Bulgarian historiography

Certified Bulgarian historiography dates back to the 17th century.[1]

In principle, the terms Bulgarian Historiography and Historiography of Bulgaria overlap, given that until the liberation of Bulgaria there are only two stories (the first of Bulgaria and the second of Bulgarians) written by foreign authors – Blasius Kleiner (1761) and on Konstantin Jireček (1876).

Bulgaria and the Bulgarians are widely attested in medieval chronicles and writings, but their thematic independent history is absent until the 17th century. The first major work concerning Bulgarian history is the Kingdom of the Slavs. It serves to support many other works.[2]

From 1667 dates the first independent Bulgarian history of Petar Bogdan, which is entitled „About the antiquity of the father land and the Bulgarian affairs". It is debatable whether it was printed in Venice at all, but this story remains without any social significance. The author is Bulgarian but a Catholic missionary.[3] It was not until the next 18th century when with the Enlightenment and the rise of nationalism in Europe was composed the so-called „Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya", which played a huge role and was of fundamental importance for Bulgarian historiography. Spyridon Gabrovski used the library of the Neamț Monastery to supplement his knowledge and in 1792 he managed to complete a "Short history of the Bulgarian Slavic people".[4]

Bulgarian historiography on a scientific basis was placed only in the 19th century before the liberation of Bulgaria. The main credit for this is due to two authors – Spiridon Palauzov with his „Century of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon", ie. The Golden Age of medieval Bulgarian culture (1852) and Konstantin Jireček with his „History of the Bulgarians" (1876).