Talk:Strez/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Rcej (Robert) - talk 05:10, 14 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello :) We'll start the review in a few days.. Rcej (Robert) - talk 05:10, 14 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, looking forward to it! :) — Toдor Boжinov — 11:58, 16 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The article just needs a few things, and we should be about there:

Let's add the nobility infobox, filled out as much as possible for him.
In the section Throne contender and Serbian vassal;

Is there any mention of Strez's parentage? He's established as an Asen nephew, but from which side?
From the section, we read: "Nothing is mentioned of Strez until the events in the wake of the sudden death of Tsar Kaloyan (1197–1207) during his siege of the Crusader-held Thessaloniki."

Strez seemingly emerged in the historic context within the events surrounding Kaloyan's death. But, was Strez first mentioned merely in passing, or as having a reputation or agenda already established before Kaloyan's death?

"Just like another separatist, Alexius Slav, Strez was a nephew of the Asen brothers Peter, Ivan Asen and Kaloyan, who were the first three emperors of the Second Bulgarian Empire."

Strez was already considered a separatist?

"At the time of Kaloyan's death, Strez was in the capital Tarnovo, perhaps seeking to capitalize on his ancestral rights to the Bulgarian crown. However, Boril proved to be the more ambitious candidate."

Logistically, what were Strez's actions while in Tarnovo regarding capitalizing on his ancestral rights?

It seems like Strez had been doing some major moving and shaking up to the point of Kaloyan's death. Just be sure everything specifc about Strez's backstory and activity at the time of and after Kaloyan's death is fleshed out as much as possible. His emergence lacks context, because his importance at that time is unclearly presented in the article :) Rcej (Robert) - talk 07:30, 17 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I've added the infobox and I've made it clear that Strez only emerged as a separatist later on, after his flight to Serbia and establishment in Macedonia as a vassal.

You have not added these to the article yet :) Rcej (Robert) - talk 03:38, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hah, sorry about that! I had the edits in a separate tab and I must have closed it instead of submitting for some reason. I hadn't even noticed :) — Toдor Boжinov — 08:04, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The early life of Strez is pretty difficult to elaborate on, however.

Nothing is mentioned of Strez's activity prior to Kaloyan's death, so we can assume that his reputation was merely based on his royal origin. Only his actions after the death of Kaloyan are described in the sources, so we cannot really make any assumptions about his prior activity or attitude.
There is no information in primary sources as to what Strez did while in Tarnovo, if anything at all. It seems that his mere presence has been recorded, and, because of this and his royal descent, historians have theorized that he had ambitions for the throne. In fact, it might be the case that only Strez's flight from Tarnovo is mentioned in the sources, and it is through this that his presence there can be at all established.

Medieval Bulgarian history is rather poorly recorded compared to that of, say, England, France or Germany, or, for a geographically closer example, Byzantium. Strez was a relatively prominent figure, so his life is comparatively well recorded, but still, in contrast to similar figures from other European countries, the information we rely on is much less abundant :)

If you have any ideas how we can improve the section on Strez's emergence with the existing information (I'm pretty sure I'm not missing anything in terms of facts), I'll be glad to hear :)

Best, — Toдor Boжinov — 16:05, 17 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Really, I don't see anything else you can do to improve it... you're correct in following the constraints of the sources :) Final question: what became of Strez's body after his death? Was he memorialized in any way, iconically/culturally/historically? Rcej (Robert) - talk 06:44, 20 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your edits to the article! :) We'd be extremely lucky to have known anything of his remains. The remains of only very few of Bulgaria's emperors have ever been discovered and convincingly identified, among them I can immediately think of only Samuel and Kaloyan, so what's left for mere nobles. There is no information about the fate of Strez's body. Somewhat unusually, his fame did live on: in "Assessment and legacy" I've listed a castle that bears his name and an 18th-century legend based on his life. — Toдor Boжinov — 08:00, 20 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You are going to list that castle in Assessment and legacy? ;-) Rcej (Robert) - talk 06:14, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's been there for a long time: the entire last paragraph of the section/article is about his legacy, including the fortress and the legend. — Toдor Boжinov — 07:55, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

lol... my bad! Sorry for that..! We will continue tomorrow :) Rcej (Robert) - talk 08:12, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Reading through the article carefully again for about the fourth time, it really feels like a full account of his moment in the spotlight, on a stage far larger than any of them really understood. Everything else seems to check out fine for ga, so I'm going to pass it! Yay! Good working with you... and don't be surprised if we meet again ;) Rcej (Robert) - talk 05:13, 22 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, it was a pleasure working with you as well! :) — Toдor Boжinov — 11:32, 22 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Results of review

GA review (see here for criteria)

The article Strez passes this review, and has been promoted to good article status. The article is found by the reviewing editor to be deserving of good article status based on the following criteria:

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS):
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail: Pass