Peter I (king of Bulgaria)

The new king inherited a country waging war along with the Hungarians , Croats and Byzantines . Peter made ( 927 ) "eternal peace" with Byzantium and married the granddaughter of Emperor Roman I Lakapin - Mary , who took the middle name Irina. By a peace treaty, Byzantium recognized the imperial dignity of the Bulgarian ruler, the independence of the Bulgarian church and agreed to an annual tribute, giving way to the lands conquered by Simeon I. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

The politics of peace with Byzantium caused discontent among the Bulgarians and in 928, under the leadership of Ivan (the younger brother of Peter), an uprising began, which was soon crushed. Ivan was captured and sent into exile in Byzantium. Two years later, in 930, Peter's elder brother, Mikhail, escaped from the monastery and raised another rebellion.

In 933 , after the escape from the Bulgarian captivity of the Serbian ruler Chaslov Klonimirovich , a new uprising began, as a result of which Serbia gained independence ^[5] .

Relations between Bulgaria and Byzantium escalated after the death of Queen Irene in the mid-960s. In 966, the emperor refused to pay an annual tribute to the Bulgarians. In 967 or 968, Nikifor Foka sends an embassy to Svyatoslav led by Kalokir . He was given the gold and the task of bringing the Rus to conquer Bulgaria. Kalokir agreed with Svyatoslav on an anti-Bulgarian alliance. In 967 or 968, Svyatoslav invaded Bulgaria and settled in Pereyaslavts .

The Pechenegs attack on Kiev belongs to 968–969. It is believed that this raid occurred at the instigation of Byzantium, however, there is a version that the nomads were sent by the Bulgarians. Svyatoslav returned to defend the capital, but, having beaten off the Pechenegs, he again came to Bulgaria.

Returning to the Danube, Svyatoslav faced a Bulgarian armed uprising. The Russian garrison, the prince, was expelled from Pereyaslavts, however, at the end of 969 - the beginning of 970, the city was again taken by storm. After the second defeat, Tsar Peter suffered a blow and abdicated in favor of the son of Boris II , leaving for the monastery, where he died on January 30, 970.

During the reign of Peter, Constantinople recognized the independence of the Bulgarian patriarchate . The king in every possible way supports the Bulgarian Church, endowing churches and monasteries with lands and gold. Not everyone supported this zeal of the king, even among the priests appeared, those who believed that there was an excessive enrichment of the church. The luxury of the official church and the severity of taxes led to the spread of heresy, whose supporters called for the rejection of worldly goods. Subsequently, this movement received the name in Bulgaria - bogomiliya .

Tsar Peter met with the great Bulgarian saint John of Rylsk . The meeting took place from afar, that is, they saw each other from a distance. Tsar Peter sent gifts to John of Rylsky, consisting of fruits and gold. John returned the gold, responding with the words: “what gold is there to one who limits himself even in bread and water ...”, but he accepted the fruit. St. John wrote a letter to Tsar Peter with spiritual instructions.

Canonization

The holy noble king Peter was canonized by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and his memory is celebrated on January 30 according to the old style and February 12 according to the new style. Tsar Peter was known for his faith in God, meekness and humility, as well as for the fact that he supported the Church in every way during the years of his reign. This probably can explain the military failures of Tsar Peter, bearing in mind that war is alien to a man who is trying to live according to the commandments of Christ.

During his reign, he lost most of the Bulgarian territories, could not resist the Serbs and Magyars (Hungarians). The latter, without any particular interference from the Bulgarians, raided in 934 , 943 , 948 and 958 and forced Tsar Peter to sign peace treaties on their terms. At first he pledged to pay tribute to them, and then pledged to freely let them through for raids on Byzantium and not help the empire, although a peace treaty still existed with her.

Some historians tend to attribute such weakness to the exhaustion of the Bulgarians after the continuous wars of Tsar Simeon. It is unlikely that this assumption can be true in view of the fact that from 927 to 967 Tsar Peter practically did not wage heavy wars, as well as medieval historians describe that during his reign the Bulgarian kingdom abounded with all earthly goods.

Byzantine chroniclers say that on his deathbed, but not earlier, the holy king Peter received tonsure as a monk. Immediately on the throne of the Bulgarian rulers reigned his son Boris the second, whom he fought with the Kiev Rus. The recognition of the title of Tsar Peter was a precedent in the history of the Byzantine Empire. Until now, this title has not been given to anyone else, because the doctrine of the Ecumenical Church did not recognize anyone else to be called the Vasileus Tsar. That title was adopted centuries later by Ivan the Terrible after the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates.

• Chronicle , Konstantin Manasia
• Review of stories , John Skylitz
• The biography of the kings , The successor of Theophanes

• Church Calendar
• Blessed Peter, King of Bulgaria - A Brief Life
• Brothers to Tsar Peter and start talking, Plamen Pavlov
• History on the Parvoto Bulgarian Kingdom. From Slavicization on dzhavat to padaneto on the Parvoto kingdom , Vasil Zlatarski (Bulgarian)