Re: Средновековна МакедониJa / Наука / Хуманитарни науки / История

/part two/
The Emperor treated the letter with suspicion and he sent an army under Nicephorus Xiphias and Constantine Diogenes, who had become strategus of Thessalonica after Botainates to the region of Moglena. After they devastated all this land and besieged the town, the Emperor himself arrived. He diverted the river that flowed by the city and, having undermined the foundations of the walls, he wood and other easily inflammable substances into the excavations and in on fire. When the combustible substances burned out, the wall led. On seeing this, the besieged began to weep and plead, and surrenderd, together with the fortress. And so Dometian Kaukhanus,1 a noble counselor to Gavril, the governor of Moglena Ilitsa and many other noblemen and a considerable number of soldiers were captured. And so the Emperor sent those fit to bear arms to Asprakania, while the other non-combatant he ordered to be plundered and the fortress to be burned.
Another fortress, called Enotia, adjacent to Moglena, also fell.

On the fifth day the handless Byzantine arrived together with officials of Ivan Vladislav, Aaron's son. He carried a letter in which Ivan Vladislav reported that he had killed Gavril in Petrisk2 and that he had assumed full power /In the letter/ he also promised to offer the Emperor the submission and hence due to him. Having read the letter and reaffirmed his decision with a royal decree, the Emperor sent envoys to Ivan. In a few days' time the Greek with the severed hand again returned with a letter from Ivan and the Bulgarian notables, who declared that they were ready to become subjects and slaves of the Emperor. Kaukhanus, the brother of Dometian, who had been captured in Moglena, also joined the Emperor. The Emperor received him and held him with esteem. When he realized that Ivan had written the letter with cunning and duplicity and that he was thinking the opposite of what he promised, he again turned to Bulgaria and devastating the areas around Ostrovo, Sosk, as well as plain of Pelagonia, he blinded all the Bulgarians whom he captured and thus he reached the town of Ohrid, where the palaces of the Tsars of Bulgaria stood. After he had occupied the town and made all the necessary arrangements, he decided to proceed further and to go to Dyrrachium because affairs there required his presence. And indeed, as long as Vladimir,1 who was married to Samuil's daughter, a just, peace-loving and virtuous man, was in possession of Trimalia and the lands in the vicinity of Servia, peace reigned in Dyrrachium. But after Gavril had been murdered by Ivan, Vladimir trusted the oaths which Ivan passed on to him through David, the Archbishop of Bulgaria, gave himself up and was soon killed. Then great confusion and disorder set in there, because Ivan frequently tried in every way through military commanders and personally to recapture the town. The Emperor, therefore, wanted to go to help him but was stopped by a serious consideration. Because on his march to Ohrid he had left in the rear the strategus Georgius Gonitziates and the cap tured protospatharius Orestes with a large army, ordering them to devastate the plains of Pelagonia.2 The Bulgarians, however, led by the military commander Ivats, a most outstanding and well-tried man, caught them in an ambush and killed them all. Seized with sorrow for them, the Emperor returned to Pelagonin and pursuing Ivats closely, reached Thessalonica and then went to Mosynopolis. He sent against Stroumitsa a force under the patrician Davul Arianites, who appeared suddenly and captured the fort called Thermitsa.1 The Emperor sent another force under Xiphias against the fortresses near Triaditsa. Having taken all fortresses situated in the open, he besieged and captured the fortress called Boion /Воуапа/.

That same year 6524, indiction 14 /1016/, the Emperor left the capital and set out for Triaditsa. He encircled the fortress of Pernik and besieged it but its defenders fought valiantly and courageously and many Byzantines were killed. The Emperor maintained the siege for a full 88 days but, understanding that he had undertaken something impossible, he withdrew, without doing anything, and returned to Mosynopolis. He left his army to rest there and, with the coming of spring, he left Mosynopolis, invaded Bulgaria, besieged the fortress named Longon and took it by siege. Sending David Arianites and Constantine Diogenes to the plains of Pelagonia, he captured a lot of cattle and men. The Emperor, having burned the fortress, divided the prisoners into three parts: one part he gave to his Russian allies, the other to the Byzantines and the third he kept for himself. Then he moved on and, on reaching Castoria, he tried to take the fortress but realized that it was impregnable and turned back. Moreover, he had received a letter from the strategus of Dorosrol, Cicikius, the son of the patrician Teudatus the Iverian, /who informed him/ that Krakra had collected a very numerous army and had joined Ivan; they had also won over the Pechenegs and intended to attack the Byzantines. Troubled by this letter the Emperor
immediately returned. On the way he captured the fortress of Bosograd burned it, rebuilt Berrhoea, and devastated and destroyed mound Ostrovo and Moliscus. He gave up any further advance because he had been informed that the campaign against the Byzantines planed by Krakra and Ivan had been called off, because the Pechenegs had failed to give them military assistance. That is why he returned and besieged
another fortress Setaena, where Samuil had had palaces and where a large amount of wheal was stored. The Emperor ordered the troops to seize it, and burned everything. Against Ivan, who was not very far away, he sent detachment of the Western scholae1 and the Thessalonica detachment commanded by Constantine Diogenes. When they went, Ivan laid a trap for them. On learning this, the Emperor feared lest something bad should happen to them, and riding before the army said only: 'Let him who is a soldier follow me!' and rushed forward. On seeing this, Ivan's scouts ran terrified towards Ivan’s camp filled it with confusion and disturbance, crying only: 'Run for your lives, the Tsar!’ Since everyone, including Ivan, were fleeing in disorder, the men Diogenes took courage and began to pursue them. They killed many and captured 200 heavily armed soldiers, their horses and Ivan's baggage, as well as his nephew. Having done this, the Emperor returned to Voden, arranged everything there and set out for Constantinople on January 9, indiction 15, 6526 /1018/.

Ivan availed himself of the respite given him and went to besiege Dyrrachium with barbarian haughtiness and superciliousness. When a battle eared in the course of the siege, he fell dead without any one being able to understand who had struck him. He had ruled over the Bulgarians for 2 years and 5 months. As soon as the Emperor was informed of his death by the patrician Nikita Pigonites, strategus of Dyrrachium, he departed immediately. On Adrianople, he was met by the brother and son of the famous Krakra, who brought him the good news that they were surrendering to him the well-known fortress of Pernik and 35 other fortresses. The Emperor gave them high dignities and, after making Krakra a patrician, he went to Mosynopolis. En¬voys from Pelagonia, Morovizd2 and Lipenium3 came there and surrendered to the Emperor. Setting out from there, the Emperor went to Seres, where Krakra arrived together with the commanders of the 35 fortresses that had surrendered; he was well received. Dragomuzh, who surrendered Stroumica was created a patrician, also went over to the Emperor. He brought with him the patrician Ioannes the Chaldias, who was then released from long years imprisoment (because he had been captured by Samuil and had spent 22 years in gaol). Immediately after this the Emperor approached Stroumitsa and there came to him David the Archbishop of Bulgaria, with a letter from Maria, Ivan's wife, promising to renounce Bulgaria if her wishes were fulfilled. To him there came also Bogdan, the toparchos of the fortresses in the interior and he was also made a patrician because for a long time he had favoured the Emperor and had murdered his father-in-law.
From there /the Emperor/ set out for Skopje. Stationing the patrician David Arianites in the town as a strategus with full powers he moved back through the fortresses of Stip and Prosek, greeted and honoured with prayers and hymns. But he immediately turned right and went to Ohrid where he set up camp. The entire population welcomed him with battle songs, greetings and praises. The town of Ohrid is situated on a high hill, near a very large lake, from which the Drin river rises and flows to the north, subsequently turning west and flowing into the Ionian Sea near the fortress of Eilisos. Ohrid was the principal town of all Bulgaria; there the palaces of the tsars of Bulgaria were erected and there their riches were kept. Having opened /the treasury/, the Emperor found a lot of money, crowns with pearls, garments embroidered with gold and 100 centenaria of gold pieces; all this he spent on pay for his troops. And so, leaving the patrician Eustathius Daphnomelus as governor of the town and providing him with a reliable guard, he returned to his camp. /There/ he received the wife of Ivan Vladislav whom they brought to him with her three sons and six daughters. She also brought with her an illegitimate son of Samuil, and two daughters and five sons of Samuil's son Radomir, one of whom Ivan had maimed by gouging out his eyes, when he had murdered Samuil's son Radomir together with his wife and his son-in-law Vladimir. Maria had three other sons by Ivan, but they had succeeded in escaping to Mount Timor, the highest of the Keraunian Mountains. The Emperor received her kindly and gave instructions for her to be guarded benevolently together with the others. Other Bulgarian nobles, each one with his detachment, also came to the Emperor: Nestoritsa, Zaritsa and the young Dragomir. They were favourably received and were accorded royal honours. Then even Vladislav's sons - Prusian and his two brothers - who had fled to Timor, as we have related earlier, tormented by the prolonged siege (because the soldiers stationed by the Emperor were guarding the ways out of the mountain), informed the Emperor that they wanted guarantees, and promised to surrender. The Emperor gave them a kind reply, and setting out from Ohrid went to the lake called Prespa and crossing the mountain between, erected a castle on its peak which he named Basilida, and another by the said lake. From Prespa he moved to the so-called Devol where, on a raised platform, he received the brothers of Prusian. He reassured them with benevolent and humane words and he created Prusian magister and the others patricians. Ivats, who was deprived of sight, was also brought there. I should, however, relate the manner in which he was blinded because this narrative contains something pleasant and marvellous.
After Ivan Vladislav's death, when his wife Maria and her sons surrendered and the other nobles from Bulgaria submitted, this Ivats fled to an impassible mountain called Vrohot where he had fine palaces called Pronishta, gardens and suitable places for pleasure.

He did not want to submit to God's will but gradually gathering an army, began to rouse the surrounding area to revolt contemplating an uprising and dreaming of seizing power in Bulgaria, this fact greatly troubled the Emperor. He therefore abandoned the direct road turned south and reached the said Devol in order either to compel the rebel to surrender unconditionally or to annihilate him by war. The Emperor settled down with pleasure in the said place and sent a letter to Ivats in order to bring him to his senses so that he would not oppose him on his own when all Bulgaria had been conquered, nor imagine impossible things, but would understand that what he had begun would bring no benefit. Ivats received the letter and replied with another, playing for time and quibbling, giving all kinds of arguments so that the Emperor was compelled to stay in this place for fifty-five days fooled by these promises. The governor of Ohrid, Eustathius Dephnomelus, learned that the Emperor intended to destroy Ivats. And so he choose a suitable moment and, by coming to an arrangement with two of his most loyal servants, to whom he confided his intentions, he got down to bussiness. Ivats used to celebrate the holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin with the whole people and on this day he used to invite to a banquet not only the nearest neighbours but also many others from far away. And so Eustathius went self-invited to the feast and, meeting the guards at the entrance, ordered them to announce who he was and that he had come to make merry with the nobleman. When he was told, Ivats wondered that a person hostile to him would come of his own accord and give himself up into the enemy's hands. Nevertheless, he gave instructions for him to be ushered in, and when he came, he received him most cordially and embraced him. As soon as the morning prayer was over and all those assembled had gone to their places, Eustathius encroached Ivats and asked him to step aside for a while because he wanted to talk to him alone about something very important and to his advantage. Ivats, not suspecting the cunning and deceit, but supposing that Eustathius really wanted to join his faction in the uprising, ordered his servants to leave them alone for a while. He took his arm and led him to a garden full of trees in which there was a spot where no voice could be heard because of the thick wood. Entering it, Eustathius caught Ivats, pushed him quickly to the ground and pressing his knee on his chest - because he was strong in the arms - began to strangle him, shouting to his two servants to come to his help. They, according to the arrangement, were standing and watching what was going on. On hearing their master's voice, they immediately dashed up, caught Ivats tightly and gagged his mouth with his shirt lest by his cries he should incite the multitude against them and their work be left unfinished. Then they blinded him and threw him out of the garden into the courtyard. They rushed to the upper bar of a high building and, taking out their swords, waited for those wishing to attack them. When the news of what had happened became known, a vast crowd gathered. Some held swords in their hands, others had spears, a third group had arrows, a fourth held stones, others - clubs, some fire-brands, other inflammable substances and all were running and shouting: 'Slaughter the assassins and impostors, burn them, cut them into pieces, and bury them under stones! Let none of the wicked be spared!' Seeing the assembled crowd an losing hope of rescue, Eustathius nevertheless called to his men to nr courageous and not to lose heart, not to let themselves fall into the power of those who wanted their destruction, /because from them they could not expect salvation but only a miserable and painful death/. He then appeared before the throng from a window, made a sign with his hand to the crowd to be silent and began thus: 'Assembled men, there is no hostility whatever in me against you nobleman and you will admit it, because you know well that he is a Bulgarian and I a Byzantine, and not one of those living in Thrace and Macedonia1 but from Asia Minor, which is very far away from us, as the well informed know. The more perspicacious of you will understand that I myself did not undertake such a venture thoughtlessly and recklessly, but that some necessity compelled me. I would not have rushed so insanely into obvious danger and risked my life had not some other cause compelled me to act so. And so, know that this thing was done at the order of the Emperor, whom I obediently served as a tool. And now, if you want to kill me, here I am in your hands. I will not die, however, submissively and easily, nor will I lay down my arms and surrender to you, as you wish it to happen, but I shall fight for my life and together with my men shall repulse the attackers to the end. If we should die - because those who are surrounded by a more numerous enemy must come to grief - we shall consider death happy and blessed since there is one who will call to account and seek revenge for our blood and it is precisely he whom you wanted to resist as long as possible.' Hearing these words and seized with fear of the Emperor, those assembled there began little by little to sneak away and to disperse in different directions. The older and more reasonable obeyed, praising the Emperor. Eustathius in complete security took Ivats and brought him to the Emperor. He received /Eustathius/ and for his bravery immediately appointed him strategus of Dyrrachium and presented him with all movable property of Ivats. The letter was thrown into prison.
At that time Nikolitsa, who had been often captured and as many times freed, was also hiding in some mountains. When troops were sent against him and some of his men surrendered of their own accord and others were captured, he came down one night as a fugitive to the camp /of the Emperor/ and, knocking on the door, announced who he was and that he was voluntarily sur¬rendering to the Emperor. The Emperor did not want even to see him and sent him to Thessalonica and ordered him to be imprisoned. He himself, after arranging things in arranging things in Dyrrachium, Colonia and Drinopolis, in the way he con-sidered best, and leaving garrisons and strategi in the themes, allowed the Byzantines who were taken prisoner to remain in the country if they wished to do so. Others he ordered to follow him. So he proceeded to Castoria. There to him were brought Samuil's two daughters, who as soon as they saw Maria, Ivan's wife, standing next to the Emperor, flew at her as if to kill her. The Emperor pacified their rage by promising to confer dignities and great riches on them, while he conferred the title of zoste on Maria and sent her to Constan¬tinople together with her sons. Through Xiphias the Emperor levelled to the ground all fortresses in Servia and Sosk. And he went to the fortress of Stag, where he received the governor of Belgrade Elemag and his co-governors in slaves' clothes. Departing from there he set out for Athens. Passing by Zeitulion, it was with amazement that he saw the bones of the Bulgarians who had fallen when magister Nicephorus Uranus had vanquished Samuil. He marvelled also at the wall built by Rupen at Thermopylae to ward off the Bulgarians, called even now Skelos. When he arrived in Athens, he held a service of thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary for the victory and adorned the shrine with Tiany rich gifts. He then returned to Constantinople. He entered in triumph through the great door of the Golden Gates wearing a gold crown with a crest on top. He was preceded by Maria, the wife of Vladislav, Samuil's daughters and the other Bulgarians. This occurred in indiction 2, 6527 /1018/. So with the trophies of victory he entered the Great Church, where he offered hymns of thanksgiving to God, and then returned to the palace. Patriarch Sergius besought him much to abolish the allelengyon1 as he was returning as victor, rut could not persuade him. Sergius, who for twenty years had headed God's papacy, presented himself to God in the month of July, indiction 2, 6527. Eustathius, first of the presbyters in the palace shrine, was elected Patriarch.

Source:
Georgii Cedreni compendium, op. cit, pp. 457-464, 464-476; cf, ГИБИ, VI, pp. 283 -296; the original is in Greek