Avar Khaganate

Avar Khaganate
567–after 822
Avar Khaganate around 582–612 AD.
Capital		The "Avar Ring"
Languages		Turkic language, Proto-Slavic (lingua franca)
Religion		Tengrism
Government		Khanate
Khagan		Bayan I (562–602) Bayan II (602–617) (Names unknown 617 – c. 802) Zodan (fl. 803) Theodorus (? – 805) Abraham ( fl. 805) Isaac (? – ?)
History
•	Established	567
•	Disestablished	after 822
Preceded by Succeeded by Lombards Kingdom of the Gepids Frankish Empire First Bulgarian Empire
Today part of		Hungary  Bulgaria  Romania  Ukraine  Slovakia  Slovenia  Croatia  Czech Republic  Poland  Austria  Serbia

Bayan II (602–617)
(Names unknown 617 – c. 802)
Zodan (fl. 803)
Theodorus (? – 805)
Abraham ( fl. 805)
Isaac (? – ?)

The Avar Khaganate was a khanate established in the Pannonian Basin region in 567 by the Avars, a nomadic people of uncertain origins and ethno-linguistic affiliation. As the Göktürk Empire expanded westwards, the Khagan Bayan I led a group of Avars and Bulgars out of their reach, eventually settling around 568 in what used to be the Roman province of Pannonia.

In 557 the Avars sent an embassy to Constantinople, marking their first contact with the Byzantine Empire—presumably from the northern Caucasus. In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly gentes" on behalf of the Byzantines. They conquered and incorporated various nomadic tribes—Kutrigurs and Sabirs—and defeated the Antes. By 562 the Avars controlled the lower Danube basin and the steppes north of the Black Sea. By the time they arrived in the Balkans, the Avars formed a heterogeneous group of about 20,000 horsemen. After the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527–565) bought them off, they pushed northwestwards into Germania. However, Frankish opposition halted the Avars' expansion in that direction.

Seeking rich pastoral lands, the Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube River in present-day Bulgaria, but the Byzantines refused, using their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression. The Avars turned their attention to the Carpathian Plain and to the natural defenses it afforded. However, the Carpathian basin was then occupied by the Gepids. In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the Lombards—enemies of the Gepids—and together they destroyed much of the Gepid Kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into northern Italy, an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass-movement in the Migration Period.