Asparukh of Bulgaria

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Asparukh
Khan of Bulgaria
Reign	679–700
Predecessor	Kubrat
Successor	Tervel
Issue	Tervel Ajjar
Royal House	Dulo

Asparukh or Isperikh (Bulgarian: Аспарух, Asparuh or Исперих, Isperih) was ruler of the Bulgarians in the second half of the 7th century and is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 680/681. He is the most famous Bulgarian ruler. The accuracy of the Turkic title khan commonly applied to him and his successors is a subject of some dispute, for which see List of Bulgarian monarchs.

The Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans states that Asparukh belonged to the Dulo clan and reigned for 61 years. This long period cannot be accepted as accurate due to chronological constraints, and may indicate the length of Asparukh's life. According to the chronology developed by Moskov, Asparukh would have reigned 668–695. Other chronologies frequently end his reign in 700 or 701, but cannot be reconciled with the testimony of the Namelist.

According to the Byzantine sources, Asparukh was as a younger son of Kubrat, who had established a spacious state ("Great Bulgaria") in the steppes of modern Ukraine. Asparukh may have gained experience in politics and statesmanship during the long reign of his father, who probably died in 665 (apud Moskov). After his father's death, Asparukh would have acknowledged the rule of his older brother Bat Bayan, but the state disintegrated under Khazar attack in 668, and he and his brothers parted ways, leading their hordes to seek a more secure home in other lands.

Image:Asparuh Bulgaria1.jpg

Bulgaria during Asparuh (678-700) and Tervel (700-721)

Asparukh was followed by a more than 30,000 Bulgars [1]. He crossed the Danube River delta and while the Byzantine capital Constantinople was besieged by Muawiyah I, Caliph of the Arabs (674–678), he and his horde settled in the so-called Ongul area in Southern Bessarabia or northern Dobrudža. After the Arab siege of Constantinople ended, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV marched against the Bulgars and their Slav allies in 680 and forced his opponents to seek shelter in a fortified encampment. Forced to abandon the leadership of his army in order to seek medical treatment for his ailments, the emperor sabotaged the morale of his troops, who gave in to rumours that their emperor had fled. With segments of the Byzantine army starting to desert, the Bulgars and their allies broke through the blockade and routed the enemy troops in the battle of Ongala. In 680 and then he swiftly moved from the Danubian delta down to the Balkan range.

Asparukh's victory led to the Bulgar conquest of Moesia and the establishment of some sort of alliance between the Bulgars and the local Slavic groups (described as the Severi and Seven Slavic tribes). As Asparukh commenced to raid across the mountains into Byzantine Thrace in 681, Constantine IV decided to cut his losses and conclude a treaty, whereby the Byzantine Empire paid the Bulgars and annual tribute as protection money. These events are seen in retrospect as the establishment of the Bulgarian state and its recognition by the Byzantine Empire.

In later tradition Asparukh is credited with building the major centers of Pliska and Drăstăr, as well as at least one of the Bulgarian limes walls from the Danube to the Black Sea. Recent scholarship has questioned whether it was Asparukh that established Pliska as the capital, suggesting that the original capital of Bulgaria was in the vicinity of Varna. While the multi-tribal and hegemonic character of the Bulgarian state in the first century or two after its establishment is readily apparent, Bulgarian historians have stressed the establishment of a capital and of a state tradition that could be viewed retrospectively as national.

According to a late tradition, Asparukh died fighting the Khazars on the Danube. According to one theory, advanced by the Bulgarian historian Vaklinov, his grave is located near Voznesenka ("Ascension") on the Dnieper in Ukraine.

The 17th century Volga Bulgar compilation Ja'far Tarikh (a work of disputed authenticity) represents Atil'kese (i.e., Asparukh) as the son and successor of Kurbat (i.e., Kubrat), and as the father and predecessor of Tarvil (i.e., Tervel) and Ajjar (otherwise unknown, but possibly the first of two lost names in the Imennik).

Asparuh Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Asparuh of Bulgaria.

[edit] Sources and references

John V.A. Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans, Ann Arbor, 1983.
Mosko Moskov, Imennik na bălgarskite hanove (novo tălkuvane), Sofia 1988.
Jordan Andreev, Ivan Lazarov, Plamen Pavlov, Koj koj e v srednovekovna Bălgarija, Sofia 1999.
(primary source), Bahši Iman, Džagfar Tarihy, vol. III, Orenburg 1997.
(primary source), Nikephoros Patriarch of Constantinople, Short History, C. Mango, ed., Dumbarton Oaks Texts 10, 1990.
(primary source), The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, C. Mango and R. Scott, trans., Oxford University Press, 1997.
Васил Н. Златарски, История на българската държава през средните векове, Част I, II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970, pp. 176 - 209.