Location: 20 km South-west of Shumen, Shumen Province Map
Capital of the First Bulgarian Empire: 893- 972 AD
Preslav is a former medieval capital situated 20 km South- West
of Shumen in the Shumen Province in Bulgaria. It served as the
capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom between 893 AD and 972
AD. Area of a current Preslav Archaeological Site was originally
found in the late 8th or early 9th century as a small village.
Its name is Slavic in origin hinting that it was a Slavic rather
than Bulgarian village. During rule of khans (Bulgarian rulers)
Krum and Omurtag it began to grow in size due to close proximity
to a Bulgarian cpital of Pliska.
Originally Preslav was predominantly a pagan city dominated by
temples and shrines dedicated to numerous Slavic and Bulgarian
gods. With the conversion of the Bulgarians to Eastern Orthodox
Christianity in 864 under the influence of the nearby Byzantine
Empire, first Chrisitian churches appeared.
Village
Preslav grew in size and even became the seat of Chargobilya or
Ichurgy- boil, a high ranking civil official. It was turned into
a city of Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav was established in
893- 972 AD during the First Bulgarian Kingdom during reign of
Prince Boris I. King Boris I met a great deal of resistance
among the pagan nobility. They began an open rebellion under
leadership of Prince Vladimir in 892 AD. Rebels quickly took the
capital of the Bulgarian Kingdom of Pliska. King Boris had to
flee to nearby Preslav that had an established Christian
population and that didn't really support the rebellion.
Preslav became a center of military camp with a fortified palace
and military barracks for the royal garrison. King Boris
remained here and used the city as a base for military
operations against the rebels. Just one year later in 893 AD
Prince Vladimir was dethroned. In 893 after the Preslav Church
People's Assembly the city that became known as the Council of
Preslav, Preslav was declared officially as the capital.
Additionally King Boris appointed Simeon the Great as his
legitimate successor.
In 970 AD Kievan Prince Svetoslav
I, prompted by the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes to
proclaim a war against Bulgarian Kingdom. Russian- Ukrainian
prince led his Slavic/ Viking army against Preslav and promptly
took it. Just a year later Byzantine army turned against
Svetoslav and re- captured Preslav again. Byzantines renamed it
into Yoanopol. That name remained until the 12th century. After
the resumption of the Bulgarian state after the rebellion of
Ivan Asen I and Theodore, Peter (1185- 87), Preslav again became
a Bulgarian Fortress. It subsequently returned its original
historic name.
During the Ottoman period Preslav remain
inhabited, but it was a small village and most of original city
fell in desrepair. Preslav diocese became independent from the
Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1871. A year later on August
20, 1872 Archimandrite Simeon was ordained as a bishop of the
Diocese Preslav.
Preslav became an important cultural
center of the Medieval Bulgaria. Preslav Literary School in
particular became famous for its authors and literal gems. Some
of the prominent medieval writers and scientist that worked here
include Naum Ohridski, Konstantin of Preslav, John Exarch,
Presbyter Kozma, Todor Doktsov and many others.
Geography
The town is located in Shoumen
district, 20 km from Shoumen, it is the third largest in the
district after Shoumen and Novi Pazar and is the administrative
center of Veliki Preslav municipality. The area of Preslav is 5
square kilometers.
History
Antiquity
A report on the
study of prehistoric settlements in Northeastern Bulgaria from 1926
shows that since the beginning of the twentieth century there is a
well-known settlement mound, which existed during the Neolithic,
Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. It is called "The Dead" and has a
diameter of 150 m and a height of 5 m, located 0.5 km west of the
city. Archaeological excavations have revealed a second settlement
mound in the land of Veliki Preslav, which dates from the Neolithic
and Chalcolithic. It is located in the Gebeklisse area 2 km south of
the city, 150 m from the river Golyama Kamchia and has a diameter of
70 m and a height of 5.5 m.
Early Middle Ages
Remains of a
three-nave church from the first half of the 5th century have been
found in the Deli Dushka area, outside the walls of the later
medieval town.
The town emerged in the second half of the
ninth century during the reign of Prince Boris I (852 - 889) as a
military camp with a fortified palace and garrison, located 30 km
from the capital of the First Bulgarian State Pliska. In 893, after
the Preslav Church-People's Assembly, the city was declared the
capital of Bulgaria, becoming the seat of the first Bulgarian
literary school. The Preslav Literary School developed as an
important literary and cultural center in Bulgaria and in the Slavic
world, where prominent medieval writers and scholars Naum Ohridski,
Konstantin Preslavski, John the Exarch, Presbyter Kozma,
Chernorizets Hrabar, Tudor Doksov and others served.
The
apogee of culture in the town of Preslav was attested in the period
893–972. The town became one of the most beautiful and majestic
towns in Southeast Europe, from which significant monuments of the
Pliskov-Preslav culture have been preserved. The outer city was
surrounded by white stone walls. The constructions of the gates,
towers and walls are similar to those in Pliska. The inner city was
also surrounded by a wall where the royal palace complex is located:
majestic stone palaces such as the Grand Palace and the Throne
Palace with columns, and the Round Church and others richly
decorated with mosaics, marble and ceramic icons.
Capture of
the city in 971
At the end of the 60s of the X century the Kiev
prince Svetoslav I, instigated by the Byzantine emperor John I
Tsimiski, set out on a campaign to Bulgaria and managed to conquer
the northeastern part of the country, including the large cities of
Drustar (now Silistra) and Preslav (971 ). He continued his march to
the south and attacked the Byzantines, who in the ensuing war
entered Eastern Bulgaria initially as liberators and drove out the
Russians. However, Emperor John Tsimiski decided to take advantage
of the situation and occupied the eastern Bulgarian lands, including
Drustar and Preslav, capturing the Bulgarian Tsar Boris II and
seizing the Preslav treasury. In honor of his victory, Emperor John
named the city after himself, giving it the Byzantine name
Ioanopolis. The city was liberated by King Samuel in 976 and
remained in Bulgarian hands until 1001, when it again came under
Byzantine rule. In 1053 Preslav was conquered and plundered by the
Pechenegs.
After the restoration of the Bulgarian state after
the uprising of Ivan Assen I and Theodore-Peter (1185 - 1187)
Preslav again became a Bulgarian fortress. In the extensive history
of the contemporary of the uprising, Nikita Honiat reports about
Preslav that it is an old town and the whole is made of baked
bricks. Among the archeological finds from this period are the
ceramic icon of St. Theodore Stratilat, the Preslav Golden Treasure
and the ceramic iconostasis from the Palace Monastery, a unique
collection of lead seals, a valuable collection of epigraphic
monuments, a chess piece (pawn).
Ottoman ruling
Preslav,
under the name Eski Istanbuloluk, is mentioned in the work of the
Turkish chronicler Mehmed Neshri A book about the description of the
world as one of the fortresses of the Bulgarian king Ivan Shishman.
The town was registered in the Ottoman Tahrir from 1516, in the
register of Djelepkeshans in the Shumen kaza from 1573, in a report
from 1595 of the Dubrovnik merchant Pavel Djordjic, and also in a
list of jizya inns from 1620/1621. later tax status of the
settlement is indicated by the tax reliefs in two documents from
1622 and 1624, and in his report from 1640 the Catholic bishop Petar
Bogdan called the town Prislavan and indicated that about 6000
people lived in it. By 1665 the Christian population of the town
decreased significantly - the number of registered households was
only 53.
In a diocesan list (notice) from the second half of
the 15th century, Tarnovo is listed as a metropolitan center with
three dioceses (Cherven, Lovech and Preslav) - former metropolitan
departments from the 13th-14th centuries. The Preslav diocese became
independent from the Constantinople Patriarchate. later, on August
20, 1872, Archimandrite Simeon was ordained Metropolitan of the
Preslav Diocese.