Simeon I ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe. His reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture. During Simeon's rule, Bulgaria spread over a territory between the Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea, and the new Bulgarian capital Preslav was said to rival Constantinople. The newly-independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church became the first new patriarchate besides the Pentarchy and Bulgarian Glagolitic translations of Christian texts spread all over the Slavic world of the time. Halfway through his reign, Simeon assumed the title of Emperor (Tsar), having prior to that been styled Prince (Knyaz).

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1153: Malcolm IV became King of Scotland at the age of twelve. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_IV_of_Scotland)

1860: Expedition of the Thousand: Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Redshirts launched their attack on Palermo, capital of the Two Sicilies. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_of_the_Thousand)

1919: The flying boat NC-4 arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, becoming the first fixed-wing aircraft to complete a transatlantic flight under its own power. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NC-4)

1937: The Golden Gate Bridge, a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate in California, was opened. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge)

1942: Operation Anthropoid: Czech resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Prague ambushed and mortally wounded Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of Reich Security Main Office and the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Anthropoid)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. -- Julia Ward Howe (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Ward_Howe)