The Danube-Sava-Kupa waterway and Bulgaria’s relations with the papacy and the Eastern Franks, the mid-860s through the early 890s

Abstract

The article explores the potential for the Danube-Sava-Kupa waterway and the secondary roads that ran along it to serve as an alternate route for travel, covering a sizable portion of the journey between Bulgaria and Rome or the East Frankish kingdom at a time when the Middle Danube region could not guarantee traveler safety. Although relatively sparse, written records of travel between Pliska, the ninth-century capital of Bulgaria, and Rome, or between Pliska and the migratory court of the East Frankish kings, indicate that this route was probably used from 866 to 892/93.

Keywords

• waterways
• overland routes
• balkans
• regional communications