north-eastern Bulgaria. His successful campaigns expanded the Bulgarian borders into Thessaly and Epirus and in 998 he conquered the principality of Duklja. In 997 Samuel was proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria after the death of the legitimate ruler, Roman. After the death of Samuel in 1014, the crown passed on to his son, Gavril Radomir (1014 – 1015). In 1015, he was murdered by his first cousin and son of Aaron, Ivan Vladislav. With his own death in 1018 the First Bulgarian Empire came to an end. Ivan Vladislav's sons Presian, Alusian and Aaron surrendered shortly after and were integrated into the court nobility in Constantinople. An attempt at restoration of Bulgarian independence was made some 20 years later by Peter (II) Delyan (1040-1041), son of Gavril Radomir. He, aided by his cousin Alusian organised an uprising and managed to push away the Byzantines from Ohrid for a short period, but was eventually betrayed by Alusian. Alusian's heirs were given noble titles and land in the Byzantine Empire. Family tree After the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, the Cometopuli assumed important positions in the Byzantine court after they were resettled and given lands in Asia Minor and Armenia. Catherine, daughter of Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Vladislav, became empress of Byzantium. Peter II Delyan, son of Bulgarian Emperor Gavril Radomir and grandson of Emperor Samuel, led an attempt to restore the Bulgarian Empire after a major uprising in 10401041. Two other women of the dynasty became Byzantine empresses, while many nobles served in the army as strategos or became governors of various provinces. Through his maternal grandmother Maria of Bulgaria, the Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos was a descendant of Emperor Ivan Vladislav. Nomenclature There has been a debate among historians, in which some view the Kingdom of the Cometopuli, as a separate entity from the First Bulgarian Empire. The Cometopuli kept the title "Emperor of Bulgarians", but some aspects that appeared during their reign, made their state differ from the Bulgarian empire. Its centres (Skopje, Ohrid, Prespa and Bitola) were located in what today is referred to as the geographical region of Macedonia, but at that period, they were in a province of the First Bulgarian Empire, called Kutmichevitsa. The Byzantinologist George Ostrogorsky discusses the issue and concludes that to its creators and to the Byzantines it was simply Bulgarian kingdom, but for various geographical, political and religious factors he labels their state