The story of the blinding of Samuil's soldiers is among the most tragic pages in the Bulgarian chronicle. However, a scandalous theory has been circulating in historical circles and social networks for years: that the brutal decision of Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer was not simply a military strategy, but an act of insane rage after the murder of his intimate partner.
How much truth is there in the rumor that the Bulgarian Crown Prince Gavril Radomir killed the lover of the Byzantine emperor? FACTS unravels historical facts and myths.
The Fatal Ambush: Who is Theophylact Votaniat?
After the crushing blow that the Bulgarians suffered in the Klyuchka Gorge on July 29, 1014, Samuil managed to escape to Prilep. However, Basil II had not yet won the war. In order to clear the way for the Roman army to Strumica, he sent one of his most capable and close military commanders – The Duke of Thessaloniki Theophylact Votaniat.
The mission turns into a disaster. In the narrow defiles, the Byzantines fall into a trap organized by Samuil's son - Gavril Radomir. The Bulgarian troops defeated the Romans, and Gavril Radomir himself personally pierced Votaniat with his spear.
„The Emperor's Closest Friend“
When he learned of the death of his military leader, Basil II fell into an indescribable rage. The chronicler John Skylitsa writes that the emperor bore the loss with “great sorrow“, as Votaniates was his “closest and most trusted friend“.
It is this phrase, combined with the fact that Basil II never married, had no children, and led a strange, almost monastic lifestyle, that gives rise to modern theories that their relationship was intimate. Since the emperor was completely devoted to the army and despised palace luxury, later analyses often speculate about his sexuality. However, in the official medieval sources there is no direct evidence that Votaniat was his lover. For Basil, he was his right-hand man and a symbol of his military power.
The real reasons for the blinding: Personal revenge or cold-blooded calculation?
The death of Votaniat undoubtedly broke the emperor's patience, but the mass blinding of 15,000 Samuel's soldiers (one one-eyed leader was left for every hundred) was the result of pure strategic pragmatism, not just an emotional breakdown:
Economic and psychological blow: Instead of killing the captives, he maimed them. Sending them home puts a fatal strain on the Bulgarian economy, which is supposed to take care of them, and completely breaks the spirit of the nation. (As we know, the sight killed Tsar Samuil himself, who suffered a heart attack).