BYZANTINO� AOMO� 16 (2007-2008)

WHEN DID THE BATTLE OF "LEO'S HILL' TAKE PLACE?

A NOTE ON THE HISTORY OF BYZANTINE-BULGAR
RELATIONS IN THE EARLY NINTH CENTURY

by
Pananos 1h. Sophoulis
(M. St., D. Phil)
University of Oxford

In the summer of 811 Nikephoros I led a grand expeditionary force in Bulgaria. His
aim was to inflict a very damaging blow, if not destroy, the small nomadic state established
north of the Haimus mountains by a few thousand Turkic warriors -one of several scat­
tered components of a once powerful Bulgar confederation in the Ukrainian steppes. The
Byzantines defeated the armies of Khan Krum and sacked the Bulgar capital, but on their
way back were ambushed by their enemy and cut to pieces. The slaughter was immense.
The Emperor himself and several high-ranking dignitaries and officers were among the
fallen, while Staurakios, Nikephoros' only son and successor, was severely wounded. His
deteriorating health threw the Empire into dynastic struggle and a prolonged period of
instability, which continued through the reign of Michael I Rangabe. Taking advantage of
the internal crisis in Byzantium, Krum led several campaigns into Thrace and Macedonia,
capturing a series of fortresses and ultimately pushing as far as Constantinople itself. After
plundering its suburbs and sacking Adrianople and Arkadioupolis, the Khan is reported
to have begun large-scale preparations for a determined assault on the imperial capital;
these, however, were interrupted by his sudden death in April 814 1 • Hostilities between the
two sides continued, but after the victory of Leo V near the city of Mesembria (at "Leo's
Hill', as the site of the attack subsequently came to be called) the psychological advantage
swung back to Byzantium's favour. The Emperor was finally in a position to negotiate, and
c. 816 exacted on relatively favourable terms -which included the return of almost all the
territory that had fallen to the Bulgars since the conflict began- a treaty that brought many
years of welcome peace to the war-ravaged themes of Thrace and Macedonia2 •

1. Theophanis Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, vol. I, Leipzig, 1883, pp. 489. 24-492. 8, 495. 20-496. 6, 497.
16-499. 15, 500. 28-503-25; I. Dujcev, 'La Chronique Byzantine de !'an 811; in TM 1 (1965), pp. 210-216; F.
Iadevaia, Scriptor Incertus. Testo Critico, Traduzione e Note, Messina, 1997, pp. 10. 5-23. 163, 30. 44-33. 132, 40.
42-46. 234.
2. Theophanes continua/us, ed. I. Bekker (CSHB), Bonn, 1825, pp. 31. 10-21; V. Besevliev, Parvobdlgarski
nadpisi (Vtoro Predraboteno i Dopalneno lzdanie), Sofia, 1992, nr. 41; W. Treadgold, 'The Bulgars' Treaty with the
Byzantines in 816'. in RSBS 4 (1984), pp. 213-220.