tribal confederation · Balkans and Hungary

Berziti

615 CE – 850 CE (approx.)

Slavic tribe of western Macedonia, the Brsjaci, caught between Byzantium and Bulgaria until absorbed by the Bulgarian state in the 9th century.

Origins

The Berziti were among the Slavic groups that settled in Macedonia in the 7th century, in the region around Ohrid, Prilep and Bitola. Byzantine sources refer to their land as Berzitia; the later Macedonian ethnographic name Brsjaci is often traced to them.

Rule and society

Known only from a few Byzantine notices, they lived under their own chiefs (archons), at times tributary to Byzantium. In the 770s the Bulgarian ruler Telerig planned to resettle them in Bulgaria, and the Byzantine emperor Constantine V campaigned in the region.

Decline and legacy

During the reigns of Presian and Boris I in the mid-9th century their territory passed to the First Bulgarian Empire, and the name disappears.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

More states of Balkans and Hungary →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Berziti. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/berziti
MLA
“Berziti.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/berziti. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Berziti.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/berziti.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Berziti’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/berziti (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻