Overview
Pagan ruled Bulgaria for about a year, from 767 to 768, at the end of a decade in which khan after khan was killed, deposed or driven into exile. He tried to end the cycle with diplomacy, travelling in person to meet the Byzantine emperor Constantine V and agreeing a peace. The emperor used the peace as cover for a surprise invasion, and Pagan's own people turned on him for having trusted it.
Rise to Power
Pagan came to the throne after his predecessor Toktu was caught and killed near the Danube in 767 during a rebellion. He inherited a khanate exhausted by years of Byzantine campaigns and by factional struggles among the boyars over whether to fight Byzantium or make peace with it.
Rule and Achievements
- Travelled with his court to Thrace to negotiate directly with Constantine V, who criticised Bulgaria's "anarchy" and objected to the removal of the former khan Sabin, then living in exile at the Byzantine court
- Secured a peace agreement and returned home
- Was caught off guard when Constantine V broke the peace, crossed the Balkan mountains and burned settlements near the capital, Pliska
- Was blamed by his subjects for trusting the emperor and failing to resist; fleeing toward Varna, he was murdered by his own servants in 768
Legacy
Pagan's reign is a hard lesson in negotiating from weakness. He was right that Bulgaria needed peace, but he negotiated without the strength to enforce it, and his counterpart treated the agreement as an opportunity rather than a commitment. His successor, Telerig, would take a different approach to Byzantium: deception and patience rather than trust.