Цитати от основния взантийски извор за периода на цар Самуил - Йоан Скилица, 11 век / Citations from the main Byzantine source for Samuel's period - John Skylitzes, 11th century:
4 B. In the early spring the Emperor again returned to Bulgaria and set out for the fortress of Voden, because its inhabitants, betraying their loyalty to the Emperor, had taken up arms against the Byzantines. Moreover, he strongly besieged the town and compelled them to surrender, after receiving guarantees. He again deported them to Voleron, and in the middle of the pass he erected two other fortresses, one of which he named Kardia, and the other Saint Elijah, and returned to Thessalonica. There, through a Byzantine who had lost one hand, Roman Gavril sent a promise of submission and obedience. The Emperor treated the letter with suspicion and he sent an army under Nicephorus Xiphias and Constantine Diogenes, who had become strategus of Thessalonica after Botaniates, to the region of Moglena. After they devastated all this land and besieged the town, the Emperor himself arrived. He diverted the river that flowed by the city and, having undermined the foundations of the walls, he threw wood and other easily inflammable substances into the excavations and set them on fire. When the combustible substances burned out, the wall crumbled. On seeing this, the besieged began to weep and plead, and sur rendered, together with the fortress. And so Dometian Kaukhanus,4 a noble and counselor to Gavril, the governor of Moglena Ilitsa and many other noblemen and a considerable number of soldiers were captured. And so the Emperor sent those fit to bear arms to Asprakania, while the other non-combatants he ordered to be plundered and the fortress to be burned. Another fortress, called Enotia, adjacent to Moglena, also fell.
On the fifth day the handless Byzantine arrived together with officials of Ivan Vladislav, Aaron's son. He carried a letter in which Ivan Vladislav reported that he had killed Gavril in Petrisk5 and that he had assumed full power. /In the letter/ he also promised to offer the Emperor the submission and obedience due to him. Having read the letter and reaffirmed his decision with a royal decree, the Emperor sent envoys to Ivan. In a few days’ time the Greek with the severed hand again returned with a letter from Ivan and the Bulgarian notables, who declared that they were ready to become subjects and slaves of the Emperor. Kaukhanus, the brother of Dometian, who had been captured in Moglena, also joined the Emperor. The Emperor received him and held him in esteem. When he realized that Ivan had written the letter with cunning and duplicity and that he was thinking the opposite of what he promised, he again returned to Bulgaria and devastating the areas around Ostrovo, Sosk, as well as the plain of Pelagonia, he blinded all the Bulgarians whom he captured. And thus he reached the town of Ohrid, where the palaces of the Tsars of Bulgaria stood. After he had occupied the town and made all the necessary arrangements, he decided to proceed further and to go to Dyrrachium because affairs there required his presence. And indeed, as long as Vladimir,6 who was married to Samuil's daughter, a just, peace-loving and virtuous man, was in possession of Trimalia and the lands in the vicinity of Servia, peace reigned in Dyrrachium. But after Gavril had been murdered by Ivan, Vladimir trusted the oaths which Ivan passed on to him through David, the Archbishop of Bulgaria, gave himself up and was soon killed. Then great confusion and disorder set in there, because Ivan frequently tried in every way through military commanders and personally to recapture the town. The Emperor, therefore, wanted to go to help him but was stopped by a serious consideration. Because on his march to Ohrid he had left in the rear the strategus Georgius Gonitziates and the cap tured protospatharius Orestes with a large army, ordering them to devastate the plains of Pelagonia.7 The Bulgarians, however, led by the military commander Ivats, a most outstanding and well-tried man, caught them in an ambush and killed them all. Seized with sorrow for them, the Emperor returned to Pelagonia and pursuing Ivats closely, reached Thessalonica and then went to Mosynopolis. He sent against Stroumitsa a force under the patrician David Arianites, who appeared suddenly and captured the fort called Thermitsa.8 He sent another force under Xiphias against the fortresses near Triaditsa. Having taken all fortresses situated in the open, he besieged and captured the fortress called Boion /Boyana/.
[...]
That same year 6524, indiction 14 /1016/, the Emperor left the Capital and set out for Triaditsa. He encircled the fortress of Pernik and besieged it but its defenders fought valiantly and courageously and many Byzantines were killed. The Emperor maintained the siege for a full 88 days but, understanding that he had undertaken something impossible, he withdrew, without doing anything, and returned to Mosynopolis. He left his army to rest there an$, with the coming of spring, he left Mosynopolis, invaded Bulgaria, besieged the for tress named-Longon and took it by siege. Sending David Arianites and Constantine Diogenes to the plains of Pelagonia, he captured a lot of cattle and men. The Emperor, having burned the fortress, divided the prisoners into three parts: one part he gave to his Russian allies, the other to the Byzantines and the third he kept for himself. Then he moved on and, on reaching Castoria, he tried to take the fortress but realized that it was impregnable and turned back. Moreover, he had received a letter from the strategus of Dorostol, Cicikius, the son of the patrician Teudatus the Iverian, /who informed him/ that Krakra had collected a very numerous army and had joined Ivan; they had also won over the Pechenegs and intended to attack the Byzantines. Troubled by this letter, the Emperor immediately returned. On the way he captured the fortress of Bosograd and burned it, rebuilt Berrhoea, and devastated and destroyed everything around Ostrovo and Moliscus. He gave up any further advance because he had been informed that the campaign against the Byzantines planned by Krakra and Ivan had been called off, because the Pechenegs had failed to give them military assistance. That is why he returned and besieged another fortress, Setaena, where Samuil had had palaces and where a large amount of wheat was stored. The Emperor ordered the troops to seize it, and burned everything. Against Ivan, who was not very far away, he sent the detachment of the Western scholae9 and the Thessalonica detachment com manded by Constantine Diogenes. When they went, Ivan laid a trap for them. On learning this, the Emperor feared lest something bad should happen to them and, riding before the army said only: 'Let him who is a soldier follow me!' and swiftly rushed forward. On seeing this, Ivan's scouts ran terrified towards Ivan's camp and filled it with confusion and disturbance, crying only: 'Run for your lives, the Tsar!' Since everyone, including Ivan, were fleeing in disorder, the men of Diogenes took courage and began to pursue them. They killed many and captured 200 heavily armed soldiers, their horses and Ivan's baggage, as well as his nephew. Having done this, the Emperor returned to Voden, arranged everything there and set out for Constantinople on January 9, indiction 15, 6526 /1018/.
