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Not to be confused with Bulgarians.
Victorious Bulgar soldiers standing before their East Roman (Byzantine) opponents, from the Menology of Basil II, 10th century.

The Bulgars (also Bolgars, Bulghars, Huno-Bulgars[1] or Proto-Bulgarians) were originally semi-nomadic people, probably of Turkic descent, originating in Central Asia,[2] who from the 2nd century onwards settled in different parts of Europe. In the 7th century the Bulgars established the states of Great Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria and the First Bulgarian Empire in three separate locations of the continent. The Bulgar language spoken by the Bulgar elites was a member of the Oghuric branch of the Turkic language family, alongside with Hunnic, Khazar and Turkic Avar.[2] They used a script known as the Kuban alphabet,[citation needed] a member of the family of the Old Turkic script.

Initially the Bulgars conquered the steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of the river Volga (then Itil). Between 377 and 453 AD the Bulgars, alongside the Huns, conquered territories well into Central and Western Europe. After Attila's death in 453, and the subsequent disintegration of the Hunnic Empire, the Bulgars dispersed mostly to the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe. Archaeological finds from the Ukrainian steppe suggest that the early Bulgars had the typical culture of the nomadic equestrians of Central Asia, who migrated seasonally in pursuit of pastures. From the 7th century, however they rapidly began to settle down, planted crops and became skilled blacksmiths, stone masons and carpenters. Almost all researches consider the influence of the neighbouring Sarmatians, as the main factor that changed the Bulgars' material culture.[3] Some historians claim the Bulgars to be of mixed Sarmatian origin.[4] However the origin and language of the Bulgars has been the subject of debate for over a century. The leading current theory is that their elite at least may have spoken a Turkic language and were close relatives of the Huns. Also, it must be taken into account that in their later history in Eastern Europe there was close cohabitation between the Bulgars and the Alans - an Eastern Iranian-speaking group.[5] Contemporaneous sources like Procopius, Agathias and Menander called the Bulgars "Huns"[6] while others, like the Byzantine Patriarch Michael II of Antioch, called them "Scythians" or "Sarmatians", but this latter identification was probably due to the Byzantine tradition of naming peoples geographically. Due to the lack of definitive evidence, a modern scholarship instead uses an ethnogenesis approach in explaining the Bulgars' origin.

Ethnicity and language

Racial type and descendants

File:Bulgar warior.jpg
Victorious Bulgar warrior with captive, featured on the ewer from the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos.[7]

Traditionally historians have associated the Bulgars with the Huns, who migrated out of the Central Asia region. However, the evidence for this has not been definitive, and the debates have continued until today. Genetic and anthropological researches have shown that the large steppe confederations of history were not ethnically homogeneous, but rather unions of multiple ethnicities such as Turkic, Ugric and Eastern Iranic among others. This likely suggests the same was true for the Bulgars. Anthropological data collected from medieval Bulgar necropolises from Dobrudja, Crimea and the Ukrainian steppe shows that the Bulgars were a high-statured Caucasoid people with a small Mongoloid admixture, and practiced artificial cranial deformation of the round type.[8][9][10][11][12][13] This finding is consistent with a model in which the Turkic languages, originating in the Altai-Sayan region of Central Asia and northwestern Mongolia, were imposed on the Caucasian peoples with relatively little genetic admixture, another possible example of a language shift through elite dominance. Also skeletal remains from Central Asia, excavated from different sites dating between the 15th century BC to the 5th century AD, have been analyzed. The distribution of east and west Eurasian lineages through time in the region is concordant with the available archaeological information. Prior to the 13th - 7th century BC, all samples belong to European lineages; while later an arrival of East Asian sequences that coexisted with the previous genetic substratum was detected.[14]

From a historical point of view the present-day Chuvash and Bulgarians are believed to originate partly from the Bulgars. However, according to their DNA data, the genetic backgrounds of both populations are clearly different. The Chuvash have a Eastern European and some Mediterranean genetic background (probably coming from the Caucasus), while the Bulgarians have a classical Mediterranean (probably coming from the Balkans) composition. It is possible that only a cultural and low genetic Bulgar influence was brought into the two regions, without modifying the genetic background of the local populations.[15]

Language and culture

The Bulgar language was, alongside Khazar and Chuvash.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] It is supported, among other things, by the facts that some Bulgar words contained in the few surviving stone inscriptions[23] and in other documents (mainly military and hierarchical terms such as tarkan, bagatur, and probably kan (khan) and kanartikin - "prince") appear to be of Turkic origin, that the Bulgars apparently used a 12-year cyclic Bulgar calendar similar to the one adopted by Turkic and Mongolian peoples from the Chinese, with names and numbers that are deciphered as Turkic, and that the Bulgars' supreme god was apparently called Tangra, a deity widely known among the Turkic peoples under names such as Tengri, Tura etc.[24] Some also point out the presence of a small number of Turkic loanwords in the Slavic Old Bulgarian language, and the fact that the Bulgars used an alphabet similar to the Turkic Orkhon script, although this alphabet has not been satisfactorily deciphered yet: fortunately, the Bulgar inscriptions were sometimes written in Greek or Cyrillic characters, most commonly in Greek, thus allowing the scholars to identify some of the Bulgar glosses. Supposedly, the name Bulgar is derived from the Turkic verb bulģa "to mix, shake, stir"[25] and its derivative bulgak "revolt, disorder",[26] transliterated most commonly as the "rebels".[27]

"Further evidence culturally linking the Danubian Bulgar state to Turkic steppe traditions was the layout of the Bulgars' new capital of Pliska, founded just north of the Balkan Mountains shortly after 681. The large area enclosed by ramparts, with the rulers' habitations and assorted utility structures concentrated in the center, resembled more a steppe winter encampment turned into a permanent settlement than it did a typical Roman Balkan city."[28]

Another alternative view is that Bulgar, far from being affiliated to Chuvash, belonged instead to the same branch as all other surviving Turkic languages and more specifically Kazan Tatar. Bulgarian scholar Ivan Shishmanov speculated in 1900 that this was the case,[29] and the same view is espoused also by modern Bulgarist Kazan Tatar linguist Mirfatyh Zakiev.[30]

Cäğfär Taríxı, a Russian language document of disputed authenticity, purports to be a 1680 compilation of ancient Bulgar annals. It was published by a Volga Tatar Bulgarist editor in 1993. Cäğfär Taríxı contains a very detailed description of Bulgar history. Among other things, it implies that the Bulgars were formed as a result of consolidation of many Turkic and Turkicized tribes.

Culture and society

Archaeological finds from the Ukrainian steppe suggest that the early Bulgars had the typical culture of the nomadic equestrians of Central Asia. They were primarily nomadic herdsmen who migrated seasonally in pursuit of pastures but also planted crops such as wheat and barley. The Bulgars were skilled blacksmiths, stone masons and carpenters. From the 7th century onwards they rapidly began to settle down.

Social structure

The Bulgars had a well-developed clan system and were governed by hereditary rulers. The members of the military aristocracy bore the title boil (boyar). There also were bagains - lesser military commanders. The nobility were further divided onto Small and Great Boyars. The latter formed the Council of the Great Boyars and gathered to take decisions on important state matters presided by the khan (king). Their numbers varied between six and twelve. These probably included the ichirgu boil and the kavkhan (vice khan), the two most powerful people after the khan. These titles were administrative and non-inheritable. The boyars could also be internal and external, probably distinguished by their place of residence — inside or outside the capital [31]. The heir of the throne was called kanartikin. Other non-kingly titles used by the Bulgarian noble class include boila tarkan (possibly the second son of the khan), kana boila kolobur (chief priest), boritarkan (city mayor).

The title khan for early Bulgar ruler is an assumed one as only the form kanasubigi is attested in stone inscriptions. Historians presume that it includes the word khan in its archaic form kana and there is a supporting evidence suggesting that the latter title was indeed used in Bulgaria, e.g. the name of one of the Bulgarian rulers Pagan occurs in Patriarch Nicephorus's so-called Breviarium as Καμπαγάνος (Kampaganos), likely an erroneous rendition of the phrase "Kan Pagan".[32] Among the proposed translations for the phrase kanasubigi as a whole are lord of the army, from the reconstructed Turkic phrase *sü begi, paralleling the attested Old Turkic sü baši,[33] and, more recently, (ruler) from God, from the Indo-European *su- and baga-, i.e. *su-baga (a counterpart of the Greek phrase ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἄρχων, ho ek Theou archon, which is common in Bulgar inscriptions).[34] This titulature presumably persisted until the Bulgars adopted Christianity.[35] Some Bulgar inscriptions written in Greek and later in Slavonic refer to the Bulgarian ruler respectively with the Greek title archon or the Slavic title knyaz.[36].

Religion

Very little is known about the religion of the Bulgars. It is supposed that it was monotheistic. Greek language inscriptions from pagan Danube Bulgaria generally use the Greek word θεός ("god") in the singular rather than a personal name. In these texts, Bulgar monarchs describe themselves as "ruler from God" and appeal to the deity's omniscience and justice. Presian's inscription from Filipi (837) states:

When someone seeks the truth, God sees [it]. And when someone lies, God sees [it]. The Bulgars have done much good to the Christians [meaning the Byzantines] and the Christians have forgotten [that], yet God sees [it all]".

It is generally assumed that the God in question was the Turkic sky god Tengri. In fact, there are few occurrences of the name in documents related to Bulgaria. One is in a late Turkish manuscript listing the names of the supreme god in different languages, which has "Tangra" for Bulgarian.[37] The other is in a severely damaged Greek language inscription found on a presumed altar stone near Madara, tentatively deciphered by Bulgarian historian Veselin Beshevliev as "(Kanasubig)i Omu(rtag), ruler (from God), was ... and sacri(ficed to go)d Tangra ...(some Bulgar titles follow)."[38] In addition, Beshevliev has conjectured that the frequent Danube Bulgar runic sign ıYı stands for "Tangra", as it seems to disappear after the conversion to Christianity.

Another piece of evidence suggesting that the Bulgars worshipped Tengri/Tangra is the fact that the name of the supreme deity of the traditional religion of the Chuvash, who are regarded as descendants of the Volga branch of the Bulgars, is Tură. This is generally considered to correspond to Turkic Tengri.[39] Nevertheless, the Chuvash religion today is markedly different from Tengriism and can be described as a local form of polytheism with some elements borrowed from Islam.

In addition, the population of the town of Varachan in Northern Dagestan, which is mostly known as "Kingdom of the Huns" but is considered by Russian historian M.I.Artamonov to have had an ethnic Bulgar character, worshipped Tangri-khan (called Aspandiat by the Persians). The cult involved sacrifice of horses and veneration of sacred trees.[40]

Some evidence suggests that the Bulgars also adopted elements of Iranian religious beliefs. According to historian D. Dimitrov, some elements of the cult at Varachan showed Iranian influences, and Bulgar sanctuaries resembled the layout of the Zoroastrian temples of the fire. He argues that pagan religious buildings of this type — two squares of ashlars inserted one into another, oriented towards the summer sunrise - are found in Pliska, Preslav, and Madara. The religious function is confirmed in one case by the subsequent transformation of the building into a Christian church.[41]

Bulgar paganism was displaced after the adoption of Christianity in the Danubian Bulgaria by Tsar Boris I in 865 (and, presumably, with the adoption of Islam in Volga Bulgaria in the 10th century).

History

Migration to Europe

Map showing the location of Bulgars, c. 650.

In the early 2nd century, some groups of Bulgars migrated from Central Asia to the European continent and settled on the plains between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. The Bulgars appear (under the ethnonym of ‘Bulensii’) in certain Latin versions of Ptolemy’s second century AD mapping, shown as occupying the territory along the northwest coast of Black Sea east of Axiacus River (Southern Bug).[42][43][44]

Between 351 and 389, some of the Bulgars crossed the Caucasus to settle in Armenia. Toponymic data testify to the fact that they remained there and were eventually assimilated by the Armenians.

Swept by the Hunnish wave at the beginning of the 4th century, other Bulgar tribes broke loose from their settlements in Central Asia to migrate to the fertile lands along the lower valleys of the rivers Donets and Don and the Azov seashore, assimilating what was left of the Sarmatians. Some of these remained for centuries in their new settlements, whereas others moved on with the Huns towards Central Europe, settling in Pannonia.

Those Bulgars took part in the Hun raids on Central and Western Europe between 377 and 453. After the death of Attila in 453, and the subsequent disintegration of the Hunnish empire, the Bulgar tribes dispersed mostly to the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe.

At the end of the 5th century (probably in the years 480, 486, and 488) they fought against the Ostrogoths as allies of the Byzantine emperor Zeno. From 493 they carried out frequent attacks on the western territories of the Byzantine Empire. Later raids were carried out at the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th century.

In the middle of the 6th century, war broke out between the two main Bulgar tribes, the Kutrigur and Utigur. To the west, the Kutrigurs fell under Avar dominion and became influential within the Khaganate. The eastern Utigurs fell under the western Göktürk empire in 568.

Establishment of Great Bulgaria

First Bulgarian Empire in 800AD, highlighting the Bulgarian Empire and showing its neighbors.
Main article: Old Great Bulgaria

United under Kubrat or Kurt of the Dulo clan (supposedly [who?] identical to the ruler mentioned by Arabic chronicler At-Tabari under the name of Shahriar), the joined forces of the Utigur and Kutrigur Bulgars, and probably the Bulgar Onogurs, broke loose from the Turkic khanate in the 630s. They formed an independent state, the Onogundur-Bulgar (Oghondor-blkar or Olhontor-blkar) Empire, often called by Byzantine sources[45] "the Old Great Bulgaria". The empire was situated between the lower course of the Danube to the west, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea to the south, the Kuban River to the east, and the Donets River to the north. It is assumed that the state capital was Phanagoria, an ancient city on the Taman peninsula (see Tmutarakan). However, the archaeological evidence shows that the city became predominantly Bulgar only after Kubrat's death and the consequent disintegration of his state.

Subsequent migrations

The legend tells that on his death-bed, Khan Kubrat had his sons gather sticks and bring them to him, which he then bundled together and told his eldest son Bayan to break the bundle. Bayan failed under the strength of the combined sticks, and, after the rest of the sons failed this test as well, Kubrat took the sticks back, separated each one, and broke them all one-by-one even in his weakened state. Then he told his sons the words "Unity makes strength", which has become a very popular Bulgarian slogan and now appears on the modern Bulgarian coat of arms. It is notable that this story occurs also in Chinese and Japanese historic legends.

The Byzantine Patriarch Nicephorus I[46] tells that Kubrat's sons, however, did not heed these very specific words, and thus soon after the death of Kubrat around 665, the Khazar expansion eventually led to the dissolution of Great Bulgaria.

The khan’s eldest son, Batbayan (also Bayan or Boyan), remained the ruler of the land north of the Black and the Azov Seas, which was, however, soon subdued by the Khazars. Those Bulgars converted to Judaism in the 9th century, along with the Khazars. Furthermore the Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria may be also the descendants of this Bulgar branch.[47]

Another Bulgar tribe, led by Kubrat’s second son Kotrag, migrated to the confluence of the Volga and Kama Rivers in what is now Russia (see Volga Bulgaria). The present-day republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia are considered to be the descendants of Volga Bulgaria in terms of territory and people, but only Chuvash is thought to be similar to the old Bulgar language.

A third Bulgar tribe, led by the youngest son Asparukh, moved westward, occupying today’s southern Bessarabia. After a successful war with Byzantium in 680, Asparukh's khanate setteled in Dobrudja and conquered later Moesia Superior So it was recognized as an independent state under the subsequent treaty signed with the Byzantine Empire and emperor Constantine IV Pogonatus in 681. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of modern Bulgaria (see History of Bulgaria).

A fourth group of Bulgars, ruled by Kuber, existed in Pannonia. After breaking off Avar overlordship, they moved on to Macedonia.[48] Bulgarian scholar Vasil Zlatarski posits that Kuber was also a son of Kubrat. He believes that Kuber's Bulgars formed a khanate in Macedonia, which joined Slavs to attack the Byzantine Empire, although the majority of historians do not see any evidence for the existence of a Bulgar khanate in Macedonia before 850 AD. In addition this group from around 70, 000 people,[49] included also descendents of Roman captives of various ethnicities that had been re-settled in Pannonia by the Avars.[50][51].

The fifth and smallest group, of Alcek (also transliterated as 'Altsek' and 'Altcek' or 'Ducca Alzeco'), after many wanderings, ended up led by Emnetzur and settled mainly in Italy, near Naples in the Benevento and Salerno provinces.

List of Bulgar tribes

Tribes thought to have been Bulgar in origin include:

After the dissolution of Great Bulgaria these tribes formed:

See also

References

  1. ^ The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, John Van Antwerp Fine, Publisher University of Michigan Press, 1991, ISBN 0472081497, p. 76.
  2. ^ a b Encyclopaedia Britannica Online - Bulgars
  3. ^ Pamjatniki Nizhnego Povolzh’ja. Tom I. - Materialy i issledovanija po arheologii SSSR, 60, 1959; K.Smirnov. Sarmatskie plemena Severnogo Prikaspija. - Kratkie soobshtenija Instituta istorii material’noj kul’tury, XXXIV, 1950, s.97, 114.
  4. ^ .P. Smirnov, Volzhkie bulgary - Trudy GIM, vyp. XIX, M., 1951; V.T. Sirotenko,. Osnovnye teorii proishozhdenija drevnih bulgar i pismennye istochniki IV-VII vv. - Uchjenye zapiski PGU im. Gorkogo, XX, vyp.4 - istoricheskie nauki. Perm, 1961, s 41; Al. Burmov. Kum vaprosa za proizhoda na prabulgarite, s.42-44. - V: Izbrani sachinenija, I. S., 1968.
  5. ^ V.P. Shilov, Kalinovskij kurgannyj mogilnik. - Materialy i issledovanija po arheologii SSSR, 60, 1959, s.494. For more information on that feature of the Sarmatian burials, preserved later in the Alanian catacombs, please refer to K.F.Smirnov, Sarmatskie plemena ..., s. 102.
  6. ^ The World of the Huns. Chapter IX. Language, by O. Maenchen-Helfen
  7. ^ ЗЛАТНОТО СЪКРОВИЩЕ НА БЪЛГАРСКИТЕ KАНОВЕ - анотация на проф. Иван Добрев. Военна Академия "Г. С. Раковски", София.
  8. ^ D.Dimitrov,1987, History of the Proto-Bulgarians north and west of the Black Sea.
  9. ^ Сарматски елементи в езическите некрополи от Североизточна България и Северна Добруджа. Елена Ангелова (сп. Археология, 1995, 2, 5-17, София)
  10. ^ М. Б а л а н, П. Б о е в. Антропологични материали от некропола при Нови пазар. — ИАИ, XX, 1955, 347— 371
  11. ^ Й. Ал. Й о р д а н о в. Антропологично изследване на костния материал от раннобългарски масов гроб при гр. Девня. - ИНМВ, XII (XVII), 1976, 171-194
  12. ^ Н. К о н д о в а, П. Б о е в, С л. Ч о л а к о в. Изкуствено деформирани черепи от некропола при с. Кюлевча, Шуменски окръг. — Интердисциплинарни изследвания, 1979, 3—4, 129— 138;
  13. ^ Н. К о н д о в а, С л. Чолаков. Антропологични данни за етногенеза на ранносредновековната популация от Североизточна България. — Българска етнография, 1992, 2, 61-68
  14. ^ Unraveling migrations in the steppe: mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient Central Asians - Unitat d'Antropologia, Departimenti Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
  15. ^ HLA genes in the Chuvashian population from European Russia: Admixture of central European and Mediterranean populations - pg. 5
  16. ^ Columbia Encyclopedia: Eastern Bulgars]
  17. ^ Образуване на българската държава. проф. Петър Петров (Издателство Наука и изкуство, София, 1981)
  18. ^ Образуване на българската народност.проф. Димитър Ангелов (Издателство Наука и изкуство, “Векове”, София, 1971)
  19. ^ A history of the First Bulgarian Empire.Prof. Steven Runciman (G. Bell & Sons, London 1930)
  20. ^ История на българската държава през средните векове Васил Н. Златарски (I изд. София 1918; II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970, под ред. на проф. Петър Хр. Петров)
  21. ^ История на българите с поправки и добавки от самия автор акад. Константин Иречек (Издателство Наука и изкуство, 1978) проф. Петър Хр. Петров
  22. ^ Heinz Siegert: Osteuropa – Vom Ursprung bis Moskaus Aufstieg, Panorama der Weltgeschichte, Bd. II, hg. von Dr. Heinrich Pleticha, Gütersloh 1985, p. 46
  23. ^ Beshevliev, Vesselin. Proto-Bulgarian Epigraphic Monuments. Sofia, 1981. web page
  24. ^ Sedlar, Jean W. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. University of Washington Press, 1994. page 141
  25. ^ Dybo, Anna. "bulga-". Turkic etymology. StarLing. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  26. ^ Lebedynsky, Iaroslav. Les Nomades : Les peuples nomades de la steppe des origines aux invasions mongoles. Paris: Errance, 2003: p.178.
  27. ^ Taylor, Isaac (2008). Names and Their Histories: A Handbook of Historical Geography and Topographical Nomenclature. BiblioBazaar, LLC. p. 78. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
  28. ^ Hupchick, D.P., The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism, 2001, pp.10, Palgrave, ISBN 0-312-21736-6
  29. ^ Шишманов, Иван. 1900. Критичен преглед на въпроса за произхода на прабългарите от езиково гледище и етимологиите на името българин
  30. ^ Закиев, Мирфатых. 2003. Происхождение тюрков и татар. 2003. in English
  31. ^ Прабългарски епиграфски паметници В. Бешевлиев
  32. ^ Източници за българската история — Fontes historiae bulgaricae. VI. Fontes graeci historiae Bulgaricae. БАН, София. p.305 (in Byzantine Greek and Bulgarian). Also available online
  33. ^ V. Beshevliev - Prabylgarski epigrafski pametnici - 5
  34. ^ Blackwell Synergy - Early Medieval Eur, Volume 10 Issue 1 Page 1-19, March 2001 (Article Abstract)
  35. ^ Sedlar, Jean W. "East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500", page 46
  36. ^ Manassias Chronicle, Vatican transcription, p. 145, see Battle of Pliska
  37. ^ promacedonia.com Template:Bg icon
  38. ^ The "Tangra" inscription near Madara Template:Bg icon
  39. ^ Tokarev, A. et al. 1987-1988. Mify narodov mira.
  40. ^ English summary of the monograph of Bulgarian historian Dimityr Dimitrov on the Early Medieval history of the Proto-Bulgarians in the lands north of the Black Sea (D.Dimitrov. Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie, Varna, 1987)
  41. ^ English summary of the monograph of Bulgarian historian Dimityr Dimitrov on the Early Medieval history of the Proto-Bulgarians in the lands north of the Black Sea (D.Dimitrov. Prabylgarite po severnoto i zapadnoto Chernomorie, Varna, 1987)
  42. ^ Dobrev, Petar. Unknown Ancient Bulgaria. Sofia: Ivan Vazov Publishers, 2001. 158 pp. (in Bulgarian) ISBN 9546041211
  43. ^ Fries, Lorenz and Claudius Ptolemy. Tabula IX. Europae. In: Servetus, Michael. Opus Geographiae. Lyon, 1535.
  44. ^ Germanus, Nikolaus and Claudius Ptolemy. Geographia. Ulm: Lienhart Holle, 1482. (fragment)
  45. ^ Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, "Historia syntomos, breviarium"
  46. ^ Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, Historia syntomos, breviarium
  47. ^ The "Peoples of Russia" project (in Russian)
  48. ^ Васил Н. Златарски - История на Първото българско Царство.(I изд. София 1918; II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970, под ред. на Петър Хр. Петров) стр. 514.
  49. ^ Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македониjа,(Скопjе, Македонска цивилизациjа, 1996) Иван Микулчик, стр. 71.
  50. ^ The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism. D P Hupchik
  51. ^ Southeastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Florin Curta

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