Albania Under The Bulgarian Empire - Later Rule

Later Rule

In 1040 an uprising broke out in the area around Durrës under the leadership of the soldier Tihomir following the discontent of the Bulgarian population by the heavy taxes required by the Byzantine administration. Soon the rebellion encompassed the whole of Albania and the rebels joined forces with Peter Delyan who claimed to have been a successor of Samuil. Following the defeat of the Bulgarians in 1041 the Byzantines restored their control over Albania. In 1072 another uprising broke out under Georgi Voiteh but it was also crushed.

After the restoration of the Bulgarian state, most of eastern Albania was incorporated into the Empire by Kaloyan (1197–1207) but was lost to the Despotate of Epiros after his death. However, in 1230 the Epirote armies were decisively defeated by the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II and most of its lands joined Bulgaria without resistance including the whole of Albania. In an inscription in the SS. Forty Martyrs Church in the capital Tarnovo was written that he conquered "the whole land of Theodore Komnenos from Adrianople to Durrës". Due to the lack of a successor of age and the internal struggle among the nobility, Bulgaria lost most of Albania without any decisive defeat in 1256 after a humiliating treaty signed from the Bulgarian side by the Russian noble Rostislav Mikhailovich. That treaty cost the life of Emperor Michael Asen I. The decline of Bulgaria continued and the country lost its last fortresses in Albania under Constantine Tikh Asen (1257–1277).