Tervel of Bulgaria

Tervel Тервел
Khan of Bulgaria, Caesar
Modern icon of Khan Tervel
Reign	700–721
Predecessor	Asparukh
Successor	Kormesiy
Born	675
Died	721
House	Dulo
Father	Asparukh

Khan Tervel (Bulgarian: Тервел) also called Tarvel, or Terval, or Terbelis in some Byzantine sources, was the Khan of Bulgaria during the First Bulgarian Empire at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named him Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title. He was probably a Christian like his grandfather Khan Kubrat. Tervel played an important role in defeating the Arabs during the Siege of Constantinople in 717–718.

The Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans states that Tervel belonged to the Dulo clan and reigned for 21 years. According to the chronology developed by Moskov, Tervel would have reigned 695–715. Other chronologies place his reign in 701–718 or 700–721, but cannot be reconciled with the testimony of the Imennik. The testimony of the source and some later traditions allow identifying Tervel as the son and heir of his predecessor Asparukh, who had perhaps died in battle against the Khazars. The Emperor Tervel is a Bulgarian Saint, painted in many medieval and renaissance frescoes in many churches and monasteries in Bulgaria.

Tervel is first mentioned in the Byzantine sources in 704, when he was approached by the deposed and exiled Byzantine emperor Justinian II. Justinian acquired Tervel's support for an attempted restoration to the Byzantine throne in exchange for friendship, gifts, and his daughter in marriage. With an army of 15,000 horsemen provided by Tervel, Justinian suddenly advanced on Constantinople and managed to gain entrance into the city in 705. The restored emperor executed his supplanters, the emperors Leontius and Tiberius III, alongside many of their supporters. Justinian awarded Tervel with many gifts, the title of kaisar (Caesar), which made him second only to the emperor and the first foreign ruler in Byzantine history to receive such a title, and a territorial concession in northeastern Thrace, a region called Zagora. Whether Justinian's daughter Anastasia was married to Tervel as had been arranged is unknown.