Childhood and Education

In the medieval Bulgarian polities of the Danube and the Balkans, education is most clearly visible through church and literary centers. The First Bulgarian Empire lasted conventionally from 681 to 1018; after Byzantine rule from 1018 to 1185, the Second Bulgarian Empire continued until the Ottoman conquests in the late fourteenth century. The territories of these states changed over time and were not the same as the borders of modern Bulgaria.

Children encountered skills through the work around them as well as through organised instruction. Farming, food preparation and crafts required techniques passed between people working together. Church centres offered another path, training selected pupils to read, write, teach and serve as clergy.

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Religious teaching and the early literary centers

In the First Bulgarian Empire, the establishment of Christian literary centers created a need for people able to read, teach, and prepare books in Slavonic. The Preslav Literary School was established at Pliska in 886 under Boris I. In 893, Simeon I moved its main activity to the new capital, Preslav. Its work included teaching pupils, translating Christian texts, and producing original writing.

Another major center developed around Ohrid under Clement, who founded it in 886 on Boris I’s order. After Clement became a bishop in 893, Naum took over leadership. Ohrid was the principal gathering place in a broader network of ecclesiastical and literary activity, rather than simply the location of a single school building. The network prepared people for teaching, preaching, and priestly service. Its work connected instruction with the practical needs of the church: people trained there could help spread Christian teaching and written Slavonic across the empire’s changing territories.

Scripts and the work of learning

Learning to read and copy religious texts involved more than one script. Glagolitic, associated with Cyril and Methodius, remained important in the Ohrid tradition. Cyrillic adapted Greek letter forms and added signs for Slavic sounds. Early inscriptions connect its use with Preslav and nearby centres. A learner had to recognise letters and connect them with the sounds and words of the text.

For pupils who entered literary and church work, books were tools of instruction as well as objects to be produced and maintained. Monastic and church scriptoria, meaning places where texts were written and copied, operated at multiple locations associated with the Preslav center. Their work included translating Christian books and preparing texts for use in worship and teaching. At Ohrid, pupils and later generations of writers also translated and copied church texts, as well as composing new works.

A writing tablet called a pinakida provided a reusable surface. A pointed stylus marked letters in wax, while its flattened end could smooth the surface for another attempt. Such equipment allowed practice without using a fresh sheet for each exercise. Religious books also supplied reading material: a Psalter contained the biblical Psalms, and a Horologion collected prayers for the daily services. Repetition joined learning words with learning worship.

Writing beyond the literary centers

At Ravna, scratched inscriptions include alphabets, names and texts in several scripts. Their varied handwriting and informal content give a view of writing beyond a finished manuscript. An alphabet on a wall could function as an exercise or a reminder, while a name left a personal trace in a shared place.

Lead pendants carrying written texts show another use of letters outside books. A text worn on the body could have a devotional or protective purpose. The object’s function depended on the words and their perceived power, connecting writing with religious practice as well as literary study.

Training and correction at Tarnovo

In the fourteenth century, Theodosius of Tarnovo, a monk and teacher, helped prepare the setting for renewed literary activity. His pupil Evtimiy, later patriarch, became the leading figure of the Tarnovo literary school. Scholars corrected religious translations and spelling, comparing inherited texts and preparing models for copying.

Training for this work required careful reading and sustained copying. Evtimiy’s pupil Gregory Tsamblak received instruction in books and public speaking. A learned career could involve preparing a manuscript, composing a sermon and delivering teaching to an audience, giving literary skills a practical role in church life.

Play

Finds from Tarnovo include small clay balls, shaped pottery discs and fragments interpreted as parts of toys. A disc could serve as a counter and a clay ball as a playing piece. The exact rules of an individual game are seldom recoverable, but the objects show how inexpensive clay and broken pottery could be reused for play.