Croatian–Bulgarian wars
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| Croatian-Bulgarian Wars | |||||||||
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 Campaigns of Simeon I against Serbia and Croatia (893–927) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Samuil | |||||||||
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The Croatian–Bulgarian Wars were a series of conflicts that erupted three times during the 9th and 10th centuries between the medieval realms of Croatia and Bulgaria. During these wars, Croatia formed alliances with East Francia and Byzantium against the Bulgarian Empire.
First war
During the middle of the 9th century,
Republic of Serbia
).
Second war
A very long and arduous war was prosecuted between the Bulgarian
Michael of Zachlumia, who was forced to the islands as the Serbian rulers took direct control of most of his local lands for themselves, Simeon overran Serbia in 924, destroyed it by tricking its nobility, and made it directly part of the Bulgarian Empire. Serbia's ruler Zaharija Pribislavljević fled and found exile at the Croatian court, while after the realm's destruction massive waves of Serb refugees fled and found refuge in Tomislav's Croatia. Trying to gain Croatian entry into this coalition, Romanos I ordered the province of Dalmatia in ca. 925 to pay taxes not to Byzantium but rather to the Croatian state;[3] the Dalmatian territories, including most cities and the northern islands, were henceforth administered by King Tomislav and were to remain under Croatia. Tsar Simeon sent Duke Alogobotur
to drive the Serb refugees further into Croatia, causing outright war in ca. 926.
The climax of the war was the
renewed Serbian realm
, thus terminating Croatia's short-lived Bulgarian neighbor at the east.
Third war
In the second half of the 10th century, the Croatian realm was ruled by
Samuil for help. Answering their call, Samuil went on a rampage in 998 and razed the Dalmatian cities of Trogir and Split, but he was stopped at the siege of Zadar. The Bulgarian forces then returned home,[7] using the Bosnian route. Territory taken by Samuil during the war was given to Krešimir III and Gojslav, who, with further Bulgarian support, won the Croatian civil war and took over the realm in the year 1000. Svetoslav Suronja, a Byzantine and Venetian ally, was sent to exile in Venice, but after a change in government there he was exiled to Hungary. Following the death of Ivan Vladislav
in 1018, Bulgaria fell under Byzantine rule, and Krešimir III and Gojslav, the two Croatian kings, became Byzantine vassals.
Footnotes
- ^ De Administrando Imperio
- ^ К. Грот, Известия о сербах и хорватах, стр. 125—127
- ^ "Tempore Joannis pape sanctissimo consulatu peragente in provincia Croatorum et Dalmatiarum finibus Tamisclao rege et Michael in suis finibus presidente duce" [citation needed]
- ^ Bakalov, Istorija na Bǎlgarija, "Simeon I Veliki".
- ^ De Administrando Imperio, 948, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos
- ^ Recipiebant enim regie dignitatis insignia ab imperatoribus Constantinopolitanis et dicebantur eorum eparchi siue patritii
- ^ Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja