There more information about Volga Bulgars (in russian language you should use Google Translator):
http://www.bulgarizdat.ru/book102.html
http://baltavar.narod.ru/Tom2.htm
And this link is very interesting about the history of the Bulgars: http://s155239215.onlinehome.us/turk...SynopsisEn.htm
There the part about Volga Bulgaria:
Itil Bulgaria
Kara-Bulgars ended up near the restless Badjinaks, which was not pleasing them, and they convinced Almysh to take them to the Itil Bulgaria. Almysh agreed to lead the immigrants with a hope of eventually take his father's throne. The Almysh arival in the head of the immigrants coincided with an Oguz campaign against Bulgaria, when they just crossed the Bulgar border. The Oguz Khan concluded a treaty with Almysh. The Bulgar nobles, frightened by such turn of events, enthroned Almysh (895-925), who promised to protect Bulgar from the Oguzes (Turkmens).
Based on a military force, a skillful foreign policy of Almysh forced Byzantium to abandon its support for the Khazar Kaganate. The Khazar Kagan found support in the Central Asian Samanid state. The Samanid emir told the subjected to him Central Asian Oguzes-Turkmens to attack Bulgar. In response, in 910 Almysh ordered the Bulgarian Varangians to attack the Caspian possessions of the Samanids. In 911 a huge united army of the Khazars and Turkmen attacked Bulgar. Almysh barely managed to repel the attack (From 305 until 995 AD Chorasmia was ruled by the native Afrighid dynasty, not Samanids. Khazaria found or bought support in Chorasmia, which at that time was populated by Karluks, Oguzes, Kangars, and Badjinaks).
Apparently, thoughts about necessity of unity of the Bulgar people in one centralized state in the face of external danger of enslavement led Almysh to the idea of adopting a religion that would ideologically ensure that unity. Especially in front of him were vivid examples of the power of the Arab Caliphate and Samanid state, spiritually bonded by Islam. He himself has long been a Muslim, and many Bulgarians professed Islam, but many Bulgarians still worshiped Tengri. To confirm Islam in the country, it had to be declared a state religion. In 921 a Bulgarian diplomat Abdallah ibn Bashtu, a son of the poet Mikail Bashtu, overcoming on assignment of the king Almysh himself the difficulties of the travel, reached the court of the Baghdad Caliph, and informed Caliph about the desire of the Bulgar king to establish Islam as a state religion, and to form an alliance against Khazar Kagan as an enemy of Islam. In the same year a long-awaited embassy of the Caliph, headed by Ambassador Susan al-Rasi, departed from Baghdad. A counselor at the embassy was Ahmed ibn Fadlan, whose notes about those events reached our time.
However, not all Biys were happy with the arrival of the embassy and the prospect of the pronouncement of Islam a state religion. A part of Tengrians Biys organized conspiracy, they conjured the Almysh middle son Mikail-Yalkau and offerred him to overthrow his father and seize the Bulgar throne. The conspirators, under a guise of celebrating Sabantui, assembled in the Bulyar city. People supported the conspirators, for an Almysh tax increase shortly beforehand angered many people. (Tax is a good excuse, but would not Christians, Catholics, Protestants, etc be more upset by prospect of a forced conversion from the religious brunch of their ancestors then the taxes?). Mikail-Yalkau did not join the conspirators, which caused some confusion among them. The rebels hid in the Bulyar fortress and limited their actions to occasional forays.
On May 12, 922 the Great Embassy from Baghdad, which Abdallah ibn Bashtu brought through all the vicissitudes, entered the capital city Bolgar of the country. Almysh agreed to resolve the conflict without bloodshed. The rebels surrendered and were forgiven by the Muslim king, which in the eyes of the people raised even more the profile of Islam. In addition, the rebels, Biys and their people, were warriors, and Almysh needed warriors to wage a war against the Khazar Kagan. The Bulgar king weas gathering forces for jihad (holy war for the faith). From the Yan Galidj (Great Novgorod) for participation in the war against the Khazars came Salahbi (“Oleg the Seer”), expelled from the Kyiv by the Lachin (Rurik) son Ugyr (Igor), who proclaimed the Kyiv beylik a Rus principality independent of Bulgaria. The dynasty of Urus-Aydar, which included Ugyr (Igor), was called “Urusian” in the Bulgar, or “Rusian” in Slavonic. And the Kyiv Bulgarians also called themselves the “Urus-Bulgars”.“Urus” at that time meant “great.” Quite naturally, Ugyr (Igor) did not disdain this epithet. Thus arose the ancient Rusian state Kyivan Rus. Upon arrival to the Bulgar, Salahbi (“Oleg the Seer”) suddenly died. Without his fleet, with only cavalry on hand, Almysh did not dare to start a campaign against the Khazars.
After an official adoption of Islam, Almysh introduced a number of reforms, both in government and in economic life of the country. Ahmed Ibn Fadlan was appointed a Seid, i.e. a religious head of the country's Muslims. Across the country were built fortresses and cities. Started minting of the Bulgar metal (I.e. silver) coins. The state was divided into provinces, headed by the king-appointed Ulugbeks (governors), instead of autonomous beyliks. The local nobility, tarhans, reported to them. Was instituted Islamization of the pagan (I.e. Tengriist) tribes. All that facilitated an emergence of united Bulgarian people. The feudal exploitation of the people also increased. The state peasants (igencheis), called Chirmyshes, in connection with the construction that unfolded in the country, were levied additional duties. Slavery also existed in Bulgaria. The slaves were mostly captured enemy soldiers, or they were bought at slave markets, where they brought over by foreign merchants. After 6 years of work for the owner, or in a case of acceptance of Islam, a slave was becoming free.
After the death of Almysh, Bulgaria was ruled by his son Gasan (Hassan) (925-930). He always respected Samanids, and immediately after accession to the throne concluded an aliance with Samanid Emirate (Bukhara ? Khoresm was not a Samanid Emirate at that time), thus abandoning plans of his father to finish with the Khazar Kaganate. Gazan n could not fail to know that Samanids supported the Khazar Kaganate. Domestically, Gazan n increased oppression of igencheis (peasants), and distributed a part of igenchei land to his retinue (jurs). So in the country appeared large feudal landowners, who could pass by inheritance the lands received from the king. They were called kazancheys, i.e. Gazan n's people. Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who during Gazan n reign also became a Vizier (Prime Minister), fully supported initiatives of his favorite.
In the winter of 930-931, Gazan n personally went to the mountain side of Bulgaria (right bank of Itil) to collect taxes (Personal tax collection by the ruler was his duty, to hold court sessions, render judgements, receive petitions, and confirm appointments. At the same time was held a regional fair; the right bank of Itil was populated by dependent Mari Finns, also called Burtases = Beekeeper Ases). The winter was severe and famished. By an order of the king from the igencheis were taken their last reserves. The people rebelled. Gasan was killed by peasants who attacked him. A severed head of the king was impaled on a pike and placed in the center of Atryach (Village Atryachi in Ala/Russ. Pestr/Eng. Motley district of modern Tatarstan). The new king Mikail-Yalkau (931-944) brutally crushed the rebels and renamed the center of the uprising city Atryach to Shongyt (Atryach is identical with the Türkic name of the Anatolian city called in Greek Troja, Eng. Troy). Ahmad ibn Fadlan apparently sympathized with the rebels, was arrested as a personal enemy of Mikail and placed in zindan (dungeon), where he died.
Mikail appointed his teacher and mentor Abdallah ibn Bashtu as a Vizier, on his advice the king separated Muslem Chirmyshes as a privileged layer of state igencheis, called “subash”. The subashes paid firmly established taxes that were less heavy and motivated them to develop grain production. The king retained inheritable lands for kazancheys, since they (subashes) constituted a main striking force of the Bulgar troops, the cavalry of heavily armed knights called ulans, and it did not make sense to quarrel with them. In foreign policy, Mikail was sluggish in defending the Kara Bulgar beylik from the claims of the Kyiv prince Igor (Ugyr). Basically, That issue was mostly handled by the Kara-Bulgar Biy Mal, a youngest son of Almysh.
After the death of Mikail-Yalkau in 943, his son Mohammed (Ahmed) became a king of Bulgaria. A protege of kazanchies, he paid little attention to the state affairs. Having surrounded himself with loyal nobles, he indulged in his favorite entertainments - hunting, feasts, etc. All affairs in the state were handled by a seid Nasyr, a son of Ahmad ibn Fadlan. The whims of the king cost a lot of money, the treasury quickly emptied, new taxes ravaged the nation. The Kyivan Rus took advantage of the blunders in the Bulgar government's foreign policy. In 945 Kyiv Prince Igor (Ugyr) attacked the capital Horysdan (Korosten, Putivl) of the Kara Bulgar beylik. But things did not go according to the calculations of the Kyiv Prince. Igor's army was crushed by the Bulgars, and he himself died. A few years later, his wife Olga with a help of the Byzantines and Khazars, and also Kara-Bulgar Kovuys subdued the Kara Bulgar beylik to the Kyivan Rus. Mal switched to the service to Olga, who settled those Kara-Bulgars who followed him on the right bank of the Dnieper, there Mal founded a new city under a former name Horysdan (Korosten), and they started to be called Berendeis. The Bulgars that remained in the Kara-Bulgar beylik later joined the Chernigov (Karadjar) principality. With the weakening of the central authority, Bulgaria borders were poorly guarded. Attacks by the Khazars and Turkmen became more frequent. Finally, Mohammed realized the gravity for the country of the impending disaster, and ordered the king Hassan's son Talib Mumin to lead the defense of the south-eastern borders. Talib proved himself an outstanding military commander and politician. He managed to ensure that the protected provinces began paying to Bulyar, where he settled, a tribute for their safety. With that money, Talib created a 6,000-strong standing army, “kursybai”, of the Muslim volunteers who suffered the Turkmen raids, and an army of igenchei construction workers from the areas devastated by the raids.
Itil Bulgaria ca. 970
Under direction of Talib, in the most critical sections of the border the workers built fortresses, ramparts, moats, and abatises, leaving only a few corridors for the enemy in case of an attack, terminated with prepared ambushes. Talib attained an institution of a law on subashes in the country, according to which those igencheis who converted to Islam were transfered into the category of subashes, which facilitated blossoming of agriculture in the country, and reinforced its defense capability. In addition, Talib created a new category of government conscripts igencheis, the ak-chirmysh. In a wartime, they were obliged to participate in the wars, and in a peacetime were paying the same rate of tax as subashes. Other igencheis (peasants) fell into non-khight level: kara-chirmyshes were the state non-Muslim igencheis paying high taxes and bearing heaviest duties associated with the construction of the forts, roads, bridges, etc.; at the lowest level were kurmyshes, the igencheis paying high taxes to the feudal lords. All these reforms resulted that the Turkmen war ended with a complete victory for Bulgaria. The growing popularity and business acumen of Talib were appreciated by the king Mohammed. Talib was appointed a Vizier. A high state office allowed him to continue his reform efforts. Talib limited the kazanchi land possessions, and most of the lands in the central part of Bulgaria gave to subashes and ak-chirmyshes, who from that time became a mainstay of the Bulgar state. His main task in foreign policy Talib held an implementation of the Almysh plan: to bring the fight with the Khazar Kaganate to its complete elimination, which would give Bulgaria an opportunity to become a master of the whole Itil road to the Caspian Sea, i.e., to take over the fairly lucrative European-Asian trade.
In 964, Talib concluded a treaty with Ugyr's (Igor) son Barys (Svyatoslav) about a joint campaign against Khazar Kaganate and its ally Byzantine Empire. The treaty was concluded about Bulgar consent to the loss of provinces Djir (Rostov) and Balyn (Suzdal), which shortly beforehand Svyatoslav annexed to his possessions. In the summer of 965 the Rus troops captured Bulgarian district Azak (Azov), siezed by Khazaria and Byzantium. Talib moved his “kursybai” army to the northern periphery of the Khazar Kaganate. The residents of these areas, spooked by the Rus offensive, asked Talib to relocate them to the Bulgaria interior. Talib consented to that request. The settlers were mostly merchants and craftsmen. They carried with them all their belongings, leaving only houses with bare walls. When Svyatoslav with his army came to those cities, he did not find there expected booty, which angered him. The vexed Svyatoslav sent half of his troops against Talib, but the Rus troops were defeated. Then Svyatoslav marched to the southern districts of Khazaria. Numerous Bulgarian and Jewish Khazarian merchants fled the Rus ravages from of those areas to the cities of ther Samanid state. Subsequently, they became a base for Bulgar trade in the Middle Asia.
In 968 Svyatoslav, leaving Rus garrisons in the siezed Khazar cities, set out for a war with the Danube Bulgaria. Talib took advantage of that. He regained the Djir province (Rostov) and annexed to Bulgaria the territory of the busted Khazar Kaganate under a name of Saksin Il (No professional etymology of the name Saksin exists, the subject is avoided at all costs; the Saksin location in the middle course of Itil is frequently misrepresented as located in the Volga easuary, even though contemporaries located it in the middle course of Itil. The unspoken etymology is transparent: “sak” stands for “Saka”, like in “Sakaliba” = “White Saka” = “Kypchak” = “White Sak”, “Saksin Il” = “Saka's land” or “Saka's country”; Ibn Fadklan calls population of Bulgaria by generic “Sakaliba”, i.e. he classed them as generic Kypchaks; Giovanni da Pian del Carpine directly stated that Saksins were Kumans, another name for Kypchaks, with the same adjective “Ku = “White; how sinister must be the machinators to fake ignorance against all facts and testimonies; against to confise the issue, Saksin and Saklab are frequently disgised as Saqsin and Saqlab). However, Talib did not want to break with Kyivan Rus that was at war with Byzantium, it was in the Bulgaria interests. Talib sent ambassadors to Svyatoslav in Kyiv, they held talks with him and concluded a peace treaty. Under the treaty, the Kyiv prince recognized the incorporation by Bulgaria of the Khazaria territory, and returned to it the Azak area (Az) captured from the Byzantines. In their turn, Bulgaria pledged to send to the Svyatoslav help her fleet, and in case of success in the Balkans to send ground forces. The Bulgarian ships, whose crews consisted mainly of the Varangian Vikings, really helped Svyatoslav.
After a death of Mohammed Talib was raised to the Bulgar throne (976-981), effectively he ruled the country form 960. Talib paid a special attention to the commercial matters. Bulgarian merchants were given large privileges, which they greatly enriched them. The wealth of the merchants was also the wealth of the state, because they paid taxes. Under Talib, Bulgaria completed its form of a feudal system, which suited best the conditions of those days, an had a beneficial effect on the economic and political development of the country. During Talib time, Bulgaria became a powerful world power to be reckoned with by close and distant neighbors.
When Talib died, to the throne ascended the eldest son of Mohammed Timar Badjinak (981-1004). However, Timar's younger brothers, Ibrahim and Masgut, unhappy with that, started agitating against him (The succession from Mohammed to Talib, and from Talib to Timar follows a Lateral Succession order, when the eldest in the ruling dynasty takes the reigns. In accordance with the general Türkic tradition traceable from the Eastern Hunnic times, a candidate must be a descendent from a ruling Kagan, in case of Talib from king Hassan, all within the ruling Dulo clan. Timar's name appears to be an ingenious Türkic name, instead of Arabic borrowing, which points to a non-Muslim tradition, it means “iron”, and is a cognate of Tamiris, Timer, and Timur). In 985 Ibrahim concluded an alliance with the Kyiv Prince Vladimir, with whom he was even earlier on friendly terms, and attacked Timar joining his forces with the Ruses. Vladimir approached Bulgaria by Itil, he seized Djir (Rostov), then took the city Djunne Kala (later - city Ibrahim, the Brahimov of Rus chronicles). Timar, coming from the south, seized the city Bulyar. Timar managed to reach a peace accomodation with Ibrahim, yeilding Bulyar to him. Vladimir, ignorant of that, landed near Bulgar city, and was surrounded by the Timar's kazancheys. However, the affair ended with a conclusion of a peace treaty.
According to the Bulgar-Rus Treaty of 985, Rus returned to Bulgaria the Djir (Rostov) province and Djunne Kala (later at that site was founded a Rus city Nijny Novgorod). For the Kara Bulgar beylik captured by the Ruses, Vladimir took an obligation to pay an annual tribute to Bulgaria. In addition, the Treaty provided for the adoption of by the Rus of Islam as a state religion. To seal the contract, Vladimir married the daughter of Timar Boz-bi (The marriage made Timar a Vladimir's father-in-law, establishing his seniority in the family and in the politics. The son-in-law/father-in-law relationship was a customary modus operandi in the Eastern Europe within the Türkic sphere). However, already after five years Vladimir formed an alliance with Byzantium, and adopted Orthodox Christianity as a state religion.
Violation of the Bulgar-Rus Treaty of 985 on the Vladimir side provoked a war between Bulgaria and Rus. On the southern front against Kyiv was sent a Bulgar “kursybai” army and allied Badjinaks. Vladimir lost several battles. However, for reasons unknown to us, Timar fell out with the commander (Sardar) of the kursybai and disbanded that most efficient Bulgarian army. As a result, the Bulgar troops in the south could not capture Kyiv, and in the north were forced to yeild Djir (Rostov) to the Rus. Under a new Bulgar-Rus Treaty (Treaty of 990?), Vladimir obligated to pay an annual tribute for the Djir (Rostov), which remained in the Rus. In turn, Timar abandoned his goal of Islamizing Rus.
In 1004 Timar was killed in an internecine struggle, his brother Masgut came to power in Bulgaria (1,004-1,006) (The name indicates a tribal affiliation of his mother, Masgut/Massaget, a superethnic term according to Ammianus Marcellinus bk. XXXI, 12 and other sources; naming wives by their ethnic origin was apparently limited to the wives coming from outside of the dynastic marital union; their children bore the ethnic description of their mothers; generally speaking, the children of secondary wives were not eligible for succession). However, the new king did not enjoy а support among the people, and soon he was deposed by his brother Ibrahim, and fled to the Bulgarian city Kan-Mardan (Murom) (Kan is a Bulgarian phonetical form of Kagan with silent ĝ, Kaĝan, also observed among other Türkic dialects and in Mongolia; Chingiz-khan was Kaan). After becoming а king, Ibrahim (1,006-1,025) further cemented his old friendship with Vladimir. Under а new treaty with Rus, Bulgar merchants lost their right to a preferential trade in the rural areas of the Rus, that right remained only for the urban markets. During Ibrahim reign, Bulgaria provided great assistance to the Rus with bread, especially in the subjugation of the north-eastern lands of the Rus (Rostov province) and during famine years. Vladimir made a reciprocal gesture: he returned to Bulgaria the Azak (Azov) province.
In 1014, Ibrahim once again tried to persuade Vladimir to accept Islam, promising him certain concessions. However, this turn of events was not to the liking of the Vladimir's son Mstislav (his mother was a daughter of a Khazar prince, who switched to the Kyiv service and was a convert to Judaism). He killed his father (Vladimir) and fled to Byzantium, which gave him a re-conquered from Bulgaria Azak (Azov) principality. A new Kyiv Prince became Vladimir's son Yaroslav, who in the war against Mstislav was an ally of Bulgaria (Yar is a Türkic word meaning “saint, sanctified, solemn”, Slav is a Türkic word “süläü” meaning “speakговорить”; by the 8th c. it became an ethnicon initially meaning “Türkic-speaking Balts”; thus Yaroslav is “Reverent Slav”, “Sainty Slav” in both Rus and Türkic). Domestically, Ibrahim maintained order established by Talib, which ensured the country's well-being.
After a death of Ibrahim, the throne inherited Timar's son Ashraf (Sharaf) Baluk (1,025, 1,028-1,061) (Lateral Succession, an elder son of elder brother succeeds younger brothers of his father). In thат same year, Masgut's son Asgar took Bulgar city, and forced Ashraf to leave to Bulyar. In 1,028 Ashraf deposed Asgar (1,025-1,028, 1,061) and became a king again. From then on, the descendants of Baluk Ashrafids, and descendants of Masgut Masgutids fought continuously for the Bulgar throne. (Ashraf) Baluk, after regaining power, began conducting an active domestic and foreign policy. He defeated Mstislav, and Azak (Azov), for the n-th time once again become a Bulgar possession. He started a tough war with Kyivan Rus. And when the kursybai warriors began to grumble because of they had to wage ceaseless wars, Baluk disbanded the elite army. He also reduced rights of the service feudal lords. Instead of Bulgar warriors, into the army were hired Kipchaks (Kyrgyz-Kumans) (In today's lingo Kyrgyz-Kumans are Kazakhstan Kumans, which makes sense only in a sense of “Kumans originally from Kazakhstan”). But the mercenaries were not as loyal and steadfast warrior as were the Bulgars. In addition, the maintenance of the mercenary army required huge funds that were collected from igencheis, merchants and craftsmen. That angered the Bulgar population. In addition, began inter-ethnic conflicts. The Saksin Oguzes (Torks in Rus lingo, a distorted form of Türks), refused to yield their lands for relocation of the mercenary Kypchaks. Baluk ordered to brutally suppress the rebellion. The leaders of the rebellion were captured and executed. A mass of Torks fled to the Kyivan Rus, where they were settled on the (Dnieper) right bank of the country (The right bank belonged to Badjinaks, Rus could not place Oguz Türks in the Badjinak state. Besides, the Oguz Türks were much stronger then Rus, and would not be ordered around).
Itil Bulgaria ca. 1000
A strong dissatisfaction among the Bulgar population with the Baluk's domestic and foreign policy provoked a popular uprising. The rebellion was led by Asgar. He was raised to the Bulgarian throne by the insurgent people. Soon, however, Asgar was killed during a hunt, and his son Ahad Moskha was proclaimed a king (1,061-1,076) (Moskha is a name of the river where in 1,147 was established Moskow, it means "Cow river"; on the Moskha left bank lived Finns, on the right bank lived Türks; Ahad's appellative Moskha must point to his possession, and used to distinguish him from other Ahads). Baluk's son Adam fled to Saksin in the lower course of the Itil, where Ulugbek was a Sharyk-khan, who refused to submit to the new king (Adam is Türkic generic for "human, man"; naming a Türkic person Adam in Türkic is impossible, but naming a Türkic person with the Arabic Adam, which ascends to the Hebrow Adam, which ascends to the Türkic Adam in the sence "primogenitor man" is curvy, but real). Ahad quelled that rebellion, and Sharyk-khan with the last Saksin Kipchaks fled to the Black Sea area. And Adam with a detachment of Saksin Oguzes departed to the homeland of his mother in Middle Asia, to the possessions of the Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan. The Seljukids were a dynasty Bulgarian in origin.
In 1071, Adam took part in a war of Sultan Alp Arslan against Byzantium. In a battle at the town Men-Chokyr (Manzikert) an attack of the Adam Bulgarian detachment routed the Byzantines, and Sultan won a dicisive victory over the enemy army. The Asia Minor was conquered by Seljuks, and the Bulgars and Turkmen Oguzes later formed a single Turkish people. In their turn, Seljuks helped Adam, who was married the daughter Aisylu of Alp Arslan, to return to Bulgaria in 1,076, overthrow Ahad, and become a king. Ahad enlisted into Adam service, but there was no understanding between them. He tried to escape from the king away to the west. Finally, Ahad ended up in the Batysh (Vyatka) domain, where in the dense forests on the bank of one of many rivers he founded a fortress of Moskha, which later became Moscow (And the Ahad's appellative Moskha must be a later addition to his name).the
The rich Bulgar was a tasty morsel, not only for the Ruses, but also for the Türkic tribes related to Bulgars. During Adam reign started ceaseless attacks on Bulgar by the nomadic tribes: from the west attacked Kumans, and from the east - Oimeks, the Eastern Kypchaks. Bulgaria, which stretched from the Middle Itil to the Caspian Sea, was in the middle in respect to them. The gaining power North-Eastern Rus was also trying to get their hands on the Bulgarian western lands, especially Djir (Rostov land) and adjacent territory. To protect the country in the northwest, Adam's son Shamgun (Sham-Sain) in 1,103, established a new fortress Uchel (Oshel of Rus chronicles), “Three fortresses (cities)”, next to Bish-Balta, founded a hundred years before.
The Rus princes, hoping to weaken Bulgaria, raised against it Novgorod and their Kipchak allies, the Don horde of Khan Aiub (Aepa of Rus chronicles). In 1,111 Bulgars defeated an army of Novgorod Prince Mstislav under Uchel (Oshel). However, the Aepa horde was not stopped at the border. He penetrated deep into central regions of Bulgaria.A son of Ahad, Bek Kolyn Selim, switched from Rus service to Bulgar, in 1,117 he lured the Aepa army into a trap near Bulyar, and completely crushed it. The surviving Kipchaks fled to the Don river, a part of them with their families went to Georgia, and the other part submitted to Bulgar (In the Rus chronicles the events are recorded quite differently).
After Adam, Bulgaria was ruled by his son Shamgun (1,118-1,135). The costs associated with a war on two fronts, against the Rus and the neighboring nomads, laid increasingly heavy burden on the shoulders of the population. The Martyuba igencheis with a center in Uchel (Oshel) could not sustain the oppression of the king's tax collectors and revolted. To suppress the uprising was sent kursybaiai. But the Sirdar (Commander) of the alpars (warriors) refused to participate in a fratricidal war, because both were Muslims and igencheis. Then Shamgun ordered to disband kursybai and instead hired Kipchaks led by their Khan Sarychin. Using a tumultuous internal and external milieu where Shamgun's power turned fragile, Kolyn decided to depose the king and instead install his son Anbal Hisam, and to rule the country in his name (Anbal = Turk. “son of a royal concubine”; V.I.Abaev shamelessly stated that that is an Ossetian word, and it is a proof that the Alans spoke Ossetian). Kolyn secretly hired to his service the soldiers of the kursybai disbanded by Shamgun. The Bek also involved in the plot a Suzdal prince Yuri Dolgoruky, whose fleet came to Bulgar city. No one gave Shamgun any support, with 50 soldiers he locked himself up in the citadel of the Bolgar city. Kolyn urged Shamgun to voluntarily cede power to Anbal, and move to Bulyar. The king had no choice but to accept that demand. The kazanchis gladly supported Anbal, expecting concessions. Kolyn adopted a title Ilchebek (ruler of the country) (From Il = country, -chi = čy = noun-derivational affix to form profession or occupation, Bek = Prince) and conducted a prudent policy in internal and external affairs of the state. In foreign policy, he maintained friendly relations with the Seljuks, intended to bring together the two states as close as possible. In 1,135 Kolyn married his son Anbal to the daughterTaj bika of the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar.
Formally, Shamgun still was remaining a king. After his death in a battle with Eastern Kypchaks (Oimeks) Anbal took the throne (1,135-1,164), his father Kolyn became Vizier and Ilchebek, i.e. a all-powerful ruler of the country. Bulyar was assigned to be a capital of the state. Vizier led a balanced internal policy: cancel the high taxes levied on Muslim igencheis, increased salaries to the alpars (soldiers) of the kursybai, gave a series of breaks to the Bulgar merchants. In 1,137 Kolyn Selim sent a part of kursybai to help the allied Karakhanids in Middle Asia, they were attacked by a Mongol horde of Kara-Khitans. However, the Karakhanid army was crushed, and Kara-Khitans turned to kursybai. Alpars with Oimeks, in a series of battles, completely wore out the enemy. The Seljuk Sultan Sanjar waged a war with another Kara-Khitan army, and suffered a defeat. However, the Kara-Khitans not dare for a continued war against Bulgaria, and concluded a peace treaty with her, according to which Kara-Khitans recognised Anbal as a king of Bulgaria and Dasht-i-Kipchak, and pledged in the future not to violate the borders of Bulgaria and Seljuk Sultanate.
Peace in the East allowe Kolyn to transfer troops to the western borders. The Suzdal Prince Yury Dolgoruky attempted to extend his authority to the Ryazan-Murom principality, which was a vassal state of Bulgaria. In 1,154 Yuri Dolgoruky took under his arm Ryazan and Murom, and installed there his son Andrey Bogolyubsky to reign. The Bulgar army immediately set out agaist Suzdalians, retook Ryazan and Murom, sending Andrey Bogolyubski into a stampede, and handed over the power in the principality to the loyal to Bulgar Prince Rostislav.
In 1,154 Kolyn died, his son King Anbal, who used to live happily behind the back of his father, muffed up the state affairs, indulging in entertainment. That situation was used by his kazanchies courtiers. The kazanchies surrounding the king succeded, for the umpteenth time, to dissolve the kursybai they hated, the most battle-ready troops of Bulgaria. Kazanchies began seizeing with impunity the land of the igencheis, plunder the treasury, potential contenders for the throne were brutally persecuted.
One of the Shamgun sons Arbat Oc-Laj enlisted in the Anbal service, who appointed him a Martuba governor with a center in Uchel (Kazan). But another Shamgun son called Ulug Mohammed Otyak Jangi decided to fight with Anbal for the throne, and first fled to his Kuman father-in-laaw Bashkort, and then to Kyiv. After a while Otyak went to the Suzdal prince Andrey Bogolyubsky to Vladimir, who offered him help in his fight against Anbal for the Bulgar throne. In 1,164 Andrey and Otyak invaded Bulgaria and took Ibrahim Balik (Bryahimov of the Rus chronicles, future Nijny Novgorod), and came to Uchel (Kazan) city, which Arbat surrendered to his brother without a fight. Nobody except the Kypchak cavalry supported king Anbal, but it was defeated. In that battle perished Izyaslav, a son of Andrey. Otyak became a king (1,164-1,178). He turned over Anbal, his entourage, including his brother Arbat, to Andrey as prisoners.
To ingratiate Andrey, the former king Anbal gave him in marriage his daughter Baigyulbi. A son Mstislav of Andrey was killed in a raid on Bulgaria, that cooled relationship between Andrey and Otyak. Bogolyubsky decided to use the former king in a fight against Otyak. But when Suzdal boyars (nobles) conspired against Andrey, Anbal and his daughter, who hated her husband for his cruelty and anti-Bulgarian policy, joined the conspirators. In 1,174 the conspirators killed Andrey. Andrey's brother Vsevolod quelled the boyar revolt, and put conspirators to death. Only a son Lachin Hisami (Yuri) of Andrey and Baigyulbi survived, he fled to Bulgaria.
Soon Otyak died in the war against the Don Kipchaks. The Otyak eldest son Gabdulla Chelbir became a new Bulgarian king (1,178-1,225). Arbat remained in the Rus, for many years he was a commander (governor) of Moscow. The street where stood his palace is now called Arbat. All that testifies that the two people, Bulgars and Ruses, had very close relations: they fought, reconciled, were in kinship, and in general were creating their future common homeland, Russia.
Chelbir continued cruel domestic policy of his father. The residents of the capital, alpars of the kursybai and igencheis, driven to despair by the royal exactions, rebelled in 1,182. The rebels elected as their king Anbal's son Chelmati, a brave commander and a skilled politician. The insurgents expelled Chelbir from Bulyar. Chelbir tried to quell the rebellion with the help of the Kipchak Khan Turgen's detachment. Bulyarians repelled a Kipchak attack, and killed Khan Turgen.
Posting Note The events in the post-Hunnic Europe can't be understood without understanding of the family connections between the ruling houses. By the Middle Ages the practice of dynastic alliances lost some of it ethnic flavor, but gained supra-ethnic potency. In the post-Hunnic space, the traditional Türkic notion of familial seniority held its sway, the father-in-law/son-in-law seniority was an accepted norm in the dynastic alliances, and was a powerful tool of the daily politics. History preserved many more prominent alliances, but many less prominent alliances escaped its attention, and may be reconstructed only as educated speculations from the context of events. The father-in-law/son-in-law status was a tactical fix, it was establishing an immediate seniority that lasted only during the lifetime of the father-in-law, and as happened to be the atypical case with Vladimir, even less. Having a reigning grandfather, and be a part of his extended family, was a powerful factor in the upbringing of the young princes, and a replacement of the grandfather by his youner uncles and cousins, though develueing the initial seniority relationship, served to reinforce the familiar links. In the Hunnic tradition, Bulgaria used the marital alliances to the fullest, maintaining a continuous web of dynastic marriages for about 800 years. A sudden appearance on the pages of history of theretofore unknown forces and personalities assisting a reigning, formerly reigning, or inspiring to reign monarch is a good indicator that in the prior couple of generations, a new, initially lowly, dynastic union has been formed, and came to fruition at the time of the later events. Personal genealogies, a la
Nominalia, a la
Secret History, a la
Shajare-i Türk were powerful driving forces of spheres of control, war and peace.
The Suzdal Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest decided to take advantage of the turmoil in Bulgaria in order to enthrone there Arbat's son Azan, who was in his service. Assembling a large army and having urged for a campaign the other Rus princes, Vsevolod broke inside Bulgaria. Caught in a desperate situation, Chelbir increased the salary to the kursybai alpars, attracting them to his side. Vsevolod besieged the Bulgarian capital Bulyar. Bulyarians repelled the assault, the Ruses during a storm lost Pereslav's Prince Izyaslav, and Bulgars lost a commander Chelmati. Under a general command of Chelbir, to the Bulyar came kursybai. The Bulgar militia under a command of Lachin Hisami (Yuri) and mercenary Kipchaks surrounded the army of Vsevolod and crushed it. Azan was taken prisoner and agreed to serve Chelbir (1,183).
Relying on the military power of the country, Chelbir conducted large-scale operations in the Bulgaria's south - in the North Caucasus and around Black Sea. In the winter of 1,183-1,184 Bulgar troops recovered Azak (Azov) from the Byzantium (At that time the Northen Causasus belt was controlled by the Alanian Kingdom, which was under a strong Greek cultural and religious influence, not supported by any significant Greek military force. In the mountains, Alania dominated east of Abkhasia, its dominance extended to the plain and foothills. It is likely that under the Byzantium in this case are meant the Alanian Kingdom, which after the fall of Khazaria became practically independent and included a significant mass of Bulgars, Huns, and other Türkic principalities). In the spring of that year, Chelbir with the Kipchak Khan Konchak (Hondjak) entered the Kyivan Rus with an army (In the name Konchak, the part Chak stands for Saka, and its Bulgarian form Djak points to a possible Bulgarian phonetics for Saka; The part Kon/Hon, without a Bulgarian form, is likely a Türkic kün = kin, creating a compound "Related Saka", but its Bulgarian form points to an alternate semantics, with Hon being the Bulgarian for Hun, for a compound Saka-Hun, like in many other Türkic ethnonyms)). However, this attack did not succeed. With a help of his Ossetian relatives (one of his wives was an Ossetian), the Bulgar king raised Lachyn Hisami (George) to the Georgian throne, who reigned there under a name of George, and married a Georgian princess, Tamar (Ossetians did not exist at that time, reference to Ossetians is anachronistic; in the Alanian Kingdom lived a number of disparate tribes called in Georgian with an umbrella term Ovs/Ovses, which ascends to the ethnic name of Ases/Yases; these mountain tribes included the Türkic Tokhars/Digors/Dügers, their dynastic tribe of Türkic Ases/Yases, and the fractions of the Nakh tribes who spoke the Nakh language that eventually became a lingua franca of the mountain tribes in the north of Georgia, and in the 19th c. formed the dialects of the modern Ossetian family of languages; the dialects within the Ossetian family remain mutually unintelligible to this day; most likely the term Osset appeared during translation of the original "Djagfar Tarihi" to Russian, and originally was a form of Ases/Yases). In the Bulgar cities appeared Armenian, Georgian and Ossetian districts, populated by merchants and craftsmen. However, Lachin Hisami did not occupy the Georgian throne for long. In 1,189's he was accused by his wife and Georgian nobility in an attempt to Islamize Georgia, and removed from the throne.
In 1,185 a Bulgar Bek Tatra with his troops and a Kipchak Khan Konchak detachment moved north to capture Ryazan, but were forced to turn to the west. They learned that a prince Igor of southern Rus Principality Novgorod-Sever went on a campaign in the Azak area, to recapture it from the Bulgars for the Byzantines. The two armies met on the river Suurly (Dry Torets). Igor was captured with his army without even joining a battle. The upshot was that Chernigov (Karajar) Bulgars called Kovbuyes, who constituted Igor's cavalry, switched to the side of their tribesmen, i.e. to the side of the Bek Tatra. However, because of the betrayal by Konchak, who secretly let Igor out from the Bulgar captivity and himself with his men went to the steppe, Tatra was unable to develop his success. The reason was that Konchak did not want to empower Bulgaria in the Black Sea area. Yet the military action of the Bulgars against the North-Eastern Rus were successful. In 1,186 Chelbir subdued to his will Ryazan, which resumed paying tribute to Bulgaria, and in 1,193 Bulgar troops defeated the Novgorod troops. Novgorod also obligated to pay tribute (Tribute was a carry-over from the Hunnic times, in the middle of Middle Age the tribute system practically disappeared from Europe, though in Asia it was to last until modernity. By the middle of Middle Age taxation, introduced a millennia before, was a paramount method of assessment).
Chelbir was also interested in southern countries - Afghanistan and India, where he was sending his troops to participate in the campaigns of the Central Asian rulers. However, Bulgaria failed to gain a foothold in these countries. When the Mongols were crushing the state of the Khorezmshakh, he was passively accepting the news, apparently out of resentment that the Central Asian rulers did not allow Bulgarians to establish colonies in those countries. At a request of the Seljuk Sultan, Chelbir also sent a 1,000-strong unit to the Middle East. In the 1,204-1,216 he fought for the Seljuks against their enemies. On the way home this unit took from the Byzantians cities in Djalda (Crimea). One of them, Sagdak (Sudak) Chelbir presented to the Seljuk Sultan, to have a common border with friendly and kindred power.
The military endeavors undertaken by Chelbir demanded supply of money. Vazier Gubaidulla again began collecting additional taxes from the Muslim igencheis and artisans, to meet the ever increasing costs. Generally, within the country's population grew discontentment about the king. In 1,193 a Bulgarian poet Mohammed Gali (Kul Gali) organized a plot. But the conspirators, who were called “rooks”, and their conspiracy called “Rooks' conspiracy”, were betrayed by a traitor and they were punished. However, it made Chelbir to ponder. He dismissed his faithful vizier Gubaidulla, and in the Bulgaria central regions canceled the tax increase. However, on the frinfes of the state arose one after another uprisings of the igencheis, which were brutally suppressed by the royal troops.
Chelbir restored peace with Kyiv and Smolensk, which concerned the Bulgarian merchants who traded with the West through these cities. Bulgaria sought to strengthen its western borders. In 1,204 Azan restored Uchel (Kazan) fortifications on Mount Bogyltau. In 1,216 Chelbir sent Azan against Rus, in a Lipetsk battle he defeated the Suzdal prince Yuri. A Chelbir protege Constantine became a Suzdal prince. But in 1,218 the situation changed. Yuri again became a Suzdal prince, he was an outspoken enemy of the Bulgar, striving to get rid by all means of the ruinous for the Rus Bulgar power. On order of Yuri, the Suzdalians slaughtered Bulgarian merchants returning from the Artan (Baltic).
Chelbir was not slow with response. In the 1,218-1,219, the Bulgar army led by the king himself seized Ustug and Radjil (Radilov), capturing untold wealth. The Rus attack on Uchel in 1,220 was repulsed by a kursybaiai sardar (commander) Gazan n. For his feats on behaf of the country, Chelbir ordered to rename Uchel to Gazan (Kazan). The river Arsu, where Kazan stood, became known as Kazan-su (Kazanka).
In the winter of 1,220-1,221 Chelbir sent Bulgar army under command of Gasan to conquer the Suzdal. Bulgars took and burned the fort (Nijny Novgorod) that the Ruses built in 1,220 on the ruins of the Bulgar fortress Ibrahim Balik (Djunne-Kala). Then Gazan led his army to the capital of the principality, Vladimir (Bulymer). On the way, commander took a couple of other Rus fortresses. Yuri fled to the northern forests, and asked Chelbir for peace. The king stopped the offensive and concluded a peace with Yuri on humiliating conditions for the Rus prince. In particular, besides territorial and trade concessions, paying off the tribute by the Ruses, the treaty provided for a division of the Suzdal principality into two parts: Vladimir headed by Prince Yuri, and Rostov led by Prince Vasilek, a son of Constantine, a loyal vassal of Bulgar. A Yuri's son Vladimir went to Chelbir as a hostage.
From east to Bulgaria was coming an impending danger. The army of Chengis Khan, under a command of undefeated commander Subede, after defeating the Central Asian states, crossed Iran, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and was approaching the Caucasian border of Bulgaria. Under these conditions, Chelbir preferred to have in Ruses allies in the West, instead of enemies. Bulgaria was preparing to repel a Mongol invasion, they have already destroyed a number of Asian countries, and now were approaching the Eastern Europe.
To meet the Mongols, who came from the Southern Caucasus to the plains of the Northern Caucasus, was marching with his troops a governor of the Saksin Il (Lower Itil) Bachman. Along with him against the Mongols were going Turks-Alans and the Don Kipchaks. However, the combined army of Bachman was defeated. Bachman retreated to Georgia, because the escape route to Bulgaria was cut off by the Mongols. Subede sent ambassadors to the Rus princes, offering to join him in alliance against Bulgaria. But the Rus princes refused the offer and ordered a murder of the Mongolian ambassadors. A combined Rus-Kipchak army marched against Mongols. On the river Kalka in 1,223 happened a decisive battle, where the Ruses and Kipchaks suffered a crushing defeat.
After the battle at Kalka, Subede led his troops to Bulgaria. Bulgars were well prepared for the Mongol invasion. In the Jiguli area on the Volga they lured enemy into a prepared ambush, and destroyed most of the Subede troops, and took prisoner the survivors. The Mongolian warlord, who fled with a handful of his soldiers, was surrounded and captured. Chelbir did not execute Subede, he exchanged captured Mongols for rams at a rate of one by one for each, and allowed them to return to their countrymen. On that occasion, people named it a “Ram battle”.
After a death of Chelbir to the throne was raised his younger brother Mir-Gazi (or Ghazi, 1,225-1,229), who tried to acomplish the plans of his friend Kul-Gali for the betterment of the status of igencheis, artisans and kursybai alpars (warriors) (Lateral succession). But they did not get time to realize these plans. Having learned about the death of Chelbir, the eastern Rus princes, headed by Yuri, attacked western regions of Bulgaria. The situation was aggravated the defection of the Tubdjak (Southern Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan) governor Mergen to the Mongols and attacked central regions of Bulgaria from the east. In these conditions, the Mir-Gazi had to deal with just a repulsion of the external attacks on the country.
When in January 1,229 Mir-Gazi died, to the throne was raised Djelaletdin Altynbek, a youngest son of Otyak and Ryazan Princess Vyshelyuba Glebovna (1,229, 1,230-1,236) (Lateral succession). The new king had to immediately march with an army to Djaik (Yaik, Ural River), where came Subede with a new army, intending to attack Bulgars. By that time he already succeded in crushing the Bulgarian Saksin province. The battle took place near a Bulgarian fortress Kargaly (in the place of the modern Orenburg). A tough situation in which Altynbek found himself was saved by the militia that came from the Bashkort Il to the rescue. The Bulgar army retreated to the north. Subede took his blood-let army back to Mongolia.
The Mir-Gazi opponents in Bulyar spread a rumor of his supposed death. The kazanchies immediately enthroned an Azan's son Emir Gazi Baradj (1,229-1,230, 1,236-1,242) (Lateral succession). But Altynbek managed to topple Gazi Baradj and to regain the throne. The Bulyarians lent Altynbek their support. But the Bulgarian and Suvar ils (provinces) rejected that and submitted to the Bulgar city Ulugbek, a Chelbir son Ilyas Yaldau. Thus, the country sundered into two parts. However, even with the forces of a truncated country, Altynbek was able to crush at Bugulma the Mongolian troops that invaded inside Bulgaria, headed by the Khan Batu son Jochi.
Gazi Baradj did not accept a loss of the throne, and in 1,232 went to Mongolia to the Great Khan Ogedei, and persuaded him to help regain from Altynbek the Bulgar throne, for which he agreed to give the Mongols the southern Bulgarian lands. The Bashkort Ulugbek Ishtyak also switched to the side of the pretender. In August 1,236 Gazi Baradj led the Mongol troops against Bulyar. The Bulyarians stood defending for 45 days. In the November of the same year the city with 200 thousand population fell. Only a small part of the Bulyar defenders with Bachman and Altynbek's daughter Altynchach were able to sneak to the center of the Mardan territory city Banja (Jiguli area). The king Altynbek died with all the defenders and citizens of the city. The Mongols, who during the storm of Bulyar lost a Chengis Khan's son Kulkan, wiped the city off the face of the earth.
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Originally Posted by Ichon
my objetive there wasn' t provoque. The true is that some aspects of the text are partial pro bulgar and provocative. And I am not the autor of the text. But I delete this part.
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