Quick correction before we get into this one: the most reliable date on record for the Battle of Pliska is 26 July 811, four days before this piece runs, not today. I'm covering it anyway, because unlike almost everything else in this series, this one happened close enough to Shumen that you could visit the neighbourhood before lunch.
What happened on this day
In 811, the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I marched north and sacked Pliska, then the capital of the Bulgarian state, burning Khan Krum's palace to the ground. Krum didn't chase him down on open ground. He let the Byzantine army start its retreat through the Balkan Mountains, then sprang the trap on 26 July in the Varbitsa Pass. Bulgarian forces, somewhere between 15,000 and 18,000 of them against a Byzantine army nominally around 22,000, built wooden palisades across the exits, put archers on the slopes above, and hit the trapped column with ambushes and night attacks until, in the sources' own words, most of the army was destroyed.
Nikephoros himself died in the fighting, one chronicler recording bluntly that he ended up "on a dunghill." What happened next is the detail every Bulgarian schoolchild knows and most Brits don't: Krum had the emperor's head mounted on a spike, then had the skull cleaned and lined with silver to use as a drinking cup, a grim souvenir that comes down to us through Byzantine chronicle tradition rather than independent confirmation. Nikephoros's son and co-emperor, Stauracius, survived the battle with a severed spine, was carried home and proclaimed emperor regardless, and died of the wound about six months later. The sources even name several of the Byzantine dead, including the patricians Theodosios Salibaras and Sisinnios Triphyllios and the general Romanos of the Anatolics, a level of detail unusually good for an early medieval battle.
The skull-cup story is the part that travels, but the quieter consequence mattered more: the scale of the defeat kept Byzantine armies from marching north of the Balkan range for something like 150 years, giving Krum's successors room to push the Bulgarian state west and south across the peninsula.
Why this matters for British expats
Every other subject in this series comes with an apology for how far it happened from Shumen. This one doesn't need one. Pliska, the city Nikephoros burned and Krum was avenging, was Bulgaria's first capital from 681 to 893, and its ruins sit about 20 kilometres from Shumen itself: the Great and Small Palace foundations, the old stone fortifications, and the Great Basilica, built around 875, all preserved as a national archaeological reserve you could walk around in under an hour without leaving the province. Most "On This Day" pieces ask you to imagine somewhere hours away. This one is a Saturday-morning trip.
If you want the one line worth repeating over coffee, it's this: the empire that eventually gave medieval Bulgaria its calendar, its laws and its saints lost an emperor and had his skull turned into tableware defending the town next door to yours.
Sources and further reading
The battle's date, tactics and casualty detail here follow the Bulgarian Wikipedia entry on the Battle at Varbitsa Pass, cross-checked against the English-language account and against Wikidata's own dating of the battle, and the detail on Pliska's ruins draws on the standard historical record for the site.
Frequently Asked Questions
What actually happened on 26 July 811?
Emperor Nikephoros I's Byzantine army, retreating after sacking the Bulgarian capital Pliska, was ambushed and largely destroyed by Khan Krum's forces in the Varbitsa Pass in the Balkan Mountains. Nikephoros was killed, and Krum reportedly had his skull turned into a silver-lined drinking cup.
Why is this article running on 30 July and not 26 July?
The most reliable dating for the battle, including Wikidata's own record, points to 26 July 811, a few days before this piece was published. We would rather run the correct date late than an uncertain one on time.
Is today a public holiday in Bulgaria?
No. 30 July 2026 falls on an ordinary Thursday, with no public holiday attached to it.
Can I actually visit the site of this battle?
The exact pass isn't developed as a tourist site, but the city the battle was fought over, Pliska, is a preserved national archaeological reserve about 20 kilometres from Shumen, with visible palace and basilica ruins.
Did Emperor Nikephoros's family survive?
His son and co-emperor Stauracius survived the battle with a severe spinal wound, was proclaimed emperor, and died of the injury roughly six months later.