View source for Dulo

{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Short description|Bulgar Clan}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Khans Dulo of Bulgaria.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Tamgha]] of the Dulo clan.]]

The '''Dulo''' clan was a ruling dynasty of the [[Bulgars]],<ref name="Fine">{{The Early Medieval Balkans|pages=66, 300}}</ref> who were of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] origin.<ref>{{cite book | last=Bowersock | first=G. W. | last2=Brown | first2=Peter | last3=Grabar | first3=Oleg | title=Late Antiquity : A Guide to the Postclassical World | publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press | publication-place=Cambridge, Mass. | date=1999 | isbn=0-674-51173-5 | oclc=41076344}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Luttwak | first=Edward | title=The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire | chapter = Bulghars and Bulgarians | publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press | publication-place=Cambridge, Mass. | date=2009 | isbn=978-0-674-05420-2 | oclc=648760614}}</ref>{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=68}}<ref>Raymond Detrez, Pieter Plas, Peter Lang, 2005,  p. 29</ref><ref name="Panos" /><ref name=":1">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |author=Denis Sinor |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0521243041 |page=261}}</ref><ref name="Chen" /> It is generally considered that their elite{{sfn|Pohl|1998}} was related to the [[Huns]] and the [[Western Turkic Khaganate]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |author-link=Peter Benjamin Golden |date=2011 |title=Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes |url=https://www.academia.edu/9609971 |publisher=Editura Academiei Române; Editura Istros a Muzeului Brăilei |pages=143–144 |isbn=9789732721520}}</ref> Particularly, it is said that the Dulo descended from the rulers of [[Old Great Bulgaria]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=World and Its Peoples: Greece and the Eastern Balkans|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2010|isbn=9780761478836|location=New York|page=1474}}</ref> This state was a centralized monarchy from its inception, unlike previous Hunno-Turkic political entities, which were tribal confederations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies|last=Hupchick|first=Dennis|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2017|isbn=9783319562056|location=Cham|page=9}}</ref>

The royal family and rulers of [[Old Great Bulgaria]] (632–668) and the first half of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] (681–1018), in their prince lists (''[[Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans]]'') claimed through descent from Attila through Irnik, possibly [[Attila]]'s attested son [[Ernak]].<ref name="Fine"/>{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=59, 142}} During the pagan period, the succession of clan leadership was based on traditions brought over to the Balkans from the [[Eurasian Steppe]], which include the rulers' divine ancestry.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria|last=Biliarsky|first=Ivan|publisher=BRILL|year=2011|isbn=9789004191457|location=Leiden|page=218}}</ref> At the head of the clan was the ''[[Khan (title)|Khan]]'', who reigned as the head of state, military leader, and probably high priest of the Bulgar god, [[Tengri|Tangra]].<ref name=":0" />

== Research history ==
Most of what is known about the clan is written in the ''[[Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans]]''. The ''Nominalia'' lists as the first ruler mythical [[Avitohol]], who lived 300 years and descended from the Dulo clan.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Book I|1930|p=11}} Josef Marquart and many other historians identified Avitohol with [[Attila]] the Hun.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Book I|1930|p=12}}<ref name="Biliarsky"/> [[Steven Runciman]] considered the connection possible, but suspicious and unimportant if the link between [[Irnik]]-Ernak is confirmed.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Appendix III|1930|p=280}} Runciman considered the name Avitohol meaningless and its biblical origin more convincing.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Book I; Appendix III|1930|p=11–12; 281}} He considered that the missionaries were spreading [[Old Testament]] stories around the [[Eurasian Steppe]]s, as well the story of [[Japheth]], the ancestor of Eurasian people, which easily modifies into the Latin name ''[[Avita (gens)|Avitus]]'' (ancestral; grandfather) and Turkish ''Awit'' (ancestor) it derives from.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Book I|1930|p=11–12, 281}} Runciman considered Avitohol to be a distant mythological ancestor.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Appendix III|1930|p=281}} Ivan Biliarsky considers that both Avitohol and Irnik were only mythic figures of the historical personalities.<ref name="Biliarsky">{{Cite book |last=Biliarsky |first=Ivan |date=2013 |title=The Tale of the Prophet Isaiah: The Destiny and Meanings of an Apocryphal Text |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbevAAAAQBAJ |publisher=Brill |pages=255–257 |isbn=9789004254381}}</ref> According to him the ''Nominalia'' shows that the clan memory and genealogy important to Central Asian peoples was likewise significant to the Bulgars, as well the cosmological understanding of the history, as the Avitohol and Irnik were mentioned in the category of the ''creator'' and ''founder'', the mythological divine ''ancestor-creator'' represented in the reincarnation of the cultural hero within time cycles.<ref name="Biliarsky"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Biliarsky |first=Ivan |date=2011 |title=Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-j66lYzINEC |publisher=Brill |page=218 |isbn=9789004191457}}</ref> Jean W. Sedlar considered the Attila connection justly doubtful, and argued the possibility of a steppe dynasty which produced Hunnic rulers like Attila may have also produced rulers for the Bulgars.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jean W. |last=Sedlar |date=2011 |title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANdbpi1WAIQC |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295800646}}</ref>

The second listed ruler is Irnik, who lived 150 years and also descended from the Dulo clan.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Book I|1930|p=11–12}} It is generally considered that in the ''Nominalia'' under Irnik was considered the third son of Attila, [[Ernak]].{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Appendix III|1930|p=11–12, 280–281}}<ref name="Biliarsky"/> [[Vasil Zlatarski]] thought the identification between Irnik and Ernak pointless, and they were two different persons and families.{{sfn|Zlatarski|1918|p=79–80}} Zlatarski pointed out, which points Runciman considered to be indisputable;{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Appendix III|1930|p=280–281}} if Irnik was Ernak, then both Ernak and Attila belonged to the Dulo clan, whereas, actually, no source mentions Dulo clan in connection with them;{{sfn|Zlatarski|1918|p=79–80}} according to the ''Nominalia'' Irnik ruled from 437, i.e. several years before the death of Attila in 453, which is impossible.{{sfn|Zlatarski|1918|p=80}} Due to be assigned a reign of 150 years, Runciman considered the inaccuracy of the date of accession as venial mistake.{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Appendix III|1930|p=280}}

Kurt ([[Kubrat]]; c. 632–665), a member of the clan, revolted against the [[Pannonian Avars]] and founded the [[Old Great Bulgaria]] on the territory of modern [[Ukraine]].<ref name="Fine"/> During the second half of the 7th century his sons split up the Bulgar royal family and spread over Europe, from the [[Volga River|Volga river]] to the shadow of [[Matese]] mountains: [[Batbayan|Bezmer]] ([[Ukraine]]), [[Kotrag]] ([[Volga Bulgaria]]), [[Kuber]] ([[Macedonia (region)|Balkan Macedonia]]), [[Asparukh of Bulgaria|Asparukh]] ([[First Bulgarian Empire|Danube Bulgaria]]) and [[Alcek]] ([[Sepino]], [[Bojano]], [[Isernia]]).{{sfn|Runciman|loc=Book I|1930|p=2–24}} In the ''Nominalia'' the Bezmer (c. 665–668) was the last Dulo ruler on the northern side of [[Danube]] river (of the Old Great Bulgaria), while the Asparukh (c. 681–701) was the first from the southern side of the river (First Bulgarian Empire). He was followed by [[Tervel of Bulgaria|Tervel]] (c. 700–721), and the last ruler of Bulgaria from the Dulo clan, [[Sevar]] (c. 721–737). According to [[Theophanes the Confessor|Theophanes]], in 761 or 762 the Bulgars "rose up, killed their hereditary lords and set up as their king an evil-minded man called [[Telets of Bulgaria|Teletzes]], who was 30 years old".<ref name="Curta">{{Cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |author-link=Florin Curta |date=2006 |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 |url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt/page/79 79], 85 |isbn=9780521815390}}</ref> Historians usually interpreted the testimony as evidence of a massacre of the previous dynasty (the Dulo clan), and the rise of a new leader with no connection to the previous regime.<ref name="Curta"/><ref name="Panos">{{Cite book |last=Sophoulis |first=Panos |date=2011 |title=Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775–831 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbIyAQAAQBAJ |publisher=Brill |pages=92, 147–148, 71, 111 |isbn=9789004206960}}</ref>

===Origin===
The exact origin is obscure.<ref name="Fine"/> Some researchers consider that the origin of the clan most probably was Turkic.<ref name="Panos"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |first=Denis |last=Sinor |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0521243041 |page=261}}</ref><ref name="Chen">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugbWH-5OjegC |title=Multicultural China in the Early Middle Ages |author=Sanping Chen |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0812206289 |page=97}}</ref> This proposition was suggested by [[Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov|Mikhail Artamonov]],<ref name="Golden">{{citation |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |author-link=Peter Benjamin Golden |title=Oq and Oğur~Oğuz* |publisher=Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University |year=2012 |url=http://www.enu.kz/repository/repository2014/oq-and-ogur.pdf |pages=footnote 37 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419023615/http://www.enu.kz/repository/repository2014/oq-and-ogur.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-19 }}</ref> and was prompted by [[Lev Gumilev]] (1967), implying there may be made an association of the Dulo clan with the five [[Duolu]] (or To-lu) tribes of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Western Turks]].<ref name="Golden"/> The [[First Turkic Khaganate]] (552–581) was during the [[Göktürk civil war]] (581–593) divided into Western and Eastern Khaganate. The Western was led by ''Onoq'' (ten arrows), the five Duolu and five [[Nushibi]] tribes.<ref name="Golden"/> Many modern historians consider that the first historical Bulgar ruler Kubrat belonged to the Dulo clan of the Western Turks - the so-called alliance of [[Onogurs]] and Bulgars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brook |first=Kevin Alan |date=2006 |title=The Jews of Khazaria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEuIveNl9kcC |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=13 |isbn=9781442203020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Curta |first1=Florin |last2=Kovalev |first2=Roman |date=2008 |title=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Cumans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-G1L-9Zec0C |publisher=Brill |page=288 |isbn=9789004163898}}</ref><ref name="Peter">{{Cite book |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |author-link=Peter Benjamin Golden |date=2003 |title=Nomads and Their Neighbours in the Russian Steppe: Turks, Khazars and Qipchaqs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2ppAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Ashgate/Variorum |page=71 |isbn=9780860788850}}</ref>{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=59}} B. Zhivkov emphasized that [[Duolu]] and [[Nushibi]] were tribal confederations, and not ruling dynasties.<ref name="Boris"/>

Some historians have even identified the Western qaghan ''[[Baghatur|Moheduo]]'' ([[Külüg Sibir]]) with [[Organa]], the maternal uncle of Kubrat.<ref name="Panos"/><ref name="Boris">{{Cite book |first=Boris |last=Zhivkov |date=2015 |title=Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Du2CAAAQBAJ |publisher=Brill |pages=50, 52–53 |isbn=9789004294486}}</ref> Accurately or not, it still points to the rivalry between the Bulgars, led by Kubrat from the Dulo clan, and the [[Khazars]], led by the [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] clan.<ref name="Curta"/><ref name="Boris"/>

[[Omeljan Pritsak]] further considered the connection of the name of Dulo clan with the name of the old [[Xiongnu]] ruling house 屠各 ''Tuge'' (in [[Old Chinese]] ''d'o-klâk'').{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=59}}<ref name="Chen"/> This association could further prove the link between Xiongnu and Huns (as well Huns and Bulgars).{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=59}}<ref>{{Cite book |author=Antonio Carile |title=Teoderico e i Goti tra oriente e occidente |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NH1oAAAAMAAJ |date=1995 |publisher=Longo |page=28 |isbn=978-88-8063-057-9}}</ref> [[Peter Benjamin Golden|Peter B. Golden]] surmises that the Xiongnu tribal surname 獨孤 [[Dugu (surname)|Dugu]] (< ''d'uk-kuo'') or 屠各 ''Tuge'' (< ''d'o-klâk'') possibly reflects underlying [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] *''Tuğqu'' or *''Tuğlağ'' "tribe of the [[Tug (banner)|tuğ]]?"<ref name="PBG1992">Golden, Peter B. (1992) An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. p. 58</ref> yet still considers the Turkic association as speculative.<ref name="Golden"/>

[[Mercia MacDermott]] claimed that the Dulo clan had the dog as its sacred animal.<ref name="Mercia">{{Cite book |last=MacDermott |first=Mercia |author-link=Mercia MacDermott |date=1998 |title=Bulgarian Folk Customs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gh4IE6toGJMC |publisher=[[Jessica Kingsley Publishers]] |pages=21–22 |isbn=9781853024856}}</ref> MacDermott considered that the Bulgarian expression preserved to this day "he kills the dog", in the meaning "he gives the orders", is a relic of the time when the Dulo Khan sacrificed a dog to the deity [[Tengri|Tangra]] in the name of the whole community.<ref name="Mercia"/>

Some modern Bulgarian scholars, the most prominent of them, namely Peter Dobrev, argued that the Turkic names of the animals in the [[Bulgar calendar]] (also found in the ''Nominalia'') show that the Turkic peoples had borrowed these words from the Iranian language (Bulgars). However, according to [[Raymond Detrez]], this theory is rooted in the periods of anti-Turkish sentiment in Bulgaria, and is ideologically motivated.<ref name="Detrez">{{cite book| author=Raymond Detrez |author-link=Raymond Detrez |title=Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence vs. Divergence |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |page=29|isbn=9789052012971 }}</ref> As such the proto-Bulgar language (of the group which established the state of Bulgaria), was claimed to be of Iranian language although it is generally accepted it was Turkic of [[Oghur languages|Oghuric]] branch and related to modern [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]].<ref name="Detrez"/>

[[Aleksandar Burmov]] noted that the medieval writers under various names mentioned Huns and Bulgars, and some authors mentioned them as separate ethnic categories.{{CN|date=February 2023}} The cases of mixing information for Bulgars and Huns in some authors, as well as possible rapprochement of the names Avitohol – Attila and Irnik – Ernak, do not give reason to draw a line of equality between the two ethnic groups.{{CN|date=February 2023}} According to Burmov there is no historical evidence that the Bulgars and Huns lived in the same territory.{{CN|date=February 2023}} Burmov, Peter B. Golden, [[Gyula Németh (linguist)|Gyula Németh]] and Panos Sophoulis concluded that claiming of Attilid descent shows the intermingling of European Huns elements with newly arrived Oğuric Turkic groups, as the number of evidence of linguistic, ethnographic and socio-political nature show that Bulgars belonged to the group of Turkic peoples.<ref name="Panos"/><ref name="Chen"/><ref name="Peter"/>

===Etymology===
B. Simeonov derived ''Dulu'' from Turkic ''dul/tul'' (big, powerful, giant; war horse), and saw ''Dulo'' as partly Slavicized form.<ref name="Golden"/> Simeonov derived ''*Dullu'' from Old Hunnic ''dul + lu'' (mounted, horseman),<ref name="Golden"/> yet according to [[Peter B. Golden]], no such Hunnic word is attested.<ref name="Golden"/> According to [[Gerard Clauson|G. Clauson]], Old Turkic ''tul'' denotes "widow, widower".<ref name="Golden"/> Golden, citing [[Lajos Ligeti]] (1986), wondered if Dulo resulted from Slavicism of Turkic title [[Gyula (title)|Yula]].<ref>Golden, Peter B. (2005)  "Khazarica: Notes on Some Khazar Terms", in ''Turkic Languages'', ed. Lars Johanson, Harrassowitz Verlag, p. 215</ref> Even so, all hypotheses P. B. Golden considers for now as speculative.<ref name="Golden"/>

==Legacy==

[[Dulo Hill]] on [[Livingston Island]], near [[Antarctica]], is named after the Bulgarian ruling dynasty Dulo.<ref>[http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=136855 Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica:] Dulo Hill.</ref>

== References ==

=== Notes ===
{{Reflist|2}}

=== Sources ===
* {{Cite book |last=Zlatarski |first=Vasil N. |author-link=Vasil Zlatarski |title=Medieval History of the Bulgarian State, Vol I: History of the First Bulgarian Empire, Part I: Age of Hun-Bulgar Domination (679-852) |publisher=Science and Arts Publishers, 2nd Edition (Petar Petrov, Ed.), Zahari Stoyanov Publishers, 4th Edition, 2006 |language=bg |year=1918 |location=Sofia |url=http://promacedonia.org/vz1a/vz1a_a_1.html |isbn=954-739-928-4}}
* {{Citation |last=Pohl |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Pohl |chapter=Conceptions of Ethnicity in Early Medieval Studies |chapter-url=http://www.kroraina.com/bulgar/pohl_etnicity.html |title=Debating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings |editor1=Lester K. Little |editor2=Barbara H. Rosenwein |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |year=1998 |pages=13–24}}
* {{Cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |title=A History of the First Bulgarian Empire |publisher=G. Bell & Sons, London |year=1930 |url=http://www.promacedonia.org/en/sr/index.html}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Hyun Jin |author-link=Hyun Jin Kim |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jCpncXFzoFgC |isbn=9781107009066}}

{{Royal houses of Bulgaria}}
{{Bulgarian monarchs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dulo Clan}}
[[Category:Dulo clan|*]]