Haemus Mons in the context of "Vrashka Chuka"

The Uprising of Asen and Peter (Bulgarian: Въстание на Асен и Петър) was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs living in Moesia and the Balkan Mountains, then the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the restoration of Bulgaria with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire, ruled by the Asen dynasty.

Isaac II Angelus, in order to raise money for his wedding with the daughter of King Béla III of Hungary, levied a new tax which fell heavily on the population of the Haemus Mountains. They sent two leaders (Peter and Asen) to negotiate with the emperor at Kypsella (now İpsala) in Thrace. They asked to be added to the roll of the Byzantine army and to be granted land near Haemus to provide the monetary income needed to pay the tax. This was refused, and Peter and Asen were treated roughly. Their response was to threaten revolt.

Tylis (Greek: Τύλις) or Tyle was a capital of a short-lived Balkan state mentioned by Polybius that was founded by Celts led by Comontorius in the 3rd century BC. Following their invasion of Thrace and Greece in 279 BC, the Gauls were defeated by the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas in the Battle of Lysimachia in 277 BC, after which they turned inland to Thrace and founded their kingdom at Tylis. It was located near the eastern edge of the Haemus (Balkan) Mountains in what is now eastern Bulgaria. Some bands of Celts, namely the Tectosages, Tolistobogii and Trocmi, did not settle in Thrace, but crossed into Asia Minor to become known as the Galatians. The last king of Tylis was Cavarus who maintained good relations with the city of Byzantium. His capital was destroyed by the Thracians in 212 BC and this was also the end of his kingdom. The modern Bulgarian village of Tulovo in Stara Zagora Province now occupies the site.

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.