Standart News

According to Macedonian historians after being under Bulgarian rule for ages, in 971, led by Tsar Samuil, Macedonians rose against the Bulgarian domination and regained their independence. After they escaped from the 'Bulgarian rule' Macedonians got into a fierce battle with Byzantium. The ensuing long and exhausting war led to the demise of the First Macedonian Kingdom in 1018.
That it what Macedonian children are taught at school, that is what the citizens of Bulgaria's neighbor country know about Tsar Samuil. This blatant lie was first launched in 1944.
This truly is a 100% lie. The ethnic origin of Tsar Samuil and the name of the county that he ruled has never been a subject of discussion among historians. Thousands of scientists from Russia, the USA, England, France, Germany, Serbia have always written about the dramatic battle between Bulgaria and Byzantium in the second half of 10th and the beginning of the 11th century. This is natural as all the survived documents from this period (Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian, Latin, Armenian and Arab) speak about the Bulgarian Kingdom and the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil.
The funny thing is that the deadliest blow to the Macedonian thesis about the ethnic origin of Tsar Samuil was delivered by the accidental discovery of a big inscription engraved in a stonewall found in the southwestern Macedonian city of Bitola in 1956. The inscription was carved in 1016 under Tsar Ivan Vladislav's, the nephew and heir of Tsar Samuil, order. Tsar Ivan Vladislav tells about victories and defeats in the war against Byzantium and states that he is Bulgarian, that he is the Tsar of Bulgaria and that he has built the walls of the Bitola fortress to protect Bulgarians. In other words, Tsar Ivan Vladislav explains what is the origin of the nation that now lives on the territory of Macedonia. What is his nationality and tsar of which kingdom was he.
You can imagine the faces of the so-called Macedonian 'scientists' when the inscription was discovered. Therefore, the biggest Slav stone inscription ever to be found is now buried in the basement of the Bitola museum broken is several pieces.