Old Great Bulgaria

Not to be confused with First Bulgarian Empire.
Old Great Bulgaria
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Monogram of Kubrat

Old Great Bulgaria
Capital Phanagoria
(632–665)
Languages Bulgar
Religion Paganism (Tengrism)[1]
Government Absolute Monarchy
Khan
 -  632–665 Kubrat
 - 665–668 Batbayan
Historical era Middle Ages
 -  Kubrat inherits the throne 632
 - Batbayan inherits the throne 665
 -  Old Great Bulgaria is conquered by the Khazars 668
Today part of
"Great Bulgaria" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Greater Bulgaria.
History of the Turkic peoples
Pre-14th century
Turkic Khaganate 552–744
  Western Turkic
  Eastern Turkic
Avar Khaganate 564–804
Khazar Khaganate 618–1048
Xueyantuo 628–646
Great Bulgaria 632–668
  Danube Bulgaria
  Volga Bulgaria
Kangar union 659–750
Turgesh Khaganate 699–766
Uyghur Khaganate 744–840
Karluk Yabgu State 756–940
Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212
  Western Kara-Khanid
  Eastern Kara-Khanid
Gansu Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036
Kingdom of Qocho 856–1335
Pecheneg Khanates
860–1091		 Kimek Khanate
743–1035
Cumania
1067–1239		 Oghuz Yabgu State
750–1055
Shatuo dynasties 923–979
  Later Tang
  Later Jin
  Later Han (Northern Han)
Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186
Seljuk Empire 1037–1194
  Seljuk Sultanate of Rum
Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231
Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526
  Mamluk dynasty
  Khilji dynasty
  Tughlaq dynasty
Golden Horde | [2][3][4] 1240s–1502
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517
  Bahri dynasty

Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria (Byzantine Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, Palaiá Megálē Boulgaría) was a Turkic[5] state known as Patria Onoguria (Agathius, Priscus Rhetor, Zacharias Rhetor, and Pseudo-Zecharias Rhetor) and was а term used by Byzantine historians to refer to the initially Volga (before 463AD), then Maeotian (before 7th century) Bulgar state centred on Phanagoria north of the Caucasus mountains between the Dniester and Lower Volga.[6] In the 6th century it constituted the westernmost part of the Turkic Khaganate. In the 7th century, during the reign of Kubrat, it expanded west to include the lands of the Avars while centered in Poltava (modern Ukraine) before the Kotharig Khan took control in the Volga-to-Caucasus region and subjugated Batbayan in Poltava. At the same time a new wave of Avars from Carpathia evicted Kubrat's governors south from Sirmium while the Battle of Ongal led to the establishment of a new Bulgarian state along the Danube under Kubrat's son Asparukh.

Kubrat

Kubrat's sword from the Pereshchepina Treasure

According to the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans, Kubrat (also Kurt or Houvrat) was of the Hunnic dynastic clan Dulo and a rightful heir to the Bulgar throne.[7] H. Zotenberg (1883), while translating John Nikiu Chronicles from old-Ethiopian, intentionally replaced the name Qetrades to Kubrat. Since then, the historiography erroneously holds a misconception that Kubrat was raised and baptized by the Byzantine court, while the John’s character Qetrades has no real-life connection to the ruler of the Great Bulgaria Kubrat.[1][7]

Kubrat quickly managed to overthrow Avar domination, extending Onogur influence among the Bulgarians in Pannonia in what subsequently became known as Hungary. Ultimately however, although there is no evidence that the Utigurs were independent of the Onogurs until after Kubrat's empire disintegrated, it is believed he seceded from the Onogurs when they became entangled in dynastic wars. After Kubrat's burial in Mala Pereshchepina, the Khazars, who had triumphed in the collapse of Onoguria, subjugated Kubrat's eldest son and heir Batbayan, forcing his other sons to flee north up the Volga (2nd son Kotrag) and west into the Balkans (4th son Kuber & 3rd son Asparukh) and Italy (5th son Alcek, Alzek) [8]

Bulgars' settlements 6th-7th century

Establishment

Between 630 and 635, Khan Kubrat managed to unite the two main Bulgar tribes of Kutrigur and Utigur under a single rule, creating a powerful confederation which is referred to by the medieval authors as The Old Great Bulgaria[9] and also known as Onogundur-Bulgar Empire (or in western version: Onoghuria).[10] Some scholars assume that it also included among its subjects the defeated Avars and stretched as far west as the Pannonian plain. It is presumed that his capital was the ancient city of Phanagoria on the Taman peninsula. Kubrat's grave was discovered in 1912 at Pereshchepina, Ukraine.[11]

Part of a series on the
History of Ukraine
Ukraine portal

Disintegration and successor states

The events that unfolded following Kubrat's death are described by the Byzantine Patriarch Nicephorus I.[9] In the times of Emperor Constantine IV, he narrates, Kubrat died and Batbayan, the eldest of his five sons, was left in charge of the state. Under strong Khazar pressure, Kubrat's other sons disregarded their father's advice to stay together in order to resist the enemies and soon departed, taking their own tribes. Old Great Bulgaria disintegrated under Khazars pressure in 668.[12]

Volga Bulgars

Main article: Volga Bulgaria

Kotrag, the leader of the Kutrigurs (or Kotrags), left for Middle Volga, where he later established Volga Bulgaria at the Volga–Kama confluence, a state which was to become very prosperous. The Volga Bulgars or the Silver Bulgars (Bessermens) as they were called at the time, converted voluntarily to Islam in the 9th century and managed to preserve their national identity well into the 13th century, by repelling the first Mongol attacks in 1223. However, they were eventually subdued, their capital Bulgar city became one of major cities of the Golden Horde of the Mongols and the Bulgars mixed with the Tatars. The citizens of the modern Russian republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia are considered to be descendants of those Bulgars.

Bulgars in Vojvodina and Macedonia

Kuber ruled in Sirmium over a mixed group of peoples (Bulgars, 'Romans', Slavs, Germanics) as a vassal of the Avar khagan. After a revolt he led his people to Macedonia. There he had settled in the region of Keremisia and made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Thessaloniki. After this, he disappears from history and his people were later consolidated into the Bulgarian Empire by khan Krum.

Bulgars in Southern Italy

Further information: Bulgarians in Italy

Other Bulgars, circa 662, led by their "Duke Alzeco" (Altsek) sought refuge from the Avars with the Lombards and requested land from the Lombard King Grimoald I of Benevento in exchange for military service "for an uncertain reason", initially staying near Ravenna and later moving further south. Grimoald sent Altzek and his followers to his son Romuald in Benevento and they were then granted by Romuald land northeast of Naples in the "spacious but up till that time deserted" towns of Sepino, Bovianum (Boiano), and Isernia, in the present-day region of Molise in the Apennines. Instead of the title "Duke" Altzek was granted the Lombard title of "Gastald". Paul the Deacon in his Historia Langobardorum writing after the year 787 says that in his time Bulgars still inhabited the area, and that even though they speak "Latin", "they have not forsaken the use of their own tongue".[13]

Excavations in the necropolis of Vicenne-Campochiaro near Boiano which dates from the 7th century, found among 130 burials that there were 13 human burials alongside horses along with artifacts of Germanic and Avar origin.[14][15][16] Horse burials are characteristic of Central Asian horse-nomads, and therefore these burials are clearly those of the Bulgar settlers of Molise and Campania.[17]

Onoguria

BatBayan's Blacksea Bulgars remained in their Ukrainian homeland, Onoguria, but were subdued by their relatives, the Kazarigs. Some believe that the present-day Balkars are the descendants of the BatBayan horde even though they call themselves Malkars (after the river Malka) and speak a Turkic language of the Kipchak type. But in most Turkic languages the sound "b" became "m".

First Bulgarian Empire

After the state disintegrated under Khazar attack in 668, Asparuh parted ways with his brothers and led some of the Bulgars to seek a secure home. He was followed by 30,000 to 50,000 Bulgars.[18] After the Battle of Ongal Asparuh founded the First Bulgarian Empire, which was officially recognized as an independent state by the Byzantine Empire in 681.

Etymology of Onoghuria

See also: Onogurs

Variations of the name include:

Onoghuria, Onoguri, Onoghuri, Onghur, Ongur, Onghuri, Onguri, Onghuria, Onguria, Onogundur, Unogundur, Unokundur, etc.

There are numerous speculations about the origin of the Onogur name:

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 John of Nikiû, Chronicle
  2. ↑ Marshall Cavendish Corporation (2006). Peoples of Western Asia. p. 364.
  3. ↑ Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2007). Historic Cities of the Islamic World. p. 280.
  4. ↑ Borrero, Mauricio (2009). Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. p. 162.
  5. ↑ Leif Inge Ree Petersen (2013). Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400-800 AD. p. 112.
  6. ↑ Theophanes,Op. cit., p. 356-357
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mingazov S. Kubrat - the Ruler of Great Bulgaria and Ketrades - character of John of Nikiu work - Kazan: Institute of History of Academy of Science of Republic of Tatarstan, 2012
  8. ↑ Mingazov S. The Heirs of Great Bulgaria in Western Europe// Philology and Culture. - 2012. - № 1 (27).- S. 201-207. .
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, Historia syntomos, breviarium
  10. ↑ Zimonyi Istvan: "History of the Turkic speaking peoples in Europe before the Ottomans". (Uppsala University: Institute of Linguistics and Philology) (archived from the original on 2013-10-21)
  11. ↑ Rasho Rashev, Die Protobulgaren im 5.-7. Jahrhundert, Orbel, Sofia, 2005 (in Bulgarian, German summary)
  12. ↑ The Other Europe in the Middle ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans, Florin Curta, BRILL, 2008, ISBN 9004163891, p. 351.
  13. ↑ Diaconis, Paulus (787). Historia Langobardorum. Monte Cassino, Italy. Book V chapter 29.
  14. ↑ Genito, Bruno (2001). "Sepolture Con Cavallo Da Vicenne (Cb):" (PDF). I° Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  15. ↑ Belcastro, M. G.; Faccini F. (2001). "Anthropological and cultural features of a skeletal sample of horsemen from the medieval necropolis of Vicenne-Campochiaro (Molise, Italy)" (PDF). Collegium antropologicum (Coll. antropol.) ISSN 0350-6134 25 (2): 387–401. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  16. ↑ "Longobard necropolis of Campochiaro". Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  17. ↑ Conte Miltenova, N. - I Bulgari di Gallo Matese - Prefazione e postfazione di Giuseppe Mario Tufarulo Passaporto Editore, Roma, 1993. - C.N.R.
  18. ↑ Васил Н. Златарски. История на Първото българско Царство. Епоха на хуно-българското надмощие с. 188.

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