Kanasubigi in the context of "Omurtag"

⭐ In the context of Omurtag’s reign, the title *Kanasubigi* is considered…

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⭐ Core Definition: Kanasubigi

Kanasubigi (Greek: ΚΑΝΑΣΥΒΙΓΙ), possibly read as Kanas Ubigi or Kanas U Bigi, was a title of the early Bulgar rulers of the First Bulgarian Empire. Omurtag (814–831) and his son Malamir (831–836) are mentioned in inscriptions as Kanasubigi.

The title khan for early Bulgarian rulers is an assumed one, as only the form kanasubigi or "kanasybigi" is attested in stone inscriptions. Historians presume that it includes the title khan in its archaic form kana, and there is a presumptive evidence suggesting that the latter title was indeed used in Bulgaria, e.g. the name of one of the Bulgars' ruler Pagan occurs in Patriarch Nicephorus's so-called breviarium as Καμπαγάνος (Kampaganos), likely an erroneous rendition of the phrase "Khan Pagan". Among the proposed translations for the phrase kanasubigi as a whole are lord of the army, from the reconstructed Turkic phrase *sü begi, paralleling the attested Old Turkic sü baši, and, more recently, "(ruler) from God", from the Indo-European *su- and baga-, i.e. *su-baga (an equivalent of the Greek phrase ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἄρχων, ho ek Theou archon, which is common in Bulgar inscriptions). Another presumption is that the title means the great khan. This titulature presumably persisted until the Bulgars adopted Christianity. Some Bulgar inscriptions written in Greek and later in Slavonic refer to the Bulgarian ruler respectively with the Greek title archon or the Slavic title knyaz.

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👉 Kanasubigi in the context of Omurtag

Omurtag (or Omortag) (died 831) also known as Murtag or Murtagon (Bulgarian: Омуртаг; Greek: Μορτάγων and Ομουρτάγ) was a Great Khan (Kanasubigi) of Bulgaria from 814 to 831. He is known as "the Builder".

In the very beginning of his reign he signed a 30-year peace treaty with the neighboring Byzantine Empire which remained in force to the end of his life. Omurtag successfully coped with the aggressive policy of the Frankish Empire to take Bulgaria's north-western lands and suppressed the unrest among several Slavic tribes. He made administrative reforms which increased the power and the authority of the central government. His reign was marked with a strong development of Bulgarian architecture with a number of significant construction projects.

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Kanasubigi in the context of List of Bulgarian monarchs

The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria during the medieval First (c. 681–1018) and Second (1185–1422) Bulgarian empires, as well as during the modern Principality (1879–1908) and Kingdom (1908–1946) of Bulgaria. This list includes monarchs from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire until modern times, omitting earlier mythical rulers as well as rulers of separate states such as Old Great Bulgaria and Volga Bulgaria.

Various titles have been used by the rulers of Bulgaria. The only recorded title, used before Bulgaria's conversion to Christianity, is kanasubigi, likely meaning "Khan, Lord of the Army" or "the sublime Khan". When Bulgaria converted to Christianity in the ninth century, the ruler Boris I (852–889) was using the title knyaz (prince). For much of its later history under the first and second empires, Bulgaria functioned as a multi-ethnic imperial state modelled on the neighbouring Byzantine Empire, which contributed to the adoption of the title of tsar (emperor) by Bulgarian monarchs beginning with Simeon I (893–927) in 913. Some powerful medieval Bulgarian rulers challenged Byzantine authority by proclaiming themselves as both Bulgarian and Roman emperors.

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