02/1018 AD died
In the early 1018 Ivan Vladislav besieged Dyrrhachium, but in February he was killed under the walls of the city. His death marked the effective end of the Bulgarian Empire.
The accounts of his death are contradictory. According to some he became victim of a plot and was killed by his servants; according to others, he perished in battle. The Bulgarian additions to the Skylitzes Chronicle are more detailed, saying that Ivan Vladislav dueled with the strategos of Dyrrhachium, the patrikios Niketas Pegonites, on horseback, and while fighting, two Byzantine infantrymen from the audience rushed to the emperor and wounded him mortally in the belly.
A later Byzantine historian claimed that the duel was fair and Pegonites stabbed Ivan Vladislav in the chest with his spear, killing him instantly.
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja reports an altogether different story: while having a meal in his camp, the emperor was attacked by an unknown soldier, in whom Ivan Vladislav seemed to have recognized the murdered Jovan Vladimir. Terrified, he cried for help but no one rushed to his rescue and the unknown soldier mortally wounded the Bulgarian ruler.
