The genesis of the tsar title in the West-Bulgarian state

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the origin and legitimization of the tsarist title in the Western Bulgarian state, identified with the state of the Cometopuli. The purpose of the study is to explain how the rulers of Western Bulgaria justified their right to use the title of tsar and what sources underlay their ideology of power. The author employs historical analysis of Byzantine sources, Latin and Slavic chronicles, and epigraphic evidence concerning the Cometopuli dynasty. The study demonstrates that the Western Bulgarian state regarded itself as the successor of the Preslav Bulgarian state, and that the title of tsar constituted the most important element of this political and ideological continuity. Particular attention is devoted to the title samodržec (“autocrat”), the Slavic equivalent of the Byzantine autokrator, which appears in the inscriptions of Ivan Vladislav. The author also discusses the accounts of Byzantine chroniclers, who denied the Western Bulgarian rulers full imperial status and referred to them as rebels or tyrants. An important part of the study is devoted to two hypotheses concerning the sources of Samuel’s imperial authority. The first assumes a coronation inspired by the papacy, while the second points to the role of the independent Bulgarian patriarchate. The conclusions emphasize that the imperial ideology of Samuel’s state was based on the continuation of the traditions of the First Bulgarian Empire and on the adoption of Byzantine ceremonial and titulary models.