Chaos East and West

Political event

With their armies destroyed, Leo and Zoe scramble to placate nobles and ambassadors. The fortified city of Constantinople and the remaining fleet under Romanos are all that stand between the Empire and destruction. Simeon I of Bulgaria takes control of much of The Balkans and Greece. In the east, Muslim raids into Anatolia and allied Armenia causes more chaos and unrest.

The Bulgarians sent to pursue the remnants of the Byzantine army approached Constantinople and encountered Byzantine forces under Leo Phokas, who had returned to the capital, at the village of Katasyrtai in the immediate proximity of Constantinople. The Bulgarian regiments attacked and again defeated the Byzantines, destroying some of their last units before returning to Bulgaria. Immediately after that campaign, Simeon sought to punish the Serbian ruler Petar Gojniković who had attempted to betray him by concluding an alliance with the Byzantines. Simeon sent an army led by two of his commanders, Theodore Sigrica and Marmais, to Serbia. The two managed to persuade Petar to attend a personal meeting, during which he was enchained and carried off to Bulgaria, where he died in a dungeon. Simeon put Pavle Branović, prior to that an exile in Bulgaria, on the Serbian throne, thus restoring the Bulgarian influence in Serbia for a while. Meanwhile, raids by the Abbasid empire into Anitolia and Armenia upset the balance of trade and taxes throughout the empire.