Malamir

This article is about the Bulgarian ruler. For the city of the same name in Iran see Izeh .

Malamir ( Bulgarian Маламир; † 836 ) belonged to the Krum dynasty . He was ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire between 831 and 836 . Malamir was the third and youngest son of Khan Omurtags .

Malamir became Khan of the Bulgarian Empire after his eldest brother Enravota (or Boyan) converted to Christianity and his second eldest, Zwiniza, passed away. Since he was still a minor at his coronation, the Assembly of the Great Boljars ( Boljars ) installed the Kawkhan Isbul as regent.

Domestically, he followed his father's policy and was hostile to Christianity. Under him the persecution against the Christians took on new proportions, which even surpassed that of his father Omurtag. Malamir also had his eldest brother Enravota murdered because he did not want to give up Christianity. Under his rule there was great building activity throughout the empire. Many fortifications, fortresses or the water supply and sewerage of the capital Pliska were built.

In 836 the Byzantine Emperor Theophilos broke the 30-year peace treaty signed under Malamir's father, Khan Omurtag, and attacked the Sagore region . With Kawkhan Isbul at the head of the army, the Bulgarians struck back and the young ruler fought back the Byzantines and captured the fortresses of Prowat , Burdizon (now Babaeski ) in eastern Thrace and Philippopolis . This interrupted the strategic road Via Militaris , also known as Via Diagonalis, which led from Constantinople towards Serdica (today Sofia) across the Balkan Peninsula to Singidunum (today Belgrade). The Bulgarians' new land gains also brought about a change in the direction of the Bulgarian expansion policy towards the south and south-east and a possible union with the Bulgarian khaganate of Bitola , which was founded by Khan Kuwer around 680. These events were confirmed in the Malamir tablet found at Philippopolis . Khan Malamir died childless in 836 under unknown circumstances. He was followed by Presian I , the son of his brother Zwiniza.

Since 2005 he has been the namesake for the Malamir Knoll , a nunatak on Greenwich Island in the Antarctic.

literature

• Constantin Jireček : History of the Bulgarians , Georg Olm Verlag, 1977 (Orig .: F. Tempsky Verlag, Prague, 1876)
• Veselin Beševliev : The Proto-Bulgarian Period of Bulgarian History . Amsterdam 1981.
• Jordan Andreev, Ivan Lazarov, Plamen Pavlov, Koj koj ev srednovekovna Bălgarija , Sofia 1999.
• Bahši Iman, Džagfar Tarihy , vol. I, Orenburg 1997.

predecessor	Office	successor
Omurtag	Khan of Bulgaria 831-836	Presian I.