potent weapon against Satan, and had a number of conjurations against “evil spirits.” Each community had its own twelve “apostles,” and women could be raised to the rank of “elect.” The Bogomils wore garments like mendicant friars and were known as keen missionaries, travelling far and wide to propagate their doctrines. Healing the sick and conjuring the evil spirit, they traversed different countries and spread their apocryphal literature along with some of the books of the Old Testament, deeply influencing the religious spirit of the nations, and preparing them for the Reformation. They sowed the seeds of a rich religious popular literature in the East as well as in the West. The Historiated Bible, the Letter from Heaven, the Wanderings through Heaven and Hell, the numerous Adam and Cross legends, the religious poems of the “Kalëki perehozhie” and other similar productions owe their dissemination to a large extent to the activity of the Bogomils of Bulgaria, and their successors in other lands.
History.—The Bogomil propaganda follows the mountain chains of central Europe, starting from the Balkans and continuing along the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps and the Pyrenees, with ramifications north and south (Germany, England and Spain). In the middle of the 8th century the emperor Constantine Copronymus settled a number of Armenian Paulicians in Thracia. These were noted heretics and were persecuted by the Greek Church with fire and sword. The empress Theodora killed, drowned or hanged no fewer than 100,000. In the 10th century the emperor John Zimisces, himself of Armenian origin, transplanted no less than 200,000 Armenian Paulicians to Europe and settled them in the neighbourhood of Philippopolis, which henceforth became the centre of a far-reaching propaganda. Settled along the Balkans as a kind of bulwark against the invading Bulgars, the Armenians on the contrary soon fraternized with the newcomers, whom they converted to their own views; even a prince of the Bulgarians adopted their teaching. According to Slavonic documents the founder of this sect was a certain priest Bogumil, who “imbibed the Manichaean teaching and flourished at the time of the Bulgarian emperor Peter” (927–968). According to another source the founder was called Jeremiah (or there was another priest associated with him by the name of Jeremiah). The Slavonic sources are unanimous on the point that his teaching was Manichaean. A Synodikon from the year 1210 adds the names of his pupils or “apostles,” Mihail, Todur, Dobri, Stefan, Vasilie and Peter, all thoroughly Slavonic names. Zealous missionaries carried their doctrines far and wide. In 1004, scarcely 15 years after the introduction of Christianity into Russia, we hear of a priest Adrian teaching the same doctrines as the Bogomils. He was imprisoned by Leontie, bishop of Kiev. In 1125 the Church in the south of Russia had to combat another heresiarch named Dmitri. The Church in Bulgaria also tried to extirpate Bogomilism. The popes in Rome whilst leading the Crusade against the Albigenses did not forget their counterpart in the Balkans and recommended the annihilation of the heretics.
The Bogomils spread westwards, and settled first in Servia; but at the end of the 12th century Stephen Nemanya, king of Servia, persecuted them and expelled them from the country. Large numbers took refuge in Bosnia, where they were known under the name of Patarenes (q.v.) or Patareni. From Bosnia their influence extended into Italy (Piedmont). The Hungarians undertook many crusades against the heretics in Bosnia, but towards the close of the 15th century the conquest of that country by the Turks put an end to their persecution. It is alleged that a large number of the Bosnian Paterenes, and especially the nobles, embraced Islam (see Bosnia and Herzegovina: History). Few or no remnants of Bogomilism have survived in Bosnia. The Ritual in Slavonic written by the Bosnian Radoslavov, and published in vol. xv. of the Starine of the South Slavonic Academy at Agram, shows great resemblance to the Cathar ritual published by Cunitz, 1853. See F. Racki, “Bogomili i Paternai” in Rad, vols. vii., viii. and x. (Agram, 1870); Döllinger, Beiträge zur Ketzergeschichte d. Mittelalters, 2 vols. (Munich, 1890).
Under Turkish rule the Bogomils lived unmolested as Pavlikeni in their ancient stronghold near Philippopolis, and farther northward. In 1650 the Roman Catholic Church gathered them into its fold. No less than fourteen villages near Nicopolis embraced Catholicism, and a colony of Pavlikeni in the village of Cioplea near Bucharest followed the example of their brethren across the Danube.
Bibliography.—Euthymius Zygadenus, Narratio de Bogomilis, ed. Gieseler (Göttingen, 1842); J. C. Wolf, Historia Bogomilorum (Wittenberg, 1712); “Slovo svyatago Kozmyi na eretiki,” in Kukuljević Sakcinski, Arkiv zapovyestnicu jugoslavensku, vol. iv. pp. 69–97 (Agram, 1859); C. J. Jireček, Geschichte d. Bulgaren, pp. 155, 174–175 (Prague, 1876); Korolev, “Dogmatichesko-to uchenie na Bogomil-tie,” in Periodichesko spisanie, vols. vii.-viii. pp. 75–106 (Braila, 1873); A. Lombard, Pauliciens, Bulgares et Bons-hommes (Geneva, 1879); Episcopul Melchisedek, Lipovenismul, pp. 265 sqq. (Bucharest, 1871); B. P. Hasdeu, Cuvente den bătrăni, vol. ii. pp. 247 sqq. (Bucharest, 1879); F. C. Conybeare, The Key of Truth, pp. 73 sqq. and specially pp. 138 sqq. (Oxford, 1898); M. Gaster, Greeko-Slavonic Literature, pp. 17 sqq. (London, 1887); O. Dähnhardt, Natursagen, vol. i. pp. 38 sqq. (Leipzig and Berlin, 1907). (M. G.)
BOGORODSK, a town of central Russia, in the government of Moscow, and 38 m. by rail E.N.E. of the city of Moscow, on the Klyazma. It has woollen, cotton and silk mills, chemical factories and dye-works, and is famous for its gold brocade. Pop. (1897) 11,210.
BOGOS (Bilens), a pastoral race of mixed Hamitic descent, occupying the highlands immediately north of Abyssinia, now part of the Italian colony of Eritrea. They were formerly a self-governing community, though subject to Abyssinia. The community is divided into two classes, the Shumaglieh or “elders” and Tigré or “clients.” The latter are serfs of the former, who, however, cannot sell them. The Tigré goes with the land, and his master must protect him. In blood-money he is worth another Tigré or ninety-three cows, while an elder’s life is
valued at one hundred and fifty-eight cattle or one of his own caste. The eldest son of a Shumaglieh inherits his father’s two-edged sword, white cows, lands and slaves, but the house goes to the youngest son. Female chastity is much valued, but women have no rights, inherit nothing, and are classed with the hyaena, the most despised animal throughout Abyssinia. The Bogo husband never sees the face or pronounces the name of his mother-in-law, while it is a crime for a wife to utter her husband’s or father-in-law’s name.
BOGOTÁ, or Santa Fé de Bogotá, the capital of the republic of Colombia, and of the interior department of Cundinamarca, in 4° 6′ N. lat. and 78° 30′ W. long. Pop. about 125,000. The city is on the eastern margin of a large elevated plateau 8563 ft. above sea-level. The plateau may be described as a great bench or shelf on the western slope of the oriental Cordilleras, about 70 m. long and 30 m. wide, with a low rim on its western margin and backed by a high ridge on the east. The plain forming the plateau is well watered with numerous small lakes and streams. These several small streams, one of which, the San Francisco, passes through the city, unite near the south-western extremity of the plateau and form the Rio Funza, or Bogotá, which finally plunges over the edge at Tequendama in a beautiful, perpendicular fall of about 475 ft. The city is built upon a sloping plain at the base of two high mountains La Gaudalupe and Monserrate, upon whose crests stand two imposing churches. From a broad avenue on the upper side downward to the west slope the streets, through which run streams of cool, fresh water from the mountains above. The north and south streets cross these at right angles, and the blocks thus formed are like great terraces. A number of handsomely-laid-out plazas, or squares, ornamented with gardens and statuary, have been preserved; on these face the principal public buildings and churches. In Plaza Bolivar is a statue of Bolivar by Pietro Tenerani (1789–1869), a pupil of Canova, and in Plaza Santandér is one of General Francisco de Paula Santandér (1792–1840). Facing on Plaza de la Constitución are the capitol and cathedral. The streets are narrow and straight, but as a rule they are clean and well paved. Owing to the prevalence of earthquakes, private houses are usually of one storey only, and are built of sun-dried bricks,
