Thread by @Varangian_Tagma

A generation after the disaster at Pliska, war again loomed over the Haemus Mountains.

During these preparations a secret embassy arrived in the capital, imploring Emperor Theophilos for his help.

The Emperor accepted & initiated one of the greatest rescue missions in history.

After crushing the Byzantines at Pliska, killing Emperor Nikephoros I, & famously turning his skull into a chalice, Khan Krum extended his Empire south into Byzantine territory. Integrating these Byzantines into the Bulgarian state was a key priority for the Khan.

Many of these populations & their leaders were allowed to maintain their posts & homes in the borderlands; however, Krum’s successors became uneasy with this arrangement. They felt these populations might serve as a fifth column for any Byzantine counterattacks.

In order to strengthen their frontiers the Bulgars moved many of these Byzantines to the northern banks of the Danube & settled them there. These “themesemen” were entrusted with border security against steppe peoples, a job they once fulfilled in Macedonia against the Bulgars

With war preparations underway these resettled Byzantines sent a secret embassy to Constantinople. The embassy stressed that these people remained loyal to the Byzantine Emperor & asked Theophilos to send boats up the Danube & retrieve them.

Theophilos agreed to help his kinsmen & launched a coordinated attack on the Bulgars. The army ravaged the mountainous southern frontier, drawing the focus of the Buglar military, while the fleet sailed north toward the captive Byzantines.

Although the campaign in the south was inconclusive, the rescue of the Byzantines on the Danube was a resounding success. The fleet brought 10,000 Byzantines back to safety & resettled them in the Empire, a major psychological & propaganda victory for Theophilos.

Although details on the rescue of the “Macedonians on the Danube” are scarce one can imagine the fleet navigating the unpredictable waters of the Black Sea, avoiding the roving steppe tribes of the Danube, & Bulgar contingents pressing on the evacuation area & desperate evacuees.

This is one of many occasions in which the Byzantine Empire went to great lengths to bring populations who identified themselves as “Romans,” into lands controlled by the government in Constantinople.

During the Arab conquests ships were sent to Egypt & counterattacks into Syria whose objectives included the evacuation of self-identifying Romans (largely Greek-speaking Chalcedonian Christians).

This phenomenon occurred again during the Komnenian Dynasty when campaigns would be launched into the Anatolian interior & locals given the opportunity to evacuate Seljuk lands under the protection of the army. Many settled in Constantinople, swelling its population.

We know tantalizingly little about the Byzantine “Escape from Bulgaria,” do you know of any similar rescue operations?