Uprising of Georgi Voyteh

The Uprising of Georgi Voyteh (

The main prerequisites for the uprising were the weakness of Byzantium after the invasions of the

After that success the rebels tried to expand the area under their control. Constantine Bodin headed north and reached Naissus (modern Niš). Because some Bulgarian towns with Byzantine garrisons did not surrender, they were burned down. Petrilo marched southwards and captured Ochrid (modern Ohrid) and Devol. However, near the town of Kastoria his large army was defeated by the Byzantines and some Bulgarian commanders who did not want to acknowledge Peter III as their ruler.^[6]

Another army was sent from Constantinople under Michael Saronites. Saronites seized Skoupoi and in December 1072 he defeated the army of Constantine Bodin at a place known as Taonios (in the southern parts of Kosovo Polje). Constantine Bodin and Georgi Voyteh were captured.^[7] The army which Prince Michael sent to relieve his son did not achieve anything because its commander, a Norman mercenary defected to the Byzantines. The rebellion was finally crushed in 1073 by doux Nikephoros Bryennios.^[8]

Sources

• ISBN 0-472-08149-7
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• Stephenson, Paul (2000). Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204. Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-521-77017-0
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• Златарски, В. История на българската държава през средните векове, том II: България под византийско владичество, Издателство „Наука и изкуство“, София 1972 (цитирано по електронното издание в Книги за Македония, 10.8.2008)
• Павлов, Пл. Бунтари и авантюристи в Средновековна България, Издателство „Абагар“, Велико Търново 2000,
  ISBN 954-427-423-5 (глава Георги Войтех от "рода на кавканите"
  в електронното издание LiterNet, 2005)
• Литаврин, Г. Болгария и Византия в XI-XII вв., Издательство Академии наук СССР, Москва 1960
• Dennis P. Hupchick, The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies, Springer, 2017,
  ISBN 3319562061
  .