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100-688: From the middle of the 6th to the end of the 8th century, the region was under the domination of the Avars , while the Slavic inhabitants lived under Avar rule. By the beginning of the 9th century, after Avar Wars , that state was destroyed and replaced by the supreme rule of the Frankish Empire , which lasted until the Magyar conquest (c. 900). During the Frankish period, the region of Lower Pannonia

200-433: A Para-Mongolic language (Serbi-Avar), which is a sister lineage to contemporary Mongolic languages . In 2003, Walter Pohl summarized the formation of nomadic empires : 1. Many steppe empires were founded by groups who had been defeated in previous power struggles but had fled from the dominion of the stronger group. The Avars were likely a losing faction previously subordinate to the (legitimate) Ashina clan in

300-567: 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. Savelyev and Jeong (2020) in " Early nomads of

400-659: A cemetery in rows, feasting at the funeral or steppe burial rite with horse and equipment. Many new settlements were founded around ancient towns and one of them, Sisak, was even the seat of a Christian diocese . The native and mainly sedentary Slavic population assimilated Avars and was part of Avaro-Slavic Middle Podunavlje culture. Sedov considered that those Slavs were a mixture of Sclaveni of Prague-Korchak culture and mostly Antes of Penkovka and Ipotesti–Candesti culture with some Martinovka culture artifacts . According to M. Guštin and L. Bekić, radiocarbon dating confirmed dating to late 6th and early 7th century, but although

500-488: A counterattack and eventually March of Friuli was divided into four counties. One of them probably was early Duchy of Croatia (which also expanded upon the territory of Sisak) while Pannonia again became part of the Pannonian March, both of which vassals to East Francia . The next year Bulgars made another attack but without further success, although the territory of Pannonia most probably lost its eastern part to

600-907: 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

700-500: A new group of steppe riders was often taken from a repertoire of prestigious names which did not necessarily denote any direct affiliation to or descent from groups of the same name; in the Early Middle Ages , Huns , Avars, Bulgars , and Ogurs, or names connected with -(o)gur ( Kutrigurs , Utigurs , Onogurs , etc.), were most important. In the process of name-giving, both perceptions by outsiders and self-designation played

800-644: A noted "Asian" tactic, which may depict the Avars. According to mid-20th century physical anthropologists such as Pál Lipták , human remains from the early Avar (7th century) period had mostly " Europoid " features, while grave goods indicated cultural links to the Eurasian Steppe . Cemeteries dated to the late Avar period (8th century) included many human remains with physical features typical of East Asian people or Eurasians (i.e., people with both East Asian and European ancestry). Remains with East Asian or Eurasian features were found in about one third of

900-571: A role. These names were also connected with prestigious traditions that directly expressed political pretensions and programmes, and had to be endorsed by success. In the world of the steppe, where agglomerations of groups were rather fluid, it was vital to know how to deal with a newly-emergent power. The symbolical hierarchy of prestige expressed through names provided some orientation for friend and foe alike. Such views are mirrored by Csanád Bálint  [ hu ] . "The ethnogenesis of early medieval peoples of steppe origin cannot be conceived in

1000-573: A triumph letter from Turxanthos: For this very Chagan had in fact outfought the leader of the nation of the Abdali (I mean indeed, of the Hephthalites , as they are called), conquered him, and assumed the rule of the nation. Then he […] enslaved the Avar nation. But let no one think that we are distorting the history of these times because he supposes that the Avars are those barbarians neighbouring on Europe and Pannonia , and that their arrival

1100-522: Is more correct to refer to them thus) are divided in their ancestry, some bearing the time-honoured name of Var while others are called Chunni. 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

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1200-622: Is unknown but stated that it is likely that the Avars were originally mainly composed of Turkic (Oghuric) tribes. Increasing evidence supports a relationship between the elite of the Pannonian Avars and the Inner Asian Rouran Khaganate ; however it remains unclear to what extent the European Avars descent from the Rouran population. It is argued that the initial elite core of the Pannonian Avars spoke

1300-561: The American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2018 examined 62 individuals buried in the 8th and 9th centuries at an Avar-Slavic burial in Cífer‐Pác, Slovakia . Of the 46 samples of mtDNA extracted, 93% belonged to west Eurasian lineages, while 6% 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

1400-573: The Miracles of Saint Demetrius , a certain Avar Chagan seized his opportunity to coalesce in the regions further north in response to the secession of the Diocese of Sirmium in the 670s by a " Kuber " Chagan. About this time, Mark of Kalt records that in 677, the principality of Ungvar (Ung fortress) was established in the regions further north where Kotrag 's group also fled following

1500-905: The Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) paternal and maternal origin for the Avar elite, with N1a-F4205 being their predominant and characteristic paternal lineage, alongside incorporated Q1a2a1 and R1a-Z94 Hunnic-Iranian remnants, and the rest belonging to local haplogroups found among surrounding populations. Autosomally, the Elite Avar samples " preserved very ancient Mongolian pre-Bronze Age genomes, with ca 90% [Ancient North-East Asian] ancestry ", shared deep ancestry with European Huns, but although since Early Avar period started mixing with local and immigrant Hunnic-Iranian related populations, " people with different genetic ancestries were seemingly distinguished, as samples with Hun-related genomes were buried in separate cemeteries ". The majority of

1600-735: The Apar ( Old Turkic : 𐰯𐰺 ) to the Göktürks . 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. The name Pannonian Avars (after the area in which they settled) is used to distinguish them from the Avars of the Caucasus , a separate people with whom the Pannonian Avars may or may not have had links. Although

1700-460: The Bavarians until the end of the 12th century. Contemporary Latin sources referred to the region as Pannonia inferior (Lower Pannonia), and its inhabitants in general terms of Slavs and Pannonians. Nevertheless a whole century under the foreign Frankish rule there did not emerge a single gens with a specific identity for the population. In the 19th and 20th century Croatian historiography ,

1800-580: 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 (r. 527–565). 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. The Turks appeared angry at

1900-552: The First Bulgarian Empire , stabilized by the victory at the battle of Ongal south of the eastern Carpathians. The Bulgarians turned on Byzantium who had established an alliance with Ziebel's Khazars. Although the Avar empire had diminished to half its original size, the Avar-Slav alliance consolidated their rule west from the central parts of the mid-Danubian basin and extended their sphere of influence west to

2000-731: The First Bulgarian Empire . After that, in 838 a local Slavic prince Ratimir emerged as the new ruler in Lower Pannonian regions, around rivers Drava and Sava. He probably ruled the eastern areas of Pannonia and was a Bulgar's governor. To him fled Pribina , former prince of the Principality of Nitra expelled by Mojmir I of Moravia . In the same year Frankish count Radbod of the East March deposed Ratimir and strengthened Frankish rule in Lower Pannonia. Ratimir fled

2100-704: The March of Pannonia , and some of them are known from Frankish primary sources. Prince Ljudevit was mentioned in the Royal Frankish Annals as Duke of Lower Pannonia ( Latin : Liudewiti, ducis Pannoniae inferioris ), having led an uprising against the Franks (811–822). Their motives aren't known but it's presumed to have been led by the desire for greater autonomy. He was joined by the Carantanians , Carniolans , reportedly Slavs around Salzburg and

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2200-613: 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 . Each year, the Huns [Avars] came to the Slavs, to spend the winter with them; then they took the wives and daughters of the Slavs and slept with them, and among

2300-581: The Vienna Basin . The new ethnic element marked by hair clips for pigtails; curved, single-edged sabres; and broad, symmetrical bows marks the middle Avar-Bulgar period (670–720). New regional centers, such as those near Ozora and Igar appeared. This strengthened the Avars' power base, although most of the Balkans lay in the hands of Slavic tribes since neither the Avars nor Byzantines were able to reassert control. There are very few sources that cover

2400-700: The West Slavs from the South Slavs which influenced the formation of new Slavic identities. Part of Moravian Slavs also fled to the Duchy of Croatia. It seems that the new border between Croatia and Hungary was north of the town of Sisak based on a recent archaeological finding of a " knez from Bojna" near Glina and that the diocese with the seat in Sisak was offered at the council of Split (928) to bishop Gregory of Nin , which could have only been possible if it

2500-557: The Western Turkic Khaganate , and they fled west of the Dnieper . 2. These groups usually were of mixed origin, and each of its components was part of a previous group. 3. Crucial in the process was the elevation of a khagan, which signified a claim to independent power and an expansionist strategy. This group also needed a new name that would give all of its initial followers a sense of identity. 4. The name for

2600-730: The "Tungid type" (common among Tungusic speaking peoples). A genetic study published in Scientific Reports in September 2016 examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 31 people buried in the Carpathian Basin between the 7th and 9th centuries. They were found to be mostly carrying European haplogroups such as H , K , T and U , while about 15% carried Asian haplogroups such as C , M6 , D4c1 and F1a . Their mtDNA were found to be primarily characteristic of Eastern and Southern Europe. A genetic study published in

2700-549: The 10th century. There has remained a general uncertainty and dispute over the borders between the Croatian and Hungarian states in the 10th and 11th century, with Croatian historian Ferdo Šišić and his followers assuming Tomislav of Croatia had ruled most of the area inhabited by Croats, including southern Pannonian regions ( Slavonia ), while the Hungarian historians Gyula Kristó , Bálint Hóman and János Karácsonyi thought

2800-481: The Avar Khaganate general population consisted of local European peoples (EU_core) but did not display Northeast Asian admixture, supporting a model of elite dominance of arriving horse nomads over a large sedentary population, with at least some subsequent admixture events. Genetic data on later Avar elite samples showed continuity with earlier Avars and the long-term presence of Northeast Asian ancestry among

2900-857: The Avar elite were largely patrilineal and endogamous for a period of around one century, and entered the Pannonian Basin through migrations from East Asia involving both men and women. Another 2020 study, but of Xiongnu remains in East Asia, found that the Xiongnu shared certain paternal (N1a, Q1a, R1a-Z94 and R1a-Z2124) and maternal haplotypes with the Huns and Avars, and suggested on this basis that they were descended from Xiongnu, who they in turn suggested were descended from Scytho-Siberians . A genetic study published in scientific journal Cell in April 2022 analyzed 48 Pannonian Avar samples from

3000-484: The Avar elite, suggesting a possible endogamous social system. There was however an increase of Northeast Asian and Saka associated ancestry among the total population, suggesting either further migration from the Eurasian Steppe and admixture between local and Avar groups, or substructure among the overall population not observed before. In 557, the Avars sent an embassy to Constantinople , presumably from

3100-510: The Avar ethnonym comes from Priscus the Rhetor (420s–after 472), who recounts that in c. 463 the Šaragurs and Onogurs 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" ( Priscus Fr 40 ). Whilst Priscus' accounts provide some information about the ethno-political situation in

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3200-504: The Avar graves from the 8th century. According to Lipták, 79% of the population of the Danube-Tisza region during the Avar period showed Europoid characteristics. However, Lipták used racial terms later deprecated or regarded as obsolete, such as " Mongoloid " for northeast Asian and " Turanid " for individuals of mixed ancestry. Several theories suggest that the ruling class of the Avars were of Northern East Asian origin resembling

3300-751: The Avarian rule. During the Frankish war against Avars, the Royal Frankish Annals made mention of a Wonomyrus Sclavus (Vojnomir the Slav or Zvonomir the Slav) active in 795. Eric, Duke of Friuli , sent Vojnomir with his army into Pannonia, between the Danube and Tisza , where they pillaged the Avars' dominions. The next year the Avars were defeated and Frankish power was extended further east, to

3400-527: 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 (2002) suggests that the Avars were of heterogeneous origin, including mostly Turkic (Oghuric) and Mongolic groups. Later in Europe some Germanic and Slavic groups were assimilated into the Avars. Heršak and Silić concluded that their exact origin

3500-598: 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,

3600-634: The Avars during a time of strained political relations between the Byzantines and Avars (coinciding with Emperor Maurice's northern Balkan campaigns). Paul the Deacon in his History of the Lombards insisted that Avars were known previously as Huns and he conflated the two groups. According to some scholars, the Pannonian Avars originated from a confederation formed in the Aral Sea region, by

3700-419: 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 and took 270,000 captives. Payments in gold and goods to the Avars reached a sum of 200,000 solidi shortly before 626. In 626, the Avars cooperated with

3800-618: The Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube 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 Basin and to the natural defenses it afforded. The Carpathian Basin was occupied by the Gepids . In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the Lombards —enemies of

3900-537: The Avars proceeded to capture Singidunum (Belgrade) 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

4000-510: The Avars, who declined to humbler fortune because of their defeat, came to those who are called Moukri ( Goguryeo ); this nation is the closest neighbour to the men of Taugast; Then the Chagan embarked on yet another enterprise, and subdued all the Ogur, which is one of the strongest tribes on account of its large population and its armed training for war. These make their habitations in the east, by

4100-555: 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

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4200-411: The Byzantine terrestrial link with northern Italy and western Europe. In the 580s and 590s, many of the imperial armies were busy fighting the Persians, and the remaining troops in the Balkans were no match for the Avars. 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 ,

4300-436: 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" ( Menander Fr 43 ). Many more, but somewhat confusing, details come from Theophylact Simocatta , who in c. 629, describes the final two decades of the 6th century. In particular, he claims to quote

4400-405: 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 , and after 615

4500-415: 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,

4600-418: The Caucasus, the Southern Russian steppes and the local Central European cultures can be traced alongside each other". Subsequent analyses from 2022 on Avar remains however confirmed their Ancient Northeast Asian origin, and support a possible ethnogenesis of the Avar Elite from the former Rouran Khaganate . In the Stuttgart Psalter there is an image of mounted archers riding backwards on their horses,

4700-434: The Danube river. During the time of Kocel, Byzantine missionary Methodius was active in Lower Pannonia, and to the same period is dated Pope John VIII 's letter to uncertain dux Mutimir, commonly considered to be Mutimir of Serbia , about the formation of the Diocese of Pannonia with the seat in Sirmium and which archbishop at Kocel's request was Methodius (see also Archbishopric of Moravia ). The course of events by

4800-445: The Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West " concluded that the initial Pannonian Avars formed in Central Asia from various ethno-linguistic groups, including Iranian peoples , Ugrians , Oghur-Turks , and Rouran tribes. They further note that "the broadly East Asian component in the archaeological record of the European Avars is limited even in the earlier period of their history; elements originating from West Asia,

4900-410: The Frankish Empire, or according to others, a frontier county ( Latin : comitatus ) of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom . It was initially led by a dux (Pribina) and later by a comes (Kocel) who was titled as " Count of the Slavs " ( Latin : Comes de Sclauis ). Their authority stretched towards the northwest up to the Rába river and Ptuj , and to the southeast up to the Baranya region and

5000-428: The Frankish frontier against a new threat - the Hungarians who conquered Great Moravia . However, the Hungarians subsequently overran all of Pannonian Basin and continued into Kingdom of Italy . Following the rise of the Principality of Hungary in the mid 890s, and especially after Battle of Pressburg (907), no further Slavic rulers were recorded in the regions of Lower Pannonia. The Hungarian conquest separated

5100-442: The Gepids—and 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

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5200-407: 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

5300-470: The Pannonian Avars were of primarily Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry similar to those of modern-day people from Mongolia and the Amur River region in Manchuria , pointing to an initial rapid migration of nomadic tribes into the centre of Europe from the Eastern Eurasian Steppe. The Pannonian Avars' core may have been descended from the remnants of the Rouran Khaganate , which were accompanied by other Steppe groups. The earliest clear reference to

5400-510: The Pannonian and near Alpine Slavs material culture had features of both Korchak and Penkovka-type, predominates Korchak-type with parallels in northern Slovenia, Austria and Hungary (among others from western Slovakia and Czechia's region of Moravia up to Ukraine, Poland, eastern Germany and Romania), indicating mostly migration to northern Croatia through the Moravian Gate between eastern Austria and western Hungary, but not excluding another migration wave from Lower and Middle Danube, upstream of

5500-449: The Roman Empire. Notably, several Roman emperors were born in or near this city, highlighting its significance in the empire's history. In 314 AD, a pivotal battle took place between two rival claimants to the imperial throne, Constantine the Great and Licinius , in the province of Pannonia Secunda, near the town of Cibalae. Despite being outnumbered, with an army of 20,000 men against Licinius' 35,000, Constantine emerged victorious after

5600-434: 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 rejected the identification of the Avars with the Rouran on this basis. 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

5700-543: The Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia after many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine emperor. By about 580, the Avar Khagan Bayan I had established supremacy over most of the Slavic , Germanic and Bulgar 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 I commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked Dalmatia in 568, effectively cutting

5800-413: The Slavs. Since "Pannonian Croatia" politically and ethnically never existed, being a historiographical and not historical term, it is abandoned in modern Croatian historiography which uses instead the term "Donja Panonija" (Lower Pannonia). The continuity of Slavic rulers in Lower Pannonia is unclear, and they were not consistently part of a ruling dynasty, unlike those in the north ( House of Mojmir ) and

5900-400: The Turks, farther east. A political name * (A)Par 𐰯𐰻 was indeed mentioned in inscriptions honoring Kul Tigin and Bilge Qaghan , yet in Armenian sources ( Egishe Vardapet , Ghazar Parpetsi , and Sebeos ) Apar seemingly indicated "a geographical area ( Khorasan ), which might also intimate a political formation once there"; additionally, "'Apar-shar', that is, the country of the Apar "

6000-496: The Uar (also known as the Ouar , Warr or Var ) and the Xionites . The Xionites had likely been speakers of Iranian and/or Turkic languages. The Hephthalites, affiliated previously to the Uar and Xionites, had remained in Central and northern South Asia . The Pannonian Avars were also known by names including Uarkhon or Varchonites  – which may have been a portmanteau combining Var and Chunni . The 18th-century historian Joseph de Guignes postulates

6100-441: The Wends. At about the time of Samo's realm, Bulgar leader Kubrat of the Dulo clan led a successful uprising to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing Old Great Bulgaria , or Patria Onoguria, "the homeland of Onogurs". The civil war, possibly a succession struggle in Onoguria between the Kutrigurs under Alciocus on one side and Utigur forces on the other, raged from 631 to 632. After Alciocus fled to Bavaria,

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6200-435: The appellation of Chagan. Let us declare, without departing in the least from the truth, how the means of changing their name came to them. […] When the Barsils , Onogurs , Sabirs , and other Hun nations in addition to these, saw that a section of those who were still Var and Chunni had fled to their regions, they plunged into extreme panic, since they suspected that the settlers were Avars. For this reason they honoured

6300-421: The area between Drava and Sava rivers belonged neither to Croatia nor to Hungary at the time, an opinion that Nada Klaić said she would not preclude, because the generic name "Slavonia" (lit. the land of the Slavs) may have implied so. However it was probably more connected and under influence of Croatia. With the continued growth of population, the formation of the church and administrative organization, including

6400-402: The central Danube. In the mid-9th century, Lower Pannonia was already inhabited by a Slavic majority (besides "Pannonian Slavs" including Dulebes and possibly some Croats ), and Christian Avars were also found in Lower Pannonia in 873. After the destruction of the Avarian state, Pannonian Slavs came under the Frankish rule. Initially, local Slavic princes were under Frankish suzerainty, within

6500-422: The chaos, and a third group of Onogur-Bulgarians led by Batayan was subdued by Ziebel 's emerging Khazar Empire according to Nikephoros I of Constantinople . Under Mauros , a fourth group of folk eventually settled in the present-day region of North Macedonia . The fifth group from Onogur, Bulgaria , led by Khan Asparukh —the father of Khan Tervel —settled permanently along the Danube (c. 679–681), establishing

6600-466: The course of the Til, which Turks are accustomed to call Melas. The earliest leaders of this nation were named Var and Chunni ; from them some parts of those nations were also accorded their nomenclature, being called Var and Chunni. Then, while the emperor Justinian was in possession of the royal power, a small section of these Var and Chunni fled from that ancestral tribe and settled in Europe. These named themselves Avars and glorified their leader with

6700-421: The death of Samo in 658 and Kubrat in 665, some Slavic tribes again came under Avar rule. Despite their father's advice, Kubrat's sons failed to maintain cohesion in Old Great Bulgaria which began to disintegrate. A few years later in the time of Batbayan , Old Great Bulgaria dissolved into five branches. From western Onoguria the first group of folk moved to Ravenna under Alzeco in the 650s. According to Book II of

6800-418: The early, middle and late period, and found nearly all of them to have a high level of Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) ancestry. The paternal lineage N1a1a1a1a3a-F4205 was most common (today highest percent of haplogroup N-F4205 was found in Dukha people of Mongolia with 52.2% ), with Q1a, Q1b, R1a, R1b and E1b subclades present in smaller numbers. The samples had a strong affinity with modern peoples inhabiting

6900-413: 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

7000-458: The end of the 9th century is unclear. Although still under the Frankish influence, a new threat was coming from Svatopluk I of Moravia . Braslav was the last dux of Lower Pannonia between at least 884 and 896. His territory initially spanned between the Drava and Sava, which he held under the overlordship of Arnulf of Carinthia . He participated in the Frankish–Moravian War , and in 895 or 896 Arnulf handed over Pannonia to him in order to secure

7100-416: The establishment of this province, its territory was part of the province of Pannonia Inferior . In 296 AD, Pannonia Inferior was divided into two separate provinces: Pannonia Secunda in the south and Pannonia Valeria in the north. The River Drava served as the border between the two newly created provinces. The capital of Pannonia Secunda, Sirmium , held a prestigious status as one of the four capitals of

7200-537: The focus was usually placed on the polity between the rivers Drava and Sava . They referred to the polity as Pannonian Croatia ( Croatian : Panonska Hrvatska ), to describe this entity in a manner that emphasized its Croatian nature, mainly based on De Administrando Imperio (DAI) chapter 30. While DAI claims that a part of the Dalmatian Croats had moved into Pannonia in the 7th century and ruled over it, some modern analysis of sources indicate this

7300-499: The founding of the diocese of Zagreb (1094), even after Croatia entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary it retained partial autonomy having governor titled as Ban of Slavonia . The population's inhumation practices and rituals differed and mixed upon various cultural and ethnic influences. Even after the Frankish defeat of Avars and the process of Christianization some pagan practices and rituals did not change, like

7400-569: The fugitives with splendid gifts and supposed that they received from them security in exchange. Then, after the Var and Chunni saw the well-omened beginning to their flight, they appropriated the ambassadors' error and named themselves Avars: for among the Scythian nations that of the Avars is said to be the most adept tribe. In point of fact even up to our present times the Pseudo-Avars (for it

7500-569: The immigrants may have been either Onogurs or Alans . Anthropological studies of the skeletons point at the presence of a population with mongoloid features. Pannonia Secunda Pannonia Secunda was one of the provinces of the Roman Empire . It was formed in 296 AD, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian . The capital of the province was Sirmium (today Sremska Mitrovica ). Pannonia Secunda comprised parts of present-day Serbia , Croatia , and Bosnia and Herzegovina . Prior to

7600-524: The land, and the Franks instated Slavic prince Pribina as the new ruler of Lower Pannonia. Pribina (d. 861) was succeeded by his son, prince Kocel . During the rule of Pribina and Kocel, capital of the Principality of Lower Pannonia was Mosapurc ( Mosapurc regia civitate ), also known in Old-Slavonic as Blatnograd (modern Zalavár near Lake Balaton ). The polity was a vassal principality of

7700-408: The lands between the river Drava and Sava as well as north of them and east of them in the former Roman province Pannonia Secunda (today's Syrmia ). Possibly his rule expanded further to the east because in the historical sources is said to have been joined by the tribe of Timočani who lived around Timok Valley (in today's eastern Serbia). The size of the principality had to be proportional to

7800-484: The last century of Avar history. They only talk about the relations between the Avars and Lombards but little about the internals of the khaganate, so information about the Carpathian Basin is mostly from archaeology. Even here, elites are almost invisible, and there is little evidence of nomadic behavior. This transformation is little understood, but may have something to do with population growth. A new type of ceramics—the so-called " Devínska Nová Ves " pottery—emerged at

7900-601: 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 26 individuals buried at various elite Avar cemeteries in the Pannonian Basin dated to the 7th century. 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 suggests that

8000-540: The middle and late Avar period. The eleven early Avar males were found to be carrying the paternal haplogroups N1a1a1a1a3 (four samples), N1a1a (two samples), R1a1a1b2a (two samples), C2 , G2a , and I1 . The three males dated to the middle and late Avar period carried the paternal haplogroups C2, N1a1a1a1a3 and E1b1b1a1b1a . In short, most carried "East Eurasian Y haplogroups typical for modern north-eastern Siberian and Buryat populations". The Avars studied were all determined to have had dark eyes and dark hair, and

8100-549: 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. They are probably best known for their invasions and destruction in the Avar–Byzantine wars from 568 to 626 and influence on the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe . Recent archaeogenetic studies indicate that

8200-664: 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 tribes— Kutrigurs and Sabirs —and defeated the Antes . Pohl 1998 , p. 18: [...] the first thing the Avars did when they came near the Caucasus on their flight from Central Asia

8300-470: The other mistreatments [already mentioned] the Slavs were also forced to pay levies to the Huns. But the sons of the Huns, who were [then] raised with the wives and daughters of these Wends could not finally endure this oppression anymore and refused obedience to the Huns and began, as already mentioned, a rebellion. When now the Wendish army went against the Huns, the [aforementioned] merchant Samo accompanied

8400-634: The power of the Avars' Kutrigur forces was shattered, and Kubrat established peace between the Avars and Byzantium in 632. According to Constantine VII 's 10th century work De Administrando Imperio , a group of Croats who had separated from the White Croats in White Croatia had also fought against the Avars, after which they organized the Duchy of Croatia . The Unknown Archon 's people from Samo's realm were also resettled at this time. With

8500-576: The region from Mongolia to the Amur , with a historical Rouran Khaganate sample, and with samples from Xiongnu-Xianbei periods in the eastern Asian steppe. The Avar individuals showed their highest genetic affinity with present-day Mongolic and Tungusic peoples, as well as Nivkhs . A genetic study published in scientific journal Current Biology in May 2022 examined 143 Avar samples from various periods, including Avar elites and local commoners. It confirmed

8600-566: The reign of Byzantine Emperor Justin II (565–578), and following the Lombard-Gepid War in 567, Pannonia was invaded by Avars who subsequently conquered almost entire Pannonian Plain (568). Although it is possible that some small Proto-Slavic groups could have arrived in the "middle of the 5th century and the time of Hunnish domination", during the 6th and 7th centuries, Pannonian regions were certainly inhabited by Slavs , who were under

8700-511: The resources needed to rebel against the military forces of Borna of Dalmatia and Franks. After Ljudevit's failed uprising and death, in 827 the Bulgars under Great Khan Omurtag invaded and conquered Lower Pannonia and parts of Frankish territories to the north. They also installed their own governors. The Bulgarian-Frankish conflict was probably spurred over the control of the tribes of Timočani and Abodrites . German King Louis in 828 made

8800-563: The river Sava and Drava. Later they also assimilated Hungarians, but eventually through the administrative system were linguistically assimilated by the Hungarians themselves. In the 10th century, a so-called Bijelo Brdo culture was formed due to interaction with the Hungarians, located in the area of Podunavlje. According to the craniometrical measurements and archaeological findings early Croats probably did not initially settle in Lower Pannonia and their relationship with Pannonian Slavs

8900-684: The same. And so Samo's bravery proved itself in wonderful ways and a huge mass of Huns fell to the sword of the Wends. In the 630s, Samo , the ruler of the first 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 records that during Samo's rebellion in 631, 9,000 Bulgars led by Alciocus left Pannonia to modern-day Bavaria where Dagobert I massacred most of them. The remaining 700 joined

9000-565: The south ( House of Trpimir ). Pannonian Avars The Pannonian Avars ( / ˈ æ v ɑːr z / AV -arz ) were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai ( Greek : Βαρχονῖται , romanized :  Varchonitai ), or Pseudo-Avars in Byzantine sources, and

9100-602: Was also contested by the Bulgarian Empire and Great Moravia . By the 10th century, the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin effectively split the Slavic communities in the region in two, leading to the formation of the West Slavs and the South Slavs . Roman rule in Pannonian regions collapsed during the 5th century, and was replaced by subsequent domination of Huns , Goths and Langobards . During

9200-483: Was governed by local Slavic rulers, who were under the suzerainty of Frankish kings. Within the Frankish administrative system, the March of Pannonia was created, with direct Frankish rule exercised in Upper Pannonia through Frankish counts, while Lower Pannonia was governed as a principality by local Slavic princes, under the supreme Frankish rule. During the 9th century, Frankish domination in Lower Pannonia

9300-589: Was more political rather than ethnic. Others argue that the "Bijelo Brdo and Vukovar cemeteries can hardly be regarded evidence of a pre-Croatian Slavic population in northern Croatia" and they rather "represent a population fleeing the Magyars" during the 10th century". Those Slavs who migrated to the territory of present-day Lower and Upper Austria , first already during the time of Langobards as carriers of Prague-Korchak culture while majority from 7th and 8th century belonged to Avaro-Slavic culture, were assimilated by

9400-580: Was named after possibly Hephthalites , who were known as 滑 MC * ɦˠuɛt̚ > Ch. Huá in Chinese sources. Even so, * Apar could not be linked to the European Avars, notwithstanding any link, if there were, between the Hephthalites and Rourans . 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

9500-575: Was not used in contemporary sources, until the late 9th century, rendering the name anachronistic before then, but many toponyms deriving from the Croatian ethnonym are very old and at least from the period between 11th and 12th century. While the term "Croat" was not used in sources about Pannonia, the rulers of the Trpimirović dynasty after Trpimir called themselves the rulers of the Croats and of

9600-520: Was prior to the times of the emperor Maurice . For it is by a misnomer that the barbarians on the Ister have assumed the appellation of Avars; the origin of their race will shortly be revealed. So, when the Avars had been defeated (for we are returning to the account) some of them made their escape to those who inhabit Taugast . Taugast is a famous city, which is a total of one thousand five hundred miles distant from those who are called Turks, ... Others of

9700-456: Was supported by Fortunatus II  [ de ] ( Patriarch of Grado ) - which was a substantial threat as their strength partly mirrored the former Avar Khaganate. His stronghold was in Sisak ( Latin : Siscia ), former metropolis of ancient Roman province Pannonia Savia . However, the exact boundaries of his principality are uncertain as the term of Lower Pannonian could have implied both

9800-507: Was to send an embassy to the aging emperor Justinian. That took place sometime in winter 558/59, and they struck the usual deal: the Avars were to fight for the Empire against unruly gentes and in turn would receive annual payments and other benefits. Indeed, for 20 years to come the Avars, under their Khagan Baian, fought Utigurs and Antes, Gepids and Slavs, whereas their policy towards the Empire relied more on negotiation than on war." By 562

9900-474: Was unlikely. Nevertheless, according to Croatian historian Hrvoje Gračanin, the traditions and language of the Slavs of southern Pannonia did not differ from those in Dalmatia , so during the periods when Frankish sources did not record a specific ruler of Lower Pannonia, it is possible that the Croatian dukes of Dalmatia, who were also Frankish vassals at the time, extended control over the region. The Croat name

10000-497: Was within the borders of the Kingdom of Croatia . In the mid 920s, Tomislav of Croatia expanded his rule to some Lower Pannonian territories, between Sava and Drava, adding them to the Croatian kingdom. Until the end of the 11th century its western border was also contested by the Holy Roman Empire , and in the same time, southeastern Pannonian regions ( Syrmia ) were contested between Hungarians and Bulgarians throughout

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