irtues,
discipline, patriotism, and enthusiasm. The Bulgarian kings
brought their victorious armies to the gates of Constantinople,
whose very existence they threatened. The Greek Emperor sought
their friendship, and even consented to pay them tribute.

Bulgaria attained her greatest empire in the reign of King Kroum.
Between King Isperich and King Kroum, however, Bulgaria had many ups and
downs. The Bulgarian King, Kormisos, once almost reached the walls of
Constantinople. But trouble among his own people prevented his victories
being pushed home. Then a series of civil wars in Bulgaria weakened the
nation, and a great section of it migrated to Asia Minor. The Roman
Emperor, Constantine V., took this occasion to exact a full revenge for
previous Bulgar attacks on Constantinople. The Bulgar army was routed,
and an invading force carried the torch into every Bulgarian town. A new
Bulgar King, Cerig, restored his country's position somewhat by a
secretly plotted massacre of all its enemies within its boundaries. The
Empress Irene then ascended the Imperial throne at Constantinople and
found herself unable to withstand the Bulgar power, and went back to the
system of paying tribute to the Bulgarians as the price of safety.

King Kroum next ascended the throne of Bulgaria and, capable and savage
warrior as he was, raised its power vastly. He defeated and slew the
Greek Emperor, Nicephorus, in battle, and captured Sofia (809), the
present capital of Bulgaria. Warfare was savage in those days, and
between the Bulgars and the Greek emperors particularly savage. The
defeated Imperial army was massacred to a man, from the Emperor down to
the foot-soldier. King Kroum afterwards used the skull of the descendant
of the Caesars as a drinking-cup.

A siege of Constantinople followed the defeat and death of the Emperor
Nicephorus. The Bulgars affrighted the defenders of the city by their
fierce orgies before the walls, by the human sacrifices they offered up
in their sight, and by the resolute refusal of all quarter in the field.
The Empire tried to buy off the Bulgars with the promise of an annual
tribute of gold, of cloth, and of young girls. The invaders finally
retired with a great booty, and the death of King Kroum soon after
relieved the anxiety of Constantinople.

Bulgaria seems now (the ninth century) to have suffered again from
internal dissensions. These arose mostly out of religious issues. Many
of the S