Simeon the Great

Simeon the Great Симеон І Велики
Simeon I, from the Madrid Skylitzes
Emperor of the Bulgarians and Romans
Reign	893 – 27 May 927
Predecessor	Vladimir
Successor	Peter I
Born	864/865
Died	27 May 927 Preslav, Bulgaria
Spouse	First: unknown name Second: Maria Sursuvul
Issue	Michael Peter, Emperor of Bulgaria Ivan Benjamin
Dynasty	Krum dynasty
Father	Boris I
Mother	Maria

Simeon (also Symeon)I the Great (Bulgarian: Симеон I Велики, transliterated Simeon I Veliki[simɛˈɔn ˈpɤ̞rvi vɛˈliki]) ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe. His reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture.

During Simeon's rule, Bulgaria spread over a territory between the Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea, and the new Bulgarian capital Preslav was said to rival Constantinople. The newly independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church became the first new patriarchate besides the Pentarchy, and Bulgarian Glagolitic and Cyrillic translations of Christian texts spread all over the Slavic world of the time. It was at the Preslav Literary School in the 890s that the Cyrillic alphabet was developed. Halfway through his reign, Simeon assumed the title of Emperor (Tsar), having prior to that been styled Prince (Knyaz).