Alcek
Encyclopedia
Alcek was the leader of Bulgar
horde
that settled in the villages of Gallo Matese
, Sepino
, Boiano and Isernia
in the Matese mountains of central Italy
. His name is variously spelled Altsek, Altzek, or Alzec.
In 631 a war for the throne broke out between an Avar leader and Alcek. Eventually defeated, Alcek fled to Bavaria
where they asked the Frankish king Dagobert I
for a piece of land to settle in. The king at first allowed them some land, but one night he ordered his army to slaughter the Bulgars. Only 700 out of 9,000 survived the slaughter and fled to Italy, where they gained permission from the King of the Lombards, Grimoald
, to settle in the area of Ravenna
. Eventually they were sent south into the Duchy of Benevento
, where Alcek was granted the rule of their settlements with the Italian title of gastald
.
Human graves of a steppe-nomadic character as well as horse burials datable to the second half of the eighth century attest to the presence of the Bulgars in the Molise
and Campania
. In the lifetime of Paul the Deacon
, he recorded that the descendants of these Bulgars still spoke their language, as well as Latin.
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
horde
Horde
Horde may refer to:* Ordo * a clan or army of steppe nomads . See Orda * the Blue and White Horde, formed 1226, 1227* the Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s...
that settled in the villages of Gallo Matese
Gallo Matese
Gallo Matese is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located in a valley near the Matese Apennines chain and the boundary with Molise, about 70 km north of Naples and about 45 km north of Caserta. Its territory is also home of an artificial lake with the...
, Sepino
Sepino
Sepino is a comune in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian region Molise, located about 20 km south of Campobasso....
, Boiano and Isernia
Isernia
Isernia Isernia Isernia (Latin: Aesernia or, in Pliny and later writers, Eserninus, or in the Antonine Itinerary, Serni is a town and comune in the central Italian region of Molise, and the capital of Isernia province.- Geography :...
in the Matese mountains of central Italy
Central Italy
Central Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency...
. His name is variously spelled Altsek, Altzek, or Alzec.
In 631 a war for the throne broke out between an Avar leader and Alcek. Eventually defeated, Alcek fled to Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
where they asked the Frankish king Dagobert I
Dagobert I
Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia , king of all the Franks , and king of Neustria and Burgundy . He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power...
for a piece of land to settle in. The king at first allowed them some land, but one night he ordered his army to slaughter the Bulgars. Only 700 out of 9,000 survived the slaughter and fled to Italy, where they gained permission from the King of the Lombards, Grimoald
Grimoald I of Benevento
Grimoald I was duke of Benevento and king of the Lombards .Born probably before 610 to Duke Gisulf II of Friuli and the Bavarian princess Ramhilde, daughter of Duke Garibald I of Bavaria, he succeeded his brother Radoald as duke of Benevento...
, to settle in the area of Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
. Eventually they were sent south into the Duchy of Benevento
Duchy of Benevento
The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombard duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno. Owing to the Ducatus Romanus of the popes, which cut it off from the rest of Lombard Italy, Benevento was from the first practically...
, where Alcek was granted the rule of their settlements with the Italian title of gastald
Gastald
A gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside...
.
Human graves of a steppe-nomadic character as well as horse burials datable to the second half of the eighth century attest to the presence of the Bulgars in the Molise
Molise
Molise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...
and Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
. In the lifetime of Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...
, he recorded that the descendants of these Bulgars still spoke their language, as well as Latin.
Sources
- Dillon, John B. "Bulgars". Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia, ed. Christopher Kleinhenz. London: Routledge, 2004.
- D'Amico, Vincenzo. I Bulgari trasmigrati in Italia nei secoli VI e VII dell’era volgare e loro speciale diffusione nel Sannio. Campobasso, 1933..