The emergence of Danube Bulgaria. Great Bulgaria
Khan Kubrat is considered the founder of Great Bulgaria, who in the Black Sea steppes, through a combination of peaceful - diplomatic and military operations, evading serious clashes, attempted to "gather the people" (his name from the Turkic is interpreted exactly like this: you must gather the people).
Territory of Great Bulgaria
The main territory of Great Bulgaria was the lands stretching from the Kuban to the Dnieper, inhabited by the Bulgarian tribes of the Onogurs, partly by the Kutrigurs and, apparently, by the ancient Hungarian tribes.
The capital of Great Bulgaria was the ancient ancient city of Phanagoria, restored after the Hunnic defeat, located on the Taman Peninsula.
Khan Kubrat, who grew up at the court of the Byzantine emperor, received an excellent education, knew many languages of the peoples of the Black Sea region, was an adherent of a unifying policy.
Diplomacy of Great Bulgaria
In order to consolidate the Turks, Khan Kubrat maintained allied relations with Byzantium, which, in turn, sought to use the Bulgarians as a military and political counterbalance to the Avars. Therefore, the support of Byzantium in the struggle of the Bulgarians with the Avar Khaganate for their independence was fragile. Probably, this largely explains the fragility of Great Bulgaria. After the death of Khan Kubrat in the early 640s. Great Bulgaria was divided among his sons.
Unfortunately, the Great Bulgarian stage in Russian historiography is often described only as a short-term episode, as an insignificant historical phenomenon. In reality, the culture of Great Bulgaria was not an episode or one of the bright flashes of the transition from ancient to medieval historical time, but a link that ensured the continuity of the evolution of the Turkic civilization, a factor in the preservation and spread of its essential features under the ethnonym "Bulgarians" () in broad geopolitical coordinates.
The collapse of Great Bulgaria
This period is characterized by the strengthening of a new state association - the Khazar Khaganate, the core of which is the Turkic-speaking tribe of the Khazars, close to the Bulgarians, who lived after the departure of the Huns and Avars in the western part of the Caspian Sea from the Lower Volga to the Sulak River.
The Khazars tried to subjugate all the Bulgarian tribes to their influence. The eldest son of Kubrat Khan Batbay, who led the Azov group of Bulgarians, suffered in the middle of the 7th century. defeated by the Khazars, became their tributary and was forced to move south to the foothills of the Caucasus. The modern Balkars are considered to be the Turkic descendants of the ancient Bulgarians.
The Western Group of Bulgarians, led by the youngest son of Kubrat Khan Asparuh, went to the lower Danube, where they defeated the troops of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV Pogonat, who made peace with Asparuh and pledged to pay tribute to the Bulgarians.
So in 681 Khan Asparuh founded the Bulgarian state. His successor, Khan Tervel, received the title of Caesar from the Byzantine emperor Justinian II, and subsequent Bulgarian rulers significantly expanded the boundaries of the kingdom by annexing the former Avar lands on the left bank of the Danube to it.
Over time, this group of Bulgarians was assimilated by the Slavic population, but retained the ethnonym in the name of the state - Bulgaria and left a noticeable mark in the history of Bulgarian statehood, significantly influencing the ethnogenesis of the Bulgarian people.
Creation of Volga Bulgaria
Another significant group of Bulgarian tribes moved north over the next century and, having passed the steppes of the lower Volga, at the turn of the 9th - 10th centuries. created its own state - the Volga Bulgaria. The version spread earlier in the literature that these were Bulgarian tribes headed by Kubrat's son Kotrag has recently been seriously questioned.
In all likelihood, the conglomerate of Bulgarian tribes, consisting of the Bulgarians proper, Savirs, Barsils, Belenjers, and others, dispersed over the vast territory of the Khazar Khaganate before settling in the Volga-Kamie.
There, these tribes, together with the Turkic-speaking Khazars, Iranian-speaking Alans and other local ethnic groups, created a kind of agricultural-nomadic civilizational community, called the Saltov-Mayak archaeological culture.
This culture owns several hundred diverse archaeological sites - the remains of nomad camps, settlements, castles, cities and burial grounds dating back to the 8th - 9th centuries. They are located on a vast territory from the Volga to the Danube, although the main part is concentrated along the banks of the Don and in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov.
Formed in the zone of intensive civilizational interaction of many Turkic-Ugric and Indo-European peoples, this culture was a combination of nomadic, agricultural and urban traditions of various regions of Eurasia. The well-known archaeologist S.A. Pletneva considers the Saltovo-Mayak culture located on the Slavic-Khazar borderlands to be “one of the brightest and highest cultures of the Middle Ages”.
The decline of the Saltovo-Mayak culture, obviously, can be associated with the departure of part of its constituent tribes to the west (in the Black Sea region and to the Danube) and to the north (in the Volga region), as well as with the weakening of the Khazar Khaganate as a result of military strikes by the Arabs, Eastern Slavs, and especially the Pechenegs .
The Volga-Bulgarian cross-section of culture, which enriched the world community with lessons of both a peacefully constructive, trade-economic, and military-conquest character, has not sunk into oblivion. He continued to exert his influence on many aspects of the common Turkic civilization.
And even after many centuries, it gave "cultural signals", manifested itself in the form of moral and ethical norms, traditions and customs that entered mythology, everyday practice and the spiritual life of many peoples - the historical heirs and successors of the Bulgarians, including the Tatar people .
LESSON #2
Ancient Turks and early states
Great Bulgaria
During the advancement of the Huns to the west, the Bulgarians came to the Black Sea and Azov steppes along with other Turkic-speaking tribes. Here were the possessions of the Turkic Khaganate. The Bulgarians found themselves in its composition in the position of vassals. Under the leadership of the ruler Kubrat in 632 they achieved independence. An independent state arose - Great Bulgaria. (see map )
KUBRAT KHAN RING WITH A PRINT
KUBRAT KHANA
The capital of Great Bulgaria was Phanagoria - an ancient city on the Taman Peninsula.
Crafts and trade were concentrated here. The main occupation of the Bulgarians was nomadic cattle breeding.
The history of Great Bulgaria turned out to be short. The sons of Kubrat violated his covenant not to separate from each other and live in friendship and harmony. After the death of their father, they began a struggle for power and divided the land among themselves. The state collapsed.
Kubrat's son Asparuh was forced to take his subjects to the banks of the Danube. Here the Bulgarians, having conquered the Slavs, in 681 created a new state - Danube Bulgaria.
Most of the Bulgarians, together with Batbay, another son of Kubrat, remained on their indigenous lands. Soon they occupied the Crimean peninsula, the steppes and forest-steppes of the Dnieper region. It was in these steppes, near the village of Pereshchepino in the vicinity of the city of Poltava, that a treasure trove of gold and silver dishes, precious weapons and jewelry was discovered. "Treasures of Kubratkhan" - this is how this treasure is usually called, on which the name of the founder of Great Bulgaria has been preserved.
BULGARIAN SILVER VASE GOLD RINGS ORGAN
WITH THE IMAGE OF KUBRAT KHAN AND KUBRAT KHAN.
Great Bulgaria - the first own state of the Bulgarians, who became one of the ancestors of modern Tatars. It existed for a short time, did not even have time to get stronger and therefore did not have a significant impact on the course of history.
Great Bulgaria
origins
Back in the 6th century, the Turkic Khaganate, once the strongest state in Asia and one of the largest states in terms of area created by mankind, pursued an aggressive policy.
As a result of these military campaigns, the lands of the Bulgarian and Suvar tribes became part of the Kaganate. Later, in the 30s of the 7th century, such a huge state as the Turkic Khaganate inevitably collapsed and two states were formed on its territory - the Khazar Khaganate in the east and Great Bulgaria in the west, which will be discussed now.
The emergence of the state and the fleeting heyday
The term "Great Bulgaria" is understood simply as an association of tribes that arose in Eastern Europe in 632, as a result of the collapse of the Turkic state. The unification of the tribes is attributed to Khan Kubrat, who, being the Khan of the Kutrigur tribe, united his army with the Utigur tribe, freeing it from the Turkic yoke and the Otigurs.
The uprising against the Avar nomads marked the emergence of a new state association, which was called Great Bulgaria. However, there is evidence that the unification was started by Kubrat's uncle, Khan Organ. Kubrat himself was born in 605, grew up and was brought up surrounded by the Byzantine emperor. At the age of 12 he converted to Christianity. He was married to the daughter of a wealthy Greek aristocrat.
army of Great Bulgaria photo
As a khan, Kubrat was a strong personality and a strong politician, and despite the constant threats from the Khazar Khaganate, he managed not only to repulse them, but also to keep the tribes united, while maintaining independence. Despite the fact that there is very little data about Kubrat's policy, it is obvious that under him Great Bulgaria reached its peak.
The unspoken capital of the new state was located in the city of Fanaguris, or Phanagoria, on Taman. It was a craft center, around which there were many smaller settlements. They were engaged in agriculture and fishing. Pottery predominated among crafts. However, despite this, the tribes that were part of the state led a largely nomadic lifestyle. In winter, the inhabitants settled in villages and huts, and in summer they returned to the steppe. This way of life was very similar to that which was in the Khazar Khaganate.
Decay
However, in 665 Kubrat dies, and the flourishing of Great Bulgaria ends. The rich grave of the Bulgarian leader was found near the village of Malaya Prishchepina, in Ukraine. After the death of Kubrat, the title of Khan of Great Bulgaria passed to his son Batbayan.
Kubrat photo
Batbayan was a khan for only three years, he could not hold power and Great Bulgaria was divided into five parts between him and the rest of the sons of Kubrat - Asparuh, Kuver, Kotrag and Alcek. Each fiefdom declared its autonomy, started its own army. However, one by one they could not withstand the onslaught of the Khazar Khaganate and in 668 Great Bulgaria ceased to exist.
Further fate
The patrimony of Batbayan, which was located in the Kuban region, quickly recognized the citizenship of the Khazar Khaganate and undertook to pay tribute to them. The tribes that lived in that area were called "black Bulgars". Another son of Kubrat Asparuh, after an unsuccessful war with the Khazars, under their pressure, together with the army, left the Great Bulgaria and moved towards the Danube.
Beyond the Danube, in 679, he founded the state of Danube Bulgaria, subjugating the Byzantine region of Dobruja with the support of the Slavic tribes of Thrace and Wallachia, concluding an agreement with them. Subsequently, it was from these tribes and the Bulgars of Asparuh that the Bulgarian nation was formed. Kuver went to the region of Pannonia, joined the Avars, and even tried to become an Avar Khagan, but this attempt was unsuccessful.
In the 680s, he organizes an uprising, which again unsuccessfully and with an army flees to Macedonia, where his people united with local tribes, and there is no evidence of the further fate of Kuver. Kotrag was the leader of the Kutrigurs. Due to the constant attacks of the Khazars, which ravaged the Bulgarian lands, Kotrag with the Kutrigurs was forced to leave the Great Bulgaria and move to the Volga region, where the Volga Bulgaria was founded, a strong and large state that influenced the political picture of that region for many centuries.
The last son of Kubrat Alcek, together with the tribes moved towards Italy. Having reached the Lombard kingdom, which was in the north of the Apennine Peninsula, Alcek asked the local king Grimoald for the opportunity to live on the territory of their state, promising his service in return. He sent them to his son Romuald, who received them cordially and gave them land in the area of the city of Benevent, and Alzek personally changed the title of duke to gastalda.
According to historical evidence, they remained to live in that region, although they speak Latin, without giving up their native language. Also, excavations indicate that another part of the Bulgarians of Alcek settled in the region of Tuscany. Despite the fact that Great Bulgaria lasted only a few decades, its collapse had a great impact on the future map of Europe and history in general. It was from the ost that she gave rise to two rather large states - Danube Bulgaria and Volga Bulgaria, about which it is worth telling a little more.
Danube Bulgaria
As already mentioned, after the collapse of Great Bulgaria, Asparuh, together with her horde, settled in the Danube Delta, occupying rather vast territories. Having concluded an agreement with the locals, the Bulgarians merged with them, and Asparuh began to make campaigns to the south and in particular to Byzantium. The campaigns were successful, part of the Byzantine lands was conquered, after which an agreement was concluded between Bulgaria and Byzantium, which essentially recognized the existence of Danube Bulgaria.
The life of the Bulgarians has changed since the time of the resettlement. Mixing with the Slavs provoked a rejection of the nomadic lifestyle and he became more sedentary. Farming, hunting and handicrafts replaced steppe races, but military affairs were still given great attention. The Bulgarian armies were constantly tempered in training and battles, and developed agriculture and cattle breeding replenished the material resources of the army. Many military campaigns were carried out on religious grounds, as Byzantium tried to convert the pagan Bulgarians to Christianity.
Volga Bulgaria
Despite the fact that Kotrag settled on the Volga in the 7th century, the first mention of the Volga Bulgaria as a state dates back to the 10th century. The little that is known about the time between the resettlement and the first mention tells us that during the time the Bulgarian tribes dispersed over a rather vast territory among the Finno-Ugric tribes. They were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding and worshiped pagan gods. Later, it became known as the largest Islamic state in Eastern Europe. It was there that Prince Vladimir went when he was looking for a suitable religion for Russia.
The state was located on extremely fertile lands, so developed agriculture contributed to a rich economy and an extensive flow of trade with other states. Volga Bulgaria had a strong influence on the development of political relations in Eastern Europe, including Ancient Russia. In 1240, it was conquered by the Tatar-Mongolian nomads.
As we can see, in its short century, Great Bulgaria had a great influence on future history. The scale and territory, a short but glorious history, the strength of the first and only leader made this state really great, and justify such a sonorous name.
GREAT BULGARIA
VELIKA BULGARIA
Great Bulgaria. Bulgaria. The union of tribes of various origins, mainly Turkic and Finno-Ugric, briefly (632-c. 671) existed in the Black Sea and Azov steppes.
The basis of the association was the Proto-Bulgarian tribe of the Kutrigurs, who, with the involvement of the Slavs and the remnants of the Ants, managed to free themselves from the power of the Avars, whose power was undermined by another unsuccessful attempt to capture Constantinople (626).
The Khan of the Kutrigurs, Kubrat (632-665), managed to unite his horde with another Bulgarian tribe of the Utigurs (formerly dependent on the Turks), as well as with the Ugric tribe of the Onogurs (possibly the Hunnogurs, Khungurs, from where Hungary is Ugria, Hungary). This is how Great Bulgaria arose. Among the Bulgarian tribes, the Dulo clan strengthened. In 619, Organa, the leader of the Bulgarians, converted to Christianity in Byzantium. Organa left his throne to his sister's son Kubrat. Kubrat was born c. 605 and was brought up at the court of the Byzantine emperor. In 632 Kubrat ascended the throne. Kubrat married in 635 the daughter of a rich Greek Evdokia. From the emperor of Byzantium Heraclius Kubrat received the rank of patrician.
Great Bulgaria under Khan Kubrat was independent from both the Avars and the Khazars. But if from the west the danger passed completely due to the weakening of the Avar Khaganate, then from the east a threat constantly loomed. While Kubrat was alive, he had enough strength to keep the Bulgarian tribes in unity and resist the danger. But after his death, Great Bulgaria was divided by his five sons, Batbayan, Kotrag, Asparukh, Kuber, Alcek. Each of the sons of Kubrat led his own horde, and none of them individually had the strength to compete with the Khazars. As a result of the onslaught of the Khazars, the Bulgarian hordes were divided, and Great Bulgaria ceased to exist. The Bulgars took part in the Great Migration of Peoples, influencing the formation of peoples that have survived to this day. Around 665 Kubrat died. Presumably, his burial was found near the village of Malaya Pereshchepina, Poltava region of Ukraine. A lot of gold and silver items and a seal with a monogram (in which it is possible to read the name of Kubrat) were recovered, which are now kept in the Hermitage.
The eldest son Batbai remained in place, the second son Kotrag with his horde crossed the Don and settled opposite Batbai. The third son Asparukh with his horde went to the Danube and founded Danubian Bulgaria there. Asparuh was buried on the territory of the modern city of Zaporozhye. The fourth son with his horde moved to Pannonia to the Avars, the fifth son went with his horde to Italy.
One of the hordes, consisting mainly of the Kutrigur tribes, moved north under the command of Kotrag and settled (VII-VIII centuries) on the middle Volga and on the Kama, where the Volga Bulgaria subsequently arose. The Volga Bulgars are the ancestors of the Kazan Tatars and Chuvashs.
Another horde, which included mainly Utigur clans, under the command of Khan Asparuh, went west and approx. 650 stopped in the area of the lower Danube. The Slavic tribes that invaded the Balkans around the same time (VI-VII centuries) from the Danube, having no experience in creating states, fell into the sphere of influence of the Bulgarians. Recognizing Asparuh as their overlord, they joined the new state. Over time, the Bulgars merged with the Slavs, and from the mixture of the Asparuh Bulgars and the various Slavic and remnants of the Thracian tribes included in it, the Bulgarian nation was formed, which managed to create one of the first Slavic states, the Bulgarian kingdom.
Thus, the ancient union of tribes called the Bulgars took part in the formation of several peoples - Slavic, Turkic, Finno-Ugric, and also, to some extent, Romanesque and Germanic.
In the middle of the 7th century, the state of Great Bulgaria flourished between the Kuban and the Dnieper. But his age was short. After the death of its founder, the state fell apart, and its population scattered across the continent.
The birthplace of the Bulgarians (in ancient historiography - Proto-Bulgarians or Bulgars) is considered to be Central Asia, or rather the mountainous region of the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush. In Indian sources this place is called Balkhara, in Greek - Bactria. For the first time, the chronicles mention the Bulgars from the 4th century. The Armenian historian of the 5th century, Movses Khorenatsi, describes the resettlement of the Bulgars in Transcaucasia: “In the days of Arshak I (Armenian king), great unrest arose in the chain of the great Caucasus Mountain, in the Land of the Bulgars; many of them separated and came to our country.” During this period, in the Caspian steppes, along with other nomads, the Bulgars were involved in a large-scale process of the Great Migration of Peoples, in which they “dissolved” for a while. Until the collapse of the Hun Empire, evidence of the activity of the Bulgars disappears from the sources. This gives historians reason to assume that the Bulgars were part of a huge tribal union, which contemporaries called the Huns. After the fall of the Turkic Khaganate at the beginning of the 7th century, the formation of new states began on its ruins. The largest of them was the Khazar Khaganate. In parallel, the disengagement of the Bulgar tribes of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, which were part of two tribal unions, - Kutrigur and Utigur, takes place. The first connected his fate with the Avars and went to the West, and the second fell under the rule of the Turks. In the 7th century, another tribe appeared on the historical scene - Gunnugundur, which Byzantine authors, in particular, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, call the Bulgarians. According to researchers, this tribe used to be known as Onogur and lived east of the Sea of Azov, between the Don and Kuban. The Soviet historian and archaeologist Mikhail Artamonov writes that the Azov Bulgarians at that time were under the rule of the Turkuts, and they were headed by the specific Turkut khan. However, the internecine war greatly shattered the power of the Turkic Khaganate and made it possible for some tribes to free themselves from its rule. By 635, the leader Gunnogundur Khan Kubrat expelled the Turkuts (according to another version, Avars) from the Northern Black Sea region and managed to unite the Azov and Black Sea Bulgarians under his rule.
transient greatness
Historians have limited information about Kurbat, the founder of the state association, called Great Bulgaria. The Egyptian bishop John of Nikius in his chronicle pointed out that Kubrat was brought up in Byzantium. Closely associated with Constantinople, as a Bulgarian sovereign, he carried out a pro-Byzantine policy. Medieval writer Nikifor Grigora notes that Kubrat and the Byzantine emperor Heraclius I kept peace with each other until the death of the latter. As for the state of Great Bulgaria itself, little is known about it either. As an exception, the mention in the chronicle of the Byzantine monk Theophan the Confessor. Let us quote this fragment in full: “On the other side, on the northern shores of the Euxine Pontus, behind the lake called Meotian, from the ocean side, the greatest river Atel (Volga) flows through the Sarmatian land; the Tanais (Don) river approaches this river, coming from the Iverian gates in the Caucasus mountains (Daryal); from the convergence of Tanais and Atel, which diverge above the Meotian Lake in different directions, the river Kufis (Kuban) emerges, and flows into the Pontic Sea near the Dead Gates, against the Cape of the Ram's Forehead. From the aforementioned lake, the sea, like a river, connects with the Euxine Pontus at the Cimmerian Bosporus, where murzulia and other fish are caught. On the eastern shores of the Meotian Lake beyond Phanagoria, in addition to the Jews, many peoples live. Behind that lake, above Kufis, in which the Bulgarian fish koist is caught, there is ancient Great Bulgaria and the kotrags, tribesmen of the Bulgarians, live. Historians find many geographical errors in this passage. In particular, Feofan here confuses the Don and Kuban rivers. It is the Kuban, and not the Don, that originates in the Caucasus Mountains. One way or another, it can be assumed that Great Bulgaria covered vast areas, stretching from the foothills of the Caucasus to the middle Dnieper region. In other words, this state was located in the territories of modern Russia and Ukraine. By the middle of the 7th century, the state of the Bulgarians, headed by Khan Kubrat, had turned into a mighty force. No wonder the Byzantine compilers of the historical chronicle called it "Ancient Great Bulgaria". The chronicle notes that as a token of honor, the Roman emperor Irakli I honored Kubrat with the title of “patrician” and rewarded him with rich gifts. Phanagoria, mentioned by Feofan, located on the coast of the Kerch Strait, was the capital of Ancient Bulgaria (today these are ruins near the village of Sennoy in the Krasnodar Territory). The former Greek colony, almost completely destroyed by the Huns, Phanagoria was rebuilt by the Bulgarians and turned into a center of crafts and trade. Other settled settlements quickly grew up near the capital, the inhabitants of which were engaged in crafts, mostly pottery and agriculture. However, the main part of the population continued to lead a predominantly semi-nomadic lifestyle, livestock breeding. Japanese history professor Shigeoshi Matsumae wrote that "Bulgarian culture of the Middle Ages is among the seven civilizations in the history of mankind that have played a responsible mediating role because of their mission as a link between East and West."
Scattering
After the death of Kubrat, presumably in the 50s - early 60s of the 7th century, Great Bulgaria did not last long. According to legend, the five sons of the khan - Batbayan, Kotrag, Asparukh, Kuber and Alzek - divided the lands of the state among themselves. However, the small destinies deprived of unity were not able to cope with the increased power of the Khazar Khaganate. During clashes with the Khazars in the 660s, Great Bulgaria ceased to exist as a state. The eldest son Batbay (Bezmer) with his horde, which is known as the "black Bulgarians" remained in place, turning into a tributary of the Khazars. In particular, the "black Bulgarians" are mentioned in Prince Igor's treaty with Byzantium, according to which Igor undertakes to defend the Byzantine possessions in the Crimea from the attacks of these tribes. Nevertheless, the "black Bulgarians" quickly occupied the Crimean peninsula, the steppes and forest-steppes of the Dnieper region. In 1912, near the village of Pereshchepino in the vicinity of the Ukrainian city of Poltava, a treasure trove of gold and silver dishes, precious weapons and jewelry was discovered. "Treasures of Kubratkhan" - this is how the archaeologists called this treasure, linking it with the name of the founder of Great Bulgaria. And not by chance. Here was found the grave of a wealthy ruler, presumably Kubrat himself. It is important to note that the spread of influence of both Great Bulgaria and the Khazar Khaganate in the Dnieper region gives historians reason to assume that Kyiv, several centuries before it became the capital of Ancient Russia, was a predominantly non-Slavic city. Another significant migration of the Bulgars is connected with the name of the second son of Kubrat - Kotrag. He crossed the Don and moved north, founding new cities on the Kama and the Volga. This is how the Volga Bulgaria arose, the population of which became the ancestors of the modern Chuvash and Tatars. The remaining three sons of the founder of Great Bulgaria went to the West. Asparuh went beyond the Danube, creating the Bulgarian kingdom there. It was the Danube Bulgars, having merged with the Slavs and the remnants of the Thracian tribes, that laid the foundations of the modern Bulgarian ethnos. Kuber, according to legend, with his horde went to Pannonia and joined the Avars. There he made an unsuccessful attempt to become an Avar kagan, then started the capture of the city of Thessaloniki - again a failure. Eventually his tribe allied with the Slavic tribes of Macedonia. Alcek, the youngest son of Kubrat, reached Italy itself, where he asked for land from the king of the Lombards, Grimoald. The Benedictine monk of the 8th century Paul Deacon wrote about the Bulgars of Alcek: “And they live in these places, about which we spoke, until now, and although they speak Latin too, they still have not completely abandoned the use of their language."
