Battle of Pegae

Battle of Pegae
Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: War of 913–927
Date March 921 Location Village of Balakla, near Constantinople Result Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgarian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Theodore Sigritsa	Pothos Argyros Leo Argyros Alexios Mosele  † John the Rhaiktor
Strength
Large army	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy

The Battle of Pegae (Bulgarian: битка при Пиги) was fought between 11 and 18 March 921 in the outskirts of Constantinople between the forces of the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire during the Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 913–927. The battle took place in a locality called Pegae (i.e. "the spring"), named after the nearby Church of St. Mary of the Spring. The Byzantine lines collapsed at the very first Bulgarian attack and their commanders fled the battlefield. In the subsequent rout most Byzantine soldiers were killed by the sword, drowned or were captured.

In 922 the Bulgarians continued their successful campaigns in Byzantine Thrace, capturing a number of towns and fortresses, including Adrianople, Thrace's the most important city, and Bizye. In June 922 they engaged and defeated yet another Byzantine army at Constantinople, confirming the Bulgarian domination of the Balkans. However, Constantinople itself remained outside their reach, because Bulgaria lacked the naval power to launch a successful siege. The attempts of the Bulgarian emperor Simeon I to negotiate a joint Bulgarian–Arab assault on the city with the Fatimids were uncovered by the Byzantine and countered.

The primary sources for the battle are Theophanes Continuatus, Leo the Grammarian's Chronicle, the continuation of George Hamartolos' Chronicle and John Skylitzes' Synopsis of Histories.

Although the Byzantine–Bulgarian conflict that began in 913 was provoked by the Byzantines, it was the Bulgarian monarch Simeon I (r. 893–927) who was seeking pretext to wage war and fulfil his ambitions to claim an imperial title for himself and to assume the throne of Constantinople. Unable to confront the Bulgarians, the Byzantines reluctantly recognized Simeon I as Emperor of Bulgaria (in Bulgarian, Tsar) as early as July 913 but the decision was revoked after a palace coup in Constantinople in 914. Three years later, in 917, the main Byzantine forces were routed in the Battle of Achelous and the Bulgarians took the military initiative. In the four year that followed they launched a number of successful campaigns, reaching the walls of Constantinople and the Isthmus of Corinth.

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