Omurtag of Bulgaria

Omurtag
Kanasubigi of Bulgaria
Reign	815–831
Predecessor	Krum
Successor	Malamir
Issue	Enravota Zvinitsa Malamir
Royal House	"Krum's dynasty", possibly Dulo
Father	Krum

Omurtag or Omortag (Bulgarian: Омуртаг) was ruler of Bulgaria from 815 to 831.He is known as "the Builder".

Foreign policy

When Omurtag succeeded his father Krum, he may have been inexperienced, and the affairs of state may have been initially conducted by other members of the royal family, such as Dukum and Cok, who are recorded as persecutors of the Christians in the Byzantine sources. Omurtag's reign opened with an invasion of the Byzantine Empire after the rejection of Byzantine offers for peace. The Bulgarians penetrated as far south as modern Babaeski, but there they were defeated by Emperor Leo V the Armenian, and Omurtag escaped the battlefield on his swift horse. Omurtag then concluded a 30-year peace treaty with the Byzantines in 815, which was inscribed on a surviving column. The two rulers had sworn to uphold the conditions of the treaty by each other's rites, which scandalized the Byzantine court. The treaty determined the trajectory of the border between Byzantium and Bulgaria, the status of the Slavic tribes, and the conditions for the exchange of prisoners. When the Byzantine throne was seized by Michael II in 820, the peace treaty was renewed, and Omurtag helped the emperor put down the rebellion of Thomas the Slav in 823 or 824.

The Bulgarian ruler Omurtag sends delegation to the Byzantine emperor

About the same time Omurtag turned his attention northwards. Memorial inscriptions set up for Omurtag's dead officials indicate that his jurisdiction and troops reached the river Dnieper in the east (campaigning against the Khazars or Magyars) and the Tisza in the west. In 818 the Slavic tribes of the Timočani, Abodrites, and Braničevci rebelled against the increasingly onerous Bulgarian suzerainty in the west and sought the support of the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious. In 824 and 825 Omurtag approached the Frankish court with an attempt to seek a diplomatic resolution of the problem. Failing to gain Frankish co-operation, Omurtag issued an ultimatum in 826 and in 827 sent a fleet along the Danube, which restored Bulgarian control over portions of southeastern Pannonia.

Internal policy

The long peace was a favourable time for an active internal policy for the further consolidation of the forming Bulgarian Nation; removal of many internal threats for the stability and intensive building.

Administration

Omurtag orders the murder of Christians

Bulgarian soldiers slaughter Christians, from the Menology of Basil II, 10th century.

After the unsuccessful attempts of several Slavic chiefs to secede from Bulgaria Omurtag conclusively eliminated the autonomy of the Slavic tribes in the vast country. He made an administrative reform and divided the state into large provinces called comitati (singular comitat) whose governors were directly appointed by the Kanasubigi. The comitati were further divided into smaller regions called zhupi (singular zhupa). The area around the capital had a special status. The Army was integrated and became unified; it no longer relied on separate Slav infantry and Bulgarian cavalry. The importance of Kanasubigi's first ministers, the kavkhan and the irchigu boila grew. As a result from the reforms Bulgaria was consolidated and further centralised.

Building activity

At home Omurtag undertook large scale construction, intended to both restore his capital Pliska, which had been destroyed by the Byzantines in 811, and to foster the development of a number of regional centers, palaces, and fortifications.

Persecution of the Christians

Omurtag pursued policy of repression against Christians, in particular against the Byzantine prisoners of war settled by his father Krum in Bulgaria (mostly north of the Danube). This policy may have been motivated in part by the Byzantine invasion of 811 or with the beginning of Christian proselytizing by members of the substantial captive population. In connection with these policies, Omurtag disinherited his eldest son Enravota (Voin), who had shown himself sympathetic to Christianity. Inferences about Omurtag's policy towards the Slavs based on naming Slavic tribes among his enemies in one inscription or on the alleged Slavic names of his three sons are overly speculative. The 17th century Volga Bulgar compilation Ja'far Tarikh (a work of disputed authenticity) represents Amurtag or Yomyrčak (i.e., Omurtag) as the son of Korym (i.e., Krum).

See also

• History of Bulgaria
• Bulgars

References

• Jordan Andreev, Ivan Lazarov, Plamen Pavlov, Koj koj e v srednovekovna Bălgarija, Sofia 1999.
• John V.A. Fine Jr., The Early Medieval Balkans, Ann Arbor, 1983.
• (primary source), Bahši Iman, Džagfar Tarihy, vol. III, Orenburg 1997.