In my previous post i have met you briefly with bulgarian history. Now i have decided to meet you with one special bulgarian ruler - Khan Kubrat.

Khan Kubrat {or Kurt, or Kuvrat} was born around 585-587 AD. He was of the Dulo {or Dub, or Dubo} clan, from the Unogondurs tribe of Bulgars.

In 632 Khan KUBRAT unites politically all Bulgarians and their akin tribes of the Azov and the Caspian sea. In the struggle against the Western Turkic people their khans are forced to recognize the supreme power of KUBRAT and this act practically marks the foundation of GREAT BULGARIA a.k.a. Bulgaria Magna.

Probably in the of period 632-635 Khan KUBRAT succeeds in putting under his rule the remaining Bulgarian Kutrigurs, freeing them of the power of the Avar Hagan. He also succeeds in integrating the Bulgarian Kotrags who lived to the west of the river Don. This gives the final territory of GREAT BULGARIA:

To the east it reaches out to the river Kuban, to the west to the river Dnepr, to the north
to the river Donetsk, and to the south to the Azov and the Black Sea. The capital is the magnificent FANAGORIA on the Taman Peninsula.

The other important aspect of the state policy of Khan KUBRAT is the organization of large-scale military expeditions aiming at the establishment of the state’s sovereignty and concluding international treaties with neighboring and far-off countries. This strengthens his authority and his name as a great ruler. Evidence of that is the treaty of 635 between GREAT BULGARIA and The East Roman Empire {Byzantium}. To soften the Bulgarian ruler, Emperor Iraklius sends him rich presents and awards him the title of “Patrician.”

The Byzantine chroniclers Teophan and Niciphorus write that Kubrat bequeathed to his sons the principle of preserving
unity “In order for them to rule everywhere and not be slaves to other peoples.”

We can only estimate when Kubrat was born, but we know that as a child his uncle Organa sent him to study in Byzantine. Once again, not much is know about that period of his life. Here’s what little is know about him personally. It is commonly recognized that the name of KUBRAT has no correspondence in the Turkic languages and is of ancient Iranian origin. Scholars offer different interpretations of the khan’s name - KUBRAT - as ‘handsome’, ‘sun’ and others. In the oldest chronicle of Medieval Bulgaria, “The Name List of Bulgarian Khans,” the name of KUBRAT is given in its old Bulgarian form KURT. It also gives the family origin of Kubrat, the year of his ascension to the throne, calculated by the ancient Bulgarian calendar, as well as the years of his reign. The passage in the “Name List” goes as follows: “KURT ruled for 60 years. His family (is) DULO, and his power (is) given to him (in) shegor vechem.” According to Chinese sources this is one of the oldest dynasties that held a permanent position and played a major role in the political life of the Bulgarians in the period of the 2nd. - 7th. centuries. The name of the family DULO means family of ‘war horses’, family of ‘horse riders’.

After Kubrat’s death his five sons had to decide what to do. Staying together meant that only one would get to be the great Khan. { Kana Subigi } They would also have to defend the great open steppes of Great Bulgaria against every nomad out of Asia and their grand mother. Great Bulgaria was on the so called Panonian plain a.k.a. the crossroads of peoples a.k.a. the way every horse mounted invader had to take to go anywhere. In other words, not a very safe neighborhood, the open plains didn’t exactly make it easy to defend either.

Thus they decided to separate and seek their fortunes independently. They split the Bulgars into five hordes. Kubrat’s firstborn son, Batbayan {or Bayan} and his horde, remained on the coast of the Sea of Azov, and were later integrated into Volga Bulgaria. Kuber led his part of the Bulgars first to Pannonia and then settled in Macedonia, eventually they were absorbed by the Bulgaria of Asparuh {or Isperih}. Altsek {or Altzek} disappeared into service under the Lombards in Italy. {You can use this to help if you don’t speak Italian.} Many place names and towns are of Bulgar origin. Even today the traces of Altsek’s horde are obvious in Italy. {Speaking of Bulgar traces!} Two of the five hordes, however, had even longer and more impressive futures:

Kubrat’s son Kotrag, avoided the Khazars by leading his horde far to the north, where it eventually occupied a country around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers. These Volga Bulgars had two great cities, Bulgar and Suvar, which profited as transshipment points in the trade between the fur-selling Ugrians and Russians of the far north and the southern civilizations–Byzantium, the Muslim Caliphate of Baghdad, Turkistan, and even China.

The fifth product of the breakup of Great Bulgaria was the horde that Kubrat’s youngest son Asparukh led westward across the Dniester River and then southward across the Danube. There, on the plain between the Danube, the Black Sea, and the Balkan Mountains, they established the first Bulgarian empire.

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