In the almost 1000-year history of the Byzantine Empire, there are only three cases when a basileus died in battle. The first emperor Valens fell in battle with the Goths in 378. When Constantinople was captured by the Turks in 1453, Constantine XI died. The third case of a basileus' death in battle was "at the expense" of the Bulgarians.
And this death is immortalized in many chronicles and many around the world have heard about the cup made from the skull of Nikephoros I. The emperor died in the Battle of the Vrbish Pass on July 26, 811.
Nikephoros I ascended the throne of Byzantium in 802. His plans were to return the territories conquered by the Bulgarians to the empire. In 807 he undertook a campaign, but it was unsuccessful. He only reached Edirne, because he had to return to his capital, where his courtiers were plotting behind his back. The Bulgarian ruler Khan Krum considered the campaign undertaken by Nikephoros as a sufficient reason for military action against the Byzantines. Krum entered the lands along the Struma River. In 809, the khan besieged and captured the important fortress of Sredets. In response, Nikephoros I began preparations for a new campaign against the Bulgarians.
In the summer of 811, an 80,000-strong Byzantine army crossed the border - the Stara Planina - and invaded Bulgarian lands. On the way to the Bulgarian capital, the Byzantines plundered and destroyed settlements. On July 20, the army attacked Pliska. The city was defended by a 12,000-strong garrison, but the Byzantines had a huge advantage and the capital fell. The city was plundered and burned. The abuses against the civilian population were monstrous. Chroniclers have described cases in which Bulgarian children were chained to the ground and millstones were dropped on them to crush them.
Khan Krum sent the emperor two messages. The first was when the vassal entered the Bulgarian lands. Krum offered peace negotiations. Nikephoros I paid no attention to the proposal, confident in the victory he would reap. After the plunder of Pliska, the khan sent a second message in which he said: “Here, you have won. So, take whatever you please and go in peace”. And this proposal was ignored.
Krum quickly gathered a 50,000-strong army and prepared to meet the Byzantines. Nikephoros I learned of the Bulgarian preparations. This prompted him to withdraw to his capital, choosing 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 close and were preparing an ambush for him. The reports of his scouts, which he sent, but too late, indicated that his army would have to fight its way out of the pass, since the Bulgarians had cut off his retreat route. The chronicler Theophanes the Confessor writes that in his despair, Nicephorus I told his retinue: “Even if we were winged, no one should hope to escape death”.
After the Bulgarians had been banging their swords on their shields hidden in the trees in the gorge all night, in the early morning of July 26, 811, they launched an attack directly into the center of the Byzantine camp. Discouraged and frightened, the guards 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 for their lives. Some of them headed straight for the barriers erected by the Bulgarians in the southern part of the pass. Seeking salvation, they tried to cross the river, but got stuck in the mud. They were caught by other Byzantine soldiers. The Bulgarians quickly destroyed them. Almost everyone died in the battle. It is not exactly clear whether Emperor Nikephoros I was captured and executed, or fell dead during the attack on his camp. The fact, which is documented by many chroniclers, is known to every Bulgarian - Khan Krum ordered the skull of the basileus to be plated with silver and turned into a cup from which the winner and his entourage would drink as a sign of the great victory.
The chroniclers write: “Having cut off Nikephoros' head, Krum cleaned the skull and plated it on the outside with silver, proudly making the Slavic princes drink.”
The son of Nikephoros I, Stavrakiy, managed to escape, although seriously wounded. He ruled Byzantium for a short time, but in the court torn apart by severe internal strife he quickly abdicated 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 south of the Balkan Mountains. At the end of his reign, the khan reached the walls of Constantinople, but his sudden death prevented the capture of the eternal city.