Bulgarian hymnody

See also ‘Byzantine hymnody’*, ‘Byzantine rite’*, ‘Greek hymnody’*, ‘Rite of Constantinople’*, ‘Rite of Jerusalem’*, ‘Greek hymns, archaeology’*. The earliest period The Bulgarians officially accepted Christianity under Tsar Boris I in 865, and were granted an autonomous archbishopric in 870, whose seat was in Pliska. This archbishopric was under the jurisdiction of Constantinople, from where the first hierarch, clergy, and theological and liturgical books naturally came. The very early history of Bulgarian liturgical music is nevertheless shrouded in mystery, since no early sources survive other than indirectly relevant and fragmentary material such as the Bologna Psalter (from the...