Bitola inscription

The Bitola inscription.

The Bitola inscription is a medieval Bulgarian stone inscription written in Old Church Slavonic with Cyrillic letters.[1] It is now kept at the Institute and Museum of Bitola, Republic of Macedonia among the permanent exhibitions as a significant epigraphic monument, described as "a marble slab with Cyrillic letters of Ioan Vladislav from 1015/17".[2] The text commemorates the fortification works on the fortress of Bitola under a Tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Text

The text of the inscription is partially damaged. With some conjectures made by Vladimir Moshin and Yordan Zaimov to reconstruct the damaged parts, it reads as follows:[15][16]

Significance

During the 10th century the Bulgarians established a form of national identity, that despite far from modern nationalism, helped them to survive as a distinct entity through history.[18] The inscription confirms that tsar Samuil and his successors considered their state Bulgarian.[19] The stone plate reveals, the Cometopuli also had incipient Bulgarian ethnic consciousness.[20] The proclamation announced the first use of the Slavic title "samodŭrzhets", that means “autocrat”.[21] The name of the city of Bitola, is besides mentioned in the inscription for the first time.[22]

Controversy

The inscription was found in 1956 during the demolition of an old Ottoman mosque in the town of Bitola, then in SFR Yugoslavia, where any link between the Cometopuli and the First Bulgarian Empire was denied.[23] Originally exhibited in the local museum, the stone was locked away during 1960s, when Bulgarian archaeologists became aware of the phrase Bulgarian autocrat on it.[24] The museum director was fired for letting such a mistake happen.[25]

In the present-day Republic of Macedonia, the official state doctrine refers to John Vladislav as one of the first Macedonian Tsars, and ruler of "Slavic Macedonian Empire".[26] There is no historical support for such assertion,[27] moreover, the stone definitively establishes the identification of the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire before its conquest by Byzantium.[28] Because of the historical and political importance of the inscription, it was the reason for another controversial event in 2006, when the French consulate in Bitola sponsored and prepared a tourist catalogue of the town. It was printed, but on its front cover was the entire text of the inscription, with the word Bulgarian clearly visible on it. News about that had spread prior to the official presentation of the catalogue and was a cause for confusion among the officials of the Bitola municipality. The French consulate was warned, the printing of the new catalogue was stopped and the photo on the cover was changed.[29]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Vasilka Tăpkova-Zaimova, Bulgarians by Birth: The Comitopuls, Emperor Samuel and their Successors According to Historical Sources and the Historiographic Tradition, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, BRILL, 2018, ISBN 9004352996, pp. 17-18.
  2. ↑ "Among the most significant findings of this period presented in the permanent exhibition is the epigraphic monument a marble slab with Cyrillic letters of Jovan Vladislav from 1015/17." The official site of the Institute for preservation of monuments of culture, Museum and Gallery Bitola, retrieved on July 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009 ISBN 0810855658, p. 195.
  4. ↑ The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900-c. 1024, Timothy Reuter, Rosamond McKitterick, Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-36447-7, p. 600
  5. ↑ The legend of Basil the Bulgar-slayer, Paul Stephenson, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-521-81530-4, pp. 29-30.
  6. ↑ Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, Cambridge medieval textbooks, Florin Curta, Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-521-81539-8, p. 246.
  7. ↑ Basil II and the governance of Empire (976-1025), Oxford studies in Byzantium, Catherine Holmes, Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-927968-3, pp. 56-57.
  8. ↑ Das makedonische Jahrhundert: von den Anfängen der nationalrevolutionären Bewegung zum Abkommen von Ohrid 1893-2001; ausgewählte Aufsätze, Stefan Troebst, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2007, ISBN 3-486-58050-7, S. 414.
  9. ↑ Krieg und Kriegführung in Byzanz: Die Kriege Kaiser Basileios II. Gegen die Bulgaren (976-1019), Paul Meinrad Strässle, Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2006, ISBN 341217405X, p. 172.
  10. ↑ Византийский временник, Институт истории (Академия наук СССР), Институт славяноведения и балканистики (Академия наук СССР), Институт всеобщей истории (Российская академия наук) Изд-во Академии наук СССР, 1973, стр. 266.
  11. ↑ Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria, Ivan Biliarsky, BRILL, 2011, ISBN 9004191453, p.19.
  12. ↑ Микулчиќ, Иван, „Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија“, Македонска академија на науките и уметностите, Скопје, 1996, Раносредновековни фортификации, стр. 69.
  13. ↑ Bŭlgarski ezik, Institut za bŭlgarski ezik (Bŭlgarska akademiia na naukite) 1981, p. 372.
  14. ↑ Срђан Пириватрић, „Самуилова држава. Обим и карактер“, Византолошки институт Српске академије науке и уметности, посебна издања књига 21, Београд, 1997, стр. 183.
  15. ↑ Мошин, Владимир. Битољска плоча из 1017. год. // Македонски jазик, XVII, 1966, с. 51-61
  16. ↑ Заимов, Йордан. Битолският надпис на цар Иван Владислав, самодържец български. Епиграфско изследване, София 1970 For criticism of this reconstruction, see: Lunt, Horace G. (1972): [review of Zaimov]. Slavic Review 31: 499.
  17. ↑ The reconstruction of the Macedonian scientist Ugrinova-Skalovska is very similar to the recunstruction made by Russian/Yugoslavian Moshin and Bulgarian Zaimov - Угриновска-Скаловска, Радмила. Записи и летописи. Скопје 1975. 43-44
  18. ↑ Crampton, R. J. A Concise History of Bulgaria (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-521-61637-9, p. 15.
  19. ↑ Dennis P. Hupchick, The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies, Springer, 2017, ISBN 3319562061, p. 314.
  20. ↑ Michael Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage through History, Volume 1, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, ISBN 1443888435, p. 245.
  21. ↑ Ivan Biliarsky, Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria, Volume 14 of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, BRILL, 2011, ISBN 9004191453, p. 215.
  22. ↑ Room, Adrian, Placenames of the world: origins and meanings of the names for 6,600 countries, cities, territories, natural features, and historic sites, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, ISBN 0-7864-2248-3, 2006, p. 60.
  23. ↑ Who are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000, ISBN 1850655340, p. 20.
  24. ↑ J. Pettifer ed., The New Macedonian Question, St Antony's Series, Springer, 1999, ISBN 0230535798, p. 75.
  25. ↑ Камъкът на страха - филм на Коста Филипов - БНТ.
  26. ↑ An outline of Macedonian history from ancient times to 1991. Macedonian Embassy London. Retrieved on 2007-04-28.
  27. ↑ D. Hupchick, The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism, Springer, 2002, ISBN 0312299133, p. 53.
  28. ↑ Kiril Petkov, The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture, BRILL, 2008, ISBN 9047433750, p. 39.
  29. ↑ Исправена печатарска грешка, Битола за малку ќе се претставуваше како бугарска. Дневник-online, 2006. Archived 2012-02-24 at the Wayback Machine.


References

  • Божилов, Иван. Битолски надпис на Иван Владислав // Кирило-методиевска енциклопедия, т. І, София, 1985, с. 196-198. (in Bulgarian)
  • Бурмов, Александър. Новонамерен старобългарски надпис в НР Македония // сп. Пламък, 3, София, 1959, 10, с. 84-86. (in Bulgarian)
  • Заимов, Йордан. Битолски надпис на Иван Владислав, старобългарски паметник от 1015-1016 // София, 1969. (in Bulgarian)
  • Заимов, Йордан. Битолският надпис на цар Иван Владислав, самодържец български. Епиграфско изследване // София, 1970. (in Bulgarian)
  • Заимов, Йордан. Битольская надпись болгарского самодержца Ивана Владислава, 1015-1016 // Вопросы языкознания, 28, Москва, 1969, 6, с. 123-133. (in Russian)
  • Мошин, Владимир. Битољска плоча из 1017. год. // Македонски jазик, XVII, Скопjе, 1966, с. 51-61 (in Macedonian)
  • Мошин, Владимир. Уште за битолската плоча од 1017 година // Историjа, 7, Скопjе, 1971, 2, с. 255-257 (in Macedonian)
  • Томовић, Г. Морфологиjа ћирилских натписа на Балкану // Историjски институт, Посебна издања, 16, Скопjе, 1974, с. 33. (in Serbian)
  • Џорђић, Петар. Историjа српске ћирилице // Београд, 1990, с. 451-468. (in Serbian)
  • Mathiesen, R. The Importance of the Bitola Inscription for Cyrilic Paleography // The Slavic and East European Journal, 21, Bloomington, 1977, 1, pp. 1–2.
  • Угринова-Скаловска, Радмила. Записи и летописи // Скопjе, 1975, 43-44. (in Macedonian)
  • Lunt, Horace. On dating Old Church Slavonic bible manuscripts. // A. A. Barentsen, M. G. M. Tielemans, R. Sprenger (eds.), South Slavic and Balkan linguistics, Rodopi, 1982, p. 230.

See also

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