Krakra of Pernik also known as Krakra Voevoda or simply Krakra, was an 11th-century feudal lord in the First Bulgarian Empire

First Bulgarian Empire

The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...

 whose domain encompassed 36 fortresses in what is today southwestern Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, with his capital at Pernik

Pernik

Pernik is a city in western Bulgaria with a population of 81,052 . It is the main city of Pernik Province and lies on both banks of the Struma River in the Pernik Valley between the Viskyar, Vitosha and Golo Bardo mountains.Originally the site of a Thracian fortress founded in the 4th century BC,...

. He is known for heroically resisting Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 sieges on multiple occasions as the Byzantines overran the Bulgarian Empire.

Krakra was a "man remarkable in military affairs" and a high-ranking bolyarin, possibly governor of the Sredets comitatus

Comitatus

Comitatus may refer to:* Comes, a Latin word with similar meaning* Comitatenses, the Roman late Imperial mobile army...

, under the Tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

s Samuil

Samuil of Bulgaria

Samuel was the Emperor of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter I of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal...

, Gavril Radomir

Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria

Gavril Radomir , normally rendered as Gabriel Radomir in English and Gavriil Romanos in Greek, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of Samuel of Bulgaria. During his father's reign, his cousin Ivan Vladislav and Ivan's entire...

 and Ivan Vladislav

Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria

Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....

. His name appears in the historical annals in connection to a Byzantine military campaign in the Bulgarian lands in 1003, when Samuil's army was crushed at the Vardar

Vardar

The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is long, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of river is ....

 and the Byzantines captured Skopje

Skopje

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

. As Basil II

Basil II

Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...

's forces headed to seize Sredets

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, however, in 1004 they came up against Krakra's well-defended fortress of Pernik and the emperor was forced to return to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 after sustaining heavy losses.

In 1016, another campaign by Basil II was stopped by Krakra at Pernik after an unsuccessful 88-day Byzantine siege. As the Byzantine-Bulgarian conflict continued, Krakra and Ivan Vladislav looked for Pecheneg support for a large-scale Bulgarian campaign against the Byzantines and initially peρsuaded the Pechenegs to collaborate in the winter of 1016–1017. However, the Byzantine governor of Dorystolon

Silistra

Silistra is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country's border with Romania. Silistra is the administrative centre of Silistra Province and one of the important cities of the historical region of Southern Dobrudzha...

 learned about the plan and notified Basil II. Upon hearing this, the Pechenegs declined to take part, effectively ruining the Bulgarian plans.

Following the death of Ivan Vladislav at Dyrrhachium in early 1018, Basil II entered the Bulgarian territory in March 1018 without meeting any resistance. At Adrianople, Krakra and 35 other bolyari's envoys met with him and declared that they surrendered their fortresses now that the Tsar was dead. Basil II met with Krakra personally in Serres

Serres

Serres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...

 and awarded him the title of patrikios.

Honour

Krakra Bluff

Krakra Bluff

Krakra Bluff is a rocky bluff of elevation 140 m surmounting Memorable Beach on the northwest coast of South Bay, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica...

 on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...

, Antarctica is named after Krakra.