Portal:Bulgarian Empire/Selected article/15

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Samuil (Bulgarian: Самуил; pronounced [samuˈil]) was the Emperor (Tsar) of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 976 to 997, he was a general for Roman, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and at least de facto co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed him command of the army and the real authority. An energetic ruler, Samuil struggled to preserve his country's independence from Byzantium. His rule was characterized by constant war against the Byzantine Empire and its similarly ambitious ruler Basil II.

During his reign, Bulgaria gained control of most of the Balkans except Thrace and 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 also made the city the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. Although Samuil's reign brought the end of the First Bulgarian Empire, he is regarded as a heroic ruler.