Editing Skopje (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
[[File:Skopje Kale 3.jpg|thumb|right|[[Skopje Fortress]]]]

In 518, Scupi was destroyed by a violent earthquake,<ref name=damages/> possibly the most devastating the town had ever experienced.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kurir.mk/en/2012/07/26/49-years-after-the-disastrous-skopje-earthquake/ |title=49 Years after the Disastrous Skopje Earthquake |publisher=Kurir |year=2012 |access-date=6 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031145850/http://kurir.mk/en/2012/07/26/49-years-after-the-disastrous-skopje-earthquake/ |archive-date=31 October 2012}}</ref> At that time, the region was threatened by [[Barbarian invasions]], and the city inhabitants had already fled to the forests and mountains before the disaster occurred.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Illyria: An Archaeological Exploration |author=Arthur Evans |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2007 |isbn=9781845111670 |page=234}}</ref> The city was eventually rebuilt by [[Justinian I]]. During his reign, many Byzantine towns were relocated on hills and other easily defendable places to face invasions. It was thus transferred to another site: the promontory on which [[Skopje Fortress]] stands.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Pannonia and Upper Moesia |author=András Mócsy |publisher=Routledge |year=1974 |isbn=9780710077141 |page=356}}</ref> Despite this, Scupi was sacked by [[Slavs]] at the end of the 6th century and the city seems to have fallen under Slavic rule in 595.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Illyria: An Archaeological Exploration |author=Arthur Evans |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2007 |isbn=9781845111670 |page=241}}</ref> The Slavic tribe which sacked Scupi was probably the [[Berziti]],<ref name="history"/> who had invaded the entire Vardar Valley.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Andrew Rossos |title=Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History |publisher=Hoover Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8179-4882-5 |page=25}}</ref> However, the Slavs did not settle permanently in the region, which had been already plundered and depopulated, but continued south to the Mediterranean coast.<ref>Ivan Mikulčiḱ, Medieval towns and castles in the Republic of Macedonia, Book 5 of Makroproekt "Istorija na kulturata na Makedonija", [[Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts]], 1996, p. 27.</ref> After the Slavic invasion it was deserted for some time and is not mentioned during the following centuries.<ref name="history"/> It is possible that in the late 7th or the early 8th century the Byzantines again settled at this strategic location. Along with the rest of the Upper Vardar valley it became part of the expanding [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]] in the 830s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svPkt-TIHK0C&pg=PA371 |title=History of the Eastern Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil: A.D. 802–867 |publisher=London Macmillan |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60520-421-5 |pages=371–372 |author=J. B. Bury}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=History of the First Bulgarian Empire |author=Steven Runciman |publisher=LG. Bell & Sons |location=London |year=1930 |page=87 |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_2_2.htm |access-date=17 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709081226/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_2_2.htm |archive-date=9 July 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Coronation of Emperor Dušan, in "The Slavonic Epic" (1926).jpg|thumb|left|[[Coronation of the Serbian monarch|The coronation]] of Emperor [[Stefan Dušan]] in Skopje{{efn|By [[Alfons Mucha]], 1926}} ]]

Starting from the end of the 10th century Skopje experienced a period of wars and political troubles. It served as the Bulgarian capital from 972 to 992, and [[Tsar Samuel]] ruled it from 976<ref name="kalemed">{{cite web |url=http://www.skopskokale.com.mk/en/mediaeval.php |title=Medieval Kale |publisher=Archaeological exavations Skopsko Kale |year=2007 |access-date=6 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219235728/http://www.skopskokale.com.mk/en/mediaeval.php |archive-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> until 1004, when its governor surrendered it to Byzantine Emperor [[Basil the Bulgar Slayer]] in 1004 in exchange for the titles of [[Patrikios|''patrikios'']] and ''[[Strategos#Byzantine use|strategos]]''.<ref>([[John Skylitzes|Skylitzes]]-Cedr. II, 455, 13)</ref> It became a centre of a new Byzantine [[Theme (Byzantine district)|province]] called [[Theme of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]].<ref>Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube, 10th–12th Centuries, Alexandru Madgearu, BRILL, 2013, {{ISBN|9004252495}}</ref> Later Skopje was briefly seized twice by Slavic insurgents who wanted to restore the Bulgarian state. At first in 1040 under [[Peter Delyan]]'s command,<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Concise History of Bulgaria |author=R. J. Crampton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780521616379 |page=22}}</ref> and in 1072 under the orders of [[Georgi Voyteh]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History |publisher=Hoover Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8179-4882-5 |pages=36–37 |author=Andrew Rossos}}</ref> In 1081, Skopje was captured by [[Normans|Norman]] troops led by [[Robert Guiscard]] and the city remained in their hands until 1088. Skopje was subsequently conquered by the Serbian Grand Prince [[Vukan, Grand Prince of Serbia|Vukan]] in 1093, and again by the Normans four years later. However, because of epidemics and food shortage, Normans quickly surrendered to the Byzantines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cosmovisions.com/Bohemond.htm |title=Bohémond (Marc) |author=Serge Jodra |year=2006 |publisher=Imago Mundi |access-date=24 March 2011}}</ref>

During the 12th and 13th centuries, Bulgarians and Serbs took advantage of Byzantine decline to create large kingdoms stretching from the [[Danube]] to the [[Aegean Sea]]. [[Kaloyan of Bulgaria|Kaloyan]] brought Skopje back into the re-established [[Second Bulgarian Empire]] in 1203<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_mazcfdpVIC&pg=PA102 |title=Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean After 1204 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=9781409410980 |editor=Judith Herrin |editor2=Guillaume Saint-Guillain |page=102}}</ref><ref name="John Van Antwerp Fine 1994 175–184">{{Cite book |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |pages=175–184 |author=John Van Antwerp Fine}}</ref> until his nephew [[Strez]] declared autonomy along the Upper Vardar with Serbian aid only five years later.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-81539-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt/page/385 385] |author=Florin Curta |url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt/page/385}}</ref> In 1209, Strez switched allegiances and recognised [[Boril of Bulgaria]] with whom he led a successful joint campaign against Serbia's first internationally recognised King [[Stefan Nemanjić]].<ref name="John Van Antwerp Fine 1994 175–184"/> From 1214 to 1230, Skopje was a part of the Byzantine successor state of [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]] before being recaptured by [[Ivan Asen II]] and held by Bulgaria until 1246 when the Upper Vardar valley was incorporated once more into another Byzantine [[rump state]] – the [[Empire of Nicaea]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Van Antwerp Fine |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |page=156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC&pg=PA156}}</ref> Byzantine conquest was briefly reversed in 1255 by the [[regents]] of the young [[Michael Asen I of Bulgaria]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Van Antwerp Fine |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC&pg=PA159}}</ref> Meanwhile, in the parallel civil war for the Crown in [[Veliko Tarnovo|Tarnovo]], the Skopje [[boyar]] and grandson of [[Stefan Nemanja]] [[Constantine Tikh]] gained the upper hand and ruled until the [[Uprising of Ivaylo]], Europe's only successful peasant revolt, led to his deposition from power.

In 1282, Skopje was captured by Serbian King [[Stefan Milutin]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Valentina Georgieva |author2=Sasha Konechni|name-list-style=amp |title=Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0810833364 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000geor/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000geor/page/9}}</ref> Under the political stability of the [[Nemanjić]] rule, the settlement spread outside the walls of the fortress, towards Gazi Baba hill.<ref name="kalemed"/> Churches, monasteries and markets were built and tradesmen from the [[Republic of Venice]] and [[Dubrovnik]] opened shops. The town greatly benefited from its location near European, Middle Eastern, and African markets. In the 14th century, Skopje became such an important city that King [[Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia|Stefan Dušan]] made it the capital of the [[Serbian Empire]]. In 1346, he was crowned as [[Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks]] in Skopje.<ref name="history"/> After his death the Serbian Empire collapsed into several principalities which were unable to defend themselves against the [[Ottoman Turks]]. Skopje was first inherited by the [[Lordship of Prilep]] and finally taken by [[Vuk Branković]] in the wake of the [[Battle of Maritsa]] (1371)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Serbs |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2004 |isbn=978-0631204718 |page=79 |author=Sima M. Ćirković |author2=Vuk Tošić}}</ref> before becoming part of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1392.<ref name="history"/>

In 1330, Serbian King [[Stefan Dečanski]] mentioned Albanians as being in the district of Skopje and regularly going to the Fair of [[Saint George]] which convened near the city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Iseni |first1=Bashkim |title=La question nationale en Europe du Sud-Est : genèse, émergence et développement de l'indentité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine |date=25 January 2008 |publisher=P. Lang |location=Bern |isbn=978-3039113200 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAdlqwCm_9sC&q=La+question+nationale+en+Europe+du+Sud-Est+:+gen%C3%A8se,+%C3%A9mergence+et+d%C3%A9veloppement+de+l%27indentit%C3%A9+nationale+albanaise+au+Kosovo+et+en+Mac%C3%A9doine}}</ref>