BATTLES IN THE NORTH – ORIGINS
The origins of the nation of the Bulgars fall within the muddied waters of history and the evidence of their existence before the 5th century AD is difficult to be located. The work of the Czech-Austrian geographer Wilhelm Tomaschek (1873) initiated the now generally accepted assumption that the name of the Bulgars is of Turkic origin, meaning “those that mix” or “those that disturb”. A remote possibility of their ethnogenesis may lie in the Hunnic migrations of the early 5th century AD although there is no direct reference to their migrating group until 482 AD. Chinese manuscripts also attest to the Bulgars’ existence at the north-western outskirts of the Chinese territories, as one of the Five Barbarian tribes that overthrew the Western Jin state.
Bulgarian linguist Boris Simeonov links the early Bulgars with the nation of Pugu, an Oguz tribe that is mentioned in Chinese sources as early as 103 BC. They are referred to as one of the leading members of the Tiele tribes, a confederation of migratory tribes emerging after the fall of the Xiongnu confederacy at the north of China and Central Asia.
This theory is dubiously propped by the Chronicle of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Michael the Elder in the 12th century AD, where he narrates a semi-historical/semi-mythical story of three Scythian brothers of times past who went on a journey to the Mountains of Heaven (Imaon or Tian Shan in Central Asia) and reached the river Don, an area that was later inhabited by the Bulgars and Pugurs.
Regardless of who the true ancestors of the Bulgars were, it is generally believed that their ancestral homeland was in Central Asia, in the region that is today Kazakhstan. Following the Hunnic/Turkic migrations of the 5th century, the Bulgars established a base in the Pontic-Caspian steppes, currently part of the Southern European Russia. The historical work of the Armenian author Movses Khorenatsi talks about two migrations of the Bulgar tribes during the late 4th century. The first migration was during the reign of the Armenian king Varazdat (374-378) and the second under king Arshak III (378-387) at which point in time the Bulgar tribes expanded along with the Huns from the Caucasus to Armenia and the Eastern European plains. From the names of the Bulgar sub-tribes derive certain toponyms that can be found today in the Armenian lands, like the rivers Bolha and Vorotan.
A 7th century Armenian polymath, Ananias Shirikatsi wrote a geography work, referring to the 5th century events, in which he mentions several Bulgar sub-tribes, the Kupi Bulgar, the Duci Bulgar, the Olxontor Bulgar and the migrating Cdar Bulgar who all settled in the North-Caucasian regions of the Kuban. Another interesting, yet mythological, story of the origins of the Bulgars is found in the work of an anonymous Roman author of the 4th century in which he makes a very obscure reference to them “Ziezi ex quo Vulgares” or “Ziezi of whom the Bulgars”. The reference can be understood as Ziezi, grandson of the biblical Noah, being the originator of the Bulgarian nation.
It is within the works of Paul the Deacon that we find references to Bulgar activity at the beginnings of the 5th century. In his “History of the Lombards”, the nation of the Vulgares defeated the Lombards in a battle near the Carpathian Mountains and killed their king Agelmund. After this event, the Lombards managed to rise up under king Laimicho and slaughtered the Bulgars in a great battle, the details of which are lost in time.
➡️ MAKING FRENEMIES
It was during the reign of Emperor Zeno (474-491) that the first clear mention of the Bulgars is attested. They served as allies to the Roman Emperor, in 480, at his struggle against the Ostrogoths and this contribution to the Emperor’s cause is given by numerous sources of the era among which are the Syriac Patriarch John of Antioch and Cassiodorus who served the Ostrogoth king very closely. When the Ostrogoth chieftain Theodoric Strabo grew the Ostrogoth army to 30000 men, Emperor Zeno became anxious to be rid of what he perceived as a threat in the Roman Thracian possessions. He employed the Bulgars to attach the Ostrogoths, who did so unsuccessfully in 481.The Latin bishop Magnus Felix Ennodius attests in his works that the Bulgars allied with the Romans again in 486 to attach the Ostrogoths once more in Roman Thrace. This was the first time that the Bulgars came into contact with the Romans and their vast wealth and power and while they served as mercenaries and allies, they then settled at the North-Eastern Roman border and started raiding the wealthy border towns of the Empire.
When the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great agreed with Emperor Zeno to move his people to the Italian peninsula (with the subsequent results for the Western half of the Roman Empire) the plains of Thrace and Illiricum were open to the Bulgars for raiding. In 493 the Bulgars defeated the magister militum Julian and killed him, an action that allowed them to cross the Danube river and raid the northern Roman borders. In 499 and 502 consecutive Bulgar raids in Thrace resulted in a defeat for a 15000-strong Roman army led by magister militum Aristus and the devastation of Thrace.The Latin bishop Magnus Felix Ennodius attests in his works that the Bulgars allied with the Romans again in 486 to attach the Ostrogoths once more in Roman Thrace. This was the first time that the Bulgars came into contact with the Romans and their vast wealth and power and while they served as mercenaries and allies, they then settled at the North-Eastern Roman border and started raiding the wealthy border towns of the Empire.
When the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great agreed with Emperor Zeno to move his people to the Italian peninsula (with the subsequent results for the Western half of the Roman Empire) the plains of Thrace and Illiricum were open to the Bulgars for raiding. In 493 the Bulgars defeated the magister militum Julian and killed him, an action that allowed them to cross the Danube river and raid the northern Roman borders. In 499 and 502 consecutive Bulgar raids in Thrace resulted in a defeat for a 15000-strong Roman army led by magister militum Aristus and the devastation of Thrace.
➡️ GAMES OF DIPLOMACY
During the reign of Emperor Justinian I the Great, the Roman military forces managed to defeat and annihilate a Bulgar army of 5000 men and capture their warlord. This battle took place in 530, while in 535 magister militum Sittas defeated the Bulgars near river Yantra, a south tributary of the Danube.
At the beginning of the sixth century the reference on the activities of the Bulgars start to fade in favour of another Ogur tribe, the Kutrigurs. The last mention of the Bulgars in this century is in the works of Pseudo-Zacharias the Rhetor, who described the Ogurs, Onogurs and Burgars as the nomadic tribes that migrated and took control of the planes of Western Asia. It is assumed that the Kutrigurs took over the control of the Hunnic-Turkic tribes of the region and imposed their rule and subsequently their name to the overall tribal confederation. The brilliant diplomacy employed during the reign of Justinian I managed to pit the Kutrigurs against their rivals Utigurs in a devasting war during which they devastated one another. This gave space to the Avars to overwhelm the Kutrigurs and take leadership of the tribes.
It is assumed that the Kutrigurs took over the control of the Hunnic-Turkic tribes of the region and imposed their rule and subsequently their name to the overall tribal confederation. The brilliant diplomacy employed during the reign of Justinian I managed to pit the Kutrigurs against their rivals Utigurs in a devasting war during which they devastated one another. This gave space to the Avars to overwhelm the Kutrigurs and take leadership of the tribes.
✴️ ONCE MORE UNDER THE YOKE
Some decades later and while the sixth century drew to its close, contemporary sources start to refer to the Bulgars again, with Menander Protector making the point that the Burgars were among the tribes that the Avars ruled when they conquered Western Asia and entered what is today the Hungarian plains. The position of the Bulgars under the rule of the Avars is also attested in the works of Theophylaktos Simokattes. The rule of the Avars lasted until the early 8th century, at which point in time the Bulgars appear again in their own right in connection with the Onogurs. Agathias refers to them as Bourougound or Onogundur Bulgars, terms that were used some centuries later by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennitos in his works.
➡️ THE EMPERORS CHILD
Around the time of his famous Persian campaign, the great Emperor Heraclius tried to tackle the Avar threat by using the Empire’s diplomatic skills to affect the actions of the Bulgars within the Avar territories. A coalition of Avars and Sassanian Persians threatened the existence of the Empire and Heraclius tried to gain the upper hand in the Northern steppes by sowing dissidence within the Avar realm. Around the time of Heraclius’ coronation, a chieftain of the Onogur Bulgars came to Constantinople after invitation of the Basileus himself. His name was Organa and with him came his young nephew Kubrat. Both uncle and nephew converted to Christianity and young Kubrat grew up developing an affection for the Romans, their great Capital, their Basileus and their Christian ways.
Once Kubrat was of age and having received formal Roman education in the arts of statecraft and diplomacy, he was sent to his compatriots to initiate a rebellion against the Avars. At the same time, Emperor Heraclius began his great expedition against the Sassanids. In 619, Kubrat returned to his ancestral homeland and formed an Onogur Bulgar coalition against the Avar-Sassanid alliance. This coalition caused significant headaches to the Avars and resulted in the formation of a loose confederation of Bulgar tribes known as Old Great Bulgaria.
Kubrat remained ruler of the Onogur Bulgar Confederation until after Heraclius’ death. He had great affection for the Emperor’s wife, sons and grandson Emperor Constans II, during whose reign he passed away. It is recorded that he advised his five sons not to break the alliance between the Bulgar tribes as they would be stronger together. However, inner tensions in parallel to the Khazar pressures from the East resulted in the dissolution of the Onogur Bulgar Confederation.
Kubrat’s work against the Avars had at least some impact in the cataclysmic events of the period, as the Avars who besieged Constantinople in 626 sent a smaller force than they could have, a fact that helped the defenses of the City withstand the Avar pressures along with all the famous events that happened during this siege.
A general pattern appears to dominate the early centuries of Bulgar history. Initially, with the Huns and later with the Kutrigurs and the Avars, the Bulgars found it especially hard to retain their independence, following one powerful tribe after another. This is not necessarily bad for them, as they managed to claim lands as their own and retain their identity that later bonded them to nationhood.
Byzantine Real History (BRh - Basileia Rhomaion) 
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