Pagan (Khan of Bulgaria)

Pagan ( Bulgarian. Pagan ) - Khan of Bulgaria ( 767 - 768 ).

After Pagan became a khan, he began peace negotiations with the emperor of Byzantium, Constantine V. When the khan arrived in Constantinople , the former Bulgarian khan Sabin defiantly stood near the emperor. Constantine V in vain rebuked the Bulgarian nobility for her hatred of Sabin. This opened up the plans of the emperor, who was probably trying to return Khan Sabin to the throne, with the goal of influencing the politics of Bulgaria through him. For the species, Constantine V made peace with Bulgaria , but at the same time secretly sent people to Bulgaria who captured the leader of the Slavic tribe of the north, still Asparuh settled on the border with Byzantium to protect against it:

In the same year he sent the envoy Pagan, Mr. Bulgaria to Vasilevs, asking to see him. Having received an answer, he arrived at him with his boilada . When Vasileus sat down and Sabin sat down with him, he accepted them and scolded their outrage and dislike of Sabin. And they apparently made peace. Vasilevs, secretly sending envoys to Bulgaria, seized the archon of the north Slavun, who did a lot of evil in Thrace [1]

This message is one of the few information about the situation of the Slavs in the Bulgarian Khanate of the VIII century . It can be seen from it that the north maintained autonomy and were governed by their own Slavic “archon”. Pagan did not intercede for Slavuna, continued to maintain peace and did not even resume border protection.

After the negotiations, Constantine V quickly marched troops into Bulgaria and invaded its borders:

Suddenly, the king, coming out of the city, found the gorges without guards because of a feigned peace, walked through Bulgaria to Tunza, and having betrayed the huts they met, returned fearlessly without doing anything important. [2]

However, these events had negative consequences for Khan Pagan: he was accused of believing the false promises of the Byzantine emperor, and he had to flee. He was killed near modern Varna by his servants.