Travel

Mountain passes, river valleys and fortified towns structured travel through medieval Bulgarian lands. Merchants carried goods between markets, rulers moved armies, and clergy and pilgrims travelled to religious centres. The First and Second Bulgarian Empires occupied changing Balkan territories, so a journey could cross different jurisdictions as well as difficult ground.

On this page6 sections

Routes followed rivers, valleys and mountain passes

The Balkan Mountains separated the northern plains from Thrace, but passes channelled movement between them. A narrow approach allowed defenders to watch and obstruct an advancing force. In 1190, the Byzantine emperor Isaac II’s campaign ended in defeat at the Tryavna pass. The importance of the route lay in the way terrain concentrated people and supplies within a limited corridor.

River valleys offered corridors through otherwise broken terrain. The Morava and Maritsa connected inland regions with major routes across the Balkans, while crossing the Danube linked Bulgaria with the northern steppe. Asen crossed the Danube for Cuman support in 1186. A traveller following a valley still had to negotiate tributaries, crossings and the approaches to defended settlements.

Ivan Asen II’s charter of 1230 names a wide commercial geography, including Vidin, Tarnovo, Preslav, Adrianople and Skopje. It followed his victory at Klokotnitsa, when Bulgarian political influence expanded. By naming towns and provinces, the ruler identified places in which merchants from Dubrovnik were to enjoy his protection.

Animals and the road

Horses supplied riding and carrying power, while pack loads allowed goods to pass where a wheeled vehicle would be awkward. An animal also required fodder, water and rest. The capacity of a journey therefore depended on the route and on keeping its transport animals fit to continue, as well as on the quantity of goods a merchant wished to move.

Robert de Clari, a Picardian knight, described horses in a Bulgarian princess’s dowry with silk coverings that survived mud and bad roads. The passage joins valuable goods and conspicuous display with the physical difficulty of travel. Ceremonial importance did not remove the effects of weather and the road surface.

A journey required provisions as well as transport. Travellers needed to carry supplies or obtain them at settlements and stopping places. Delays could consume what had been intended for a shorter journey, while the requirements of a horse added to the human party’s needs.

Shelter along the route

An earlier foundation illustrates organised hospitality. The Bachkovo rule of 1083, issued during Byzantine rule, endowed hospices for travellers and poor people. Beds, heating and provisions supported a stop between stages of a journey. Keeping these places supplied required property income and assigned personnel.

Royal protection for merchants on the move

A royal charter was a written grant of privileges. Ivan Asen II’s 1230 charter treated Dubrovnik’s merchants as protected guests and authorised them to bring, carry, buy and sell goods in the named lands. Foreign traders could present their activity as recognised by the ruler, rather than depending only on a local arrangement.

The charter specifically names mountain passes and markets in its prohibition of interference. Anyone obstructing the merchants was threatened with the ruler’s anger. The terms brought the movement of goods within royal authority and identified the places where officials or other powerful people might impede it.

Religious journeys and clerical connections

The transfer of relics created religious journeys as well as new destinations. John of Rila’s remains were carried from Sofia to Esztergom in 1183, returned in 1187 and later moved to Tarnovo. Such transfers required a party to accompany the relics and made their arrival a public religious event.

In 1335 Ivan Alexander supported Gregory of Sinai’s community at Paroria in the Strandzha region. Clerics from Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia gathered around this religious centre. Teachers, pupils and books moved between communities, connecting a mountain monastery with a much wider Orthodox network.

War, changing borders and late medieval journeys

Warfare threatened both travellers and the resources they needed. Armies could seize animals, burn crops and occupy towns. A damaged settlement might offer fewer supplies, while a contested pass could force a detour. Transport and security were therefore linked to the survival of communities along the route.

Late medieval political division created several centres of authority at Tarnovo, Vidin and Kaliakra. Johann Schiltberger, captured at Nicopolis in 1396, later described three regions called Bulgaria. His retrospective account belongs to the period of Ottoman conquest, when older routes and towns were being incorporated into a new political order.