posted by admin in Uncategorized
Nowadays, people are used to accepting Bulgaria as one of the best countries for having fun -countless beaches, amazing night clubs, one of the best countries for skiing holidays in Europe and so on and so on. But they know almost nothing about its rich and significant history and especially about the early and the late middle ages. This article will focus on the country’s history in the period from the beggining until the middle of the 10th century and will highlight facts that have been forgotten by nations, facts that will reveal the glory of an Empire that has never been recognised.
After adopting christianity in the middle of the 9th century and after being the first to use Slavic alphebet and language, Bulgaria inevitable became the centre of the eastern european world. Being torn apart by internal political and religious scandals, the Byzantine Empire could not maintain its stability and comfort in the Orthodox world. The bulgarians had a new king -Simeon, who, among many scholars from the middle ages, was the most well-educated man in his kindgom. Seeing the discomfort in the Byzantine Empire, the young king took advantage and brought back many territories populated with bulgarians using the strenght of the bulgarian cavalary and the spirit of the bulgarian soldiers. By regaining many new lands populated with Slavic tribes and by massively expanding the borders towards the capital of the Byzantine, the bulgarian king gained potential to develop the country and increase its cultural and economic standards.
After conquering new lands, which led to massive expansion in the bulgarian territories (now spreadin between the three seas in Eastern Europe) and after defeating the Byzantine emperor in a glorious battle, Simeon not only made Bulgaria one of the strongest countries in the known world, but culturally enriched the whole of the Balkan Peninsula. Bulgaria became the second independant orthodox church after the greek one, Bulgarian language gave birth to all Slavic languages that are known nowadays, the country under his reign gave the world almost 1/8 of all written documents from those times. Historians from middle ages say Simeon’s palace was made with the gold the Byzantine Empire and Franks paid Simeon for only one year…
These reasons inevitable lead to the conclusion that the small country we now call Bulgaria, has actually never changed its name… This country was once feared by most of the European nations because it ruled over hundreds of different Slavic and Greek tribes, giving them the true Orthodox religion and enriching them with the Slavic literature and knowledge. This is the reason why even unknown to many of us, this small Balkan country was one of the Empires in the known middle ages world and being led by a mighty king, contained a big part of the cultural potential of Europe.