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Nicholas (komes)

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Inscription in the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria citing Nicholas and Ripsime as grandparents of Ivan Vladislav, the son of Aron.

The komes ("count") Nicholas Template:Lang-bg was a local ruler in Bulgaria, of Armenian origin, and progenitor of the Cometopuli ("the sons of the count") dynasty.

Life

According to the Armenian chronicler Stephen of Taron, the family originated in the Armenian region of Derdjan.[1][2] He was married to Ripsime or Hripsime, possibly a daughter of King Ashot II of Armenia.[3][4][5] The couple had four sons, David, Moses and Aron, and Samuel, who are collectively known as the Cometopuli (from Greek Kometopouloi, "sons of the komes"; Armenian կոմսաձագ Komsajagk).[1][2] Sometime in the 970s—the exact date is unclear and disputed—the brothers launched a successful rebellion against the Byzantine Empire, that had recently subdued Bulgaria; after the early death of his brothers, Samuel remained as the undisputed leader of Bulgaria, ruling as Tsar from 996 until his death in 1014.[6]

Other than that, nothing is known of Nicholas.[1] He may have ruled Serdica[7] or, according to other sources, was a local count in the region of the modern Republic of Macedonia.[8]

In 992/3, Samuel erected at German, near Lake Prespa, an inscription commemorating his parents and his brother David.[1]

Family tree

Count
Nicholas
Ripsime
of Armenia
DavidMosesAronSamuel
of Bulgaria

References

  1. ^ a b c d PmbZ, Nikolaos (#26038.
  2. ^ a b ODB, "Kometopouloi" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1140–1141.
  3. ^ Adontz, Nicholas (1938). "Samuel l'Armenien, roi des Bulgares". MAR Bclsmp (in French) (39): 37.
  4. ^ David Marshall Lang, The Bulgarians: from pagan times to the Ottoman conquest, Westview Press, 1976, p. 67.
  5. ^ Tom Winnifrith, Badlands, Borderlands: A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania, Duckworth, 2002, p. 83.
  6. ^ ODB, "Kometopouloi" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1140–1141; "Samuel of Bulgaria" (A. Kazhdan & C. M. Brand), p. 1838.
  7. ^ Prokić, Božidar (1906). Die Zusätze in der Handschrift des Johannes Scylitzes. Codex Vindobonensis hist. graec. LXXIV (in German). München. p. 28. OCLC 11193528.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Southeastern Europe in the early Middle Ages. Florin Curta. page 241

Sources

See also