The death of Samuel signalled a turning point in the history of the Strumica Valley. The Vodocha monastery complex was damaged during this period but was restored immediately afterwards. The administration of Strumica was taken over by the Macedonian dignitary Dragomuz, who ruled the region until 1018 when he handed over the rule to Basil and Byzantium.
In the early 12th century, Strumica was mentioned again in Byzantine written sources. Emperor Alexius I Comnenus visited the recently built monastery “Sveta Bogorodica Eleusa” near the village of Veljusa during one of his passes through the Strumica valley in 1106. Later, he would also stay in Vodoca.
The weakening of Byzantium in the 12th century resulted in the creation of the second Bulgarian kingdom, led by brothers Peter and Asen. This development was utilized by the large Macedonian feudal lord Dobromir Hrs, who became independent in the Strumica Valley. Hrs had Strumica as the capital of his independent feudal state for a certain period until the conquest of the Prosek fortress.
Hrs entered into an alliance with the Bulgarian king Kaloyan and conquered the Prosek fortress at the entrance to the Vardar gorge (today’s Demir Kapija) after which Strumica ceased to be his capital. This development came to be because Hrs turned to the Vardar Valley with his army after entering the Ser region.
In 1119, the new Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angel started a campaign against Hrs which was unsuccessful. As a reward for Hrs’s victory, his feudal state would be recognized, and he would marry the daughter of the Byzantine Protostrator Manoil Kamitz. Unfortunately, this success was short-lived because Alexius III managed to win Strumica by deception and subjugated Hrs.
After Dobromir Hrs was removed, the Strumica valley was plunged into a tumultuous period. Sevastokrar Strez, a large feudal lord, became independent and created a new state in Prosek, the capital of Hrs. Strez’s ambitions were even greater than those of Hrs, and he attempted to fight for the vacant Bulgarian throne after the death of Kaloyan. However, his attempt was unsuccessful, and he fled to Serbia to take refuge with the Serbian king Stefan Nemanja. Even from Serbia, Strez continued his fight, taking advantage of the rebellion of another large feudal lord, Alexius Slav, who was based in the fortress of Melnik.
Strez offered Slav a military alliance against the Bulgarian state, which was useful for both of them, and as a result, the Struma river became the border of their allied states. After Strez’s death, the Strumica basin and Vodocha became part of the Thessaloniki Kingdom of the despot Slav, and after its collapse, they were included in the Epirus despotism. Subsequently, Strumica was conquered by the Bulgarian king Ivan Asen II, but only briefly. After his death, the Strumica Valley returned to the hands of the Byzantines.
During this period, it is unclear what exactly happened until the arrival of the Serbian king Stefan Dušan. There are some historical clues and assumptions that suggest another feudal lord, named Hreljo, had an independent state in the area between Shtip and Strumica. The emperor Stefan Dušan will conquer Byzantium in 1332, and Strumica will fall into Serbian hands for the first time.
However, after the death of Dušan, the Serbian state quickly disintegrated, and Macedonia fell under the independent king Volkašin and his brother, the despot Ugleša. In their kingdom, Strumica was assigned to Duke Bogdan, who was in charge of its management, but unfortunately, there are no more historical data about him.
The Strumica valley faced a new challenge when the Ottomans arrived, and they destroyed everything in front of them. They defeated Volkashin and Uglesha in a decisive battle for Strumica and Vodocha in 1371 near the river Maritsa. This created a vacuum in the governance of the Strumica territory because King Marko could only keep the so-called Prilep kingdom. The capture of Macedonian cities began immediately after the Battle of Maritsa. Although there is no exact data on when Strumica was conquered, it was very likely that it was conquered in 1373 at the latest.
After the capture of Strumica by the Ottomans, there were significant changes, including the name change to Ustrumdze. Vodocha kept its name. The Strumica Nahija, which included Radovish and some villages from Radovishko, was the centre of Strumica, which was included in the Kyustendil sanjak, encompassing 21 other nahijas. The entire territory of the Kyustendil sanjak was divided into four kazas, including the Strumica Kaza, which included areas of Strumicko, Maleshevsko, Bojmija, Konche, Tikveshko, Petrichko, and Melnick. Accordingly, the authority of the Strumica Qadi extended or encompassed seven nahijas.
