Samuel, Samuil or SamoilSpelled thus in Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans; also Ostrogorsky, Treadgold, opp. cit., Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. In French, compare Adontz, Nicholas. "Samuel l'Armenien, Roi des Bulgares", in Études Arméno-Byzantines. Lisbonne: Livraria Bertrand, 1965, pp. 347–407. (, ; ,Македонска енциклопедија, том II. Скопје, Македонска академија на науките и уметностите, 2009. . стр. 1296Stojkov, Stojko (2014) Крунисувањето на Самуил за цар и митот за царот евнух. Гласник на институтот за национална историја, 58 (1–2). pp. 73–92. . ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (Emperor) of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014.A History of the Byzantine state and society, Warren Treadgold, Stanford University Press, 1997, , p. 871. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria,Anthony Kaldellis, Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade, Oxford University Press, 2017, , p. 82. 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.One theory is that from 972/976 to 997 Samuel co-ruled with Roman I of Bulgaria, who was the official tsar until 997, when he died in Byzantine captivity. Roman is mentioned as tsar in several historical sources; for example the Annals by Yahya of Antioch call Roman "Tsar" and Samuel "Roman's loyal military chief". However, other historians dispute this theory, as Roman was castrated and so technically could not have claimed the crown. There was also a governor of Skopje called Roman who surrendered the city to the Byzantines in 1004, receiving the title of patrician from Basil II and becoming a Byzantine strategos in Abydus (Skylitzes-Cedr. II, 455, 13), but this could be a mere coincidence of names. 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.Whittow, Making of Orthodox Byzantium, pp. 387–388.

Samuel was considered "invincible in power and unsurpassable in strength".Stephenson, P., The legend of Basil the Bulgar-slayer, p. 16, Sullivan. D. F., ed. and tr., The life of St Nikon, Brookline, 1987, pp. 140–142. Similar comments were made even in Constantinople, where John Kyriotes penned a poem offering a punning comparison between the Bulgarian Emperor and Halley's Comet, which appeared in 989.Schlumberger, G, L'épopée byzantine á la fin de dixiéme siécle, 1. Jean Tzimisés; les jeunes années de Basile II, le tueur de Bulgares (969–989), Paris 1896, pp. 643–644. During Samuel's reign, Bulgaria gained control of most of the Balkans (with the notable exception of Thrace) as far as southern Greece. He moved the capital from Skopje to Ohrid, which had been the cultural and military centre of southwestern Bulgaria since Boris I's rule, and made the city the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. Because of this, his realm is sometimes called the Western Bulgarian Empire.The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, J. B. Bury, Wildside Press LLC, 2004, , p. 142.A short history of Yugoslavia from early times to 1966, Stephen Clissold, Henry Clifford Darby, CUP Archive, 1968, , p. 140 Samuel's energetic reign restored Bulgarian might on the Balkans, even though the Empire was disestablished after his death.

The rise of the Cometopuli

The Cometopuli

Samuel was the fourthStephen Runciman, A History of the First Bulgarian Empire, pp. 217–218. and youngest son of count Nicholas, a Bulgarian noble, who might have been the count of Sredets district (modern-day Sofia), although other sources suggest that he was a regional count of Prespa district in the region of Macedonia.Southeastern Europe in the early Middle Ages. Florin Curta. p. 241 His mother was Rhipsime of Armenia. The actual name of the dynasty is not known. Cometopuli is the nickname used by Byzantine historians which is translated as "sons of the count". The Cometopuli rose to power out of the disorder that occurred in the Bulgarian Empire from 966 to 971.

Rus' invasion and the deposition of Boris II

During the reign of Emperor Peter I, Bulgaria prospered in a long-lasting peace with Byzantium. This was secured by the marriage of Peter with the Byzantine princess Maria Lekapene, granddaughter of Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos. However, after Maria's death in 963, the truce had been shaken and it was at this time or later that Peter I sent his sons Boris and Roman to Constantinople as honorary hostages, to honor the new terms of the peace treaty.According to Zlatarski (History of the Bulgarian state, I, 2, pp. 544, 562.) the sons of Peter I were sent in the Byzantine capital in 963 as one of the term to resettle the peace treaty of 927. According to other historians such as Andreev (Who is who in Medieval Bulgaria, p. 41.) the heirs to the Bulgarian throne became hostages per a Bulgarian-Byzantine agreement against the Kievan Rus' in 968. During these years the Byzantines and Bulgarians had entangled themselves in a war with Kievan Rus' Prince Sviatoslav, who invaded Bulgaria several times. After a defeat from Sviatoslav, Peter I suffered a stroke and abdicated his throne in 969 (he died the next year). Boris was allowed back to Bulgaria to take his father's throne, restore order and oppose Sviatoslav, but had little success. This was allegedly used by Nicholas and his sons, who were contemplating a revolt in 969.Skylitzes records: He [Peter] himself died shortly afterwards, whereupon the sons were sent to Bulgaria to secure the ancestral throne and to restrain the 'children of the counts' from further t. David, Moses, Aaron and Samuel, children of one of the powerful counts in Bulgaria, were contemplating an uprising and were unsettling the Bulgars'

The Rus' invaded Byzantine Thrace in 970, but suffered a defeat in the Battle of Arcadiopolis. The new Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes used this to his advantage. He quickly invaded Bulgaria the following year, defeated the Rus, and conquered the Bulgarian capital Preslav. Boris II of Bulgaria was ritually divested of his imperial insignia in a public ceremony in Constantinople and he and his brother Roman of Bulgaria remained in captivity. Although the ceremony in 971 had been intended as a symbolic termination of the Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantines were unable to assert their control over the western provinces of Bulgaria. Count Nicholas, Samuel's father, who had close ties to the royal court in Preslav,Blagoeva, B. For the origins of Emperor Samuel (Za proizhoda na tsar Samuil, За произхода на цар Самуил), Исторически преглед, № 2, 1966, стр. 91–94 died in 970. In the same year"They (the Cometopuli) make their first appearance under the government of Kekaumenos, the strategos of Larissa ... (980–983)": Adontz. "Samuel l'Armenien", 358. "the sons of the count" (the Cometopuli) David, Moses, Aaron and Samuel rebelled.Ioannes Scylitzes. Historia. 2, pp. 346–347 The series of events are not clear due to contradicting sources, but it is sure that after 971 Samuel and his brothers were the de facto rulers of the western Bulgarian lands.

In 973, the Cometopuli (described by Thietmar of Merseburg simply as the Bulgarians)Vasilka Tăpkova-Zaimova, Bulgarians by Birth: The Comitopuls, Emperor Samuel and their Successors According to Historical Sources and the Historiographic Tradition, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, Brill, 2018, , p. 156. sent envoys to the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I in Quedlinburg in an attempt to secure the protection of their lands.Delev, 12. The decline of the First Bulgarian Empire ( 12. Zalezat na Parvoto Balgarsko Tsarstvo 12. Залезът на Първото българско царство). The brothers ruled together in a tetrarchy.Bozhilov, Gyuzelev, 1999, pp. 314–315. David ruled the southernmost regions and led the defense of one of the most dangerous border areas, around Thessaloniki and Thessaly. The centres of his possessions were Prespa and Kastoria. Moses ruled from Strumitsa, which would be an outpost for attacks on the Aegean coast and Serres. Aaron ruled from Sredets, and was to defend the main road from Adrianople to Belgrade, and to attack Thrace. Samuel ruled northwestern Bulgaria from the strong fortress of Vidin. He was also to organize the liberation of the conquered areas to the east, including the old capital Preslav. Some records suggest that David played a major role in this tumultuous period of Bulgarian history.Zlatarski, p. 615.

War with Byzantium

After John I Tzimiskes died on 11 January 976, the Cometopuli launched an assault along the whole border. Within a few weeks, however, David was killed by Vlach vagrants and Moses was fatally injured by a stone during the siege of Serres.Skylitzes, pp. 334–335. The brothers' actions to the south detained many Byzantine troops and eased Samuel's liberation of northeastern Bulgaria. A local Bulgarian uprising broke there,П. Хр. Петров, Восстание Петра и Бояна в 976 г. и борьба комитопулов с Византией, Byzantinobulgarica, I, Sofia, 1962, стр. 121–144. led by two boyars – Petar and Boyan, who became allies of the Cometopuli and submitted to their rule.Й. Иванов, "Български старини из Македония", София, 1970, стр. 550 The Byzantine army was defeated and retreated to Crimea.Nikolov, G., Centralism and regionalism in Bulgaria during the early Middle ages (end of the 7th beginning of the 11th century (Tsentralizam i regionalizam v rannosrednovekovna Balgariya (kraya na VII nachaloto na XI v.), Централизъм и регионализъм в ранносредновековна България (края на VII началото на ХІ в.)), София 2005, p. 195. Any Bulgarian nobles and officials who had not opposed the Byzantine conquest of the region were executed, and the war continued north of the Danube until the enemy was scattered and Bulgarian rule was restored.