Asparoukh

Asparoukh or Isperikh (in Bulgarian: Аспарух - Asparuh , Исперих - Isperih , Испор - Ispor , or Есперих - Esperih : Falcon small landed proprietor), Khan of the Bulgarian , moves then sédentarise its people for the late period of the Great invasions in Eastern Europe. According to the historical sources, whose Bulgarian chronicle listing the first chiefs of these people - the Directory of the Bulgarian khans -, his reign lasted 61 years and he would have died in 701. The texts do not say on the other hand anything over its year birth. The Byzantine sources make of Asparoukh the third wire of the Khan Koubrat, founder of the Onogourie. It is resulting from the tribe of the Doulo, reigning since 628 on the territory of Onogourie, also called Large Bulgaria (into Bulgarian: ВеликаБългария).

Migration (671-680)

With died of Koubrat, Asaproukh recognizes the authority of his/her older brother Bat Bayan with the head of Doulo. But when Onogourie is dislocated under the blows of the khanat khazare during the invasion of 671, part of the population (120-150000 people) crosses the Dniepr and emigrates towards the west, under the direction of Asparoukh; one of his/her brothers at least will leave also Onogourie at this time with part of Doulo for surer grounds. Asparoukh and those which followed it install initially (671-680) in the area located between Dniepr and the Carpathes, but also on part of the Valachie (southern of the current Romania); Asparoukh is established in the delta of the the Danube, a strategic place to push back the repeated attacks of Khazares.

During these nine years, the Bulgarian ones regularly launch raids on the territories to the south of the Danube, that is to say the Mésie (lat: Moesia) populated Slavic tribes and the Thrace under Byzantine control . Besides the tradition allots to Asparoukh the foundation of the town of Drastar (current Silistra), at the place even where it would have crossed the Danube to establish its capacity in the south of the river.

A particularly important raid is organized into 679, which ends in the battle of Andrinople (Edirne) where the Byzantine army beats the Bulgarian ones. However, the installation of Bulgarian on banks of the Danube and their frequent incursions in the south of the river cause concern with Byzance - where one considered the territories in the south of the Danube formed intrinsic part of the empire and that control was thus lost by it only temporarily. With that fear is added that the Slavic ones, benches in the south of the Danube since 600-610 only - and before under the miserly yoke -, are not combined with the Bulgarian ones. The emperor Constantin IV in person thus comes to the meeting from Bulgarian into 680.

The war against Byzance (679-681)

One can consider that the war started into 672 already, but during seven years, the Bulgarian ones do not meet any Byzantine resistance, the central capacity putting all to its energy in the conflict the opponent at the Arab Califat which reaches its paroxysm between 674 and 678. After having regulated this problem, the emperor Constantin IV can then pay all his attention on his septentrional border to move away the Bulgarian threat from it. The first true action of the war is thus the battle of Turkey-red cotton which makes it possible to push back the heavy danger on Thrace.

The emperor then decides to carry the war beyond the Danube, in the area of the delta. A strong Byzantine army of 40 ' 000 men thus crosses the river in spring 680, but its ignorance of a ground which the imperial soldiers have not attended any more for more than 80 years and the presence of an increasingly unfriendly Slavic population put it quickly in difficulties and prove the strategic error of Constantin IV. The departure of this last with Messembria (Nessebar) for " to look after its Arthritis " complete to cut down moral troops which are beaten with punt seams by the Bulgarian warriors.

During the summer and autumn 680, the Bulgarian ones invade little by little the Thrace, and Byzance does not have any more an other choice but to seek peace. In 681, the two parts thus conclude a treaty which yields Bulgarian to the Messiah to the river Iskar but except for Odessos (Varna current). This transfer is actually purely formal, the Byzantine authority being absent for a long time of the Messiah. As for Bulgarian, they are committed not more launching offensives beyond the chain of the Balkans. Commercial links are established between the two countries - and Byzance would in addition have paid a tribute with Bulgarian to avoid other attacks.

Asparoukh settles then with Pliska which becomes its capital.

681 is thus the year when Byzance recognizes the Potentat of Asparoukh. In Bulgarian historiography, it is the date generally accepted for the foundation of Bulgaria.

Consolidation of the Bulgarian territory (681-701)

During the two following decades, the Bulgarian ones took diplomatic and military initiatives on practically all the possible strategic axes:

towards the south, and in spite of the agreement of 681, the Bulgarian ones continued their attacks on Tharce Byzantine - what was not unusual for the wandering people of the time. An incursion more important than the others occurred into 688 when, with the return of an incursion in Macedonia, the Bulgarian ones met the troops of the emperor Justinien II with the mouth of the Maritsa. The sources clearly do not give the result of the confrontation, but since the important displacements forced of Slavic populations towards minor Asia (an objective of long time for the Byzantines) followed, one can deduce from it that the battle was not crowned success for the Bulgarian ones. Other sources state however that the initiative was Byzantine side, in the search of a revenge for the events of 680; according to these sources, the engagements would have really begun around years 688-689 and the advantage would have initially been in Byuantins, but the army of Justinien would have finally undergone a demolished cuisante some share in Thrace;

towards the west, the sources explain why the Bulgarian ones and the Avars disputed the territory of Valachie already time of Kourbat. The grounds in the west of the Olt river remained besides under control avar even after 681. The grounds in the south of the Danube (and the west of Iskar) were also disputed. Khanat avar and the Bulgarian ones even were in war from 691 to 693 - and it seems (no certainty there either in the sources) that the exit was favorable to the Bulgarian ones;

towards north finally, because the most serious danger which weighed on the Bulgarian territorial unit came from the khanat khazar. The most important task for Asparoukh was thus to hold the positions until the Dniepr. To achieve this major goal of its foreign policy which was to contain the threat come from north, it thus built many fortifications through the Dobrudja and Valachie. These fortifications also state that Khazars carried out forwardings until the center of Dobrudja. It is even probable that the hostilities continued during all this period, practically without interruption. Final, Bulgaria survived thanks to the opening of a second face by the Arab , in the south of the khanat khazar which has consequently to distribute it its forces. But in spite of the losses undergone against the Arabs, the khanat continued the conflict on the Western face.

The death of Asparoukh (701)

Asparoukh took part personally in certain battles, and it lost the life into 701 on the edges of Dniepr, during a confrontation against Khazars. It is buried on bank, close to the village of Voznesenka (in current Ukraine). The tomb carries an inscription in runic characters which says: " Winner céleste".

His/her son Tervel will succeed to him the head of the Bulgarian khanat.

Historical importance of Asparoukh

Asparoukh was a historical personality which lived at one time of crisis and threats for the Bulgarian ones, and it succeeded in pushing back the external dangers, to widen the territory under its control, to reinforce the role of its people on the regional scene. Its army counted some 50000 combatants and often carried out energetic military actions on two faces at the same time.

Generally, Asparoukh is regarded as the fundamental factor of stabilization and of the reinforcement of Bulgaria and its influence a great role for the 1300 years played which followed in term of national identity. Time of Asparoukh, Bulgaria is a force which it is necessary to take into account in Europe of south-east, exceeded in the area only by Byzance and the Khazarie.

References

Sources

the directory of Khans Bulgarian (into Bulgarian: Именникнабългарскитеханове ), published by Mosko Moskov, Imennik Na bălgarskite hanove (novo tălkuvane), Sofia, 1988 - a short manuscript of which there remain three Russian copies, dating from the 15th century for one and the 16th century for the two others.

Nikephoros Patriarch off Constantinople Shorts History , published and translated (in English) by Cyril Mango, Dumbarton Oaks Texts 10,1991, ISBN 088402184X.

The Chronicle off Theophanes Confessor , transl. (in English) by Cyril Mango and R. Scott, Oxford University Near, 1997.

secondary Literature

R.J. Crampton, has off Concise History Bulgaria , Cambridge University near, 1997 (2nd ED. 2006), ISBN 0521616379 - reading essential to whoever is interested in the history of Bulgaria

Valeria Fol, Nikolai Ovcharov, Grooved Gavrilova, Borislav Gavrilov, Bulgaria: History Retold in Brief , Riva, 1999, ISBN 9548440210 - less brilliance that Crampton, but seen interior.

Bozhidar Dimitrov, Twelve Myths in Bulgarian History , KOM Foundation, Sofia, 2005.

Fine John V.A., The Early Medieval Balkans: In Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century , University off Michigan Close, Ann Arbor, 1983 (réimpr. 1991), ISBN 0472081497 - an external glance on Asparoukh (inter alia).

… and the Bulgarian school handbooks .

See too

History of Bulgaria
Bulgarian | Onoghour | Bulgarian Khanat (Asparoukh)
Posterity in the toponym Asparoukhovo.

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