Интелектът на българите през погледа на византийците
The intellect of the Bulgarians through the eyes of the Byzantines

Summary/Abstract: The Byzantine idea about the intellect of medieval Bulgarians has several main characteristics. In the first place it is built upon the views on the barbarian world, which the Byzantine authors adopted from ancient historiography and further developed in their works. These notions are marked mostly by the feeling of intellectual superiority over all “non-Romans”. The traditional belief that the Bulgarians are one of the many barbarian peoples, who dared to take away lands from Byzantium, is the main reason for many negative characteristics. The picture changes significantly after the Christianization of Bulgarians. In the works of some Byzantine authors emerges a specific dichotomy between the traditional “image of the enemy” and the image of the newly Christianized people. In the 14th the Byzantine idea of the Bulgarians underwent a certain evolution, mainly due to the intense spiritual and cultural contacts. The appearance of the Ottomans also proved to be important. Some of the Byzantine intellectuals had to re-evaluate some of their critical views on the intellect of the Bulgarians. During that period the Byzantines adopted the idea that the Bulgarians had to be good disciples and admirers of the Orthodox culture after all.

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