In the almost 1,000-year history of the Byzantine Empire, there were only three occasions when the Basilians died in battle. The first emperor Valens fell in the battle with the Goths in 378. During the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Constantine XI died. The third case of death of the basileus in battle is “on the account” of the Bulgarians.
And this death is immortalized in many chronicles, and many in the world have heard of the cup made from the skull of Nicephorus I. The emperor died in the battle of the Varbish Pass on July 26, 811.
Nikephorus I ascended the throne of Byzantium in 802. His plans are to return to the empire the territories conquered by the Bulgarians. In 807 he launched a campaign, but it was unsuccessful. He only reaches Edirne because he has to return to his capital, where the courtiers are plotting behind his back. The Bulgarian ruler Khan Krum considered the campaign undertaken by Nicephorus as a sufficient reason for military action against the Byzantines. Krum enters the lands along the Struma. In 809, the khan besieged and captured the important Sredets fortress. In response to this, Nicephorus I began preparations for a new campaign against the Bulgarians.
In the summer of 811, an 80,000-strong Byzantine army crossed the border – Stara Planina – and invaded the Bulgarian lands. On the way to the capital of the Bulgarians, the Byzantines plundered and destroyed the settlements. On July 20, the army attacked Pliska. The city was defended by a garrison of 12 thousand, but the advantage of the Byzantines was huge and the capital fell. The city was sacked and burned. The harassment of the civilian population is monstrous. Chroniclers have described cases in which Bulgarian children were chained to the ground, and millstones were dropped on them to smear them.
Khan Krum sends the emperor two messages. The first is when Vasilevsa entered the Bulgarian lands. Krum offers peace talks. Nicephorus I paid no attention to the proposal at all, confident of the victory he would reap. After the sack of Pliska, the khan sends a second message in which he says: “Here, you have won. So, take what pleases you and go in peace”. And this proposal was passed over with disdain.
Crum hastily gathers an army of 50,000 and prepares to meet the Byzantines. Nicephorus I learns about the preparation of the Bulgarians. This prompts him to retreat to his capital, taking the most direct route – through the Varbish Pass. On the evening of July 25, when the Byzantine armies had already entered the pass, it became clear to the emperor that the Bulgarians were near and were preparing an ambush. The reports of his scouts, which he sends, but too late, indicate that his army will have to fight his way out of the pass, as the Bulgarians have cut off his way of retreat. The chronicler Theophanes the Confessor wrote that in his desperation Nicephorus I said to his entourage: “Even if we were winged, let no one hope to escape destruction”.
After spending the whole night pounding their swords into their shields, hidden in the trees in the gorge, in the early morning of July 26, 811, they launched an attack directly into the center of the Byzantine camp. Discouraged and frightened, the guard units guarding the emperor buckled under the pressure of the Bulgarian attack. The regular troops, seeing that the Guards were losing the battle, panicked and ran to save themselves. Some of them head straight for the barriers erected by the Bulgarians in the southern part of the pass. Looking for salvation, they try to cross the river, but get stuck in the mud. They were overtaken by the other Byzantine soldiers. The Bulgarians quickly destroy them. Almost everyone dies in the battle. It is not exactly clear whether Emperor Nicephorus I was captured and executed, or was killed during the attack on his camp. The fact, which has been documented by many chroniclers, is known to every Bulgarian – Khan Krum orders the skull of Vasilevs to be encased in silver and become a cup from which the winner and his entourage will drink as a sign of the great victory.
The chroniclers write: “Having cut off the head of Nicephorus, Krum cleaned the skull and plated it on the outside with silver, proudly making the Slavic princes drink.”
Nicephorus I's son, Stavrakius, managed to escape, albeit badly wounded. He ruled Byzantium for a short time, but in the court torn apart by severe infighting, he very quickly renounced the throne and became a monk.
Khan Krum took advantage of the fact that Byzantium was weak and in the following years undertook the expansion of the Bulgarian state to the south of Stara Planina. At the end of his reign, the khan reached the walls of Constantinople, but his sudden death prevented the capture of the eternal city.