Prelude: Establishment and Survival of the Bulgar State, 679–803

Abstract

Sets the stage for the hegemonic wars by tracing the military and political history of the founding and establishment of the Bulgar state in the Balkans on former Byzantine territories during the late seventh and eighth centuries. Under their rulers Asparuh and Tervel the Bulgars were both antagonists and allies of the Byzantine Empire. Shaken to its foundations during the second half of the eighth century by internal political divisiveness and external military pressures exerted by Byzantine Emperor Constantine V, the Bulgar state managed to survive both dangers and attain a measure of stability by the 790s under its ruler Kardam. Kardam’s reign set the stage for the outbreak of the hegemonic wars under his successor Krum.

The following works provided the basic informational framework for the text of this prelude: Theophanes, 497–646, passim; Nik. Pat., chaps. 35–82, passim; John Zonaras, Epitome historiarum, in GIBI 7, S. Lishev, et al., eds. (Sofia, 1968), chaps. 11–22, passim; Voices, 23; Bozhilov and Gyuzelev, pt. 2, chaps. 3–5; Zlatarski, IBDSV 1/1, 176–321; Mutafchiev, IBN 1, chaps. IV–V; IB 2, pt. II, chaps. 1–2; Tzvetkov, 76, 95–106; I. Andreev, Bŭlgarskite hanove i tsare, VII–XIV vek: Istoriko-hronologichen spravochnik (Sofia, 1988), 8–28; Ts. Stepanov, The Bulgars and the Steppe Empire in the Early Middle Ages: The Problem of the Others (Leiden, 2010); P. Petrov, Obrazuvane na bŭlgarskata dŭrzhava; IB 5 VI, 73–78; V. Primov, “Bulgaria in the Eighth Century. A General Outline,” Bb 5 (Sofia, 1978), 7–40; id., “The Creation of the First Bulgarian State and European History,” BHR 1, no. 2 (1973): 37–51; Runciman, A History, 22–50; Browning, Byzantium and Bulgaria, chaps. 2, 5–10; Sophoulis, chaps. 2–4; Fine, Early Medieval Balkans, chaps. 2–3; Curta, Southeastern Europe, 81–90; Ostrogorsky, History, chaps. II–III.; Treadgold, A History, chaps. 9–12; id., Byzantium and Its Army, chaps. 1, 3, 6; Whittow, 270–276; R.J.H. Jenkins, Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, A.D. 610–1071 (London, 1966), chaps. 4–7; NCMH 2, R. McKitterick, ed. (Cambridge, 1995), 228–234; Haldon, Warfare, State and Society, chap. 2.