Battle of Bulgarophygon

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Bulgarophygon
partof=the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
date=Summer of 896
place=Babaeski, Thrace
result=Decisive Bulgarian victory
combatant1=Byzantine Empire
combatant2=Bulgarian Empire
commander1=Unknown
commander2=Simeon I of Bulgaria
strength1=Unknown
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=Almost the whole army
casualties2=UnknownThe battle of Bulgarophygon was fought in the summer of 896 near the town of Babaeski in modern Turkey, between the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire.

Origins of the conflict

In 894 the Byzantines moved the market of Bulgarian goods from Constantinople to Solun which meant that the Bulgarian merchants were supposed to pay higher taxes. Insulted, Simeon I declared war on Byzantium. In the first battle in 894 the Byzantine army was completely defeated. Then they bribed the Magyars to attack Bulgaria in the rear. The Magyars managed to defeat the Bulgarian army twice but in 896 were decisively defeated by Boris I, who was a monk at that time, in the battle of Southern Buh. This enabled Simeon I to concentrate his army against the Byzantines.

The battle

The two armies met near Bulgarophygon in the summer of 896. The Byzantines gathered an enormous army: they assembled even the troops that fought against the Arabs and guarded the Asian frontiers of their empire. This did not help them and the Bulgarians won a brilliant victory. A Byzantine historian wrote: "the Romans were decisively defeated all down the line and they all perished".

Aftermath

Arming Arab captives and sending them to fight with the Bulgarians as a desperate measure, Leo VI managed to repel the Bulgarians from Constantinople, which they had besieged. [Zlatarski, "Istorija na Pǎrvoto bǎlgarsko carstvo", p. 317.] The war ended with a peace treaty which formally lasted until around Leo VI's death in 912 and under which Byzantium was obliged to pay Bulgaria an annual tribute. [Runciman, "A history of the First Bulgarian Empire", p. 148.] Under the treaty, the Byzantines also ceded an area between the Black Sea and Strandža to the Bulgarian Empire. [Zlatarski, "Istorija na Pǎrvoto bǎlgarsko carstvo", pp. 318-321.] Meanwhile, Simeon had also imposed his authority over Serbia in return for recognizing Petar Gojniković as their ruler. [Fine, "The Early Medieval Balkans", p. 141.]

Footnotes

Sources

*Атанас Пейчев и колектив, 1300 години на стража, Военно издателство, София 1984.
*Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.