Ivan Biliarsky, Ph.D (1989), Doctor Sci. (2009) in Medieval history, Professor in Legal History, Varna Free University (2000) and Professor, Institute of History (2011). He has published more than 170 books and articles, including Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria (Brill, 2011).

"...Le lecteur aura deja compris qu'il s'agit d'un livre remarquable a plusieurs titres. I. Biliarsky renouvelle la comprehension d'un texte fondamental de la culture bulgare medievale, montre le poids de la tradition biblique dans la formation de l'ideologie politique au Moyen Age balkanique et, last but not least, restitue une piece essentielle de la litterature apocryphe medievale, un domaine encore trop peu explore. Le livre profitera sans aucun doute a la fois aux philologues et aux historiens et, en general, a tous ceux interesses par l'ideologie du pouvoir, en particulier dans l'orbite culturelle byzantine."Andrei Timotin, Revue des études sud-est européennes, Tome LII 2014 Nos 1–4, Janvier–Décembre

• List of Illustrations ... ixPreface ... xiIntroduction ... 11. The Text of the Literary Work and Its Manuscript Tradition ... 7The Variable Destiny of the Kichevo Manuscript and the Place of Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in It ... 7The Text of the Tale of the Prophet Isaiah ... 102. Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in the Context of Mediaeval Literature and Modern Researches ... 29Historiography ... 29Publications of the text of Tale of the Prophet Isaiah ... 30Character of the Text ... 49Authorship ... 51Localisation ... 52Dating of the Text ... 543. The Chosen People and the Promised Land ... 65The Prophet Isaiah and the New Israel ... 65Geographical Features of Religious Identity ... 84Cities and Founding of Cities ... 984. The Divinely Chosen King, Humble to God: Tsar Izot, or Davidic Royalty ... 129Tsar Izot and His Reign ... 132The Antagonists ... 135Goliath, the Sea Frank ... 136Ozia, the King of the East ... 139The Davidic Paradigm of Power and Tsar Izot: The Bagrationi Dynasty and the Idea of the Davidic Royalty in the Causcasus ... 1505. The Renovator King: Tsar Ispor and the Mosaic Royalty: Constantine and the Royalty of the Ruler-Converter to Christianity ... 163The Moses-Constantine Typology in the Mediaeval World ... 165Moses-Constantine in Bulgaria ... 179Moses-Constantine in the Tale ... 1896. Kings and Their Names ... 205Arev ... 206Basil ... 210Cometopouloi ... 213Constantine ... 218Nicephorus ... 221Roman ... 225Seleukia Simeklit ... 226Slav ... 232Symeon ... 234Theodora and Her Son the Tsar ... 237Turgius ... 239Conclusion ... 243Excursus One: The List of Names of the Bulgar Princes: Between Myth and History ... 249Excursus Two: The Birth of the Founding Kings ... 261Excursus Three: The Tabernacle of the Empire or the State-Church ... 269Bibliography ... 279Index ... 297