e akin to the Tatars, Huns,
Avars, Petchenegs and Finns, made their appearance on the banks of the
Pruth in the latter part of the 7th century. They were a horde of wild
horsemen, fierce and barbarous, practising polygamy, and governed
despotically by their _khans_ (chiefs) and _boyars_ or _bolyars_ (nobles).
Their original abode was the tract between the Ural mountains and the
Volga, where the kingdom of Great (or Black) Bolgary existed down to the
13th century. In 679, under their khan Asparukh (or Isperikh), they crossed
the Danube, and, after subjugating the Slavonic population of Moesia,
advanced to the gates of Constantinople and Salonica. The East Roman
emperors were compelled to cede to them the province of Moesia and to pay
them an annual tribute. The invading horde was not numerous, and during the
next two centuries it became gradually merged in the Slavonic population.
Like the Franks in Gaul the Bulgars gave their name and a political
organization to the more civilized race which they conquered, but adopted
its language, customs and local institutions. Not a trace of the Ugrian or
Finnish element is to be found in the Bulgarian speech. This complete
assimilation of a conquering race may be illustrated by many parallels.

_Early Dynasties._--The history of the early Bulgarian dynasties is little
else than a record of continuous conflicts with the Byzantine emperors. The
tribute first imposed on the Greeks by Asparukh was again exacted by Kardam
(791-797) and Krum (802-815), a sovereign noted alike for his cruelty and
his military and political capacity. Under his rule the Bulgarian realm
extended from the Carpathians to the neighbourhood of Adrianople; Serdica
(the present Sofia) was taken, and the valley of the Struma conquered.
Preslav, the Bulgarian capital, was attacked and burned by the emperor
Nicephorus, but the Greek army on its return was annihilated in one of the
Balkan passes; the emperor was slain, and his skull was converted by Krum
into a goblet. The reign of Boris (852-884) is memorable [v.04 p.0780] for
the introduction of Christianity into Bulgaria. Two monks of Salonica, SS.
Cyril and Methodius, are generally reverenced as the national apostles; the
scene of their labours, however, was among the Slavs of Moravia, and the
Bulgars were evangelized by their disciples. Boris, finding himself
surrounded by Christian states, decided from political motives to abandon
paganism. He was baptized in 864,