Byzantine Battles: Battle of Dyrrachium

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Battle of Dyrrachium	year: 1018 February 2018
Death of Tsar Ivan in the last battle of the war against Bulgarians	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Bulgarians	location: Out of Dyrrachium, present-day Durres in Albania	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Siege	war: Conquest of Bulgaria	modern country: Albania

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Basil II Bulgaroktonos)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Patrician Niketas Pigonotis	Tsar Ivan Vladislav
Forces:
Losses:

Background story:

Dyrrachium (modern Durres) was occupied by the Byzantines around 1004 (or perhaps a little earlier or a little later - it is not clear) when its ruler (and son-in-law of Tsar Samuil) Asotios Taronitis handed it over to the Byzantines.
In early 1018, the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Vladislav, who was trying desperately to resist the constant pressure of the Byzantines, taking advantage of the absence of Emperor Basil II in Constantinople, attacked and besieged Dyrrhachium.

The Battle:

Statue of Vladislav in Skopie

The head of the Byzantine guard of the city was the patrician Niketas Pigonitis.

At one point, the Byzantines attempted a sally and the two leaders, Pigonitis and Vladislav, got engaged in a personal equestrian duel in which two Byzantine infantrymen intervened and wounded the tsar in the abdomen. Vladislav fell to the ground dead.
The death of the Bulgarian tsar not only lifted the siege, but marked the final victory of the Byzantines in the 32-year war against the Bulgarians.

Noteworthy:

According to another version, Tsar Ivan Vladislav was killed while having a meal in his camp outside Durres. He was stabbed by a servant of the former tsar Gabril Radomir to avenge the death of his old master who had been murdered by Vladislav.

Aftermath:

When the emperor heard the news, he left Constantinople. In Adrianople he was met by a delegation of Bulgarian boyars who asked for capitulation. Basil consented for a Bulgarian archbishop and a separate Bulgarian Thema.
The last to resist was Ivats at the castle of Vrochoton, who was deceitfully blinded by general Efstathios Dafnomilis. In 1019 Sirmion was occupied by Constantine Diogenes.
This was the end of the First Bulgarian Empire.