Historical Master Narratives and the Master Narrative of the Bulgarian Middle Ages

Roumen Daskalov

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.10.12

Authors

Roumen Daskalov New Bulgarian University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7136-0001

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.10.12

Keywords:

master narrative, grand narrative, metanarrative, counter-narrative, Bulgarian Middle Ages, King Samuil, Khan Asparuh, Khan Kubrat, Tsar Simeon the Great, Tsar Ioan Asen II, San Stefano Treaty, Ivaylo’s peasant uprising, Bogomil heresy, Tsar Asen I

Abstract

The article is a brief and schematic presentation of the notion of a “master narrative” and of the master narrative of the Bulgarian Middle Ages, which is the subject a detailed book of mine in Bulgarian. This master narrative was constructed starting with what is known as “Romantic” historiography (from Monk Paisij’s “Istorija Slavjanobolgarskaja” [Slavonic-Bulgarian History] in 1762 to Vasil Aprilov’s writings in the first half of the nineteenth century) but it was elaborated especially with the development of “scientific” (or critical) historiography first by Marin Drinov (1838–1906) and mainly by the most significant Bulgarian historians from the “bourgeois” era: Vasil Zlatarski (1866–1935), Petăr Mutafčiev (1883–1943), and Petăr Nikov (1884–1938). Then it was interrupted by the (crude) Marxist counter-narrative of the late 1940s through the 1960s. Starting in the late 1960s there was a gradual return to the nationalism of the master national narrative, which reached a peak with the celebration of the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian state in 1981. The same line continued after 1989 (stripped of the Marxist vulgata), yet some new tendencies appeared.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Angelov D., Bogomilstvoto v Bălgarija, 3Sofija 1980.
Google Scholar

Angelov D., Obrazuvane na bălgarskata narodnost, Sofija 1971.
Google Scholar

Berger S., Geschichten von der Nation. Einigen vergleichende Thesen zur deutschen, englischen, französischen und italienischen Nationalgeschichtsschreibung seit 1800, [in:] Die Nation schreiben. Geschichtswissenschaft im internationalen Vergleich, ed. C. Conrad, S. Conrad, Göttingen 2002, p. 49–77.
Google Scholar

Berger S., Introduction: Towards a Global History of National Historiographies, [in:] Writing the Nation. A Global Perspective, ed. S. Berger, Basingstoke 2007, p. 1–29, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230223059_1
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230223059_1

Berger S., The Power of National Pasts: Writing National History in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Europe, [in:] Writing the Nation. A Global Perspective, ed. S. Berger, Basingstoke 2007, p. 30–62, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230223059_2
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230223059_2

Berger S., The Search for Normality. National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Germany since 1800, Providence–Oxford 1997.
Google Scholar

Berger S., Donovan M., Passmore K., Apologias for the Nation-State in Western Europe since 1800, [in:] Writing National Histories. Western Europe since 1800, ed. S. Berger, M. Donovan, K. Passmore, London–New York 1999, p. 3–14.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Car Simeon Veliki (893–927). Zlatnijat vek na srednovekovna Bălgarija, Sofija 1983.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Sedem etjuda po srednovekovna istorija, Sofija 1995.
Google Scholar

Burguière A., L’historiographie des origines de la France: Genèse d’un imaginaire national, “Annales: histoire, sciences sociales” 58.1, 2003, p. 41–62, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0395264900002560
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0395264900002560

Daskalov R., Golemite razkazi za Bălgarskoto srednovekovie, Sofija 2018.
Google Scholar

Djokić D., Whose Myth? Which Nation? The Serbian Kosovo Myth Revisited, [in:] Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters, 19.–21. Jahrhundert, ed. J. Bak, J. Jarnut, P. Monnet, B. Schneidmüller, Munich 2009, p. 215–233.
Google Scholar

Effros B., The Germanic Invasions and the Academic Politics of National Identity in Late Nineteenth-Century France, [in:] Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters, 19.–21. Jahrhundert, ed. J. Bak, J. Jarnut, P. Monnet, B. Schneidmüller, Munich 2009, p. 81–94.
Google Scholar

Gazi E., Scientific National History. The Greek Case in Comparative Perspective (1850–1920), Frankfurt am Main–New York 2000.
Google Scholar

Gazi E., Theorizing and Practising ‘Scientific’ History in South-Eastern Europe (Nineteenth–Twentieth Century): Spyridon Lambros and Nicolae Jorga, [in:] Nationalizing the Past. Historians as Nation Builders in Modern Europe, ed. S. Berger, C. Lorenz, Basingstoke–New York 2010, p. 192–208, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230292505_10
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230292505_10

Geary P., “Multiple Middle Ages” – konkurrierende Meistererzählungen und der Wettstreit um die Deutung der Vergangenheit, [in:] Meistererzählungen vom Mittelalter, ed. F. Rexroth, Munich 2007, p. 107–120, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651119-008
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651119-008

Geary P., The Myth of Nations. The Medieval Origins of Europe, Princeton–Oxford 2002.
Google Scholar

Gjuzelev V., Knjaz Boris I, Sofija 1969.
Google Scholar

Gjuzelev V., Srednovekovna Bălgarija v svetlinata na novi izvori, Sofija 1981.
Google Scholar

Historians as Nation-Builders. Central and South-East Europe, ed. D. Deletant, H. Hanak, Basingstoke–London 1988.
Google Scholar

Hunt L., Geschichte jenseits der Gesellschaftstheorie, [in:] Geschichte schreiben in der Postmoderne, ed. C. Conrad, M. Kessel, Stuttgart 1994, p. 98–122.
Google Scholar

Istorija na Bălgarija, vol. I, Sofija 1954.
Google Scholar

Jarausch K., Die Krise der nationalen Meistererzählungen, [in:] Die historische Meistererzählung. Deutungslinien der deutschen Nationalgeschichte nach 1945, ed. K. Jarausch, M. Sabrow, Göttingen 2002, p. 140–162.
Google Scholar

Jarausch K., Sabrow M., “Meistererzählungen”: Zur Karriere eines Begriffs, [in:] Die historische Meistererzählung. Deutungslinien der deutschen Nationalgeschichte nach 1945, ed. K. Jarausch, M. Sabrow, Göttingen 2002, p. 9–35.
Google Scholar

Kajmakamova M., Bălgarskata srednovekovna istoriopis, Sofija 1990.
Google Scholar

Kreiswirth M., Tell Me a Story: The Narrativist Turn in the Human Sciences, [in:] Constructive Criticism. The Human Sciences in the Age of Theory, Toronto–Buffalo–London 1995, p. 61–87.
Google Scholar

Lambert P., The Professionalization and Institutionalization of History, [in:] Writing History. Theory and Practice, ed. S. Berger, H. Feldner, K. Passmore, London 2003, p. 42–60.
Google Scholar

Leerssen J., Setting the Scene for National History, [in:] Nationalizing the Past. Historians as Nation Builders in Modern Europe, ed. S. Berger, C. Lorenz, Basingstoke–New York 2010, p. 71–85, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230292505_4
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230292505_4

Lyotard J.-F., The Postmodern Condition. A Report on Knowledge, Manchester 1984.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1772278

Megill A., “Grand Narrative” and the Discipline of History, [in:] A New Philosophy of History, ed. F. Ankersmit, H. Kellner, Chicago 1995, p. 151–173.
Google Scholar

Middell M., Gibas M., Hadler F., Sinnstiftung durch historisches Erzählen. Überlegungen zu Funktionsmechanismen von Representationen des Vergangenen, [in:] Comparativ, Zugänge zu historischen Meistererzählungen, ed. M. Middell, M. Gibas, F. Hadler, Leipzig 2000, p. 7–35.
Google Scholar

Mutafčiev P., Istorija na bălgarskija narod, vol. I–II, Sofija 1943.
Google Scholar

Mutafčiev P., Iztok i Zapad v evropejskoto srednovekoje, Sofija 1999.
Google Scholar

Mutafčiev P., Kniga za bălgarite, Sofija 1999.
Google Scholar

Nikov P., Bălgari i tatari prez Srednite vekove, Sofija 1929.
Google Scholar

Nikov P., Bălgaro-ungarski otnošenija ot 1257 do 1277 godina, “Сборник на Българската академия на науките” / “Sbornik na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite” 11, 1920, p. 1–220.
Google Scholar

Nikov P., Sădbata na severozapadnite bălgarski zemi prez Srednite vekove, “Българска историческа библиотека” / “Bălgarska istoričeska biblioteka” 3.1, 1930, p. 96–153.
Google Scholar

Nikov P., Tataro-bălgarski otnošenija prez Srednite vekove s ogled kăm caruvaneto na Smileca, Sofija 1921.
Google Scholar

Oexle O., “Das Mittelalter”: Bilder gedeuteter Geschichte, [in:] Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters, 19.–21. Jahrhundert, ed. J. Bak, J. Jarnut, P. Monnet, B. Schneidmüller, Munich 2009, p. 21–43.
Google Scholar

Pohl W., Modern Uses of Early Medieval Ethnic Origins, [in:] Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters, 19.–21. Jahrhundert, ed. J. Bak, J. Jarnut, P. Monnet, B. Schneidmüller, Munich 2009, p. 55–70.
Google Scholar

Pohl W., Ursprungserzählungen und Gegenbilder. Das archaische Frühmittelalter, [in:] Meistererzählungen vom Mittelalter, ed. F. Rexroth, Munich 2007, p. 23–41, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651119-003
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651119-003

Raedts P., The Once and Future Reich: German Medieval History between Retrospection and Resentment, [in:] Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters, 19.–21. Jahrhundert, ed. J. Bak, J. Jarnut, P. Monnet, B. Schneidmüller, Munich 2009, p. 193–204.
Google Scholar

Rexroth F., Meistererzählungen und die Praxis der Geschichtsschreibung. Eine Skizze zur Einführung, [in:] Meistererzählungen vom Mittelalter, ed. F. Rexroth, Munich 2007, p. 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651119-002
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651119-002

Rüsen J., Für eine interkulturelle Kommunikation in der Geschichte, [in:] Die Vielfalt der Kulturen (Erinnerung, Geschichte, Identität 4), ed. J. Rüsen, M. Gottlob, A. Mittag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 12–36.
Google Scholar

Šuica M., The Image of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) Today: A Historic Event, a Moral Pattern, or the Tool of Political Manipulation, [in:] The Uses of the Middle Ages in Modern European States, ed. R.J.W. Evans, G.P. Marchal, Basingstoke 2011, p. 152–174, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230283107_10
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230283107_10

Welskopp T., Identität ex negativo, [in:] Die historische Meistererzählung. Deutungslinien der deutschen Nationalgeschichte nach 1945, ed. K. Jarausch, M. Sabrow, Göttingen 2002, p. 109–139.
Google Scholar

Writing National Histories. Western Europe since 1800, ed. S. Berger, M. Donovan, K. Passmore, London–New York 1999.
Google Scholar

Zlatarski V., Istorija na bălgarskata dăržava prez srednite vekove, vol. I, Părvo bălgarsko carstvo, p. 1, (Epoha na hunno-bălgarskoto nadmoštie, 679–852), Sofija 1918.
Google Scholar

Zlatarski V., Istorija na bălgarskata dăržava prez srednite vekove, vol. I, Părvo bălgarsko carstvo, p. 2, (Ot slavjanizacijata na dăržavata do padaneto na Părvoto bălgarsko carstvo, 852–1018), Sofija 1927.
Google Scholar

Zlatarski V., Istorija na bălgarskata dăržava prez srednite vekove, vol. II, (Bălgarija pod vizantijsko vladičestvo, 1018–1187), Sofija 1940.
Google Scholar

Zlatarski V., Istorija na bălgarskata dăržava prez srednite vekove, vol. III, (Vtoro bălgarsko carstvo. Bălgarija pri Asenovci, 1187–1280), Sofija 1940.
Google Scholar