Boris II of Bulgaria
Bulgarian emperor whose reign ended in Byzantine captivity.
Boris II (c. 931 – 977) ruled as tsar of Bulgaria from 969 until his death in 977, though the Byzantines held him captive from 971 onward. He was the oldest living son of Tsar Peter I and Maria Lekapena, who was a granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Romanos I.
Quick Facts
- Reign
- 969–971
- Predecessor
- Peter I
- Successor
- Roman
- Issue
- Maria; Two daughters
- Royal house
- Krum's dynasty
- Mother
- Irene Lekapene
- Born
- c. 931
- Died
- 977
Facts from the source article.
Life
Boris II was the oldest son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria and his wife Maria, who later took the name Eirene. Maria was a granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lekapenos. Boris had already been born by the year 931, when he traveled to Constantinople with his mother. After that, his life goes unrecorded until 968, when he returned to Constantinople. This time he went to negotiate a peace agreement with Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas and also seems to have acted as an honorary hostage. The deal was meant to stop the fighting between Bulgaria and Byzantium so they could unite against Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev, whom the Byzantine emperor had originally set against the Bulgarians. In 969, another Kievan invasion defeated the Bulgarians once more. Peter I then gave up his throne and became a monk. Under unclear circumstances, Boris II was allowed to go back to Bulgaria and take his father’s place as ruler. He could not stop the Kievan advance and was forced to accept Sviatoslav as an ally and master, turning against the Byzantines. A Kievan attack into Byzantine Thrace was crushed at the Battle of Arkadioupolis in 970. The new Byzantine emperor, John I Tzimiskes, then moved north. Sviatoslav failed to hold the Balkan passes, letting the Byzantines enter Moesia and besiege the Bulgarian capital, Preslav. Bulgarians and Rus fought together to defend the city, but the Byzantines set fire to the wooden buildings and roofs with flaming missiles and captured the fortress. Boris II was taken prisoner by John I Tzimiskes, who continued chasing the Kievan army and trapped Sviatoslav at Drăstăr, while claiming to be Boris’s ally and protector. After Sviatoslav made peace and left for Kiev, the Byzantine emperor returned to Constantinople in triumph. Far from freeing Bulgaria as he had promised, John brought Boris II and his family along with the entire Bulgarian imperial treasury in 971. In a public ceremony in Constantinople, Boris was formally stripped of his imperial symbols and given the Byzantine court rank of magistros as a substitute. The Bulgarian lands in Thrace and lower Moesia were absorbed into the Byzantine Empire and put under Byzantine governors.
Family
Boris II married an unknown woman, possibly a Byzantine noblewoman, and had several children. The Byzantine historian Kedrenus refers to Emperor John I Tzimisces finding "cum coniuge et liberis Borises Bulgarorum rex" among the Russian prisoners when he invaded Bulgaria.
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