Samuel of Bulgaria
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Samuel was the Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and
Facial reconstruction based on his remains
The Byzantines seize the capital Preslav.
The Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes returns in triumph in Constantinople with the captured Boris II and icons from Preslav.
Bulgarians ambush and kill the governor of Thessalonica, duke Gregory Taronites.
Battle of Kleidion
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The Battle of Kleidion took place on 29 July 1014, between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire. It was the culmination of the nearly half-century struggle between the Byzantine Emperor Basil
Samuel of Bulgaria
…mainly to defend the Empire against the superior Byzantine armies. Samuel died of a heart attack on 6 October 1014, two months after the catastrophic battle of Kleidion. His successors failed to organize a resistance, and in 1018, four years after Samuel's death, the country capitulated, ending the five decades-long…
The Byzantines defeat the Bulgarians at Kleidion and Tsar Samuel becomes unconscious at the sight of his blinded army. Scene from the Manasses Chronicle.
South-eastern Europe c.1000. The Byzantine possessions and independent western Bulgaria are depicted. By that time, eastern Bulgaria was also in Bulgarian hands.