Two questions from the time of king Bodin's rule

Abstract

In this paper we try to give reliable answer upon two major questions: did Bodin, king of Dioclea, capture Dyrrachion in 1085, as it is related in the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, and when did he try to capture Dubrovnik (Ragusa). The capture of Dyrrachion is not mentioned at Ane Comnene's Alexias. Byzantine princess wrote that citizens of Dyrrachion surrender the town to her father, the Emperor Alexios, after the death of the Norman ruler Robert Guiscard in 1085. On the other hand, the Priest of Dioclea says that Bodin, after the death of Robert Guiscard captured Dyrrachion which he gave back to the Byzantines after he signed the peace treaty with the Emperor. Both statements are not clear enough, but detailed analysis of both writings shows that Bodin took northern part of the theme of Dyrrachion and most probably tried to negotiate surrender of town itself, but he failed. Bodin's military activities against the Byzantine possessions in the theme of Dyrrachion could be placed between 1085 and 1090 when he was captured, being forced to sign peace treaty. The charter of antipope Clement III issued in 1089 to the archbishop of Antibaris, contain list of bishops which served in Dioclea, and only one of them - the bishop of Dulcigno (Ulcinj), had been earlier under the archbishop of Dyrrachion. In other words, Bodin took a very small part of the theme of Dyrrachion and southern borders of Dioclea were approximately the same as in the time of his father Michael. The description of the siege of Dubrovnik is well preserved in Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea as well by several other authors from Dubrovnik. The authors from Dubrovnik, which composed their Chronicles much later (from XIV to XVII century), made mistake in the chronology, assuming that the siege took place in 1104. Having at their disposal an old note, that Bodin's tower, which stood on the shores just opposite the wooden bridge which lead from Dubrovnik to the land, was captured on the first day of April during the Pascha, they calculated wrong year since Pascha on the first day of April was in 1016. Relative chronology, which is preserved in their description of the siege, yielded 11 years from the time Bodin built tower to cut off the defenders from the inland. In this period the authors from Dubrovnik put also seven years of siege, what was, most probably, the number taken from Bible. That way, the later authors from Dubrovnik assumed that Bodin conducted the siege of Dubrovnik in 1004/1005. On the first day of April Pascha was also in 1100 and that year should be taken as the year when the tower of Bodin was captured and leveled to the ground. In that case since the author from Dubrovnik knew that the tower stood for four years, it means that the end of siege was in 1096. The Priest of Dioclea provides another clue for more accurate dating of the beginning of the siege. He says that Bodin beheaded his relatives in front of the walls of Dubrovnik during his 22nd year of rule, revealing from which year he calculates Bodin's rule, i.e. from September/October 1072, when Bodin was crowned as the Bulgarian emperor during the insurrection of the Bulgarians - and certainly not from 1085 when his father Michael died. Therefore, Bodin besieged Dubrovnik in 1092/1093. The exact year of the Bodin's siege of Dubrovnik provides another interesting solution - the exact year of his death. Since 1096 was 22nd year of Bodin's rule, and Priest of Dioclea says that he died in the fifth month of 26th year of his rule - it means that Bodin died in February/March 1099.