Bitola inscription

The inscription was found in Bitola in 1956 during the demolition of the Sungur Chaush-Bey mosque. The mosque was the first mosque that was built in Bitola, in 1435. It is located on the left bank of the River Dragor near the old Sheep Bazaar.[3] The stone inscription was found under the doorstep of the main entrance and it is possible that it was taken as a building material from the ruins of the medieval fortress. The medieval fortress was destroyed by the Ottomans during the conquest of the town in 1385. According to the inscription, the fortress of Bitola was reconstructed on older foundations in the period between the autumn of 1015 and the spring of 1016. At that time Bitola was a capital and central military base for the First Bulgarian Empire. After the death of John Vladislav in the Battle of Dyrrhachium in 1018, the local boyars surrendered the town to the Byzantine emperor Basil II. This act saved the fortress from destruction. The old fortress was located most likely on the place of the today Ottoman Bedesten of Bitola.[4]

After the inscription was found, information about the plate was immediately announced in the city. It was brought to Bulgaria with the help of the local activist Pande Eftimov. A fellow told him that he had found a stone inscription while working on a new building and that the word "Bulgarians" was on it.[5] The following morning, they went to the building where Eftimov took a number of photographs which were later given to the Bulgarian embassy in Belgrade.[6] His photos were sent to diplomatic channels in Bulgaria and were classified. In 1959, the Bulgarian journalist Georgi Kaloyanov sent his own photos of the inscription to the Bulgarian scientist Aleksandar Burmov, who published them in Plamak magazine. Meanwhile, the plate was transported to the local museum repository. At that time, Bulgaria avoided publicising this information as Belgrade and Moscow had significantly improved their relations after the Tito-Stalin split in 1948. However, after 1963, the official authorities openly began criticizing the Bulgarian position on the Macedonian Question, and thus changed its position.

In 1966, a new report on the inscription by Vladimir Moshin, a Russian emigrant living in Yugoslavia, was published.[7] As a result Bulgarian scientists Yordan Zaimov and his wife, Vasilka Tapkova-Zaimova, travelled to Bitola in 1968.[6] At the Bitola Museum, they made a secret rubbing from the inscription.[8] Zaimova claims that no one stopped them from working on the plate in Bitola.[6] As such, they deciphered the text according to their own interpretation of it, which was published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 1970.[9] Finally, the Macedonian researcher Ugrinova-Skalovska published her translation of the inscription in 1975.

Copy of the Bitola inscription as per Zaimov reconstruction

Part of the text is missing, as the inscription was used as a step of the Sungur Chaush-Bey mosque and therefore the first row was destroyed. The reconstruction of the Macedonian scientist prof. Radmila Ugrinova-Skalovska[10] is very similar to the following reconstruction made by the Yugoslav/Russian researcher Vladimir Moshin (1894–1987),[11] which is different than the reconstruction of the Bulgarian Prof. Yordan Zaimov (1921–1987). Zaimov version of the text reads as follows:[12]

† Въ лѣто Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃Г ҃ отъ створенїа мира обнови сѧ съ градь зидаемъ и дѣлаемъ Їѡаном самодрьжъцемъ блъгарьскомь и помощїѫ и молїтвамї прѣс ҃тыѧ влад ҃чицѧ нашеѧ Б ҃чѧ ї въз()стѫпенїе І ҃В ҃ i връховънюю ап ҃лъ съ же градь дѣлань бысть на ѹбѣжище и на сп҃сенѥ ї на жизнь бльгаромъ начѧть же бысть градь сь Битола м ҃ца окто ҃вра въ К ҃. Конъчѣ же сѧ м ҃ца ... исходѧща съ самодрьжъць быстъ бльгарїнь родомь ѹнѹкъ Николы же ї Риѱимиѧ благовѣрьнѹ сынь Арона Самоила же брата сѫща ц ҃рѣ самодрьжавьнаго ꙗже i разбїсте въ Щїпонѣ грьчьскѫ воїскѫ ц ҃рѣ Васїлїа кде же взѧто бы злато ... фоѧ съжев ... ц҃рь разбїенъ бы ц҃рѣмь Васїлїемь Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃В ҃ г. лтѣ оть створенїѧ мира ... їѹ съп() лѣтѹ семѹ и сходѧщѹ

In the year 6523 since the creation of the world [1015/1016? CE], this fortress, built and made by Ivan, Tsar of Bulgaria, was renewed with the help and the prayers of Our Most Holy Lady and through the intercession of her twelve supreme Apostles. The fortress was built as a haven and for the salvation of the lives of the Bulgarians. The work on the fortress of Bitola commenced on the twentieth day of October and ended on the [...] This Tsar was Bulgarian by birth, grandson of the pious Nikola and Ripsimia, son of Aaron, who was brother of Samuil, Tsar of Bulgaria, the two who routed the Greek army of Emperor Basil II at Stipon where gold was taken [...] and in [...] this Tsar was defeated by Emperor Basil in 6522 (1014) since the creation of the world in Klyutch and died at the end of the summer.

During the 10th century the Bulgarians established a form of national identity, that despite far from modern nationalism, helped them to survive as a distinct entity through history.[13] The inscription confirms that Tsar Samuel and his successors considered their state Bulgarian.[14] The stone plate reveals, the Cometopuli also had incipient Bulgarian ethnic consciousness.[15] The proclamation announced the first use of the Slavic title "samodŭrzhets", that means "autocrat".[16] The name of the city of Bitola, is mentioned for the first time in the inscription.[17] The Bitola inscription is a constructional one – it announces the reconstruction of a fortress. The text contains valuable information about the genealogy of the ruler Ivan. It becomes clear from it, that this ruler was the grandson of Nicholas and Ripsimia and the son of Aaron, Samuel's brother. The inscription also mentions the victory of the Bulgarians over the Byzantine emperor Basil II at the Trayanovi Vrata pass in 986, and the defeat of Samuel in the battle near the village of Klyuch in 1014.[18]

In North Macedonia, the official historiography refers to John Vladislav as one of the first Macedonian Tsars, and ruler of the "Slavic Macedonian Empire",[19] but there is no historical support for such assertions.[20] Moreover, the stone definitively reveals the ethnic self-identification of the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire before its conquest by Byzantium.[21] Even, according to Ugrinova-Skalovska, the claim on his Bulgarian ancestry is in accordance with the Cometopuli's insistence, to bound their dynasty to the political traditions of the Bulgarian Empire. Per Skalovska, all Western and Byzantine writers and chroniclers at that time, called the inhabitants of their kingdom Bulgarians.[22] The mainstream academics support the view that the inscription is an original artefact, made during the rule of Ivan Vladislav.[23]

The professor Horace Lunt, promoted the idea that the plate might have been made during the reign of Ivan Asen II ca. 1230, or that the inscription might be composed of two pieces, lettered at different times.[24] His findings are based on the photos, as well as the latex mold genuine reprint of the inscription, made by the professor Ihor Sevchenko of Dumbarton Oaks,[24] unlike the approach of Zaimovs, that created the re-print copy of the left over text, with special paper and water, when they visited Bitola in 1968.[6] Professor Lunt notes, that the Zaimov's arguments are inaccurate, stating that there are no reliable set of criteria to date early South Slavic Cyrillic. He quotes Moshin, that the date on the inscription is worn away and therefore Moshin and Zaimov "restored" most of the text inaccurately. In order for Moshin and Zaimov to restore the year of Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃Г ҃ (6522–1014), they were missing the clear evidence of existence of those numbers (letters). Lunt notes that the letter " ҃Ф" (that stands for 500), can also be a "ѱ" (that stands for 700), this number is followed by a space in which the letter "M" (that stands for 40) can be fitted in, therefore the final dating of the year according to Lunt, can be 1234 – the period of the Bulgarian ruler Ivan Asen II and not Ivan Vladislav. Lunt, who is called a midwife of the Macedonian language,[25] supports also the alternative theory[26] that Samuel was a Macedonian king,[27][28][29] who ruled a separate Macedonian state,[30] with distinct Slavic Macedonian population.[31] Lunt was funded by the authorities of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Republic of Macedonia for his work.[32][33]

One of the latest approach of this problem insists also on possible pre-dating.[34] On the 23th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, (held in 2016), two archeologists: Elena Kostić and the Greek prof. Georgios Velenis, who worked on the field with the plate itself found out that, on the very top part of the plate there were holes and channels to fit Π-shaped metal joints.[35] Therefore, the plate could not have the 13th row (which was made-up by the Zaimov couple) and that it was more likely that the plate was part of much older object from the Roman period. They are giving a date close to that of Lunt, i.e. 1202–1203, when Kaloyan was Bulgarian ruler.[34] Though, both authors have summarized, most of the researchers believe that the inscription is the last written source of the First Bulgarian Empire with an accurate dating, while some others argue it is from the 13th century, and only a single study proclaims it as a forgery.[35] Some modern researchers from North Macedonia also deny the dating of the inscription, claiming the existence of the contemporary Bulgarian ethnic identification was impossible, knowing that often time Byzantines, whilst also disputing the original size of the inscription, the titles of the rulers inside the text, the specific way of invoking the saints’ help, its authenticity, etc., insisting Vladislav was Macedonian tsar.[36][37]

The researchers presenting the thesis that the inscription was from the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire, do not give an explanation of where the Bulgarian ruler at that time, had detailed information about some events from end of the First Bulgarian Empire. It is about the kinship of the Comitopuli, as well as on some historical battles. It is not clear why this Bulgarian ruler called Ivan, who according to them was not Ivan Vladislav, pointed to be the grandson of Nikola and Ripsimia, and son of Aaron, who was Samuel's brother.[38]