 After his conquest of Bulgaria , Basil II prevented revolts and discontent by retaining the rule of the local nobility and by relieving the newly conquered lands of the obligation to pay taxes in gold , allowing them to be paid in kind instead . He also allowed the Bulgarian Patriarchate to retain its autocephalous status and all its dioceses , but reduced it to an archbishopric . After his death Byzantine domestic policies changed and a series of unsuccessful rebellions broke out , the largest being led by Peter Delyan . In 1185 Asen dynasty nobles Ivan Asen I and Peter IV organised a major uprising which resulted in the re @-@ establishment of the Bulgarian state . Ivan Asen and Peter laid the foundations of the Second Bulgarian Empire with Tarnovo as the capital . 
