led its beginning of the military actions and become a part of the ideological platform of the Bulgarian tsars.
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The prelatic sceptre is a symbol of strength and spiritual power. It imposes the obligation and responsibility to care for the integrity and preservation of the spiritual flock. The sceptre provides the bishop the power to judge and make decisions. The find from Trapezitsa is discovered in the big duplex building, in the civil complex near church № 3, in the Southeastern sector of the stronghold. The find has a biconical shape, with an almost flat upper surface. It’s quite possible that the workmanship is linked to a metropolitan studio. The entire surface features a “bird eye” ornament, applied circumferentially and also radially. Eight relief sheets are placed on the side surface. They are crafted in tall relief. From below the item ends with a bush for the attachment of the wooden stick. It remains an open question as to what kind of a representative of the metropolitan aristocracy was the complex in question meant for – a high-ranking layman or a clerical individual? The bone end of the prelatic sceptre is an important find, which links the new-found civil complex of Trapezitsa with a high-ranking representative of the metropolitan ecclesiastical hierarchy.
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The fortress of Rusokastro is only 22 kilometers west of the bed of the Bay of Burgas, at the foot of the south approaches towards the Aytos Pass and at north approaches of the Strandja Pass of Kovchas. Its significance to Bulgaria and Byzantium in 13th – 14th c. is well attested in the historical sources of the epoch. The information in them regarding the military campaigns of Andronicus III Palaeologus, the emperor, in 1330 – 1331 is particularly important. According to Ioannis Kantakouzinos as well as Nikiphoros Grigoras the emperor acted in a foreign country, his armies robbed the native population and annihilated their crops. Rusokastro was one of the main targets of the military expeditions of both campaigns. In accordance with the last archaeological investigations the fortress was newly built in the beginning of 13th c., and after 1263 there was new building. The significance of Rusokastro becomes apparent as well because the military camps of Byzantium and the Kingdom of Bulgaria encamped at the fortress in the 14th c.
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We have few written sources referring to the distribution of luxury textiles in medieval Bulgaria. Our knowledge on clothing is based primarily on foreign historical records, while the local Bulgarian sources (ecclesiastical texts mainly) provide general information without any details. The investigation on textiles, excavated in medieval Bulgarian lands lead to accumulation of data on silk fabrics, such as samite, twill damask, satin, velvet and partially covered the lack of written sources for this period. As a result of this study now we will have more solid grounds while comparing the distribution of luxury textiles in Bulgaria and Europe.
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An important medium of diplomacy during the Middle Ages were the dynastic marriages and a number of Princesses of Tarnovo became foreign rulers. Have they faced the dilemma of acting in the interest of their homeland or to support the policies of their ruling spouses and how much did they have the opportunity to participate actively in the power structures?
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The article again examines all sources of the life of Theodore Svetoslav before his reign. Their analysis leads to the conclusion that the assumption in science of his 15 years as a hostage to the Tatars and the severe dependence of the Bulgarian Empire after 1285 is insubstantial and there is no support in the sourses. From the point of view of Tatar political practice, such a long hostage is not possible. A new chronology of the events up to 1300 is offered, as well as a new look at the role of Smilets in Bulgarian history.
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The paper presents the key moments of the participation of the Bulgarian state in the Civil war in Byzantium. The author emphasizes the information of the Turkish poet Enveri (15th century). He reports that Bulgaria is part of the sacred alliance organized by the Papacy to fight with emirate of Smirna. Аccording to the author, Tsar Ivan Alexander is part of the Christian coalition. His involvement in Byzantine civil war is a consequence of these diplomatic actions.
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The article is aimed at a problem that has not yet been investigated by analysing the images of wars and armament in the miniatures of the Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander, dating back to 1355, and currently stored in the British Library (Add MS 39627). The manuscript, which is preserved in a near-perfect condition, is illustrated with 367 fine illuminated images, including those of medieval weapons and armament. The author focuses his analysis on three main issues: – images of offensive weaponry; – images of armour; – the presentation of clothing and military banners in the miniatures which represent warriors and armed men. The approach of the analysis is definitely critical, and the author emphasizes on the presence of two groups – relatively credible, and unreliable images of armaments and armour. In conclusion, the author highlights the potential usefulness of the analysed visual information for the study of the Bulgarian Late Middle Ages.
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Paroria Anachorets’ work regards everything happening in Bulgarian and Byzantine societies in the notable and troubled 14th century. Its eventful dynamics is full of councils, civil wars, Ottoman conqueror’s invasion from the East and from the West. This is the time when Bulgaria was ruled by Tzar Yоan Alexander (1331 – 1371), end Byzantine by Emperors Andronicus III (1328 – 1341) and his son Yoan (John) V Palaeologus. This century is full of conflicts and dramatic events making decisions on Byzantine, Bulgaria and Serbia Orthodox Balkan peoples’ fate. Monastery’s Laura is directly connected to Slavic and Byzantine Hesychasm’s and Hesychast monks of Kefalarevo Scriptorium’s literary works’ chronology. Scriptorium being found in 1350 by Bulgarian monk Theodosius of Tarnovo disciple of Byzantine hermit Gregory the Sinaite. Bulgaria’s Tzar Yоan Alexander was a protection of Paroria monastery. The Tzar gave them support and protected them from pillaging.
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The restoration of the Bulgarian Tzardom in the end of the 12th – the beginning of the 13th c. in the current historiography is often described in the terms of wide political and ideological program, which was continuously realized by three brothers – founders of the new Asenides dynasty – Peter, John and Kaloyan from 1186 to 1207. Another trend of research considers the activities of the first Asenides as situational but in this case the mobilization of the historical memory provided substantial ideological resources, too. The article contains five cases – of the brothers’ meeting with Isaac II Angel in Kipsela in 1185; using the term Zagora to designate their restored Tzardom; role of Preslav in the époque of the first Asens; the rite of Theodor-Peter’s coronation and transfer of St. John’s of Rila relics from Sredets to Turnovo by John Asen. Their consideration leads to the conclusion, that the strategic course of the first Asens to restore the Bulgarian Tzardom was combined with situational decisions, while the arguments to support them were taken from common historical memory of Bulgarians and received the appropriate connotations in their actions. Later these arguments received verbal interpretations in agiographical, hymnographical, canonical and historiographical works created in Turnovo and Athos.
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The paper analyzes the role of heritage of the Tarnovo Literary School in the preservation of historical memory of Bulgarians about their distant past of the period of the First Bulgarian Kingdom during the 15th – 16th centuries. The investigation shows that due to the heritage of the Tarnovo Literary School and connection with Slavonic Orthodox tradition the historical memory about St. Ivan of Rila and SS. Cyril and Methodius preserved.
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The subject of this article is the social status of 22 grammarians known from the medieval Bulgarian sources. The period on which names “grammarians” are found in the Bulgarian Middle Ages is of Xth to beginning of XVth century. One of the goals is to point out what is the status of the “grammarian” in Medieval Bulgaria – is it a service, an alias, a title or an epithet. The places which are connected to these people have been researched. The work of grammarians is mainly connected with copying theological books or with translations from Greek to Old Bulgarian. The Old Bulgarian grammarians are mostly secular persons who work for churches or monasteries. Their work is custom-made or in some cases the work for a fee. The alias “grammarian” in medieval Bulgaria has no official character, it is not a title with designated service. In indicates to certain professional skill, level of education and deserved status higher than the one that an ordinary medieval scribe has.
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For the existence of women monasteries we lack sources, unlike men monasteries, for which we have plenty of written, archaeological and hagiographical data. Relying mainly on the written sources – building and gravestone inscriptions, bead-rolls and marginal notes – I will try to examine the existence of female monasticism in the territory of the Balkan Peninsula from the period of Christianization till the end of the 18th c. (using the above-mentioned sources). Despite some separate mentions of nuns, it could be traced back through the sources that the development of female monasticism in the Balkans was not interrupted from the period before the Ottoman conquest till the end of the 18th c.
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In April 2021, the U.S. intelligence community published the extensive report “Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World”. It analyses the main demographic, political, and strategic trends that will likely shape the world for the next two decades. The report will be intensively used by the Biden administration in the preparation of the new U.S. National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, as well as in new military doctrines. The “Global Trends” document reflects the main tendencies in American strategic thinking, such as the growing “Sinocentrism” and traditional U.S. attachment to transatlantic relations.
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