In the autumn of 1014 Basil II penetrated deep into Bulgarian territory and burned the palaces of Samuil's successor Gavril Radomir in the vicinity of Bitola.
[2][6] Basil II continued the war and simultaneously encouraged a successful conspiracy of Ivan Vladislav to murder his cousin Radomir and take the throne.
[2] In Pelagonia he left a large army under the command of the strategoi George Gonitsiates and Orestes to pillage the region and guard the Byzantine rear between Ohrid and Bitola.
The rest of the Byzantine army entered Pelagonia, but Ivats avoided engaging it, and Basil II retreated undisturbed to Thessaloniki.
[12][16] The battle of Bitola deprived Basil II of the great success achieved at the beginning of a campaign which might have destroyed the Bulgarian state as early as 1015.