462 Macedonia
became the subject of the classic tragedy by William
Shakespeare.
Further reading:Archibald A. M. Duncan, Scotland,
the Making of the Kingdom(Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd,
1975); Peter Berresford Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scot-
land, 1040–57 AD(London: F. Muller, 1980); William E.
Kapelle, The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region
and Its Transformation, 1000–1135(Chapel Hill: Univer-
sity of North Carolina Press, 1979).
Macedonia This was a province, now a country, on the
Balkan Peninsula. After the BARBARIANincursions in the
early fifth century, the Byzantines retook control and
Macedonia became a province with Greek as its spoken
language. In the second half of the sixth century, SLAV
tribes entered, augmenting and changing the area’s popu-
lation and ethnicity. The northern parts essentially lost a
Greek character, but THESSALONIKI, the provincial capital,
and the south remained Greek.
In the ninth century, Bulgarians settled in the south-
ern Balkans and created an empire, conquering and
annexing the Slavic half of Macedonia. In the ninth cen-
tury, CYRIL AND METHODIOSbegan to convert the Slav
population to Orthodox Christianity with an ecclesiastical
center at OCHRIDAin the northwest. In 971, after a defeat
of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian prince SAMUELproclaimed him-
self czar of the Bulgarians at Ochrida, making it the center
of his new Bulgarian state. After his first destructive cam-
paign in 1004, the Byzantine emperor, BASILII, returned
in 1014 to destroy that state and annex it as a province of
the empire. The new Byzantine government promoted the
immigration of Greeks and other groups back to Macedo-
nia to merge with the local population.
In 1204, after the destruction of the BYZANTINE
EMPIREby crusaders, the province was divided. Thessa-
loniki was taken by the crusaders, who established the
Latin kingdom of Salonica there; the rest of the province
was taken over by Bulgarians. After an era of domination
by the despots of EPIROS, Thessaloniki was reconquered
by the revived Byzantine Empire of Nicaea in 1246. The
northern part of the region was contested by Bulgarians
and Serbs. SERBIAconquered it in 1345 and established a
new capital at Skopje, but its dominance was short lived.
The OTTOMANTURKS subsequently invaded and con-
quered much of the Balkans; by 1371, only Thessaloniki
remained part of a much-shrunken Byzantine Empire. In
1423 the Turks overwhelmed the remaining areas and
absorbed Macedonia into the Ottoman Empire.
See alsoBULGARIA AND THEBULGARIANS.
Further reading: Blaga Aleksova, Loca Sanctorum
Macedoniae: The Cult of Martyrs in Macedonia from the
Fourth to the Ninth Centuries, trans. Ana Lazarevska
(Prilep: Institute for Old Slav Culture, Skopje, 1997);
Elizabeth Barker, Macedonia and Its Place in Balkan Power
Politics (1950; reprint, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Press, 1980); Djurdje Boskovic, Medieval Art in Serbia and
Macedonia: Church Architecture and Sculpture(Belgrade:
Jugoslovenska Knjiga, 1936?); Stoyan Pribichevich,
Macedonia, Its People and History(University Park: Penn-
sylvania State University Press, 1982); M. B. Sakellariou,
ed., Macedonia, 4000 Years of Greek History and Civiliza-
tion (1983; reprint, Athens: Ekdotike Athenon, 1995):
Apostolos E. Vakalopoulos, History of Macedonia,
1354–1833,trans. Peter Megann (Thessaloniki: Institute
for Balkan Studies, 1973).Macedonian dynasty The Macedonian dynasty (867–
1056) ruled during the most successful period of
the medieval BYZANTINE Empire. Its founder, BASIL I
(812–886), was a peasant born in Macedonia of
Armenian descent. He owed his fortune to Emperor
Michael III (r. 838–867). Basil amazingly so charmed
him by his ability to train HORSESthat Michael made him
coemperor. Having probably assassinated his benefactor,
he pursued throughout his reign aggressive politics.
His successors, Leo VI (r. 886–912), CONSTANTINEVII
PORPHYROGENITOS, and Romanos II (r. 959–963), remained
in the imperial palace, but their generals retook much of
the East from the Muslims. Leo VI proclaimed the
last great Byzantine legislative code, the Basilica, and
his intellectual son, Constantine, was responsible for
encyclopedic works on ceremonies and the imperial
administration.
During the minorities of the emperors Constantine
VII, then BASILII (r. 976–1025) and his brother, Constan-
tine VIII (r. 1025–28), dynastic legitimacy was so
accepted that the coemperors, imposed by regents,
such as the successful generals Romanos I Lekapenos
(r. 920–944), Nikephoros Phokas (r. 963–969), and John
I Tzimiskes (r. 969–976), did not try to seize the throne
for themselves. Nikephoros Phokas recaptured CRETE.As
an emperor appointed by a regency council, he crossed
the Taurus Mountains, recovered Cilicia in southeastern
ANATOLIAand northern SYRIA, and reestablished the patri-
archate at ANTIOCH. John Tzimiskes drove off a KIEVAN
RUS ́attack in the Balkans and further consolidated the
Byzantine frontiers in eastern Anatolia. He led his army
into PALESTINE, up to JERUSALEM. Basil II, overcame the
rebellious aristocracy of Anatolia, and conducted a suc-
cessful elimination of the Bulgarian state. In 1018 he
began the work of reestablishing a frontier on the
Danube, which required a quarter of a century of almost
uninterrupted warfare. It earned him the title of Bulgar
Slayer. Basil II’s nieces married men who became emper-
ors, Michael IV (r. 1034–41) and Constantine Monoma-
chos (r. 1042–55). On the death of Basil’s niece,
Theodora (r. 1056–57), who also reigned, a competition
for the Crown began; it ended with the accession of
ALEXIOSI KOMNENOSin 1081 (r. 1081–1118).
See alsoPSELLOS, MICHAEL.