Kubrat

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For the Bulgarian town, see Kubrat (town).

Kubrat or Kurt (Bulgarian: Кубрат; Greek: Χουβρατις) was a Christian Bulgar ruler credited with creating the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in 632 by defeating the Avars and uniting under a single rule all the Bulgar tribes.

1 Historical data
2 Gravesite
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Historical data

The name Kubrat is first mentioned by Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, in his Historia syntomos, breviarium in the 9th century. In the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans Kubrat is mentioned as Kurt of the Dulo clan. A later legend would describe him as a descendant of Attila the Hun. Some historians conclude that his maternal line was of the Ermy clan, because his maternal uncle Organa was possibly of that clan.<ref> Vasil Zlatarski, History of Bulgaria </ref>

Kubrat has spent some time at the Byzantine court, probably as a hostage or for protection from the dynastic war within the Turkic Khaganate. As the 7th century Byzantine historian John of Nikiu narrates:

Quetrades (i.e. Kubrat), the prince of the Moutanes (i.e.Huns), and a nephew of Kuemaka (i.e.Organa), was baptized as a child and was educated in Constantinople and received into the Christian community in his childhood and had grown up in the imperial palace.' He was a close friend of emperor Heraclius. <ref>John of Nikiû, Chronicle</ref>

Whether he was a child or an adult man at that time is unclear as the year of his birth is unknown. The exact time of this event is also unknown but probably coinsided with the reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-641). If the above text really applies to Kubrat then it becomes clear that during his stay in Constantinople he was educated and baptized. Probably at the same time he was given the title Patrician which was insribed on his ring.

Image:DeBoor.jpg

Upon return Kubrat was endorsed by his uncle ^{[citation needed]}, the Avar khagan, as baltavar ^{[citation needed]}, and took the power from Organa who had acted as regent over his tribe, the Unogundur Bulgars , until then. At some point, as Patriarch Nikephoros tells us, Kubrat expelled the Avar troops from his lands and ruled singlehandedly over the united Bulgars thus creating the Great Bulgaria, as it was known to its contemporaries. Under his rule the Old Great Bulgaria grew to stretch from the Danube delta to the Volga river. Kubrat ruled in peace with the Byzantine Empire, a result of his close friendship with the Byzantine emperor and, conceivably, of his appreciation of Byzantine culture.

[edit] Gravesite

Main article: Pereshchepina hoard

In 1912 Ukrainian peasants in the vicinity of Poltava literally stumbled over a gravesite replete with magnificent gold and silver objects of total weight of 52 kg, including a ring which eventually allowed identification of the grave as that belonging to Khan Kubrat. The ring was inscribed "Chouvr(a)Tou patr(i)k(iou)", indicating the status he had achieved in the Byzantine world.