132 Bulgaria and Bulgars
Further reading:Richard Nelson Frye, ed. and trans.,
The History of Bukhara: Translated from a Persian Abridg-
ment of the Arabic Original by Narshakhi (Cambridge,
Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1954); W. Berthold
and C. R. N. Frye, “Bukhara,” Encyclopedia of Islam,
1.1293–1296; Richard Nelson Frye, Bukha ̄ra ̄: The
Medieval Achievement(Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1965); Vadim Evgenevich Gippenreiter, Fabled
Cities of Central Asia: Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva(New
York: Abbeville Press, 1989); John Lawton and Francesco
Venturi, Samarkand and Bukhara(London: Tauris Parke
Books, 1991).
Bulgaria and Bulgars The Bulgars were originally
central Asian pastoralists, who migrated westward first
onto the steppe north of the Caspian Sea and moved
south. In 681, Bulgaria in the central Balkan Peninsula
was the first independent state to be recognized by the
Byzantines. The Bulgars, their capital at Pliska, ruled over
and united with a large indigenous population of SLAVS
and Greeks. By the 10th century Bulgars and Slavs were a
single people, called Bulgarians. They spoke a southern
Blavei language.
RESISTANCE TO BYZANTINE INFLUENCEBulgaria was often a marginal country on Byzantium’s
northern border, dependent on the Byzantine economy
and cultural influences. It was also an intermittent mili-
tary threat, especially under Khan KRUMand Czars SIMEON
I and SAMUEL. Byzantine cultural influence entered the
country when, in 864, Khan BORISI received baptism
from Byzantium. After an unsuccessful revolt by the Bul-
gar nobility defending PAGANISMagainst Byzantine Chris-
tianity, Boris tried to steer a middle course between
Eastern and Western Christianity. In 870 after failed
negotiations with Pope Nicholas I (r. 858–67) broke
down, he accepted Orthodox missionaries, who provided
a Slavic-speaking clergy and liturgical texts.
Resistance to Byzantine cultural and ecclesiastical
hegemony remained strong in Bulgaria. After the emperor
BASILII ended a series of campaigns in 1014 with a deci-
sive victory over the forces of Samuel of Bulgaria, the
Byzantines occupied the country from 1018 to 1185.
After a revolt in 1185, a new state arose, called the Sec-
ond Bulgarian Empire, with its capital at Tumovo. This
new state expanded into Thrace and, after the Battle of
Klokotnitsa in 1230, into western MACEDONIA. However,
a century later at Velbuzd in 1330 SERBIAdestroyed a Bul-
garian army. In 1373 Bulgaria became a vassal to the
OTTOMANS, and in 1393 the Ottomans under MURADI
conquered Bulgaria outright and occupied the region
until the 19th century.
Further reading:Robert Browning, Byzantium and
Bulgaria: A Comparative Study across the Early Medieval
Frontier(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975);
Alain Ducellier, “Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria,” in The
New Cambridge Medieval History,Vol. 5, c. 1198–c. 1300,
ed. David Abulafia (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1999), 779–795; Vasil Gjuzelev, Medieval Bulgaria:
Byzantine Empire, Black Sea, Venice, Genoa(Villach: Ver-
lag Baier, 1988); Oksana Minaeva, From Paganism to
Christianity: Formation of Medieval Bulgarian Art
(681–972)(New York: P. Lang, 1996); Charles A. Moser,
A History of Bulgarian Literature, 863–1844(The Hague:
Mouton, 1972); Jonathan Shepard, “Bulgaria the Other
Balkan Empire,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History,
Vol. 3, c. 900–c. 1024,ed. Timothy Reuter (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999) 567–585.bulls, imperial and papal These were official docu-
ments sealed with a lead seal or bull (bullain Latin) to
give them more prestige, public authority, and credibility.
Princes, the papacy, and towns used them as well. Even
private citizens sometimes adorned charters with lead
seals or bulls. The king of Germany and the king of SICILY
used a golden bull after the manner of the BYZANTINE
emperors in the most solemn documents, as the Emperor
CHARLESIV did in 1356 in the Golden Bull to regulate the
election of the Holy Roman Emperor. In the papal
chancery the bull designated a letter of the pope, less
solemn than a privilege and more than a brief. According
to the status of the addressee, a lead or gold bull was
sealed with red SILKlaces or simple hemp. The heads of
the apostles Peter and Paul, and the name of the reigning
pope were stamped.
See alsoARCHIVES AND ARCHIVAL INSTITUTIONS; PALE-
OGRAPHY.
Further reading:Reginald Lane Poole, Lectures on the
History of the Papal Chancery down to the Time of Innocent
III(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915); Jane
E. Sayers, ed., Original Papal Documents in England and
Wales from the Accession of Pope Innocent III to the Death of
Pope Benedict XI (1198–1304)(Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1999); P. N. R. Zutshi, ed., Original Papal Letters in
England, 1305–1415(Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana, 1990).Burchard of Worms, Bishop(ca. 965–1025) compiler
of important canon law collection
Born about 965 he was a member of the court of Emperor
OTTOIII. As bishop of Worms, Burchard reformed the
clergy, imposed his authority on the local lay nobility, and
founded a network of parishes to administer the sacra-
ments. His Decretum,from 1012, was a huge canonical
collection reflecting the government and pastoral efforts
of the church before the GREGORIAN Reform and the
increased study and appreciation of Roman secular law.
It condemned SIMONYand control by lay princes over
ecclesiastical institutions. It insisted on the authority of
the bishop. It was the most authoritative collection of