Devol(Bulgarian:Девол) alsoDeabolisorDiabolis,(Greek:Δεάβολις) was a medieval fortress and bishopric in westernMacedonia,located south ofLake Ohridin what is today the south-eastern corner ofAlbania(Devoll municipality). Its precise location is unknown today, but it is thought to have been located by the river of the same name (todayDevoll River), and on the RomanVia Egnatiaroad. It is first mentioned in historical sources inJohn Skylitzes' account of theByzantine-Bulgarian Warsunder EmperorBasil II,whose generalEustathios Daphnomelesis said to have subdued some of the last Bulgarian resisting forces concentrated in Deabolis in 1018.[1]The place is also mentioned in a 1019 charter granted by Basil to theBulgarian church,as akastron(castle) under the jurisdiction of the bishop ofKastoria.
It is not precisely known when Deabolis became a bishopric. SaintClement of Ohrid(ca. 840–916), an eminent medieval Bulgarian writer, is supposed to have been its bishop around 900, according to the saint's vita written byTheophylact of Ohridsome 200 years later; however, the first independent contemporary documents confirming its status as a bishopric are of a later date.[2]
Deabolis/Devol was the site of theTreaty of DevolbetweenBohemond I of Antiochand Byzantine EmperorAlexios I Komnenosin 1108. It was reconquered by theBulgarian Empirein the beginning of the 13th century. Byzantine control was restored in 1259 whenMichael Palaeologosbesieged the city usinghelepolissiege engines[3]The fortress continued to play an important role until the 14th century. Its site became forgotten in modern times. It has been tentatively identified with the site of a modern Albanian village calledZvezdë[4](located at40°43′N020°51′E/ 40.717°N 20.850°E[5]), a conjecture already proposed by the 19th century British travellerWilliam Martin Leakein 1835.[6]
The place Deabolis/Devol on the Devoll river should not be confused with a different medieval fortress likewise called Deabolis, orDevolgrad,situated further east in today'sMacedonia,nearKavadarci.[7]
References
edit- ^Kazhdan, Alexander,The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Vol. 1, p. 616f., citing Skylitzes,Synopsis of Histories360.43, 60.
- ^Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium,ibid.
- ^Kyriakidis, Savvas (2011).Warfare in Late Byzantium, 1204-1453.BRILL. p. 171-172.ISBN9789004206663.
- ^Talbert, Richard J. A., and Roger S. Bagnall,Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World,Princeton University Press, 2000. p. 752.
- ^US National Geospacial Intelligence Agency, SearchGNS SearchArchivedJune 8, 2008, at theWayback Machine
- ^William Martin Leake (1835).Travels in Northern Greece.J. Rodwell. p.339.
- ^Betka, Ursula; Scott, Roger (2006).Byzantine Narrative: Papers in Honour of Roger Scott.Australian Association for Byzantine Studies. p. 525.ISBN978-1-876503-24-6.