Il titolo di KAGAN nelle fonti medievali

This article studies the use of the title kagan in the historical apocalyptical series of works where the title most likely refers to the real persons of Tsar Boris-Mihail I (852-889) and of Petar Delian (1040-1041). It is also possible that in the historical apocryphal series the title kagan was used as a literary expression of the oral folk legend about Tsar Boris-Mihail I – later transferred through story telling onto Petar Delian – to signify the figure of the restorer of the then enslaved Bulgarian Kingdom. The possible etymology of the ruler’s title kagan is analyzed. The author produces evidence that the term existed in Byzantine, Latin and Old-Bulgarian documents and explores various traces of the lost Eulogy of Tsar Boris-Mihail I in Vladimir’s Eulogy in Slovo o Zakoně i Blagodati of Ilarion, Bishop of Kiev. In addition, some toponymic data from the charters of the Bulgarian kings where the title resurfaces, are cited. The author suggests that the title was introduced in Bulgaria after Khan Krum’s (976-814) victory over the Avars (805-806) and his triumph over their kagan. It is argued that the legendary historical apocalyptical series of works may suggest that such a title practice really existed in the First Bulgarian Kingdom.