Po redaktohet Skopje (paragraf)

=== Middle Ages ===
[[File:Tvrdina vo Skopje-Makedonija 79 (5).JPG|thumb|left|[[Skopje Fortress]].]]
[[File:Prvomajska proslava vo Skopje, 1909.jpg|thumb|right|First May Day celebration of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman period]] in Skopje, 1909]]

In 518, Scupi was destroyed by a violent earthquake,<ref name=damages/> possibly the most devastating the town had ever experienced.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kurir.mk/en/2012/07/26/49-years-after-the-disastrous-skopje-earthquake/ |title=49 Years after the Disastrous Skopje Earthquake |publisher=Kurir |year=2012 |access-date=6 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031145850/http://kurir.mk/en/2012/07/26/49-years-after-the-disastrous-skopje-earthquake/ |archive-date=31 October 2012}}</ref> At that time, the region was threatened by the [[Barbarian invasions]], and the city inhabitants had already fled in forests and mountains before the disaster occurred.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Illyria: An Archaeological Exploration |author=Arthur Evans |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2007 |isbn=9781845111670 |page=234}}</ref> The city was eventually rebuilt by [[Justinian I]]. During his reign, many Byzantine towns were relocated on hills and other easily defendable places to face invasions. It was thus transferred on another site: the promontory on which the [[Skopje Fortress|fortress]] stands.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Pannonia and Upper Moesia |author=András Mócsy |publisher=Routledge |year=1974 |isbn=9780710077141 |page=356}}</ref> However, Scupi was sacked by [[Slavs]] at the end of the 6th century and the city seems to have fallen under Slavic rule in 595.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Illyria: An Archaeological Exploration |author=Arthur Evans |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2007 |isbn=9781845111670 |page=241}}</ref> The Slavic tribe which sacked Scupi were probably the [[Berziti]],<ref name="history"/> who had invaded the entire [[Vardar]] valley.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Andrew Rossos |title=Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History |publisher=Hoover Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8179-4882-5 |page=25}}</ref> However the Slavs did not settle permanently in the region that had been already plundered and depopulated, but continued south to the Mediterranean coast.<ref>Ivan Mikulčiḱ, Medieval towns and castles in the Republic of Macedonia, Book 5 of Makroproekt "Istorija na kulturata na Makedonija", [[Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts]], 1996, p. 27.</ref> After the Slavic invasion it was deserted for some time and is not mentioned during the following centuries.<ref name="history"/> Perhaps in the late 7th or the early 8th century the Byzantines again settled at this strategic location. Along with the rest of Upper Vardar valley it became part of the expanding [[First Bulgarian Empire]] in the 830s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svPkt-TIHK0C&pg=PA371 |title=History of the Eastern Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil: A.D. 802–867 |publisher=London Macmillan |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60520-421-5 |pages=371–372 |author=J. B. Bury}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=History of the First Bulgarian Empire |author=Steven Runciman |publisher=LG. Bell & Sons |location=London |year=1930 |page=87 |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_2_2.htm |access-date=17 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709081226/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_2_2.htm |archive-date=9 July 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Coronation of Emperor Dušan, in "The Slavonic Epic" (1926).jpg|thumb|[[Coronation of the Serbian monarch|The coronation]] of emperor [[Stefan Dušan|Dušan]] in Skopje, [[Alfons Mucha]], 1926.]]

Starting from the end of the 10th century Skopje experienced a period of wars and political troubles. It served as Bulgarian capital from 972 to 992, and [[Samuel of Bulgaria|Samuil]] ruled it from 976<ref name="kalemed">{{cite web |url=http://www.skopskokale.com.mk/en/mediaeval.php |title=Medieval Kale |publisher=Archaeological exavations Skopsko Kale |year=2007 |access-date=6 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219235728/http://www.skopskokale.com.mk/en/mediaeval.php |archive-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> until 1004 when its governor Roman surrendered it to Byzantine Emperor [[Basil II|Basil the Bulgar Slayer]] in 1004 in exchange for the titles of patrician and strategos.<ref>([[John Skylitzes|Skylitzes]]-Cedr. II, 455, 13)</ref> It became a centre of a new Byzantine [[Theme (Byzantine district)|province]] called [[Theme of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]].<ref>Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube, 10th–12th Centuries, Alexandru Madgearu, BRILL, 2013, {{ISBN|9004252495}}</ref> Later Skopje was briefly seized twice by Slavic insurgents who wanted to restore the Bulgarian state. At first in 1040 under [[Peter Delyan]]'s command,<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Concise History of Bulgaria |author=R. J. Crampton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780521616379 |page=22}}</ref> and in 1072 under the orders of [[Georgi Voyteh]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History |publisher=Hoover Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8179-4882-5 |pages=36–37 |author=Andrew Rossos}}</ref> In 1081, Skopje was captured by [[Normans|Norman]] troops led by [[Robert Guiscard]] and the city remained in their hands until 1088. Skopje was subsequently conquered by the Serbian Grand Prince [[Vukan, Grand Prince of Serbia|Vukan]] in 1093, and again by the Normans four years later. However, because of epidemics and food shortage, Normans quickly surrendered to the Byzantines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cosmovisions.com/Bohemond.htm |title=Bohémond (Marc) |author=Serge Jodra |year=2006 |publisher=Imago Mundi |access-date=24 March 2011}}</ref>

During the 12th and 13th centuries, Bulgarians and Serbs took advantage of Byzantine decline to create large kingdoms stretching from [[Danube]] to the [[Aegean Sea]]. [[Kaloyan of Bulgaria|Kaloyan]] brought Skopje back into [[Second Bulgarian Empire|reestablished Bulgaria]] in 1203<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_mazcfdpVIC&pg=PA102 |title=Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean After 1204 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=9781409410980 |editor=Judith Herrin |editor2=Guillaume Saint-Guillain |page=102}}</ref><ref name="John Van Antwerp Fine 1994 175–184">{{Cite book |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |pages=175–184 |author=John Van Antwerp Fine}}</ref> until his nephew [[Strez]] declared autonomy along the Upper Vardar with Serbian help only five years later.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-81539-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt/page/385 385] |author=Florin Curta |url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt/page/385}}</ref> In 1209, Strez switched allegiances and recognized [[Boril of Bulgaria]] with whom he led a successful joint campaign against Serbia's first internationally recognized king [[Stefan the First-Crowned|Stefan Nemanjić]].<ref name="John Van Antwerp Fine 1994 175–184"/> From 1214 to 1230, Skopje was a part of Byzantine successor state [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]] before being recaptured by [[Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria|Ivan Asen II]] and held by Bulgaria until 1246 when the Upper Vardar valley was incorporated once more into a Byzantine state – the [[Empire of Nicaea]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Van Antwerp Fine |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |page=156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC&pg=PA156}}</ref> Byzantine conquest was briefly reversed in 1255 by the regents of the young [[Michael Asen I of Bulgaria]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Van Antwerp Fine |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC&pg=PA159}}</ref> Meanwhile, in the parallel civil war for the Crown in [[Veliko Tarnovo|Tarnovo]] Skopje [[boyar]] and grandson to [[Stefan Nemanja]] [[Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria|Constantine Tikh]] gained the upper hand and ruled until Europe's only successful peasant revolt the [[Uprising of Ivaylo]] deposed him.

In 1282, Skopje was captured by Serbian king [[Stefan Uroš II Milutin of Serbia|Stefan Milutin]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Valentina Georgieva |author2=Sasha Konechni|name-list-style=amp |title=Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0810833364 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000geor/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000geor/page/9}}</ref> Under the political stability of the [[Nemanjić]] rule, settlement has spread outside the walls of the fortress, towards Gazi Baba hill.<ref name="kalemed"/> Churches, monasteries and markets were built and tradesmen from [[Venice]] and [[Dubrovnik]] opened shops. The town greatly benefited from its location near European, Middle Eastern, and African market. In the 14th century, Skopje became such an important city that king [[Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia|Stefan Dušan]] made it the capital of the [[Serbian Empire]]. In 1346, he was crowned "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks" in Skopje.<ref name="history"/> After his death the Serbian Empire collapsed into several principalities which were unable to defend themselves against the Turks. Skopje was first inherited by the [[Lordship of Prilep]] and finally taken by [[Vuk Branković]] in the wake of the [[Battle of Maritsa]] (1371)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Serbs |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2004 |isbn=978-0631204718 |page=79 |author=Sima M. Ćirković |author2=Vuk Tošić}}</ref> before becoming part of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1392.<ref name="history"/>

In 1330, Serbian king [[Stefan Dečanski]] mentioned Albanians as being in the district of Skopje and regularly going to the Fair of [[Saint George]] which convened near the city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Iseni |first1=Bashkim |title=La question nationale en Europe du Sud-Est : genèse, émergence et développement de l'indentité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine |date=25 January 2008 |publisher=P. Lang |location=Bern |isbn=978-3039113200 |page=77 |url=https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/La_question_nationale_en_Europe_du_Sud_E/gAdlqwCm_9sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=La+question+nationale+en+Europe+du+Sud-Est+:+gen%C3%A8se,+%C3%A9mergence+et+d%C3%A9veloppement+de+l%27indentit%C3%A9+nationale+albanaise+au+Kosovo+et+en+Mac%C3%A9doine&printsec=frontcover}}</ref>