Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in the context of "Basil II"

Peter I (Church Slavonic: Петръ А҃; Bulgarian: Петър I; died 30 January 970) was the emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria from 27 May 927 to 969. Facing Bogomilism and rebellions by his brothers and also by Časlav Klonimirović early on in his reign, Peter secured more success later in life; he ensured the retreat of the invading Rus by inciting Bulgaria's allies, the Pechenegs, to attack Kiev itself. Traditionally seen as a weak ruler who lost land and prestige, recent scholarship challenges this view, emphasizing the empire's affluence and internal peace. Considered a good ruler during the Middle Ages, his name was adopted by later leaders trying to restore Bulgarian independence under Byzantine rule to emphasize legitimacy and continuity.

Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; Bulgarian: Самуил, pronounced [sɐmuˈiɫ]; Macedonian: Самоил/Самуил, pronounced [samɔˈiɫ/sɐmuˈiɫ]; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (Emperor) of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal authority. As Samuel struggled to preserve his country's independence from the Byzantine Empire, his rule was characterized by constant warfare against the Byzantines and their equally ambitious ruler Basil II.

In his early years, Samuel managed to inflict several major defeats on the Byzantines and to launch offensive campaigns into their territory. In the late 10th century, the Bulgarian armies conquered the Serb principality of Duklja and led campaigns against the Kingdoms of Croatia and Hungary. But from 1001, he was forced mainly to defend the Empire against the superior Byzantine armies. Samuel died of a heart attack on 6 October 1014, two months after the catastrophic battle of Kleidion. His successors failed to organize a resistance, and in 1018, four years after Samuel's death, the country capitulated, ending the five decades-long Byzantine–Bulgarian conflict.

The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid (Bulgarian: Българска Охридска архиепископия; Macedonian: Охридска архиепископија), originally called Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima and all Bulgaria (Greek: ἀρχιεπίσκοπὴ τῆς Πρώτης Ἰουστινιανῆς καὶ πάσης Βουλγαρίας), was an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church established following the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in 1018 by lowering the rank of the autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate due to its subjugation to the Byzantines. In 1767, the Archbishopric's autocephaly was abolished, and the Archbishopric was placed under the tutelage of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Nikephoros Xiphias (Greek: Νικηφόρος Ξιφίας, fl. c. 1000 – 1028) was a Byzantine military commander during the reign of Emperor Basil II. He played a distinguished role in the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, and was instrumental in the decisive Byzantine victory at the Battle of Kleidion in 1014. In 1022 he led an unsuccessful rebellion against Basil II, and was disgraced, tonsured and exiled. He is last mentioned in 1028, when he was recalled from exile and retired to a monastery.

The Theme of Bulgaria (Greek: Θέμα Βουλγαρίας, romanized: Thema Boulgarias) was a theme (province) of the Byzantine Empire established by Emperor Basil II after the conquest of Bulgaria in 1018. Its capital was Skopje and it was governed by a strategos. The theme of Bulgaria did not encompass the old Bulgarian lands between the Haimos Mountains and the river Danube, that included the former capitals Pliska and Preslav. This territory was administered independently and was considered as autonomous military unit, designated as Paristrion or Paradunavon, meaning the "lands beside the Danube".

The local inhabitants were called Bulgarians, but some authors maintain this name did not have an ethnic meaning. Bulgaroi was a political name, in the same way as Romaioi. The emotive force which the name has today is quite distinct from that which inspired the emperors John I and Basil II to celebrate their victories with elaborate ceremony. Their achievement was to restore the empire to her ancient limits, and eliminate the rival, distinct, independent empire that had emerged from the Byzantine model and had been established and recognized within those limits. It can be seen from the fact that the rebels in the Uprising of 1072 invited a Serbian king from Diokleia Constantine Bodin, which belonged to the former empires of Simeon I of Bulgaria and Samuel of Bulgaria, to be the Tsar of the Bulgarians. However, some authors suggest that Bodin was invited, because he was the great-great-grandson of Samuel of Bulgaria.