International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Zofia Brzozowska
University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland; 
[e-mail]
The Image of Maria Lekapene, Peter and the Byzantine-Bulgarian Relations 
between 927 and 969 AD in the Light of Old Russian Sources
Maria Lekapene was the granddaughter of the Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos. In 
927 she married Peter of Bulgaria, a son of Simeon I the Great. Her marriage solemnly concluded 
in Constantinople was aimed at strengthening the newly signed Byzantine Bulgarian peace treaty. 
The notes on the reign of Peter and Maria Lekapene in the sources of Bulgarian provenance are 
extremely scarce. The researcher is therefore required to derive information on them mainly from 
the records of Byzantine authors: Symeon the Logothete, Georgius Monachus Continuatus (GMC), 
Leo Grammaticus, Theophanes Continuatus, John Skylitzes, John Zonaras and Constantine VII. 
Their accounts include quite a detailed description of the wedding ceremony of Maria and Peter as 
well as of the conclusion of peace in 927 AD. The authors mentioned the recognition of Lekapene 
as the ruler of the Bulgarians and also included some passages on the activities of the couple during 
later years (e.g. passages on Peter’s action preventing an attempt to capture the Bulgarian throne by 
his younger brother John in 928 AD or on several trips of Maria to Constantinople).
In Rus’ the information on the history of the Eastern Roman Empire and its relations with 
neighbouring Bulgaria was derived primarily from the Byzantine chronicles that were translated 

---

221
into Old Church Slavonic. Among the above-mentioned works, both editions of the GMC were 
certainly translated into the language of the literature of Orthodox Slavs. GMC is an anonymous 
historiographical work of the 10
th
century that presents the description of events from 842 AD, i.e. 
from the moment where the proper narration of George Hamartolos ends. The message of this source 
is entirely convergent with the message of the chronicle of Symeon the Logothete when it comes 
to the passages pertaining to Peter and Mary. In Rus’ the translation of the later, more extensive 
version of this source (the so-called B-edition), which was done most probably in Bulgaria, was 
known already in the 11
th
century. The translation was characterised by its considerable faithfulness 
to the original Greek text.
The Slavonic translation of the B-edition of the GMC probably formed the basis for the records 
pertaining to Peter and his wife Maria that can be found in the original Old Russian historiographical 
texts. A short note on the son of Simeon I the Great that was clearly inspired by this source can 
be found on the pages of the Russian Primary Chronicle under a wrong year 6450 AM: Simeon 
attacked the Croats and was beaten by them. He then died, leaving Peter, his son, as Prince of the 
Bulgarians. This record was repeated under 6450 AM or 6449 AM in a number of later Russian 
chronicles, including, among others, the Novgorod Fourth Chronicle, Sofia First Chronicle and 
Moscow chronicles. Definitely, the most comprehensive sequence regarding the reign of Peter and 
Mary, and the Byzantine-Bulgarian relations between 927 and 969 AD can be found in the second 
edition of the Hellenic and Roman Chronicle – a historiographical work from the first half of the 15
th
century, whose authors attempted to demonstrate the history of Rus’ in relation to general history. 
The passages pertaining to Mary and Peter constitute the reedited version of the Slavic translation 
of the relevant passages from the B-edition of the GMC. Three short records about Lekapene and 
her husband can also be found in the related works: the Russian Chronograph from 1512 and 
the Nikon Chronicle from the 16
th
century. The authors of these sources derived information on 
Bulgarian rulers not only from the GMC – the dependencies on the chronicles of John Zonaras 
and Constantine Manasses (known in their Slavic translation) as well as the elements taken from 
hagiography (e.g. a note on St. Ivan Rilski) can be found here too.