Preslav

   Great Preslav (not to be confused with Little Preslav, the Bulgarian port at the mouth of the Danube River [q.v.]). Symeon of Bulgaria (q.v.) transferred the capital of Bulgaria from Pliska (qq.v.) to Great Preslav in 893. Svjatoslav (q.v.) conquered it in 969, but John I Tzimiskes (q.v.) took it from him in 971, forcing Svjatoslav to withdraw from Bulgaria entirely. Byzantium (q.v.) then annexed Bulgaria and abolished its patriarchate (q.v.). Another dramatic reversal occurred in 986 when Tsar Samuel (qq.v.) reoccupied it. However, Basil II (q.v.) recaptured Preslav in his campaign of 1000-1004 in northern Bulgaria. By the middle of the 11th century it was in Pecheneg (q.v.) hands.