Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          ABT  950 
Death:          1018 Durrachium
Cause of Death: slain

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Vladislav_of_Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav (Bulgarian: ???? ?????????) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 
August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown; he was 
born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that.

Saved from death by his cousin Gavril Radomir, the Bulgarian Emperor, in 976, Ivan 
Vladislav murdered him in October 1015 and seized the Bulgarian throne. Due to the 
desperate situation of the country following the decades-long war with the Byzantine 
Empire, and in an attempt to consolidate his position, he tried to negotiate truce with 
the Byzantine emperor Basil II. After the failure of the negotiations he continued the 
resistance, attempting unsuccessfully to push the Byzantines back. During his period 
of rule, Ivan Vladislav tried to strengthen the Bulgarian army, reconstructed many 
Bulgarian fortresses and even carried out a counter-offensive, but he died at the 
Battle of Dyrrhachium in 1018. After his death his widow, Empress Maria, the Patriarch 
and most of the nobility finally surrendered to Basil II, who soon suppressed the last 
remnants of resistance and brought about the end of the First Bulgarian Empire.

Ivan Vladislav left a mixed heritage, varying from a reputation of being a ruthless 
murderer to a hero defending his country as best as he could. The descendants of 
Ivan Vladislav entered the Byzantine nobility and rose to the highest ranks of the 
hierarchy. Two women of his family became empresses of the Byzantine Empire and 
others became military commanders or high-ranking officials. He was an ancestor of 
the Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos.
Life before the accession of the throne[edit]

 After 1001 Basil II launched annual campaigns on Bulgarian territory, reversing the 
odds of war into the Byzantines' favour. Many Bulgarian fortresses had been 
conquered by force or treason by the time Ivan Vladislav came to the throne.
Ivan Vladislav was the son of Aron, the brother of Emperor Samuel (r. 997–1014) of the 
Cometopuli dynasty. In 976 or 987 Samuel ordered his brother Aron executed for 
treason together with his entire family near Razmetanitsa. Ivan Vladislav was the only 
survivor, being spared through the intercession of his cousin, Samuel's son Gavril 
Radomir.[1][2] His life during the subsequent decades and until his accession is 
unknown.

Assumption of power[edit]

By 1015, Bulgaria had been embroiled in almost thirty years of war with the Byzantine 
Empire, and Gavril Radomir had succeeded Samuel, who died on 6 October 1014 after 
the disastrous Battle of Kleidion. However, from the outset Radomir's position was 
insecure: Ivan Vladislav, as a son of the elder of the Cometopouli brothers, could lay 
claim on the throne based on seniority.[3] During that time the Byzantine king Basil II 
campaigned deep into Bulgarian territory. He retook the previously lost town of Voden 
(Edessa) and laid siege to the massive fortress of Maglen, situated to the north-west. 
Gavril Radomir did not have enough forces and was unable to interfere and could only 
watch the course of the events from the nearby Lake Ostrovo. His inability to cope 
with the Byzantine threat aroused discontent among the nobility and Ivan Vladislav 
became their chosen leader. The fall of Maglen sealed Gavril Radomir's fate—in the 
late summer of 1015, while hunting near Ostrovo (Arnissa), he was murdered by his 
cousin,[4] perhaps at the behest of Byzantine agents.[1] Ivan Vladislav then seized 
the Bulgarian throne and took steps to ensure his position against potential rivals.[5]

Emperor[edit]

First months of the reign[edit]

After assuming the throne, Ivan Vladislav immediately sent a delegation to Basil II, 
which arrived five days after the fall of Maglen. In his letter, Ivan Vladislav notified 
Basil that he had personally murdered Gavril Radomir and had seized all the power in 
the country and promised Basil deep humility and obedience,[6][7] an act of 
submission which some in the nobility supported. After Ivan Vladislav firmly secured 
his hold on the throne, however, he openly declared to be against any kind of 
compromise with the Byzantines and quickly began to follow the determined policy of 
his predecessors against the ongoing Byzantine conquest. Basil II soon understood 
that Ivan Vladislav's letter was a ruse and plotted a retaliatory action, bribing the 
kavkhan Theodore, who was in Byzantine captivity, to murder the Bulgarian ruler. 
Theodore in turn paid a trusted man in Ivan Vladislav's employ to commit the murder, 
but in the event the assassin actually killed Theodore himself.[6] In the meantime Basil 
II continued his march, forcing the Bulgarian emperor to retreat to the Albanian 
mountains, and advanced into the heart of the Bulgarian state. The Byzantines took 
the capital Ohrid and burned the imperial palaces; news, however, arrived that Ivan 
Vladislav had laid siege to Dyrrhachium and that to the south the Bulgarian general 
Ibatzes had defeated the Byzantine rear army near Bitola.[8] With his supply routes 
cut, Basil II had to retreat back to Thessalonica leaving a small garrison in Ohrid, 
which was swiftly retaken by the Bulgarians. Back in his base at Mosynopolis, Basil 
divided the Byzantine army to harass the areas of Strumitsa and Sofia. In January 
1016 the Byzantine emperor returned to Constantinople.[9]

Consolidation[edit]

Meanwhile, Ivan Vladislav consolidated his positions in the mountains of Albania and 
Macedonia. As early as October 1015 he began the reconstruction of many 
strongholds destroyed during the war, including the fortress at Bitola[10] (as testified 
in the Bitola inscription). In 1016 he invited his vassal Prince Jovan Vladimir of 
Doclea, who was married to Gabriel Radomir's sister Theodora Kosara, to come to his 
court.[1] The emperor probably desired to seize the prince and so secure his western 
flank. The Prince was determined to attend the invitation of Tsar, but his wife 
Theodora Kosara did not trust the murderer of her brother, and fearing for her 
husband's life persuaded him not to go. Ivan Vladislav however vowed not to threaten 
his vassal's life, and sent him a golden cross as a proof of good will. Jovan Vladimir 
still hesitated, saying that God was nailed to a wooden not golden cross,[11] but Ivan 
Vladislav repeated his vow and gave him a guarantee of safe-conduct, also 
guaranteed by the Bulgarian patriarch David. Eventually Jovan Vladimir travelled to 
the court of the Tsar in Prespa, but upon his arrival on 22 May, he was immediately 
beheaded, and the emperor refused to allow the burial of his body. It was not until a 
number of miraculous events related to the corpse of the prince were observed that 
Vladislav returned the body to Kosara.[12]

In the spring of 1016 Basil II led his armies along the Struma valley and besieged the 
strong fortress of Pernik. The fort's defence was headed by the capable commander 
Krakra, who remained loyal to the Bulgarian cause. As all the previous attempts 
against Pernik, the 88-day siege was a failure, costing the Byzantines many casualties 
before they were forced to retreat south and regroup at Mosynopolis.[9]

Fighting in 1017[edit]

In the early days of 1017 the Byzantine emperor renewed his campaigns. He sent 
David Arianites and Constantine Diogenes to pillage along the River Vardar and 
captured the castle of Longos. After that he marched south and besieged Kastoria. 
Under the walls of the town Basil II received messages from Tzitzikios, the Byzantine 
strategos of Dorostolon (Silistra), that Ivan Vladislav had sent Krakra to negotiate 
assistance from the Pechenegs[13] and that they were crossing the Danube. The 
Byzantine emperor immediately abandoned the siege and hurried northwards, but in 
the vicinity of Lake Ostrovo he learned that the Pechenegs were unwilling to risk war. 
Returning south, Basil II captured Setina, where Samuel used to have a palace and 
acquired for himself the large amount of provisions that were stored there. Ivan 
Vladislav, who was closely monitoring the Byzantine movements, ambushed the troops 
who were under the command of Constantine Diogenes, who would have perished had 
not Basil II come to relieve him. According to John Skylitzes, the Emperor charged 
alone in front of his army to Diogenes' rescue. When the Bulgarians saw him, they 
shouted "Run, the Emperor" ("?e?e?te ?sa?sa?") and retreated in panic.[13] 
Contented with their victory, the Byzantines moved on to Voden and returned to 
Constantinople.[9]

Death[edit]

In the early 1018 Ivan Vladislav besieged Dyrrhachium, but in February he was killed 
under the walls of the city.[1] The accounts of his death are contradictory. According 
to some he became victim of a plot and was killed by his servants; according to 
others, he perished in battle. The Bulgarian additions to the Skylitzes Chronicle are 
more detailed, saying that Ivan Vladislav dueled with the strategos of Dyrrhachium, 
the patrikios Niketas Pegonites, on horseback, and while fighting, two Byzantine 
infantrymen from the audience rushed to the emperor and wounded him mortally in the 
belly. A later Byzantine historian claimed that the duel was fair and Pegonites stabbed 
Ivan Vladislav in the chest with his spear, killing him instantly.[13] The Chronicle of 
the Priest of Duklja reports an altogether different story: while having a meal in his 
camp, the emperor was attacked by an unknown soldier, in whom Ivan Vladislav 
seemed to have recognized the murdered Jovan Vladimir. Terrified, he cried for help 
but no one rushed to his rescue and the unknown soldier mortally wounded the 
Bulgarian ruler.[14]

His death marked the effective end of the Bulgarian Empire. Ivan Vladislav's sons 
were young and inexperienced, and even the strongest Bulgarian leaders doubted the 
advisability of further resistance. Upon learning of the death of the Tsar, Basil II left 
Constantinople. In Adrianople he was met by the brother of Krakra who acknowledged 
Byzantine authority. His example was followed by the larger part of the Bulgarian 
nobility who pledged loyalty to Basil II, giving up their fortresses. In Serres, Krakra 
along with the commanders of 35 castles met the emperor and surrendered, and in 
Strumitsa he received a message sent by the Empress-dowager Maria to negotiate the 
surrender of the capital and the country.[15] Basil II richly awarded those who 
surrendered, allowing them to keep their lands, wealth and titles. Short-lived 
resistance continued under Ivan Vladislav's eldest son Presian II and his brothers, but 
they also surrendered by the end of 1018.[16]

Legacy[edit]

Slavonic during the Ivan Vladislav's reign. He is titled "autocrat of the Bulgarians", 
"born Bulgarian" and notes that he renewed the fortress of Bitola for "a salvation and 
sanctuary of the Bulgarians".[17]
Living more than one hundred years after Ivan Vladislav, the historian known as the 
Priest of Duklja, who wrote from a Dukljan perspective, was outraged by the murder of 
Jovan Vladimir, and wrote that after the Tsar died, he was "forever connected with 
the angels of Satan".[18] Many modern Bulgarian historians, including Vasil Zlatarski, 
also criticize the emperor, claiming that his actions hastened the fall of Bulgaria and 
that instead of raising the morale of the nation he turned into a murderer and was 
unable to cope with the intrigues and the corruption in court.[19] Steven Runciman is 
also critical of the emperor, noting that his assassination of Gavril Radomir unleashed 
a general confusion where each noble started looking out for his own personal 
interests, but nevertheless credits him with "a considerable ruthless energy".[12] 
Jordan Andreev is more favourable to Ivan Vladislav, noting that he had reasons for 
his acts—he had to revenge the murder of his family according to the old Bulgarian 
pagan beliefs, but he only killed Gavril Radomir and his wife without harming the rest 
of Gavril Radomir's family. He had to cope with Jovan Vladimir who, as a husband of 
one of Samuel's daughters, was a threat to his position, and had also attempted a 
compromise with the Byzantines.[11] According to Andreev, Ivan Vladislav's struggle 
to defend the Bulgarian state and his heroic death serve to mitigate his ill deeds. He 
cites a Byzantine historiana[›] who claimed that during Ivan Vladislav's reign the 
Byzantine state "hanged in the balance, because that barbarian like Goliath resisted 
the Romans and they were all despaired by that invincible foe."[20] The Polish 
historian Kazimierz Zakrzewski also writes with sympathy for the last ruler of the First 
Empire, in light of the fact that Ivan Vladislav managed to sustain a guerilla war which 
he skilfully run until his death.[21]

Ivan Vladislav Point on Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is 
named after Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria.[22]

Family[edit]

Ivan Vladislav married Maria, possibly the daughter of Tsar Boris II of Bulgaria and a 
Byzantine noblewoman,[23] by whom he left progeny. Maria was named zoste patrikia 
by Basil II, and the descendants of Ivan Vladislav entered Byzantine service, 
becoming part of the Byzantine nobility and forming close ties with the Komnenos clan 
in particular.[24] Both his daughter Catherine and an unnamed (possibly Anna) 
granddaughter married (future) Byzantine emperors.[25] His second son Alusian took 
part in the Uprising of Petar Delyan against Byzantine rule but eventually betrayed the 
Bulgarian cause.

Maria and Ivan Vladislav had several children, including:[24]
1.Presian, who briefly succeeded as emperor of Bulgaria 1018, later Byzantine 
magistros
2.Aron, Byzantine general
3.Alusian, Byzantine patrikios in 1019, strategos of Theodosiopolis in Anatolia, briefly 
emperor of Bulgaria in 1041[26]
4.Trayan / Troianus, father of Maria of Bulgaria, who married Andronikos Doukas.
5.Catherine (Ekaterina), who married the future Byzantine Emperor Isaac I Komnenos

Parents
OF BULGARIA Aron Amitopulos (ABT  925 - 14 Jun  976)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
WLADISLAW {VLADISLAV] Ivan (John) (ABT  950 - 1018)

Marriage To ____ Maria (ABT  960 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Boris (BEF  931 -  977)
----- ----- ()

Children by ____ Maria ABT  960 - 
OF WEST BULGARIA Troianos (Trajan) (ABT  980 - )
OF BULGARIA Alusian (ABT  990 - )

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017