Райна, българска княгиня
Raina, Princess of Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the mechanisms through which a character of fiction was connected to the political realities of the Bulgarian uprising of April 1876. The fiction character was that of Princess Raina, the legendary daughter of Peter I from A. Veltman’s short novel of the same name, popular with Bulgarians in the third quarter of the 19th century. The phenomenon referred to became a fact in the nation’s cultural life mostly through the drama “Princess Raina”, written by Dobri Voinikov in 1866. The abundant political resources of that phenomenon were used by the leaders of the April Uprising who entrusted a girl from the centre of the uprising, Panagyurishte, with the task of bearing the standard of the revolution. In the time of ferment prior to the uprising the girl was called Princess Raina. That was the name by which the standard-bearer, who survived the uprising, remained in history, suggesting in this way the ability of the Bulgarian leaders of 1876 to use the rich political resources of political myths that had found a firm place in mass consciousness for the needs of their ambitious revolutionary undertakings.

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