East Europe (820 – 963 CE): Varangian Routes, Khazar Gateways, and the Making of Rus’

Geographic and Environmental Context

East Europe includes Belarus, Ukraine, the European portion of Russia, and the sixteen Russian republics west of the Urals.

• A vast transition from northern taiga and mixed forests to southern forest-steppe and Pontic steppe, threaded by great rivers—the Dnieper, Volga, Dvina, Oka, and Don.

• Major nodes formed along portage chains between the Baltic, Caspian, and Black Sea basins, especially at Novgorod, Smolensk, Kiev, and Volga Bulgar markets.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• A cool–temperate regime prevailed; by the mid-10th century the onset of the Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250) modestly lengthened growing seasons in the forest-steppe.

• Flood pulses on the Dnieper and Volga structured seasonal travel; winter freeze created over-ice corridors for sled transport.

Societies and Political Developments

• Varangians and Tribal Unions (9th c.): Scandinavian merchant-warriors (Varangians) entered forest trade routes, installing ruling groups among Slavic and Finnic unions—Krivichs, Drevlians, Severians, Radimichs, Vyatichs, and others.

• Rurik and Oleg: Tradition places Rurik at Novgorod (862); his kinsman Oleg seized Kiev (882), uniting the “route from the Varangians to the Greeks.” Kiev became the core of   Kievan Rus’, extracting tribute from neighboring tribes and mediating steppe diplomacy.

• Khazar Khaganate: The Khazars controlled the lower Volga–Don and Caspian Gate, taxing trade between the steppe and Islamic markets; their elite adopted Judaism (9th c.). Rus’ princes alternately paid tribute, raided Khazar towns, and competed for Volga access.

• Volga Bulgars: A commercial polity at the Volga–Kama confluence; conversion to Islam (922) under Almış tied them to the Samanid economy.

• Steppe Frontiers: After c. 895 the Magyars moved into the Carpathian Basin; Pechenegs replaced them on the Pontic steppe, pressuring Rus’ river traffic and Sarmatian corridors.

• Byzantine Relations: Rus’ raids on Constantinople (notably 860) gave way to treaties (907/911 per later compilations), regulating trade duties and mercenary service.

Economy and Trade

• Exports: high-value furs, wax, honey, slaves, and falcons moved south on river craft; iron swords and worked amber moved internally along forest routes.

• Imports: Byzantine silk, wine, fine metalwork via the Dnieper; Samanid silver dirhams, glassware, and textiles via the Volga.

• Monetization: massive inflows of Samanid dirhams fueled a hack-silver economy; coin hoards appear from Ladoga/Novgorod to the middle Dnieper and upper Volga.

• Kiev and Novgorod functioned as hinge markets, auditing tolls and tribute before goods crossed portages toward Cherson and Constantinople, or toward Volga Bulgar and the Caspian.

Subsistence and Technology

• Agriculture: forest-steppe communities practiced plow agriculture (millet, rye, wheat) with slash-and-burn in the forest zone; stock-keeping expanded in river meadows.

• Crafts: iron tools, plows, and broad-seax blades; antler combs, bone skates, glass beads; early urban smithies in Ladoga, Novgorod, Kiev.

• River boats: light dugouts and plank-built craft—monoxyla—ported between watersheds; winter travel used sleds over frozen rivers.

• Fortifications: earthen ramparts and timber palisades ringed hillforts (gorodishche); princes maintained druzhina (retinues) of armored cavalry and river fighters.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• “From the Varangians to the Greeks”: the Dvina–Dnieper and Volkhov–Dnieper chains funneled Baltic goods to the Black Sea; the Dnieper porohy (rapids) demanded portage and escorts through Pecheneg country.

• Volga Route: Ladoga/Novgorod → Volga → Volga Bulgar → Khazaria → Caspian, connecting to Samanid markets in Gurgān and Tabaristan.

• Forest Portages: Smolensk, Rzhev, and Gorodets nodalized crossings between upper river systems, creating dense hub-and-spoke exchanges.

Belief and Symbolism

• Slavic paganism (Perun, Veles), Finnic and Baltic animisms, and Norse cults coexisted among Varangian elites and local communities; shrines and sacred groves sacralized hilltops and river bends.

• Khazars patronized Judaism at court; Volga Bulgars normalized Islamic law and markets after 922.

• Christianity: Byzantine missions influenced Crimea and lower Dnieper; individual baptisms occurred among elites, but mass conversion of Rus’ came later (988).

Adaptation and Resilience

• Dual-route strategy (Dnieper + Volga) hedged against steppe raids and political tolls; when Pechenegs blocked the Dnieper, merchants shifted to the Volga.

• Seasonal logistics—summer navigation, winter sled freight—smoothed transport risk; caches and fortified gorodishche protected goods and people.

• Tribute diplomacy balanced payments to Khazars and Pechenegs with punitive raids and alliances, keeping corridors open.

• Urban niches (Ladoga, Novgorod, Kiev) developed storage, craft specialization, and legal customs for foreign merchants, stabilizing long-distance exchange.

Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, East Europe had coalesced into a river-route commonwealth under emerging Kievan Rus’, framed by Khazar gatekeeping on the Caspian and Byzantine markets on the Black Sea.

• Silver-driven commerce integrated forest, steppe, and sea;

• Tribal unions and Varangian retinues forged the institutions of Rus’ rulership;

• Volga Bulgar Islam and Khazar Judaism embedded the region in wider religious economies.

On the eve of the next age, Sviatoslav’s campaigns (from 964) would crack Khazar hegemony, Pecheneg pressure would intensify, and the Dnieper metropolis of Kiev would begin its ascent toward high-medieval preeminence.

The Hungarian nation traces its history to the Magyars, a pagan Finno-Ugric tribe that arose in central Russia and spoke a language that evolved into modern Hungarian.

Historians dispute the exact location of the early Magyars' original homeland, but it is likely to be an area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.

In ancient times, the Magyars probably lived as nomadic tent-dwelling hunters and fishers.

Some scholars argue that they engaged in agriculture beginning in the second millennium BCE.

Before the fifth century CE., the Magyars' ancestors gradually migrated southward onto the Russian steppes, where they wandered into the lands near the Volga River bend, at present-day Kazan', as nomadic herders.

Later, probably under pressure from hostile tribes to the east, they migrated to the area between the Don and lower Dnepr rivers.

There they lived close to, and perhaps were dominated by, the Bulgar-Turks from about the fifth to the seventh century.

During this period, the Magyars became a semi-sedentary people who lived by raising cattle and sheep, planting crops, and fishing.

The Bulgar-Turkish influence on the Magyars was significant, especially in agriculture.

Most Hungarian words dealing with agriculture and animal husbandry have Turkic roots.

By contrast, the etymology of the word Hungary has been traced to a Slavicized form of the Turkic words on ogur, meaning "ten arrows," which may have referred to the number of Magyar tribes.

The Magyars live on lands controlled by the Khazars (a Turkish people whose realm stretches from the lower Volga and the lower Don rivers to the Caucasus) from about the seventh to the ninth century, when they free themselves from Khazar rule.

The Khazars attempt to reconquer the Magyars both by themselves and with the help of the Pechenegs, another Turkish tribe.

This tribe drives the Magyars from their homes westward to lands between the Dnepr and lower Danube rivers in 889.

In 895 the Magyars join imperial armies under Emperor Leo VI in a war against the Bulgars.

However, the Bulgars emerge victorious.

Their allies, the Pechenegs, attack the weakened Magyars and force them westward yet again in 895 or 896.

This migration takes the Magyars over the Carpathian Mountains and into the basin drained by the Danube and Tisza rivers, a region that corresponds roughly to present-day Hungary.

Romans, Goths, Huns, Slavs, and other peoples had previously occupied the region, but at the time of the Magyar migration, the land is inhabited only by a sparse population of Slavs, numbering about two hundred thousand.

Tradition holds that the Magyar clan chiefs chose a chieftain named Arpad to lead the migration and that they swore by sipping from a cup of their commingled blood to accept Arpad's male descendants as the Magyars' hereditary chieftains.

The Magyars probably knew of the lands in the Carpathian Basin because from 892 to 894 Magyar mercenaries had fought there for King Arnulf of East Francia in a struggle with the king of Moravia. Estimates are that about four hundred thousand people made up the exodus, in seven Magyar, one Kabar, and other smaller tribes.

Southeast Europe (820 – 963 CE): Bulgar Ascendancy, Byzantine Restoration, and the Slavic Christianization

Geographic and Environmental Context

Southeast Europe in this age stretched from Thrace and the Lower Danube through the Haemus/Balkan and Carpathian corridors to the Adriatic coasts and Greek peninsulas.

• Core lowlands: the Lower Danube–Wallachian plains, Dobruja steppe–coast, and the Thracian plain around Adrianople (Edirne).

• Mountain gates: Shipka and other Balkan passes; Carpathian gates into Transylvania; the Via Militaris (Belgrade–Niš–Sofia–Adrianople–Constantinople) and Via Egnatia (Dyrrachium–Thessaloniki) bound interior and sea.

• Sea nodes: Black Sea ports of Dobruja and Adriatic city-ports (Split, Zadar, Trogir, Ragusa) tied agrarian interiors to Mediterranean and Pontic trade.
  A cool–temperate regime trended toward the Medieval Warm Period after c. 950, lengthening growing seasons in the Danube–Thrace lowlands while Danube flood pulses and steppe drought cycles continued to shape transport and incursions.

Societies and Political Developments

Eastern Balkans: Bulgaria and the Byzantine–Danubian Frontier

• First Bulgarian Empire (Pliska → Preslav):

  • Boris I (r. 852–889) adopted Christianity (864/865), aligning diplomatically with Constantinople while pursuing church autonomy.

  • The Cyril–Methodius mission (863) and the return of their disciples founded the Ohrid and Preslav Literary Schools, standardizing Glagolitic → Cyrillic and enabling Slavic liturgy and administration.

  • Simeon I “the Great” (r. 893–927) reached Bulgaria’s apogee—victory at Achelous (917), sieges of Constantinople, imperial titulature, and a brilliant court culture at Preslav.

  • Peter I (r. 927–969) secured peace and imperial recognition (927) but faced rising Magyar (after c. 895) and Pecheneg pressures; the Bogomil movement (c. 930s) signaled social–religious tensions within the new Christian order.

• Byzantine Thrace and Macedonia themes: Under the Macedonian dynasty (Basil I, Leo VI, Constantine VII), the empire restored forts along the Via Militaris, reasserted logistics to Adrianople, and balanced war and diplomacy with Bulgaria. In 963, Nikephoros II Phokas’s accession strengthened the professional army, though Balkan policy still prioritized positional defense and treaty management.

Danubian North and Marchlands

• South of the Carpathians and across the Lower Danube, Slavic and Romance communities—early loci of Romanian ethnogenesis—moved between Bulgarian suzerainty and Byzantine diplomacy.

• The Magyars settled the Carpathian Basin (c. 895–907), ending Great Moravia and redrawing the northwest frontier; Pechenegs entered the Lower Danube by the mid-10th century, altering raid/tribute dynamics.

• Along the Sava–Danube confluences, local principalities leveraged tolls and crossings to navigate Bulgar, Byzantine, and later Magyar power.

Western Balkans and Greece: Adriatic Cities, Croatia, and Serbian Lands

• Byzantine Greece (outside Thrace): recovery of earlier Sklaviniai; strengthening of the Themes of Hellas and Peloponnēsos; town networks and fiscal-military administration revived under Basil I and Leo VI; Constantine VII codified provincial governance. The age culminated spiritually with St. Athanasios founding the Great Lavra (963) on Mount Athos, inaugurating the Athonite commonwealth.

• Dalmatian cities (Split, Zadar, Trogir, Ragusa/Dubrovnik): Latin civic traditions under Byzantine suzerainty; maritime brokers between Venice, southern Italy, and the Aegean.

• Croatia: the duchy consolidated in the 9th c.; under Tomislav (trad. c. 925), a Kingdom of Croatia emerged, mediating between Byzantium (Dalmatian towns) and inland zones; Glagolitic liturgy—heir to Cyril–Methodius—took root alongside the Latin rite.

• Serbian principalities (Raška, Zahumlje, Travunija, Duklja): Vlastimirović rulers and coastal župans balanced Bulgar–Byzantine–Croatian pressures; baptism and church-building advanced unevenly from gradine hillfort centers.

• Bosnia & inland Slovenia: clustered hillfort communities under župans and counts tied variably to Croatian and Frankish spheres.

• North Macedonia & Vardar: Slavic polities faced alternating Bulgar and Byzantine influence; Thessaloniki anchored imperial control; the Cyril–Methodius afterglow radiated west via scriptoria and clergy.

Economy and Trade

• Agrarian base: wheat, barley, millet, and vines flourished across Thrace and the Danube plain; stock raising dominated Balkan and Carpathian piedmonts.

• River–sea circuits: Danube and Black Sea nodes (e.g., Drastar/Silistra, Varna) moved grain, salt (Transylvania & Dobruja), wax, honey, furs, and slaves; Byzantine silk, wine, coin and steppe horses circulated inland.

• Urban & court economies: Preslav developed scriptoria and artisan quarters (metalwork, fine ceramics); Adrianople provisioned troops and caravans on the Constantinople road.

• Adriatic trade: Via Egnatia carried Balkan grain, timber, wax from Dyrrachium to Thessaloniki; Dalmatian cities shipped to Venice/Apulia; nomismata and Italian denarii accompanied cloth, wine, ceramics, and metalware.
  Interior markets (Skopje, Niš) exchanged hides, honey, wax, and slaves for Mediterranean goods.

Subsistence and Technology

• Fortifications and military systems:
  Timber–earth ramparts were upgraded to stone in key sites such as Preslav, Drastar (Silistra), and Adrianople, while chains of fortified theme frontiers guarded Danube crossings and mountain passes.
  These defenses largely followed the alignments of the old Roman limes and the late imperial praefectura Illyricum, whose forts and settlements continued to anchor medieval strategy.
  Bulgarian forces combined heavy cavalry and infantry for field campaigns, while Byzantine armies relied on the thematic system of provincial troops and garrisons. On the steppe fringes, Magyar and Pecheneg horse archers introduced deep-raiding tactics that reshaped frontier warfare along the Danube and Thrace.

• Agro-tech: terrace vines/olives in Greece; cereal rotations in lowlands; pastoral transhumance across Dinaric/Pindus slopes; lagoon salt/fish production.

• Scripts & learning: Cyrillic consolidated after 900 at Preslav, enabling Slavic law codes, diplomacy, and liturgy; Latin in Adriatic municipalities; Greek in imperial administration.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Via Militaris—the Balkan spine—linked Belgrade–Niš–Sofia–Adrianople–Constantinople.

• Danube: moat and highway—boat patrols, ferries, and riparian markets bound Bulgaria, Byzantium, and steppe intermediaries.

• Carpathian passes mediated Magyar arrival and later commerce; Shipka and allied passes funneled Bulgar–Byzantine armies.

• Via Egnatia tied Dyrrachium to Thessaloniki and the capital; Adriatic sea-lanes (Venice–Dalmatia–Greece) completed the maritime arc.

Belief and Symbolism

• Orthodox rulership anchored both Byzantine and Bulgar legitimacy after Boris I’s baptism; Bulgaria’s autocephalous aspirations (archiepiscopal → patriarchal claims) framed imperial style under Simeon I.

• Bogomilism (c. 930s) voiced dualist critique and social dissent, later diffusing westward.

• Monastic engines—Preslav and the Ohrid school—produced translations, homilies, and Slavic pedagogy; in the west, Athonite monasticism (from 963) re-mapped sacred geography.

• Latin and Greek rites coexisted along the Adriatic front, while Glagolitic/Cyrillic extended Slavic Christianization inland.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Bulgar–Byzantine equilibrium—war, treaty, and tribute—stabilized borders and trade, sustaining cultural florescence despite frontier shocks.

• Danube redundancy: when steppe raids impeded land routes, riverine caravans and Black Sea shipping re-routed goods.

• Cultural integration: Slavic liturgy and Cyrillic fostered administrative capacity and cohesion across diverse communities.

• Theme logistics and kastra–gradina pairings let Byzantine and inland polities absorb defeats, preserve depth, and recover.

Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, Southeast Europe stood on two pillars:

• A Bulgar imperial court at Preslav—Christian, literate, and expansionist—radiating Slavic law and culture;

• A Byzantine Thrace and Greek heartland—re-fortified along the Via Militaris and Via Egnatia, renewing spiritual authority with Athos at the close of the age.

Around them, Magyar settlement in the Carpathian Basin and Pecheneg movements along the Lower Danube reshaped the northern rim, while Croatia’s kingship, Serbian principalities, and Dalmatian cities consolidated the Adriatic interface.
The age fixed the region’s Orthodox Slavic identity, Cyrillic literary infrastructure, and strategic centrality between Aegean, Black Sea, and steppe—foundations that would define the medieval Balkans and the contests of the following age.

Eastern Southeast Europe (820 – 963 CE): Bulgar Ascendancy, Byzantine–Danubian Frontiers, and the Slavic Christianization

Geographic and Environmental Context

Eastern Southeast Europe includes Turkey-in-Europe (Thrace), northeastern Greece (Thrace-in-Greece), nearly all of Bulgaria (except its southwestern portion), modern-day Romania and Moldova, northeastern Serbia, northeastern Croatia, and extreme northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• Core lowlands: the Lower Danube and Wallachian plains, the Dobruja steppe–coast, and the Thracian plain around Adrianople (Edirne).

• Mountain corridors: Balkan/Haemus passes (e.g., Shipka), the Carpathian gates into Transylvania, and the Via Militaris (Singidunum–Naissus–Serdica–Adrianople) crossing the central Balkans.

• Black Sea ports (Dobruja) and Danube crossings tied inland agrarian zones to Mediterranean and Pontic trade.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Cool–temperate with improving stability toward the Medieval Warm Period (from c. 950), lengthening growing seasons in the Danube–Thrace lowlands.

• Flood pulses along the Danube structured transport, while steppe drought cycles influenced nomadic incursions (Magyars, Pechenegs).

Societies and Political Developments

• First Bulgarian Empire (capital Pliska, later Preslav):

  • Under Khan Boris I (r. 852–889), Bulgaria adopted Christianity (864/865), aligning diplomatically with Constantinople yet asserting ecclesiastical autonomy.

  • The missions of Saints Cyril and Methodius (863) to Great Moravia and the return of their disciples (notably Clement of Ohrid, Naum) created the Ohrid and Preslav Literary Schools, standardizing Glagolitic and then Cyrillic for Slavic worship and administration.

  • Simeon I “the Great” (r. 893–927) expanded Bulgaria to its apogee, defeating Byzantines at the Battle of Achelous (917), besieging Constantinople, and assuming imperial style; Preslav became a major Slavic Christian court.

  • Peter I (r. 927–969) secured peace and recognized imperial titulature from Byzantium (927), but internal tensions and frontier pressures (especially Magyar and later Pecheneg raids) mounted.

  • The Bogomil movement (c. 930s) emerged in Bulgaria—an ascetic Christian dualism that signaled social–religious strains within the new Christian order.

• Byzantine Thrace and the Thracian Theme:

  • The empire under the Macedonian dynasty—Basil I (867–886), Leo VI (886–912), Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (913–959)—reorganized the Thrace and Macedonia themes for frontier defense; restoration of forts along the Via Militaris protected Adrianople and the approach to Constantinople.

  • In 963, Nikephoros II Phokas ascended, strengthening the professional army; in the Balkans, however, policy remained a mix of diplomacy and positional warfare with Bulgaria.

• Danubian North (Romania/Moldova), NE Balkans & Frontier Zones:

  • South of the Carpathians and across the Lower Danube, Slavic and Romance-speaking communities (later Romanian ethnogenesis) fell within shifting spheres of Bulgarian suzerainty and Byzantine diplomacy.

  • Steppe polities shaped the northern arc: Magyars settled the Carpathian Basin (c. 895–907), ending Great Moravia and altering power balances on the northwestern edge of this subregion; Pechenegs pressed into the Lower Danube by the mid-10th century.

• Northeastern Serbia / NE Croatia / NE Bosnia (marchlands):

  • Local Slavic principalities navigated between Bulgarian, Byzantine, and, later, Magyar pressures; control of Sava–Danube confluences was strategic for tolls and troop movement.

Economy and Trade

• Agrarian base: wheat, barley, millet, and vines in Thrace and the Lower Danube; stock raising in the Carpathian and Balkan piedmonts.

• Black Sea and Danube trade: grain, salt (from Transylvania and Dobruja), wax, honey, furs, and slaves moved through Silistra (Drastar), Varna, and other river–sea nodes; Byzantine imports (silk, wine, coins) and steppe horses circulated inland.

• Urban and court economies: Preslav developed scriptoria and artisan quarters (metalwork, ceramics); Adrianople thrived as a provisioning and garrison city on the road to Constantinople.

Subsistence and Technology

• Frontier fortifications: timber–earth ramparts upgraded to stone in key sites (Preslav, Drastar, Adrianople); praetentura lines guarded Danube crossings and mountain passes.

• Military systems: Bulgar heavy cavalry and combined arms; Byzantine thematic infantry/cavalry with fortified lines; steppe composites (Magyar, Pecheneg) emphasized mounted archery and deep raiding.

• Literacy and scriptoria: Cyrillic consolidated in Preslav after 900, enabling administration, law codes, and liturgy in Old Church Slavonic; royal and monastic patronage produced translations and homiletic collections.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• Via Militaris (Belgrade–Niš–Sofia–Adrianople–Constantinople) was the empire’s Balkan spine.

• Danube served as both moat and highway—patrolled boat fleets, ferries, and markets linked Bulgaria, Byzantium, and steppe intermediaries.

• Carpathian passes mediated Magyar migration and later commerce; Balkan passes (e.g., Shipka) channeled Bulgarian–Byzantine armies.

Belief and Symbolism

• Orthodox Christianity anchored both Byzantine and Bulgarian rulership after Boris I’s baptism; autocephalous aspirations in Bulgaria (archiepiscopal, later patriarchal status) legitimated imperial claims under Simeon I.

• Bogomilism articulated social critique and spiritual dualism in mid-10th-century Bulgaria, later radiating to the western Balkans.

• Monasteries (Preslav, Ohrid school territories) functioned as cultural engines—scriptoria, education, and diplomacy—while rural shrines and relic cults drew pilgrimage.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Bulgar–Byzantine equilibrium: alternating wars and treaties stabilized borders and trade, allowing cultural florescence despite frontier shocks.

• Danube redundancy: when steppe raids blocked land routes, riverine caravans and Black Sea shipping re-routed goods.

• Cultural integration: adoption of Cyrillic and Slavic liturgy created administrative capacity and social cohesion across diverse Slavic populations.

• Frontier garrisons and theme logistics allowed Byzantium to absorb defeats (e.g., 917) and recover strategic positions.

Long-Term Significance

By 963 CE, Eastern Southeast Europe was a two-pillar system:

• A Bulgarian imperial court at Preslav, Christian and literate, radiating Slavic culture and law;

• A Byzantine Thrace fortified along the Via Militaris and Danube, guarding the approaches to Constantinople.
  Around them, Magyar settlement in the Carpathian Basin and Pecheneg movements on the Lower Danube reshaped the northern and eastern rims. The age cemented the region’s Orthodox Slavic identity, literary infrastructure (Cyrillic), and strategic centrality between Aegean, Black Sea, and steppe worlds—frameworks that would endure into the next age.

The Magyars' early homes had been on the upper waters of the Volga and Kama rivers; unrecorded causes had driven them, at an uncertain date, southward into the steppes, where they have adopted the life of peripatetic herders.

Their base in the late ninth century is the lower Don, ranging over the steppes to the west of that river.

They now comprise a federation of hordes, or tribes, each under a hereditary chieftain and each composed of a varying number of clans, the members of which share a real or imagined blood kinship.

All clan members are free, but the community includes slaves taken in battle or in raids.

There are seven Magyar hordes, but other elements are part of the federation, including three hordes of Turkic Khazars (the Kavars).

Either because of this fact or perhaps because of a memory of earlier conditions, this federation is known to its neighbors as the On-Ogur (literally, “Ten Arrows”), from the Slavic pronunciation of which the name “Hungarian” is derived.

In the late ninth century, the Magyars breach Khazar control of the steppe, but in 889, attacks by a newly arrived Turkic people, the Pechenegs, whose migration the declining Khazar state can no longer impede, drive the Magyars and their confederates from their home in the northern Caucasus to the western extremities of the steppes, the strong presence of the Varangian Rus’ in Kiev blocking the Magyars’ northward advance.

A Persian work, Denkart, represents Judaism as the principal religion of the Khazars.

In the capital city, the Khazars establish a supreme court composed of seven members, and every major religion (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Slavic paganism) is represented on this judicial panel.

The Khazars thus sponsor religious tolerance in a time when surrounding countries persecute those who refuse to follow the faith of the rulers.

Income that is derived from duties on goods passing through Khazar territory, in addition to tribute paid by subordinate tribes, maintains the wealth and the strength of the Jewish Khazar empire throughout the ninth century.

In about 889, the Khazars and the Oguz, a confederation of Turkic peoples of the central Asian steppes, attack the nomadic Turkic Pechenegs, who had originally inhabited the area between the Volga and Yaik (Ural) rivers.

The Khazar Empire, faced with the growing might of the Pechenegs to their north and west and of the Russians around Kiev, suffers decline by the tenth century.

As the Khazar state can no longer impede the migration, the Pechenegs move westward, driving the Magyars into the Carpathian Basin and attacking Russian territory.

The Pechenegs have driven the Magyars and their confederates to the western extremities of the steppes, where they are living when an invitation arrives from the Carolingian king Arnulf, who is attempting to assert his authority over the Moravian duke Svatopluk.

The Magyar band sent to Arnulf had reported back that the plains across the Carpathian Mountains would form a suitable new homeland that could be easily conquered and defended from the rear.

The tribes elect as their unifying leader Árpád, the leader of their most powerful tribe, and, with nowhere else to turn, plan a movement westward from their home in the northern Caucasus.

The earliest reliable source of Árpád's life is an early tenth-century document, the Continuation of the Chronicle by George the Monk.

It narrates that the Emperor Leo VI the Wise sent his envoy Nicetas Sclerus to the Magyars in 894 or 895 "to give presents" and incite them against the Bulgarian Empire.

Sclerus met with their two leaders, Árpád and Kurszán, at the Lower Danube.

Sclerus's mission succeeded: a Magyar army soon crossed the Danube on imperial ships against Bulgaria.

An interpolation in Porphyrogenitus's text suggests that the invading Hungarians were under the command of Árpád's son, Liüntika.

The positions held by Árpád and Kurszán at the time of their negotiations with Sclerus are debated by historians.

Spinei wrote that Árpád was the gyula, and Kurszán was the kende.

In contrast, Kristó said that Kurszán was the gyula and Árpád represented his father, Álmos kende.

The Magyar army defeated the Bulgarians, but the latter hired the Pechenegs against them.

The Bulgarians and Pechenegs simultaneously invaded the Hungarians' territories in the western regions of the Pontic steppes in 895 or 896.

The destruction of their dwelling places by the Pechenegs forced the Hungarians to leave for a new homeland across the Carpathian Mountains towards the Pannonian Plain.