Социалната структура на населението във Филипопол (Пловдив) IV-XIV в.
Social Structure of the Population of the Town of Philipopol (Plovdiv) in the IV-XIV century

Summary/Abstract: The ten centuries of development of Philipopol (Plovdiv) in the Middle Ages are a long period of time, during which almost all popular strata and categories of population that characterize the development of the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian medieval state get included in the social stratification of the citizens. The different social groups are presented in legislative and narrative sources, dealing with the towns in the whole empire as well as in those, dealing with concrete information about the town of Philopopol (Plovdiv) itself. The whole medieval epoch of the development of the town has been separated conditionally into the following periods: IV-VI century - early Byzantine society with the classes and strata that characterize the slave system, with rudiments of the new colonial relations that gradually are being established; VII-X century - in global aspect the slaves as a social category more and more decrease their numerical strength and productivity while in the high classes emerges a new type of Byzantine aristocracy with a new origin; XI-XII century . it is characterized with feudalization of the Byzantine social structure as a whole and particularly in the town as well as with the appearance of large feudal estates owned by laic and clerical people; XIII-XIV century . the structures retain their character while the social differentiation increases and new strata among the urban population is formed. All people concretely mentioned in the sources, either personally or unanimously, who belong to one social category or another, are pointed.

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