Petrilo Explained

Petrilo

Vojvoda

Vojvoda Petrilo (Serbian: Војвода Петрило) was an 11th-century Serbian voivode (military commander) of the Serbian King Constantine Bodin.^[1]

Bodin was crowned as Emperor of Bulgaria in 1072 and was set to conquer the Byzantine territories of Bulgarian interest together with Georgi Voyteh (in the so-called Uprising of Georgi Voyteh or Slav Uprising in Pomoravlje in Serbian).^[1]

Petrilo led a 300-strong army towards the south, into Macedonia, and took Ohrid where the townspeople greeted him as their liberator and Devol (Kavadarci) which surrendered.^[2] He was stopped by Byzantine troops and locals at Kastoria led by a Byzantine general (of Bulgarian origin^[1]) that defeated him, making Petrilo return to Duklja.^{[1] [3]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Macedonian Review. 1 January 1988. Kulturen Zhivot.. 5 January 2017. Google Books.
2. Web site: A History of the Macedonian People. 1 January 1979. Macedonian Review Editions. 5 January 2017. Google Books.
3. Web site: The Serbs. Sima M.. Cirkovic. 7 June 2004. Wiley. 5 January 2017. Google Books.