Sevastocrator Strez

Abstract

In the conditions of the visible weakening of the Bulgarian state under Kaloy's new successor Boryl (1207-1218) and the growing resistance against the Latin invaders, the Principality of Prosek was formed, headed by the Bulgarian boyar Strez. Breaking away from the central authority, he seized hours of northern and middle Macedonia and established himself as an independent ruler in the strong fortress of Prosek along the Middle Vardar. A relative and a retainer of the Asen dynasty, Strez was the first official mentioned with the title of sevastokrator in the Second Bulgarian State. An examination of his social position and participation in political life will contribute both to clarifying the complex socio-political situation on the Balkan Peninsula at the end of the first and the beginning of the second decade of the 13th century, and to illuminating the nature of the sevastokratorial dignity, to determining its place in the Bulgarian state rank list and the role of its holder in the supreme government of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. To this end, it is necessary to examine some basic issues related to the disclosure of the place and role of the Sevastokrator Strez in Bulgarian state life: 1) the information of the sources about the sevastoprator Strez and the spread of the name Strez in Slavic onomastics; 2) the genealogical connections of Strez with the Asen family and his identification with the former Prosek ruler Khriz; 3) foreign political relations of the Prosek principality with Serbia,  Despotate of Epirus, the Latin Empire and Bulgaria; 4) the time when Strez received his sevastokratorial title; 5) the functions of the sevastokrator on the territory of the Prosek dominion.