After his death his widow, Empress Maria, the Patriarch and most of the nobility finally surrendered to Basil II, who soon suppressed the last remnants of resistance and brought about the end of the First Bulgarian Empire.

By 1015, Bulgaria had been embroiled in almost thirty years of war with the Byzantine Empire, and Gavril Radomir had succeeded Samuel, who died on 6 October 1014 after the disastrous Battle of Kleidion.

However, from the outset Radomir's position was insecure: Ivan Vladislav, as a son of the elder of the Cometopouli brothers, could lay claim on the throne based on seniority.

The fall of Maglen sealed Gavril Radomir's fate—in the late summer of 1015, while hunting near Ostrovo (Arnissa), he was murdered by his cousin,[4] perhaps at the behest of Byzantine agents.

Basil II soon understood that Ivan Vladislav's letter was a ruse and plotted a retaliatory action, bribing the kavkhan Theodore, who was in Byzantine captivity, to murder the Bulgarian ruler.

[8] With his supply routes cut, Basil II had to retreat back to Thessalonica leaving a small garrison in Ohrid, which was swiftly retaken by the Bulgarians.

The Prince was determined to attend the invitation of Tsar, but his wife Theodora Kosara did not trust the murderer of her brother, and fearing for her husband's life persuaded him not to go.

Eventually Jovan Vladimir travelled to the court of the Tsar in Prespa, but upon his arrival on 22 May, he was immediately beheaded, and the emperor refused to allow the burial of his body.

Under the walls of the town Basil II received messages from Tzitzikios, the Byzantine strategos of Dorostolon (Silistra), that Ivan Vladislav had sent Krakra to negotiate assistance from the Pechenegs[13] and that they were crossing the Danube.

The Byzantine emperor immediately abandoned the siege and hurried northwards, but in the vicinity of Lake Ostrovo he learned that the Pechenegs were unwilling to risk war.

Ivan Vladislav, who was closely monitoring the Byzantine movements, ambushed the troops who were under the command of Constantine Diogenes, who would have perished had not Basil II come to relieve him.

The Bulgarian additions to the Skylitzes Chronicle are more detailed, saying that Ivan Vladislav dueled with the strategos of Dyrrhachium, the patrikios Niketas Pegonites, on horseback, and while fighting, two Byzantine infantrymen from the audience rushed to the emperor and wounded him mortally in the belly.

[13] The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja reports an altogether different story: while having a meal in his camp, the emperor was attacked by an unknown soldier, in whom Ivan Vladislav seemed to have recognized the murdered Jovan Vladimir.

[18] Many modern Bulgarian historians, including Vasil Zlatarski, also criticize the emperor, claiming that his actions hastened the fall of Bulgaria and that instead of raising the morale of the nation he turned into a murderer and was unable to cope with the intrigues and the corruption in court.

[19] Steven Runciman is also critical of the emperor, noting that his assassination of Gavril Radomir unleashed a general confusion where each noble started looking out for his own personal interests, but nevertheless credits him with "a considerable ruthless energy".

"[20] The Polish historian Kazimierz Zakrzewski also writes with sympathy for the last ruler of the First Empire, in light of the fact that Ivan Vladislav managed to sustain a guerilla war which he skilfully ran until his death.

[22] Ivan Vladislav married Maria, possibly the daughter of Tsar Boris II of Bulgaria and a Byzantine noblewoman,[23] by whom he left progeny.