Tzar Samuel of Bulgaria's remains were returned to Bulgaria today, a little over thousand years after his death.Since most baka gaijin only know him from memes about his death, I thought I'd do a little post summarizing his life.>Born 958, probably in western Bulgaria.>One of the four Cometopuli brothers (David, Moses, Samuel and Aaron), sons of Nicholas, a powerful Bulgarian noble.>After the deaths/removal of the senior Bulgarian rulers, Samuel became the dominant leader of the Bulgarian resistance against Byzantium.>Byzantine Emperor Basil II invaded Bulgaria but was defeated by Samuel at the Battle of Trajan's Gate, and barely saved is life and escaped.>Samuel had his brother Aaron and his whole family killed after a power struggle.>Samuel formally became Tsar of Bulgaria after the castrated tzar in exile died during an accident trying to return to Bulgaria.>Samuel expanded and defended Bulgarian territory while fighting repeated Byzantine campaigns led by Basil II.>Basil II gradually reconquered Bulgarian territory through sustained military campaigns, as Samuel stoped personally leading the army and retreated into his faith.>Samuel's forces suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Kleidion. Basil ordered thousands of captured Bulgarian soldiers blinded. This is remembered in le funny memes, but at the time was seen as a horiffic atrocity commited by one christian force against another after surrender.>According to the traditional account, Samuel died shortly afterward after seeing the survivors and having a heart attack.Samuel is remembered as the last great ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, whose reign was dominated by a decades-long struggle with Basil II.The two men were about the same age, and they presonally led their armies, and sometimes clashed personally against each other on battlefields. They waged war against each other in person for 28 years, a very romantic man-against-man story.
>>18720853Many, those motherfuckers all really loved cutting people's balls and eyes out.
what is the lesson here?
>>18722163Whites people used to be tough. We’ve gotten soft
>>18720853>David, Moses, Samuel, and AaronWhy such Jewish names?
>>18722760Biblical names, his father was a pious christian.
>>18722751Torturing and mutiliating a surrendering army n a war between christians is, and was back then, an attrocity that was denounced by everyone.You aren't a bigger harder man by pretending the middle ages were Warhammer 40k, or pretending to miss such a time.
>>18722787So why not Paul, Mark, Josh, etc?
>>18722896Armenian royalty mother, and Armenian royal family was saying they are descendant from biblical King David at the time.Also the names are of two brothers who led their nation out of slavery and foreign oppression, and of a prophet who anointed the first kings of Israel and guided it through crisis, and the warrior-king who defeated Israel's enemies and started a golden age.Also its a way to have biblical names that the Byzantines weren't using much.Also its a way to have names older than the Byzantine aristocracy names, more legitimate, more ancient, whatever.All speculations, but there are some, if you look for them.
By the way, a book about the events around Samuel's death won the Alfaguara Prize 2026, for spanish speaking literature.Its an absurd tragicomedy mostly about disability and cruelty and generally social problems, but its themed around the blinding, its scale, what it did to the people who purpetrated it and those who suffered it, and as its grand finale it has the blind army marching out to fight again, and winning in a moonless night battle against the Byzantines.Then a few select named characters have their private conclusions, and a wedding.Again, not a historical book in any way, just themed after this.
>>18722790STFU brownoid
>>18722924Thanks for telling us the ending.
>>18722924I read it in its Bulgarian translation. It was ok, the writer kinda overdid it with the weird eyes shenanigans. But the ending was a good idea.
>>18723290Were you going to read it? Don't lie to us.
>>18723432Switching between goofy dark humor and casual human misery is kinda the point. The vibe is like a cardiogram.
>>18723518I get it, but still, even for such a short novel this felt very repetitive.
