Volga Bulgaria

Who rules

Name

not pinned (modern popular histories name Ghabdulla Chelbir, emir about 1178 to about 1223)

Title

Emir (amir) of the Bulgars; Arabic writers call the ruler king (malik), the Rus' chronicles speak of Bulgar princes

Since

not pinned

Born

not pinned

Family

not pinned

Confidence

low

No contemporary source names the emir of 1200: the Rus' chronicles give no Bulgar ruler's name for these years and no Bulgar coins of the period are known. The list in en.wikipedia (Otyak 1164-1178, Ghabdulla Chelbir 1178?-c. 1223, Ilham c. 1223-1236) rests on modern Tatar popular histories (Miftakhov, Bukharaev, Shpakovsky and Nicolle); these names appear to go back to the 'Jagfar Tarikhy', a compilation published in the 1990s that most historians do not accept as genuine.

Treat the name as unproven.

Overlord

None. The emir takes tribute from the forest peoples of the middle Volga and the Kama.

What the realm holds

• Bilyar, the Great City (Bilyar)
• Bulgar on the Volga (Bulgar)
• Suvar (Suvar)
• Juketau on the Kama (Juketau)
• Kashan on the Kama (Kashan)
• Oshel on the Volga (Oshel)
• Kazan, a border fort (Kazan)
• tribute from the Mari (Mari), the Udmurts (Udmurts) and the Burtas (Burtas), and from part of the Mordvins and the Bashkirs (thin)

How it was acquired

The Bulgars settled on the middle Volga by the 8th-9th centuries, threw off the Khazars in the 10th, and accepted Islam in 922 (en.wikipedia Volga Bulgaria).

Allies and rivals

Vladimir-Suzdal: the main enemy since the 1160s, also a trading partner (Bulgar grain fed Suzdal in famines). Ryazan and Murom: river pirates and campaign followers of Vladimir. The Cumans: neighbours on the steppe to the south, at times allies (the chronicle account of 1183 is usually read as having Cuman allies with the Bulgars: not re-checked in this run). Khwarazm and the Muslim south: trade and religion. The forest peoples: tributaries.

The realm that morning

The emir (name not pinned) rules from Bilyar and Bulgar; subordinate princes or governors hold the lesser towns. There is no war with Vladimir: the last campaigns were 1183 and 1186 and no raiding is recorded since, so no raiding belt is drawn on the Bulgar frontier of the Volga and the Oka. Across the borders: Vladimir-Suzdal holds Gorodets on the Volga and the land up the Volga; the Mordvins hold the forests between the Oka and the Sura; the Cumans hold the steppe south of the Samara bend and the lower Volga; the Bashkirs, outside this sheet, hold the Belaya and the southern Urals; Novgorod's tribute land of Perm lies up the Kama beyond the Udmurts.

Wealth

Middleman of the northern fur trade: Abu Hamid al-Gharnati, who lived among the Bulgars from 1131 to 1150 (en.wikipedia), describes in his Tuhfat al-albab Bulgar merchants trading with the Visu (the Ves) and the Yura (the Yugra) of the far north for furs, against swords and other goods, by silent barter. Slaves, wax, honey, leather and walrus ivory go south; silver, silks, glass and Central Asian goods come north. Fertile grain land on both banks of the Volga.

Tribute from the forest peoples. No coins of these years are known; foreign coin and silver by weight serve.

Military

Walled towns with earth ramparts, ditches and timber walls (Bilyar's ruins nearly 8 square km); a horseman host and the towns' footmen; Cuman allies at times. Record: held the Great City against Vsevolod III in 1183; no numbers are known.

Threats

• Vladimir-Suzdal (Vsevolod III and his sons)
• river pirates from Ryazan and Murom on the Oka and the Volga
• unrest among the tributary peoples

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200 (no event recorded)No Bulgar event is recorded for 1200 in the sources searched. Peace with Vladimir is likely to hold.Depends on: Vsevolod III staying busy with Ryazan, Novgorod and the south Stopped by: a Rus' raid on Bulgar boats or towns, or Bulgar raids up the Volga

Later, on the likely course

1. 1218-1220 (after this year)The Bulgars take Ustyug and attack the Unzha; in 1220 Vsevolod's son Sviatoslav takes and burns Oshel and peace is made through Vasilko of Rostov.
2. 1223, 1229, 1232, 1236 (after this year)The Mongols strike: a Mongol force is said to be beaten near the Samara bend in 1223 (disputed); in late autumn 1236 Batu's army destroys Bilyar and Bulgar.

Places of note

• Bilyar: the Great City
• Bulgar: Volga port and holy city
• Juketau: fur-trade town on the Kama

Where the sources disagree

• The emir's name: the names in modern lists for 1178-1223 (Ghabdulla Chelbir) are not found in any contemporary source; see holder.research.
• Capital: en.wikipedia says Bilyar alternated as capital with Bulgar and Suvar in the 12th-13th centuries; which town the emir sat in on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. Bilyar, the Great City of the Rus' chronicles, is the usual answer.

Evidence: No records of Volga Bulgaria itself survive; its history in these years is read from the Rus' chronicles (which report only wars), Arabic and Persian travellers (Ibn Fadlan in 922, al-Gharnati in the 12th century, Yaqut in the 1220s) and archaeology.

On the map: Drawn from the spread of Bulgar towns and settlements; the edges against the steppe, the Bashkirs and the forest peoples were open zones. The tributary peoples are drawn as their own provinces.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Laurentian Chronicle (the Suzdal continuation kept in the late 12th and 13th centuries; manuscript 1377). The court record of Vsevolod III of Vladimir. Read online