Download PDF | Paul Stephenson - The legend of Basil the Bulgar-slayer -Cambridge University Press (2003).
189 Pages
The reign of Basil II (976-1025), the longest of any Byzantine emperor, has long been considered a "golden age," in which Basil's greatest achievement was the annexation of Bulgaria. This, we have been told, was achieved through a long and bloody war of attrition which won Basil the grisly epithet Voulgartoktonos, "the Bulgar-slayer." In this new study Paul Stephenson argues that neither of these beliefs is true. Instead, Basil fought far more sporadically in the Balkans and, like his predecessors, considered this area less prestigious than the East. Moreover, his reputation as "Bulgar-slayer" emerged only a century and a half later, the creation of a martial regime immersed in bellicose panegyric. Thereafter the "Bulgar-slayer" was periodically to play a galvanizing role for the Byzantines. Fading from view during the period of Ottoman rule, Basil returned to center stage as the Greeks struggled to establish a modern nation state. As Byzantium was embraced as the Greek past by scholars and politicians, the "Bulgarslayer" became an icon in the struggle for Macedonia (1904-8) and the Balkan Wars (1912-13).
PAUL S T E P H EN S 0 N was appointed to the newly endowed John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Professorship of Byzantine History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 2001, and was awarded concurrently a Research Associateship at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (Harvard University), Washington, DC. His first book Byzantium c Balkan frontier: a political study of the northern Balkans, yoo-1204 was published to critical acclaim by Cambridge University Press in 2000, and it has also appeared in Greek translation.
Preface
The Greeks have often been accused of dwelling on the past, to the detriment of both the present and the future. Indeed, one critical philhellenecoined the term progonoplexia, or "ancestoritis," to describe this apparent obsession. But using history, recreating the past to comprehend andshape the present and future, is neither inherently wrong, nor is it uniquelyGreek. Every generation must rewrite the past to give it meaning, and indoing so ask new questions of the evidence at hand. This was especiallytrue in the nineteenth century, an era of nation formation, when manynew materials were made available for study.
Students of medieval historynow rarely discover new sources, but constantly discover new questions toask of those they have, revealing new levels of meaning pertinent to bothpast and present societies. Most historians, and even some politicians, nowregret the "abuse" of the past for nationalist ends. This is especially true inGreece, where for more than twenty years critical historians have offered acounterbalance to nationalist rhetoric. But elsewhere, scholars continue toproduce "history" in the service of the nation state. We should condemnthis, especially when it leads to the manipulation and falsification of evidence, as it often does. But the fact remains that few educational systemsemphasize any aspect of history over the history of the nation. The Greekpassion for Byzantium, as a period of Greek cultural history, is and will remain of the greatest benefit to the vitality of Byzantine studies. Therefore, I offer this study to Greeks and philhellenes alike in all humility. In researching and writing this book I have incurred many debts of gratitude.
I am particularly grateful to my good friend Despina Christodoulou, who gave me a base in Athens for three summers, and took the opportunityto correct, encourage and facilitate my research at all stages. Also in Athens, in 2000, I was privileged to be invited by the late Lenos Mavrommatis topresent the kernel of my ideas at the EIE conference, Vyzantio kai Voulgaroi, 1018--1185. I benefited then, as before, from broader discussions withTelemachos Lounghis, and also with Paschalis Kitromilides. At a late stage, I presented a paper on the revival of interest in the Bulgar-slayer at theannual Monemvasia symposium, and for that opportunity I am grateful toChryssa Maltezou and Haris Kalligas. J. C. Mazarakis-Aenian, secretarygeneral of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, generouslyprovided color transparencies of several images. This project is not about Bulgaria, and it attempts to keep Bulgar-slayingto a minimum. To that end, I am grateful to two very lively Bulgarians, Dorotei Getov and Elks Bakalova, for their helpful comments and criticisms. I was also enlightened by visiting and speaking with members of the Macedonian community of Perth, Western Australia, and am grateful to John Melville-Jones for that opportunity. In addition, papers withvariations on the name of this book were given by invitation at a number of institutions, including: The Queen's University, Belfast; The School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London; The University of Florida, Gainesville.
I am grateful to Margaret Mullett, WendyBracewell, Alex Drace-Francis, Florin Curta, Will Hasty and Tom Gallant for the invitations and excellent critical feedback. At Cambridge University Press, William Davies has provided the same impeccable service andunstinting support that he did for my last effort. Byzantine historians owehim a great debt. I will not mention every Byzantinist who has helped at various stagesof the project, so that they may have a chance to review the book! Theyknow who they are. However, I must express my gratitude to foundationsand institutions that have supported my research since 1998. Initial forayswere undertaken at the University of Oxford, and there I was guided invarious directions by Averil Cameron, Peter Mackridge and Richard Clogg. Catherine Holmes generously read draft chapters, and offered copies of her papers prior to their publication.
The Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftungmade it possible for me to enjoy two stints at the Seminar fur Byzantinistikat the Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, where the idea to producea short book was conceived. Under the diligent and kindly eye of Gunter Prinzing I produced two preliminary papers. These were both publishedin Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, and I am grateful to the editor John Haldon for permission to reproduce much of the text, albeit substantially reorganized. Little research was undertaken, but much fun washad at University College Cork, Ireland, thanks to Donnchadh 6 Corr'ain, Jennifer O'Reilly, Damian Bracken, Dermot Keogh, Joe Lee and especially Gillian Smith. Bill Courtenay, David Morgan, Michael Chamberlainand Mike Clover were instrumental in bringing me from Cork tothe University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the Graduate School has generously sponsored two summers of research overseas.
My second home, Dumbarton Oaks, has proved the perfect place to complete the project, while honing other necessary skills. I am immensely grateful to the Director, Edward Keenan, who glanced over a draft of the book; to the Director of the program in Byzantine Studies, Alice-Mary Talbot, for her guidance inmatters philological; and to the Byzantine Librarian (retired), Irene Vaslef, without whom the library, the heart of an august institution, would bea lesser resource. Our senior and most erudite Research Associate, IrfanShahid, generously translated Arabic material where existing translationswere unclear or inaccurate. Without the generosity of John and JeanneRowe, this project would not yet have reached an end, but more stout would have been taken.
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