Overview
Kubrat, of the Dulo clan, united the Onogur Bulgars on the steppe between the Don, the Kuban and the Sea of Azov in the 630s, in a state Byzantine writers called Old Great Bulgaria. The sources call him king, lord or ruler of the Onogundurs; khan is the title modern historians give him. The Nominalia of the Bulgarian Khans lists him as Kurt, with a reign of sixty years.
Rise to Power
He was brought up at the imperial court in Constantinople and baptised there. John of Nikiu calls him a nephew of Organa, and the Nominalia places him after Gostun of the Ermi clan.
Rule and Achievements
- Rose against the Avars, according to the patriarch Nikephoros, and made an alliance with Emperor Heraclius, who gave him the rank of patrikios
- Ruled the Bulgar tribes between the Don and the Kuban, with Phanagoria on the Taman peninsula as an early centre
- Two gold rings in the Pereshchepina treasure, found near Poltava in 1912, bear his name in Greek, one with the title patrikios
Legacy
He died during the reign of Constans II (641–668), probably between 650 and 665. Nikephoros says he told his five sons not to separate; after his death they did, and the Khazars broke up his state. His son Asparuh led one group to the Danube and founded the Bulgarian state there around 681.