Pannonian Avars
The Pannonian Avars were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of unknown origins.
They are probably best known for their invasions and destruction in the Avar–Byzantine wars from 568 to 626.
The name Pannonian Avars is used to distinguish them from the Avars of the Caucasus, a separate people with whom the Pannonian Avars might or might not have had links.
They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late 6th to the early 9th century.
Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-5th century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th century, on the Pontic-Caspian steppe as a people who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks.
Origins
Avars and pseudo-Avars
The earliest clear reference to the Avar ethnonym comes from Priscus the Rhetor. Priscus recounts that, c. 463, the Šaragurs, Onogurs and Ogurs were attacked by the Sabirs, who had been attacked by the Avars. In turn, the Avars had been driven off by people fleeing "man-eating griffins" coming from "the ocean". Whilst Priscus' accounts provide some information about the ethno-political situation in the Don-Kuban-Volga region after the demise of the Huns, no unequivocal conclusions can be reached. Denis Sinor has argued that whoever the "Avars" referred to by Priscus were, they differed from the Avars who appear a century later, during the time of Justinian.The next author to discuss the Avars, Menander Protector, appeared during the 6th century, and wrote of Göktürk embassies to Constantinople in 565 and 568 AD. The Turks appeared angry at the Byzantines for having made an alliance with the Avars, whom the Turks saw as their subjects and slaves. Turxanthos, a Turk prince, calls the Avars "Varchonites" and "escaped slaves of the Turks", who numbered "about 20 thousand".
Many more, but somewhat confusing, details come from Theophylact Simocatta, who wrote c. 629, describing the final two decades of the 6th century. In particular, he claims to quote a triumph letter from the Turk lord Tamgan:
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According to the interpretation of Dobrovits and Nechaeva, the Turks insisted that the Avars were only "pseudo-Avars", so as to boast that they were the only formidable power in the Eurasian steppe. The Göktürks claimed that the "real Avars" remained loyal subjects of the Turks, farther east. Furthermore, Dobrovits has questioned the authenticity of Theophylact's account. As such, he has argued that Theophylact borrowed information from Menander's accounts of Byzantine–Turk negotiations to meet political needs of his time – i.e. to castigate and deride the Avars during a time of strained political relations between the Byzantines and Avars.
Uar, Rouran and other Central Asian peoples
According to some scholars the Pannonian Avars originated from a confederation formed in the Aral Sea region, by the Uar, also known as the Var or Warr and the Xūn or Xionites ; the Xionites were maybe Iranian or Turkic-speaking or both. A third tribe affiliated previously to the Uar and Xionites, the Hephthalites, had remained in Central and northern South Asia. In some transliterations, the term Var is rendered Hua, which is an alternate Chinese term for the Hephthalites. The Pannonian Avars were also known by names including Uarkhon or Varchonites – which may have been portmanteau words combining Var and Chunni.The 18th-century historian Joseph de Guignes postulated a link between the Avars of European history with the Rouran Khaganate of Inner Asia based on a coincidence between Tardan Khan's letter to Constantinople and events recorded in Chinese sources, notably the Wei Shu and Bei Shi. Chinese sources state that Bumin Qaghan, founder of the First Turkic Khaganate, defeated the Rouran, some of whom fled and joined the Western Wei. Later, Bumin's successor Muqan Qaghan defeated the Hephthalites as well as the Turkic Tiele. Superficially these victories over the Tiele, Rouran and Hephthalites echo a narrative in the Theophylact, boasting of Tardan's victories over the Hephthalites, Avars and Oghurs. However, the two series of events are not synonymous: the events of the latter took place during Tardan's rule, c. 580–599, whilst Chinese sources referring to the Turk defeat of the Rouran and other Central Asian peoples occurred 50 years earlier, at the founding of the First Turkic Khaganate. It is for this reason that the linguist János Harmatta rejects the identification of the Avars with the Rouran.
According to Edwin G. Pulleyblank, the name Avar is the same as the prestigious name Wuhuan in the Chinese sources. Several historians, including Peter Benjamin Golden, suggest that the Avars are of Turkic origin, likely from the Oghur branch. Another theory suggests that some of the Avars were of Tungusic origin. A study by Emil Heršak and Ana Silić suggests that the Avars were of heterogeneous origin, including mostly Turkic and Mongolic groups. Later in Europe some Germanic and Slavic groups were assimilated into the Avars. They concluded that their exact origin is unknown but state that it is likely that the Avars were originally mainly composed of Turkic tribes.
Steppe empire dynamics and ethnogenesis
In 2003, Walter Pohl summarized the formation of nomadic empires:Such views are mirrored by. "The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in a single linear fashion due to their great and constant mobility", with no ethnogenetic "point zero", theoretical "proto-people" or proto-language. Moreover, Avar identity was strongly linked to Avar political institutions. Groups who rebelled or fled from the Avar realm could never be called "Avars", but were rather termed "Bulgars". Similarly, with the final demise of Avar power in the early 9th century, Avar identity disappeared almost instantaneously.
Anthropology
In contemporary art, Avars were sometimes depicted as mounted archers, riding backwards on their horses. According to mid-20th Century physical anthropologists such as Pál Lipták, human remains from the early Avar period had mostly "Europoid" features, while grave goods indicated cultural links to the Eurasian steppe. Cemeteries dated to the late Avar period included many human remains with physical features typical of East Asian people or Eurasians Several theories suggest that the ruling class of the Avars were of Tungusic East Asian origin or of partially Tungusic origin.Genetics
A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in September 2016 examined the mtDNA of 31 people buried in the Carpathian Basin during the Avar period between the 7th and 9th centuries AD. They were found to be mostly carrying European haplogroups such as H, K, T and U, while ca. 15% carried Asian haplogroups such as C, M6, D41c and F1a. Their mtDNA were found to be primarily characteristic of Eastern and Southern Europe.A genetic study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2018 examined 62 individuals buried in the 8th and 9th centuries AD at an Avar-Slavic burial in Cífer‐Pác, Slovakia. Of the 46 samples of mtDNA extracted, 93,48% belonged to west Eurasian lineages, while 6,52% belonged to east Eurasian lineages. The amount of east Eurasian lineages was higher than among modern European populations, but lower than what has been found in other genetic studies on the Avars. The mtDNA of the examined individuals was found to be quite similar to medieval and modern Slavs, and it was suggested that the mixed population examined had emerged through intermarriage between Avar males and Slavic females.
A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in November 2019 examined the remains of fourteen Avar males. Eleven of them were dated to the early Avar period, and three were dated to the middle and late Avar period. The eleven early Avar males were found to be carrying the paternal haplogroups N1a1a1a1a3, N1a1a, R1a1a1b2a, C2 G2a, and I1. The three males dated to the middle and late Avar period carried the paternal haplogroups C2, N1a1a1a1a3 and E1b1b1a1b1a. The Avars studied were all determined to have had dark eyes and dark hair, and the majority of them were found to be primarily of East Asian origin.
A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in January 2020 examined the remains of twenty-six individuals buried at various elite Avar cemeteries in the Pannonian Basin dated to the 7th century AD. The mtDNA of these Avars belonged mostly to East Asian haplogroups, while the Y-DNA was exclusively of East Asian origin and "strikingly homogenous", belonging to haplogroups N-M231 and Q-M242. The evidence suggested that the Avars were a patrilineal and endogamous people who entered the Pannonian Basin through migrations from East Asia involving both men and women.
History
Arrival in Europe
In 557 the Avars sent an embassy to Constantinople presumably from the northern Caucasus. This marked their first contact with the Byzantine Empire. In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly gentes" on behalf of the Byzantines: subsequently they conquered and incorporated various nomadic tribesKutrigurs and Sabirsand defeated the Antes.By 562 the Avars controlled the lower Danube basin and the steppes north of the Black Sea. By the time they arrived in the Balkans, the Avars formed a heterogeneous group of about 20,000 horsemen. After the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I bought them off, they pushed northwestwards into Germania. However, Frankish opposition halted the Avars' expansion in that direction.
Seeking rich pastoral lands, the Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube River in present-day Bulgaria, but the Byzantines refused, using their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. The Avars turned their attention to the Carpathian Plain and to the natural defenses it afforded.
However, the Carpathian basin was then occupied by the Gepids. In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the Lombardsenemies of the Gepidsand together they destroyed much of the Gepid Kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass-movement in the Migration Period.
Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines persuaded the Avars to attack the Sclavenes in Scythia Minor, a land rich with goods. After devastating much of the Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia after many of the Khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine Emperor.
Early Avar Period (580–670)
By about 580, the Avar Khagan Bayan I had established supremacy over most of the Slavic, Bulgar and Germanic tribes living in Pannonia and the Carpathian Basin. When the Byzantine Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided their Balkan territories. According to Menander, Bayan commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked Dalmatia in 568, effectively cutting the Byzantine terrestrial link with North Italy and Western Europe. By 582, the Avars had captured Sirmium, an important fort in Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount as requested by Bayan's son and successor Bayan II, the Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum and Viminacium. They suffered setbacks, however, during Maurice's Balkan campaigns in the 590s.By 600 the Avars had established a nomadic empire ruling over a multitude of peoples and stretching from modern Austria in the west to the Pontic–Caspian steppe in the east. After being defeated at the Battles of Viminacium in their homeland, some Avars defected to the Byzantines in 602 but Emperor Maurice decided not to return home as was customary. He maintained his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter but the hardship caused the army to revolt, giving the Avars a desperately needed respite and they attempted an invasion of northern Italy in 610. The Byzantine civil war prompted a Persian invasion in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 and after 615, the Avars enjoyed a free hand in the undefended Balkans.
While negotiating with Emperor Heraclius beneath the walls of Constantinople in 617, the Avars launched a surprise attack.
While they were unable to capture the city centre they pillaged the suburbs of the city and took 270,000 captives. Payments in gold and goods to the Avars reached the record sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626. In 626, the Avars cooperated with the Sassanid force in the failed siege of 626. Following this defeat, the political and military power of the Avars declined. Byzantine and Frankish sources documented a war between the Avars and their western Slav clients, the Wends.
In the 630s, Samo, the ruler of the first historically known Slavic polity known as Samo's Tribal Union or Samo's realm, increased his authority over lands to the north and west of the Khaganate at the expense of the Avars, ruling until his death in 658.
The Chronicle of Fredegar recorded that during Samo's rebellion in 631AD, 9,000 Bulgars led by Alciocus left Pannonia to modern-day Bavaria where Dagobert I massacred most of them. The remaining 700 joined the Wends. At about the time of Samo's realm, the Kubrat of the Dulo clan led a successful uprising to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain; he established Old Great Bulgaria, or Patria Onoguria, "the homeland of Onogurs". The civil war, possibly a succession struggle in Onoguria between the joint Kutrigur and Utigur forces, raged from 631 to 632. The power of the Avars' Kutrigur forces was shattered and the Avars came under the control of Great Bulgaria. At the same time, according to Constantine VII's work De Administrando Imperio, a group of Croats separated from the White Croats who lived in White Croatia and arrived by their own will, or were called by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, to fight and defeat the Avars after which they eventually organized their own principality in Dalmatia.
Middle (670–720) and Late (720–804) Avar periods
With the death of Samo, some Slavic tribes again came under Avar rule. The Bulgar Khan Kubrat died in 665 and was succeeded by Khan Batbayan of Old Great Bulgaria. By 670, the Viennese chronicle records that in 677, the "Ungri" ethnicon was established decisively in Pannonia.Following Khan Kubrat's death or a few years later in the time of Bezmer, the empire was dissolved into 5 branches. Two of them were subdued by the emerging Khazar Empire, while the fourth one led by Asparukh established the Danube Bulgar Empire and stabilized it by the victory at the battle of Ongal. The fourth folk moved to Ravenna while the fifth one, led by Kuber moved into the Avar Khaganate.
According to the Miracles of Saint Demetrius the Avar-Slavic alliance from northern Carpathia forced the Bulgars south out of western Onoguria at about the same time that the Battle of Ongal took place south of the eastern Carpathians. The new ethnic element marked by hair clips for pigtails; curved, single-edged sabres; broad, symmetrical bows marks the middle Avar-Bulgar period. The Onogur Bulgars under a Kuber leader expelled from western Onoguria moved south, settling in the present-day region of Macedonia. The Onogur-Bulgars, led by Khan Asparukh—the father of Khan Tervel—settled permanently along the Danube, expanding the First Bulgarian Empire from Onogur, Bulgaria. Although the Avar empire had diminished to half its original size, the new Avar-Slav alliance consolidated their rule west from the central parts of the mid-Danubian basin and extended their sphere of influence west to the Viennese Basin. New regional centers, such as those near Ozora and Igar—county Fehér in Hungary—appeared. This strengthened the Avars' power base, although most of the Balkans now lay in the hands of Slavic tribes since neither the Avars nor Byzantines were able to reassert control.
A new type of ceramics—the so-called "Devínska Nová Ves" pottery—emerged at the end of the 7th century in the region between the Middle Danube and the Carpathians. These vessels were similar to the hand-made pottery of the previous period, but wheel-made items were also found in Devínska Nová Ves sites. Large inhumation cemeteries found at Holiare, Nové Zámky and other places in Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia from the period beginning around 690 show that the settlement network of the Carpathian Basin became more stable in the Late Avar period. The most popular Late Avar motifs—griffins and tendrils decorating belts, mounts and a number of other artifacts connected to warriors—may either represent nostalgia for the lost nomadic past or evidence a new wave of nomads arriving from the Pontic steppes at the end of the 7th century. According to historians who accept the latter theory, the immigrants may have been either Onogurs or Alans. Anthropological studies of the skeletons point at the presence of a population with mongoloid features.
The Khaganate in the Middle and Late periods was a product of cultural symbiosis between Slavic and original Avar elements with a Slavic language as a lingua franca or the most common language.
In the 7th century, the Avar Khaganate opened a door for Slavic demographic and linguistic expansion to Adriatic and Aegean regions.
In the early 8th century, a new archaeological culture—the so-called "griffin and tendril" culture—appeared in the Carpathian basin. Some theories, including the "double conquest" theory of archaeologist Gyula László, attribute it to the arrival of new settlers, such as early Magyars, but this is still under debate. Hungarian archaeologists Laszló Makkai and András Mócsy attribute this culture to an internal evolution of Avars resulting from the integration of the Bulgar émigrés from the previous generation of the 670s. According to Makkai and Mócsy, "the material culture—art, clothing, equipment, weapons—of the late Avar/Bulgar period evolved autonomously from these new foundations". Many regions that had once been important centers of the Avar empire had lost their significance while new ones arose. Although Avaric material culture found over much of the northern Balkans may indicate an existing Avar presence, it probably represents the presence of independent Slavs who had adopted Avaric customs.
Collapse
The gradual decline of Avar power accelerated to a rapid fall within a decade. A series of Frankish campaigns in the 790s, beginning in 791, ended with the conquest of the Avar realm after eight years. The 791 campaign ended successfully, although no pitched battle was fought. Avars had fled before the Carolingian army arriving by the Danube, while disease left most of the Avar horses dead. Tribal infighting began, showing the weakness of the khaganate. The Franks had been supported by Slavs, who established polities on former Avar territory. One of Charlemagne's sons captured a large, fortified encampment known as "the Ring", which contained much of the spoils from earlier Avar campaigns. The campaign against the Avarsagain gathered momentum. It would take two massive hammer-blows, two major musters of the host, drawing upon levies from every part of the now great kingdom, before the robbers'
nest was exterminated. And at last, in the year 796, five years after the war began, the Avars cracked and lay utterly at the king's mercy.
By 796, the Avar chieftains had surrendered and accepted Christianity. Pannonia was conquered. According to the Annales Regni Francorum, Avars began to submit to the Franks from 796 onwards. The song "De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica" celebrating the defeat of the Avars at the hands of Pepin of Italy in 796 still survives. The Franks baptized many Avars and integrated them into the Frankish Empire. A growing amount of archaeological evidence in Transdanubia also suggests an Avar population in the Carpathian Basin in the very late 9th century. In 799, some Avars revolted.
In 804, the Bulgaria conquered the southeastern Avar lands of Transylvania and southeastern Pannonia up to the Middle Danube River, and many Avars became subjects of the Bulgarian Empire. Khagan Theodorus, a convert to Christianity, died after asking Charlemagne for help in 805; he was succeeded by Khagan Abraham, who was baptized as the new Frankish client. Abraham was succeeded by Khagan Isaac, about whom little is known. The Franks turned the Avar lands under their control into a military march. The March of Pannoniathe eastern half of the Avar Marchwas then granted to the Slavic Prince Pribina, who established the Balaton principality in 840. It continued to exist in the west until it was divided between the Carinthian and Eastern marches in 871.
Whatever was left of Avar power was effectively ended when the Bulgars expanded their territory into the central and eastern portions of traditional Avar lands around 829. According to Pohl, an Avar presence in Pannonia is certain in 871, but thereafter the name is no longer used by chroniclers. Pohl wrote, "It simply proved impossible to keep up an Avar identity after Avar institutions and the high claims of their tradition had failed". Although, Regino wrote about them at the year of 889. The growing number of archaeological evidence in Transdanubia also presumes an Avar population in the Carpathian Basin in the very late 9th century. Archaeological findings suggest a substantial, late Avar presence on the Great Hungarian Plain, however it is difficult to determine their proper chronology. The preliminary results of the new excavations also imply that the known and largely accepted theory of the destruction of the Avar settlement area is outdated, the disastrous depopulation of the Avar Khaganate has never happened.
Byzantine records, including the "Notitia episcopatuumî", the "Additio patriarchicorum thronorumî" by Neilos Doxopatres, the "Chronica" by Petrus Alexandrinus and the "Notitia patriarchatuum" mention the 9th century Avars as an existing Christian population. The Avars had already been mixing with the more numerous Slavs for generations, and they later came under the rule of external polities, such as the Franks, Bulgaria, and Great Moravia. The Avars in the region known as solitudo avarorumcurrently called the Alföldvanished in an arc of three generations. They slowly merged with the Slavs to create a bilingual Turkic-Slavic-speaking people who were subjected to Frankish domination; the invading Magyars found this composite people in the late 9th century. The De Administrando Imperio, written around 950, clearly states the presence of an Avar population in the region of modern-day Croatia.
There has been speculation that the modern Avar people of the Caucasus might have an uncertain connection to the historical Avars but direct descent from them is rejected or doubted by many scholars.
Social and tribal structure
The Pannonian Basin was the centre of the Avar power-base. The Avars re-settled captives from the peripheries of their empire to more central regions. Avar material culture is found south to Macedonia. However, to the east of the Carpathians, there are next to no Avar archaeological finds, suggesting that they lived mainly in the western Balkans. Scholars propose that a highly structured and hierarchical Avar society existed, having complex interactions with other "barbarian" groups. The khagan was the paramount figure, surrounded by a minority of nomadic aristocracy.A few exceptionally rich burials have been uncovered, confirming that power was limited to the khagan and a close-knit class of "elite warriors". In addition to hoards of gold coins that accompanied the burials, the men were often buried with symbols of rank, such as decorated belts, weapons, stirrups resembling those found in central Asia, as well as their horse. The Avar army was composed from numerous other groups: Slavic, Gepidic and Bulgar military units. There also appeared to have existed semi-independent "client" tribes which served strategic roles, such as engaging in diversionary attacks and guarding the Avars' western borders abutting the Frankish Empire.
Initially, the Avars and their subjects lived separately, except for Slavic and Germanic women who married Avar men. Eventually, the Germanic and Slavic peoples were included in the Avaric social order and culture, itself Persian-Byzantine in fashion. Scholars have identified a fused, Avar-Slavic culture, characterized by ornaments such as half-moon-shaped earrings, Byzantine-styled buckles, beads, and bracelets with horn-shaped ends. Paul Fouracre notes, "here appears in the seventh century a mixed Slavic-Avar material culture, interpreted as peaceful and harmonious relationships between Avar warriors and Slavic peasants. It is thought possible that at least some of the leaders of the Slavic tribes could have become part of the Avar aristocracy". Apart from the assimilated Gepids, a few graves of west Germanic peoples have been found in the Avar lands. They perhaps served as mercenaries.