View source for Seven Slavic tribes

{{Short description|Union of Slavic peoples in present-day northern Bulgaria from the 7th-9th centuries}}
[[Image:Balkans about 680 A.D., foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire.png|right|thumb|upright|Seven slavic tribes during the foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681]]

The '''Seven Slavic tribes''' ({{langx|bg|Седемте славянски племена|Sedemte slavyanski plemena}}), or the '''Seven clans''' ({{langx|bg|Седемте рода|Sedemte roda|links=no}}) were a union of [[Slavic tribes]] in the [[Danubian Plain (Bulgaria)|Danubian Plain]], that was established around the middle of the 7th century and took part in the formation of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] together with the [[Bulgars]] in 680−681.<ref>[http://www.promacedonia.org/pp2/pp_1_1_3.htm Образуване на българската държава, Петър Петров, стр. 73-91.]</ref>

Since its establishment, it faced attacks from the [[Byzantine Empire]]. The Bulgars crossed the Danube and in the 670s they concluded an alliance with the Slavic Union. [[Theophanes the Confessor|Theophanes]] writes that the Bulgars became masters of the Slavs. The Slavic Union recognized the sovereignty of Khan [[Asparuh of Bulgaria|Asparuh]] and together, in the spring of 681, they won a major victory over the Byzantines.

In the late 7th century the Seven tribes were assigned the defence of the newly-established Bulgar Khanate's western and northwestern border (the [[Iskar River]] up to its mouth in the [[Danube]]) against [[Pannonian Avars|Avar]] raids, as well as some of the passes of the [[Balkan Mountains]], whereas the [[Severi (tribe)|Severi]], whose possible participation in the union is not clear, would guard the eastern part of the mountains.<ref>{{cite book | last = Collective | year = 2002 | title = Balgarska entsiklopediya A-YA | publisher = IK Trud | url = http://www.znam.bg/com/action/showArticle/short?encID=1&article=3005290426&ctx=search57800&sectionID=1#selectedarticle | location = Sofia | language = bg}}</ref> 

The Seven Slavic tribes, together with other Slavic and non-Slavic tribes of the Bulgarian Empire, gradually formed the [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] [[ethnicity]] in the 9th century due to the [[Christianization of Bulgaria]] under [[Boris I of Bulgaria|Boris I]] and the preceding administrative reforms that deprived them of their autonomy and self-government through the Comitatus.

==See also==
*[[List of Medieval Slavic tribes]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
{{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century)}}
{{Bulgaria-stub}}

[[Category:First Bulgarian Empire]]
[[Category:South Slavic tribes]]
[[Category:Slavic tribes in Thrace and Moesia]]