Wedding of Miroslava and Ashot Taronites

Ashot Taronites (; ; ) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

nobleman. Captured by the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

in 995, he was released in 996 and married to Miroslava, daughter of Tsar

Samuel of Bulgaria Samuel (also Samoil or Samuil; , ; , ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died 6 October 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, th ...

. Appointed governor of Dyrrhachium by Samuel, he and his wife fled to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

and arranged for Dyrrhachium to be handed over to Byzantine rule.

Life

Ashot was the son of

Gregory Taronites Gregory Taronites (; ) was an Armenian prince of Taron, who went over to Byzantine service and held senior commands and governorships under Emperor Basil II. He was killed by the Bulgarians at an ambush near Thessalonica ca. 991 or 995. Life G ...

. Gregory was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

prince of the region of Taron in southern

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. When his father,

Ashot III of Taron Ashot III (, ''Asotios''; Arabic: ''Ashūṭ ibn Ghirghūr'' and ''Ibn Ṭurnīq''; ) was the last independent ruler of the southern Medieval Armenia, Armenian region of Taron (historic Armenia), Taron from until his death in 967. Ashot was a natu ...

, died in 967/8, Gregory and his brother ceded Taron to the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

in exchange for extensive lands and the title of ''

patrikios The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

''. Gregory went to

, where he married and had at least two children, Ashot and a daughter Irene. In 991, Emperor

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...

led a campaign in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, against

, and appointed Gregory '' doux'' of

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...

. Ashot accompanied his father to Thessalonica. Some time after this appointment, Ashot was captured and Gregory was killed by the Bulgarians in an ambush near Thessalonica. A raiding party had approached the city, and Gregory sent out Ashot with the vanguard to make contact with them and reconnoitre. The over-eager Ashot engaged the Bulgarians and drove them back, but was drawn into a prepared ambush and encircled with his men. His father, following up with the main Byzantine force, rushed to his rescue, but was killed. The exact date of this event is unknown. The chronology of the account of

John Skylitzes John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes (, ; , ; early 1040s – after 1101), was a Byzantine historian of the late 11th century. Life Very little is known about his life. The title of his work records him as a '' kouropalat ...

seems to place it in 996, while Armenian sources place it in 991. Modern research holds that it must have happened at the latest in mid-995, as John Chaldos is attested as ''doux'' of Thessalonica later in the same year. In 996, however, Samuel, following his escape from the disastrous

Battle of Spercheios The Battle of Spercheios (, ) took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the Spercheios river near the city of Lamia in central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, which in the previous year had penetrated south into ...

, released Ashot and married him to his daughter Miroslava. According to the Byzantine historian

, the latter had fallen deeply in love with the captive Byzantine, and threatened to kill herself if Samuel did not allow them to be married. Samuel sent the couple to Dyrrhachium, where Ashot became governor. Once there, Ashot established contacts with the Byzantine government, aided by the city's leading magnate, John Chryselios, who offered to surrender the city in exchange for titles for himself and his sons. Ashot and Miroslava fled to Constantinople on board a Byzantine warship, and soon after, a Byzantine squadron appeared off Dyrrhachium under

Eustathios Daphnomeles Eustathios Daphnomeles (, early 11th century) was a Byzantine and patrician who distinguished himself in the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria. He ranks as one of the most prominent and successful generals in the thirty-year war between Emperor ...

, and the city returned to Byzantine rule. At Constantinople, Emperor Basil named Ashot ''

magistros The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

'' and his wife a ''

zoste patrikia ''Zōstē patrikía'' () was a Byzantine court title reserved exclusively for the woman who was the chief attendant and assistant to the empress. A very high title, its holder ranked as the first woman after the Empress herself in the imperial c ...

''. Nothing further is known of them. The dating of this episode is unclear; it is usually dated shortly after 997/8 according to the narrative of Skylitzes. It is, however, possible that this episode actually took place as late as 1018, at the end of the Bulgarian war, since the chronology of Skylitzes is often unreliable; while the Italian chronicle of

Lupus Protospatharius Lupus Protospatharius Barensis was the reputed author of the ''Chronicon rerum in regno Neapolitano gestarum'' (also called ''Annales Lupi Protospatharii''), a concise history of the Mezzogiorno from 805 to 1102. He has only been named as the aut ...

gives a completely different date for the recovery of Dyrrhachium, 1004/5, and does not mention Ashot.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taronites, Ashot 10th-century Byzantine people Byzantine people of Armenian descent Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars Ashot Magistroi Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Byzantine prisoners of war People from Durrës Year of birth uncertain Prisoners and detainees of the First Bulgarian Empire