First Bulgarian Empire ц︢рьство бл︢гарское | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 681–1018 | |||||||||||||
First Bulgarian Empire in 850 | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Pliska (681–893), Preslav (893–968/972) | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Bulgar, Byzantine Greek, Balkan Romance, Old Church Slavonic | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Tengrism, Slavic paganism (681–864), Orthodox Christianity (state religion from 864) | ||||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||||||
• 681-700 | Asparuh (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1015-1018 | Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria (last) | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
| 680 | |||||||||||||
• New Bulgarian state recognized by Eastern Rome | 681 | ||||||||||||
| 864 | |||||||||||||
• Adoption of Church Slavonic as a national language | 893 | ||||||||||||
| 913 | |||||||||||||
• Theme Bulgaria established in Byzantine Empire | 1018 1018 | ||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
| 895 | 400,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| 927 | 287,000 km2 (111,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| 1000 | 235,000 km2 (91,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The First Bulgarian Empire (Church Slavonic: ц︢рьство бл︢гарское, ts'rstvo bl'garskoe) was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in AD 632 in the lands near the Danube Delta, which disintegrated in AD 1018 after its annexation to the Byzantine Empire. It was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185.
According to the law of 893, in the Bulgarian Empire everyone was Bulgarian, and the Bulgarian language was mandatory in the liturgy (with Cyrillic or Glagolitic script).