Bayan I

Bayan I reigned as the first

Avar Khaganate

between 562 and 602.

As the

Proto-Bulgarians) into Pannonia

, where they established their khaganate from 568.

Dealings with the Franks, Lombards and Gepids

By 562, the Avars and Bulgars had reached the Lower

Kutrigur khan Zabergan

.

As allies of the

Sabirs, Utigurs, Kutrigurs and Saragurs – in the lands later known as Ukraine

, a task they accomplished to the emperor's satisfaction. Bayan's Avars now demanded the renewal of the alliance, increased pay and a land to live in.

Bayan had eyed the plain of Moesia (just south of the Lower Danube in what would become northern Bulgaria) as his promised land, but the Byzantines were adamant the Avars should not in any case cross the Danube. So Bayan and his horde in 563 rode around the northern Carpathians to Germany, where they were soundly repelled along the river Elbe by the Frankish king Sigebert I of Austrasia.^[1] This defeat induced them to retrace their footsteps to the Lower Danube region. After vainly trying to force the Danubian border when the new Byzantine emperor Justin II (r. 565–578) denied them both entry and wage, the Avars renewed their ride to Thuringia. This time (566) they did defeat Sigebert, but had nonetheless to stop; in the meantime the Göktürks, in pursuit of their former subjects, remained a real danger.

The Avars, traditionally a

half-ruined but promising lands of Italy where they would establish a long-lasting kingdom. They concluded however a treaty with the Avar Khagan allowing them to reenter parts of Pannonia and Noricum (Austria) if they chose to do so in the future; they then departed with large numbers of the vanquished Gepids and a host of other Germanic

tribes.

Wars with Byzantium

After ten years of uneasy peace, Bayan again marched against

Peloponnesus.^{[citation needed]} In 582, Bayan attacked the Byzantines in Thrace, and extracted a large tribute of 100,000 solidii, roughly equivalent to 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of gold from the newly enthroned Byzantine emperor Maurice.^{[citation needed}

]

In later times Avars and Slavs still raided the remaining Byzantine lands as Maurice was hard pressed to defend his native

defeated the Persian menace, was bent on revenge and counterattacked in full force, soon reverting the roles (see Maurice's Balkan campaigns).^{[citation needed]} Repeated, massive defeats shook the Avaro-Slavic hordes as strong organized Byzantine armies penetrated north of the Danube into Wallachia, and eventually, under general Priscus, crushed the enemy along the river Tisza in the very heart of Pannonia.^{[citation needed]} It was Phocas' rebellion against Maurice in 602 that ultimately saved the Avars. In the same year Khagan Bayan died, his empire now safe and firmly established.^{[citation needed}

]

References

^
ISBN 9781851095865
. Retrieved 25 August 2023. In 562, rather than launch an attack on the Byzantine Empire, the Avars turned their attention westward [...]. They attacked the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia in 562 but were turned back by the king Sigebert (r. 560/561–575).

Lászlo Makkai and András Mócsy, editors, 2001. History of Transylvania, II.4 "The period of Avar rule"
Olajos, Thérèse (1976). "La chronologie de la dynastie avare de Baïan". Revue des études byzantines (in French). 34: 151–158.
doi:10.3406/rebyz.1976.2050
. Retrieved 28 May 2011.

Preceded by Kandik	Avar Khagan Kutrigur Ruler 562-602	Succeeded by Bayan II

[1] 
ISBN 9781851095865
. Retrieved 25 August 2023. In 562, rather than launch an attack on the Byzantine Empire, the Avars turned their attention westward [...]. They attacked the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia in 562 but were turned back by the king Sigebert (r. 560/561–575).

[1]