Battle of Pegae

Battle of Pegae
Part of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
Date March 922 Location Village of Balakla, near Constantinople Result Bulgarian victory
Belligerents
Bulgarian Empire	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Theodore Sigritsa	Pothos Argyros Alexios Mosele †
Strength
Large army	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy

The Battle of Pegae occurred between March 11 and March 18, 922 in the outskirts of Constantinople. The result was a Bulgarian victory.

Origins of the conflict

After the major victories in 917, Simeon of Bulgaria tried to assume the Byzantine throne. His first step was to become a regent of the juvenile Emperor Constantine VII, but in 919 admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who was trying to prevent the Bulgarian influence in Byzantium, replaced the young Emperor's mother Zoe as regent and by 920 he proclaimed himself for co-Emperor which ruined Simeon's ambitions to ascend the throne by diplomatic means. In 920 the Bulgarian Emperor waged a war and a took almost all Byzantine possessions on the Balkans between 920-924.

The battle

In 922, a large Bulgarian army under the first minister Theodore Sigritsa marched swiftly through the Strandzha Mountains and reached the outskirts of Constantinople. Romanos sent troops under the Domestic of the Schools Pothos Argyros and the admiral Alexios Mosele to face the Bulgarians. The battle took place at Pegae. The initial Bulgarian blow was irresistible, and the Byzantine commanders were the first to flee, with Mosele drowning in a desperate attempt to reach a ship. Most of the Byzantine soldiers and sailors were killed, drowned, or captured.

Aftermath

After the battle the Bulgarians burned the palaces in Pegae, looted the Golden Horn, and triumphantly returned to Preslav.

Sources

• Ioannes Scylitzes. Historia. 2, 356-357.