Peter I of Bulgaria

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Peter I of Bulgaria bigraphy, stories - Monarchs

Peter I of Bulgaria : biography

– 970

Petar I () (died 30 January 970) was emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969.

Reputation

Compared with the military success of his father’s reign, Petar has been traditionally considered a weak ruler, who lost lands and prestige, allowed his military forces to decline while his country was ravaged by foreign invaders, and turned Bulgaria into a Byzantine satellite governed by Byzantine agents in the persons of his empress and her retinue. This view has been questioned by more recent scholarship, which emphasizes the affluence and internal peace enjoyed by Bulgarian society during his long reign, re-evaluates the relationship between Bulgaria and its semi-nomadic neighbors (Magyars and Pechenegs), and questions the allegedly sinister role of Romanos’ granddaughter and her retinue. While Petar’s reign witnessed the spread of the Bogomil heresy, its origins were more demographic (perhaps inspired by Paulicians settled earlier by Byzantine emperors in Thrace) than social, and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church canonized him as a saint. Petar was considered a good ruler in the Middle Ages, and when Bulgaria fell under Byzantine rule (1018–1185), leaders of attempts to restore Bulgarian independence adopted his name to emphasize legitimacy and continuity.

Revolts and incursions

The initial successes of Petar’s reign were followed by several minor setbacks. Around 930, Petar faced a revolt led by his younger brother Ivan, who was defeated and sent into exile in Byzantium. Soon afterwards Peter’s older brother Michael escaped from his monastery and led a more formidable rebellion, which terminated with his early death. The youngest brother, Benjamin (also called Bojan), was accused of being a werewolf and magician by the Italian Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, but he apparently posed no threat to Peter’s authority.

Perhaps taking advantage of these challenges to Petar’s rule, the Prince of Serbia Časlav Klonimirović escaped the Bulgarian capital Preslav in 933 and, with tacit Byzantine support, managed to raise a Serbian revolt against Bulgarian rule.Runciman, A history of the First Bulgarian Empire, p. 185 The revolt succeeded, and Serbia recovered its independence. Petar may have had to also face the incursions of the Magyars, who had been defeated and forced into Pannonia by his father in 896. Perhaps after an initial defeat, Petar came to terms with the enemy and now utilized Magyar groups as his allies against Serbia. Various Magyar clans and chieftains appear to have begun to settle in what was still Bulgarian territory north of the Danube, where they may have become Bulgarian federates, enjoying independence from the Árpád dynasty. This arrangement paved the way for the eventual loss of the region to the Magyars, although that happened over the half-century following Petar’s death. Petar apparently allowed these groups to cross Bulgaria and raid Byzantine territories in Thrace and Macedonia, perhaps as an underhanded reaction against Byzantine support for the Serbian rebellion.

Honour

Peter Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Peter I of Bulgaria.

Notes

Domestic rule

Petar I presided over a long and relatively peaceful reign, albeit one poorly illuminated by foreign or native sources. In spite of the challenges he encountered soon after his accession and the critical situation at the very end of his life, Petar’s Bulgaria appears to have been prosperous and increasingly well organized, with an administrative apparatus noted by foreign travelers and confirmed by the numerous finds of imperial seals. Petar was particularly generous towards the Church, which he endowed lavishly throughout his reign. The emperor’s generosity reached such an extent that it was seen as a corrupting factor by even Orthodox clerics, like Cosmas Presbyter. Others chose a path away from the temptations of the secular world, most notably Saint Ivan of Rila, but their ascetic existence still drew the attention of the monarch. Luxury and social tensions may have contributed to the spread of the Bogomil heresy, which Petar duly undertook to combat, soliciting the advice of famous hermits and even his uncle-in-law, the Patriarch of Constantinople Theophylact.