“ANYONE WHO READS THIS SHOULD CURSE THE HERETIC”: COMBATING BOGOMILISM IN BULGARIA, BYZANTIUM, AND SERBIA FROM THE 10TH THROUGH THE 14TH CEMTURY
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2026, N 1, pp. 198-233
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXII1.07
Liliana SIMEONOVA 
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria
Abstract: This essay aims to offer a comprehensive review of sources relevant to the collaboration between the state and the church in Bulgaria, Byzantium, and Serbia in their efforts to combat the heresy of Bogomilism over a period of more than five hundred years. Medieval Bosnia has been excluded from this study due to ongoing controversies surrounding the association of the Bosnian Church with the Bogomils. The essence of the Bogomils’ teachings is not the focus of this study. Suffice it to say that very few, if any, original Bogomil texts have survived. Most of our knowledge about this heresy comes from writings by its opponents, which may contain distortions and exaggerations. Bogomilism is named after its founder, Bogomil. (It remains unclear whether this was his baptismal name or nickname.) The term “Bogomils” was first used by a Byzantine author in the eleventh century to refer to the followers of Bogomil. Despite their considerable experience in combating heresies, the Byzantine Church was never able to accurately define the true nature of this “newly appeared heresy” in Bulgaria. Typically, Byzantine authors associated Bogomilism with known heresies of the past. Their inability to clearly define the Bogomil teaching was a hallmark of the entire period from the tenth to the fourteenth century. There is no information regarding whether the Bogomils in Bulgaria were ever subjected to persecution, physical punishment, or death by the state, as occurred in other countries both in the region and in the West. Even the show trial of those who, according to Article 93 of Boril’s Synodikon, were “sowers of impiety” did not bring about any substantive measures, and the Synod of 1211 in Tarnovo seemed not to have led to any changes in the organization of the Bulgarian Church. This was probably due to the complex political situation, both external and internal, inwhich Bulgaria found itself at that time. On the other hand, such data is accessible for Byzantium in the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries, as well as for Serbia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Keywords: heresy, Bogomils, Bulgaria, Byzantium, Serbia
THE AMALFITANS IN BYZANTIUM: MERCHANTS, MONKS, AND POLITICAL FIGURES, 9th – 13th CENTURY
Liliana SIMEONOVA
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
Abstract: In the tenth through the thirteenth century, trade ties in the Mediterranean world were strengthened by a vast trade network that sprawled over the entire coastal area. The Amalfitans played a major role in its creation and subsequent enlargement. Constantinople, which was the nexus of transmarine trade in the Eastern Mediterranean-Black Sea region, became an important outpost of the Amalfitan merchants, who plied their trade in the Mediterranean. Although Amalfi never was a ‘Byzantine dominion’ in the strictest sense of the word, it managed to forge a special relationship with the Empire, which was both enduring and mutually advantageous. Byzantium, for its part, strove to keep Amalfi in its sphere of influence by bestowing imperial titles upon Amalfitans.
In the course of time, Amalfi became one of the rising commercial powers in the Mediterranean world, with a mercantile class that was wealthy and politically influential, not just at home but in Constantinople and Egypt as well. As the network of their commercial contacts sprawled across the Mediterranean world, the Amalfitans became active in diplomacy, cultural patronage, charities, religious affairs and monasticism, translation and transmission of texts. The work of Amalfitan translators in Byzantium contributed to the strengthening of the ties between the eastern and western Christians. From the late 900s to the late 1200s there were Amalfitan religious establishments in Byzantium. Prominent eleventh- and twelfth-century Amalfitans took upon themselves the realization of important political tasks while acting as patrons of arts, literature, and charitable works. Their manifold activities made them highly visible in Mediterranean history. In the twelfth century, the gradual decline of Amalfi’s Levantine trade had an impact on Constantinople.
Keywords: Byzantium, Amalfi, Trade, Diplomacy, Charities, Monasteries, Churches, Translations, Latin East