Поход Бугарског цара Cамуила на далмацију
A Campaign Against Dalmatia of the Bulgarian Emperor Samuel

Summary/Abstract: From south-Dalmatian sources, primarily Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, Chronicles of Dubrovnik and Kotor legend of St. Tripun, it is known that the emperor Samuel had attacked Dioclea, Dalmatian towns of Kotor, Ulcinj and Dubrovnik, and finally attacked Zadar, to return to Bulgaria through Bosnia and Rascia. According to the previous research this campaign was dated in 986, and later, in the latest research, more precisely in 998/999. Analyzing the chapter of the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, where the Hagiography of Diocleian ruler Vladimir has been preserved, it was concluded that this must had been undertaken couple of years before the death of emperor Samuel. Silence of Iohannes Diaconus, who in his Chronicle often wrote about Dalmatia, regarding Samuels campaign against Dalmatia and Zadar, presents clear sign that the campaign was undertaken after 1008, and the death of Iohanned Diaconus (who died in 1009). Another argument that Samuelís campaign was taken at the time when Dyrrachium was under the Byzantine rule and that was in 1005 according to Lupus Protospatarus, also points to the end of the first decade of the XI century as the time of the campaign. Political circumstances, which led to the campaign, were the following: the Venetians strengthened their positions in Dalmatia in 1000, and put on the throne the ruler of Croatia who was loyal to them. In the year of 1004/1005 the Venetian duke by the marital ties, secured the acknowledgement of his possessions in Dalmatia from Byzantium, which also considerably strengthened Byzantine position in the Adriatic. By the fall of Durrachium under the Byzantine rule in 1005, the Byzantines came in the direct contact with the princedom of Diocleia and thus made connection with their possessions in central Dalmatia. Thus, on the western borders of Samuelís state, there was a strong anti-bulgarian block formed by Venetians, Croatians, Diocleia under the direct control of Byzance. This forced Samuel to attack Diocleia, the towns of the thema of Dyrrachium, as well as Byzantine towns in central Dalmatia. Based on the data from the Hagiography of St Vladimir, preserved in the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, that ìafter some timeî Bulgarian emperor Samuel had died, the conclusion is that the campaign took place around 1009/1010.

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