# Omurtag's Thirty Years' Peace (815)

URL: https://allhistories.com/bulgaria/timeline/815-omurtag-s-thirty-years-peace
Location: Constantinople
Themes: Key Events

Early in 815 Khan Omurtag sent envoys to Constantinople and concluded a 30-year peace treaty with Emperor Leo V the Armenian. Each side swore to the treaty by the other's rites, which scandalised Byzantine chroniclers. Part of its text survives in a Greek inscription on a column found near Shumen. The treaty set the frontier in Thrace from Develtos on the Black Sea along the old earthen trench of the Erkesia to the Maritsa river and the Rhodope Mountains, and arranged the exchange of prisoners. The Bulgarians released the captives of 811 and of Krum's raids, while the Byzantines returned the Slavs captured by Leo V. Adrianople returned to Byzantium.

## Why it matters
The peace was honoured by both sides and renewed in 820. It gave Bulgaria the time it needed to rebuild Pliska, reorganise its administration and deal with threats on its northern and western borders.

Ruler at the Time: [Omurtag](https://allhistories.com/bulgaria/rulers/omurtag)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Byzantine–Bulgarian treaty of 815](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine–Bulgarian_treaty_of_815)
- [Wikipedia — Omurtag of Bulgaria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omurtag_of_Bulgaria)
- [Wikipedia — Leo V the Armenian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_V_the_Armenian)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Omurtag's Thirty Years' Peace](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Omurtag%27s+Thirty+Years%27+Peace)
- [Wikipedia — First Bulgarian Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Bulgarian_Empire)
- [Wikipedia — Timeline of Bulgarian history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Bulgarian_history)