Peter I (Bulgaria)

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Southeast Europe around 945

Peter I also Petar I ( Bulgarian Петър ) (* 895 ?; † January 29, 969 ) was Tsar of Bulgaria in the 10th century. He was the second son of Tsar Simeon the Great with his wife Miriam.

Tsar Petar I was married to Maria-Irene of Byzantium, the granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lakapenos . Peter ruled for 40 years and died on January 29, 969. Their son Boris II succeeded him to the throne. Although Peter I is often characterized as sickly and weak, the tsar ruled longer than any other Bulgarian ruler of the Middle Ages.

Life

The exact year of birth of Peter is unknown; however, by 913 he was already a grown young man. Why he, and not his older brother Mikhail, succeeded his father on the throne is not clear; it could be attributed to the influence of the Boljar Georgi Sursuvul , who was the guardian of the two sons. This suruvul may have preferred Peter because he was his nephew and because Bulgaria needed peace, and Peter's personality traits promised this more than his brother's.

When Simeon the Great died, Bulgaria was in a difficult position. The many successful campaigns had led to a shortage of the agricultural workforce as the army recruited its soldiers from the peasantry. In addition, the country was just ravaged by a famine and there was a plague of locusts. Taxes were high and the neighboring states threatened to conquer Bulgaria.

To demonstrate strength, Peter I advanced into Byzantium with an army in the summer of 927 and laid some cities in Thrace in ruins. Then he began secret peace negotiations with Emperor Romanos I Lakapenus of Byzantium. The peace was made in Mesembria in the presence of the Bulgarian and Byzantine aristocracy; on November 8, 927 Peter married the daughter of the Byzantine heir to the throne Christophoros Lakapenos . According to this treaty, Bulgaria got back territories that had been conquered by Byzantium and Byzantium had to recognize the title of tsar for the Bulgarian rulers, thus placing the Bulgarian rulers on the same level as their own. In addition, the independence of the Bulgarian Church was recognized. Thus Bulgarian diplomacy achieved some great successes in relation to Byzantium; Tsar Peter I achieved an enormous political reputation, although his father Simeon the Great had laid the military foundation for these successes.

These foreign policy successes were offset by domestic political difficulties: Peter never succeeded in creating order within his family. Simeon had sent the eldest son to a monastery and made the second-born tsar. At first the younger brother Ivan rebelled against the tsar; with him many Bulgarian nobles. However, the uprising failed and the insurgents were imprisoned. Shortly thereafter, the older brother Michail fled the monastery and took a fortress in Macedonia. There he died very soon and his followers were forced to leave Bulgaria.

In 931 Serbian uprisings broke out on the western border of Bulgaria , as a result of which Peter I had to recognize the independent Serbian state. Meanwhile, the Magyars threatened the Bulgarian territories from the north . They had held back after their defeat by Simeon the Great. From 934, however, they attacked heavily. Since the troops of Bulgaria could not stop the Magyars, they often penetrated into Byzantine Thrace.

Relations with Byzantium deteriorated, especially after the death of Tsarina Maria, Peter's wife. In 963 Byzantium sent an ultimatum to Peter demanding that his sons be sent to Constantinople as hostages and that the Magyars not be admitted to Byzantine territory. In this threat, Peter concluded a peace treaty with the Magyars in 965, according to which the Magyars were given access to Byzantium and Bulgaria would not support Byzantium. When then in 966 Bulgarian messengers wanted to demand tribute in Constantinople, they were captured by Emperor Nikephorus II Phocas and finally sent back with a declaration of war. Tsar Peter I refused a subsequent peace offer with the condition that the Magyars declared war.

The Byzantine emperor made the prince of Kiev , Svyatoslav , attack Bulgaria. In 968 about 60,000 Russians landed on the Bulgarian side of the Danube . They took about 80 fortresses and defeated the Bulgarian army. Probably under the influence of Bulgarian diplomacy, the Pechenegs invaded Russian territory and besieged the capital Kiev. When the Russians attacked again a year later, Peter I suffered a stroke under the impression of the defeat of his armed forces and died a year later after he had quickly entered a monastery.

Not long after his death, Peter was canonized by the Orthodox Church .

Although there was almost always peace during the reign of Tsar Peter I, life became more and more difficult for the common people, while the clergy accumulated more and more wealth. The Bogomil movement , which gave expression to the protest of the common people against the oppression by the feudal power , therefore also came into being at this time . The content of the Bogumil sermons was criticism of the existing order of power, especially of the church; they called for one not to serve the boyars , the tsars or the army because these were the works of the devil.

His son Boris II followed him on the throne .

See also: List of the rulers of Bulgaria

literature

predecessor Office successor
Simeon I. Tsar of Bulgaria
927-969 		Boris II
personal data
SURNAME Peter I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Petar I; Петър (Bulgarian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tsar of Bulgaria
DATE OF BIRTH at 895
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 969