The edifice of the state fell after Kubrat’s death and the Bulgarians followed a tradition they had kept from time immemorial. They split into several large groups and sought deliverance and happiness elsewhere.

A large portion of the Bulgarians, led by the youngest son of Kubrat, Asparuh /or Ispor/, headed west along the familiar route to Europe. They settled in the so-called Ongul, in the delta of the Danube. There they encountered both Slavs and Byzantines.

The culture of the Bulgarians was quite different from that of the Slavs and on a higher level in many respects. They had long left behind familial community relations. Their traditions in statehood were impressive. They had been making attempts to establish a stable state structure for hundreds of years. They had both familial hereditary aristocracy, and an administrative apparatus. They were proud of their past. They drew up genealogical lists of their rulers, which went back to time immemorial.
Continue reading An Ancient Horseman Clad In Iron part II

After the 5th century, barbarian peoples, blinded by the aura of Roman magnificence, began to establish their own states on the territory of the Roman Empire. They carefully copied Roman laws and institutions; their nobles proclaimed themselves patricians and their rulers called themselves kings, minting coins in imitation of Roman models. The short-lived kingdoms of Vandals, Suevi, Ostrogoths and Langobards inspired terror and awe in their contemporaries. None of them survived the Early Middle Ages. It was almost at the same time, however, that a state, which continues to exist in one form or another to this very day, was established on the Balkans. Present-day Bulgaria has existed for more than thirteen centuries in the lands south of the Danube. With centuries of grandeur and decline behind them, Bulgarians have deep roots in their land and have managed to preserve the tradition of their statehood, while much more powerful peoples faded in the past like shadows.

Continue reading The Ragged Shining Armour of the Bulgarian Middle Ages pretalk

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.

Continue reading Khan Kubrat, the unifyier of all Bulgarians