European Kingdoms

Danubian Bulgaria (Balkans)

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Present day Bulgaria has a long history, one which originates in myth and tribal dominance in antiquity, and in archaeological cultures such as the Cernavodă. Large swathes of what is now southern Bulgaria traditionally formed the territory of ancient Thrace, while the rest was occupied by a large number of barbarian tribes which included the Dacians and the Celtic Scordisci (actually a confederation of tribes rather than a single tribe itself).

Republican Roman interest in the region soon resulted in the formation of the province of Thracia to cover the south, and Moesia to cover the north. Moesia was later divided into east and west provinces ('inferior' and 'superior' respectively), with Moesia Inferior forming the heartland of modern Bulgaria.

Roman imperial decline saw the region gradually infiltrated by Slav groups. In turn these were pushed outwards or absorbed in the late seventh century AD by the Bulgars who gave their name to this land. Proto-Bulgarians had settled in and around the northern Caucasus, to the north and east of the Black Sea, in the fourth to fifth centuries where they soon found themselves dominated by the Huns.

Subsequently, under the leadership of a single powerful individual named Qaghan Koubrat (Khan Kubrat), they formed a large nomad empire in mid-seventh century Eastern Europe which was known as Great Bulgaria. Under external pressure this empire survived the death of its founder by less than two decades, and the Bulgars subsequently splintered. One group headed towards the Danube, soon settling in Pannonia at first, and subsequently in the region of Bitolya (former Greek Macedonia).

A second body headed northwards to become the Volga Bulgars, while a third group of between thirty to fifty thousand Bulgars followed the northern coast of the Black Sea. This group soon reached the Danube where, after a period of settlement and defence, it founded a new, purely Danubian Bulgar, initially-tribal state by the name of the '(First) Kingdom of Bulgaria'.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, Jordanes, from the Chronicle of Fredegar / Latin Chronicle (author unknown but the work has been attributed to Fredegar since the sixteenth century thanks to his name being written in the margin), and from External Links: Proto-Bulgarian Runic Inscriptions, and The Balts, Marija Gimbutas (1963, previously available online thanks to Gabriella at Vaidilute, but still available as a PDF - click or tap on link to download or access it), and Turkic History.)