Khanwulf
03-19-2018, 09:01 PM
First: thank you for the subforum. Yay!
So... Bulgaria, Furioso, Bradamant and Rogero.
I'm just going to assume that Ariosto had a good reason to tie his D'Este patrons back to the crown of Bulgaria. Not sure what that reason was, but ok. This period of Bulgarian history is of indecent interest to me, not the least because I share a real name with one of the key characters.
CK has Rogero murdered in 784 AD, after which Krum takes over and Queen Bradamant disappears (p.303) or dies with him (p.326). We don't know where Krum comes from, any more than we do historically--he's only assumed to be a Dulo....
Kardam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardam_of_Bulgaria) would like a word, and that word is "hey! What gives!"
I mean, the guy is mentioned in Byzantine sources in 791 AD, so he was around and in charge. Historians have assumed he took control after 777, and was born circa 735, which would make him pretty old by the end of the century. I assume the landowners had considered him a marginal case for khan for some reason, but he did ok by all accounts once he finally held the crown.
Also... Orlando Furioso indicates that only Rogero was killed seven years after his conversion. And then, Bradamant and Marfisa go on a world tour of revenge for the murder. Obviously, the assassins didn't get their children, either, or there would be no need for a D'Este line connection!
Let me propose a chronology that fixes much of KC's off-handed Bulgarian history.
777 - Bradamant and Rogero marry shortly after his conversion to Christianity. His seven-year clock starts ticking. Rogero accepts the crown of Bulgaria from the noble landowners, who are sick of their squabbling factions and willing to put a least-worst option candidate of good character in charge. Thus ends the Bulgarian crown chaos.
778 - Bradamant gives birth to a son. In honor of his new people, Khan Rogero names him "Krum". Sometime between here and 784 the Khan inducts Kardam, one of the last surviving members of the royal Dulo clan line, as his vizier and guide through clan politics. For a variety of reasons Kardam never fought his way to the top of the scrabble for Bulgarian kingship, earlier.
784 - Rogero is murdered. The assassins miss Krum and Bradamante, but may have nailed other children--or not. Bradamante was planning to take Krum to Charlemagne's court to serve as a page anyway, and accelerates these plans, leaving the regency of Bulgaria in Kardam's hands. Her arrival at the winter court in Eresburg makes the year much more interesting than the otherwise dull 784 provides.
785 - Marfisa returns and she and Bradamante hunt for Ruggiero's killers. Krum grows up in court. Kardam formally adopts the boy in-absentee to cement his rule.
791 - Krum becomes a squire, and between him and Kardam, Charlemagne finds it a good time to act on the Avar's perfidity and bring them permanently to heel.
796 - Krum is knighted, participates in the final destruction of the Avar Ring, and is released to return to Bulgaria and claim its crown. Kardam, now quite old, progressively relinquishes power (especially after 799) and serves again as vizier until he dies in 802 or 803.
799 - Krum leads the Bulgars to crush the Avars for the last time against the anvil of Charlemagne's knights. He has ended, permanently, Bulgarian subservience to the Avars, cementing his leadership over the clans and giving him the weight needed to reform Bulgarian law. He also adds large chunks of the Pannonian Plain--former Avar lands, to Bulgaria.
803 - Krum welcomes the scattering remnants of the once-great Avar state and incorporates them as subsidiary tribes, much as the Avars served as the head of their own confederation for centuries.
811 - Krum traps and destroys Nikephoros I and his army as they return from debauchery and assault on his capital, Pliska. He has the emperor's skull plated in silver as his favorite drinking cup.
813 - Krum is wounded by a treacherous ambush outside the walls of Byzantium, and his army retires without taking the city.
814 - Krum does not long survive Charlemagne, and dies in April, his wound having never fully healed and his plans to return and capture Constantinople prepared but unrealized. He is succeeded by his son, Omurtag.
Over succeeding generations Byzantine fury at Krum and his line is intense, and no direct descendants are known to have survived. Though, perhaps, some may have followed in the traces of the Lombards, changed their name and migrating to Italy as the D'Este of 700 years later....
--Khanwulf
So... Bulgaria, Furioso, Bradamant and Rogero.
I'm just going to assume that Ariosto had a good reason to tie his D'Este patrons back to the crown of Bulgaria. Not sure what that reason was, but ok. This period of Bulgarian history is of indecent interest to me, not the least because I share a real name with one of the key characters.
CK has Rogero murdered in 784 AD, after which Krum takes over and Queen Bradamant disappears (p.303) or dies with him (p.326). We don't know where Krum comes from, any more than we do historically--he's only assumed to be a Dulo....
Kardam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardam_of_Bulgaria) would like a word, and that word is "hey! What gives!"
I mean, the guy is mentioned in Byzantine sources in 791 AD, so he was around and in charge. Historians have assumed he took control after 777, and was born circa 735, which would make him pretty old by the end of the century. I assume the landowners had considered him a marginal case for khan for some reason, but he did ok by all accounts once he finally held the crown.
Also... Orlando Furioso indicates that only Rogero was killed seven years after his conversion. And then, Bradamant and Marfisa go on a world tour of revenge for the murder. Obviously, the assassins didn't get their children, either, or there would be no need for a D'Este line connection!
Let me propose a chronology that fixes much of KC's off-handed Bulgarian history.
777 - Bradamant and Rogero marry shortly after his conversion to Christianity. His seven-year clock starts ticking. Rogero accepts the crown of Bulgaria from the noble landowners, who are sick of their squabbling factions and willing to put a least-worst option candidate of good character in charge. Thus ends the Bulgarian crown chaos.
778 - Bradamant gives birth to a son. In honor of his new people, Khan Rogero names him "Krum". Sometime between here and 784 the Khan inducts Kardam, one of the last surviving members of the royal Dulo clan line, as his vizier and guide through clan politics. For a variety of reasons Kardam never fought his way to the top of the scrabble for Bulgarian kingship, earlier.
784 - Rogero is murdered. The assassins miss Krum and Bradamante, but may have nailed other children--or not. Bradamante was planning to take Krum to Charlemagne's court to serve as a page anyway, and accelerates these plans, leaving the regency of Bulgaria in Kardam's hands. Her arrival at the winter court in Eresburg makes the year much more interesting than the otherwise dull 784 provides.
785 - Marfisa returns and she and Bradamante hunt for Ruggiero's killers. Krum grows up in court. Kardam formally adopts the boy in-absentee to cement his rule.
791 - Krum becomes a squire, and between him and Kardam, Charlemagne finds it a good time to act on the Avar's perfidity and bring them permanently to heel.
796 - Krum is knighted, participates in the final destruction of the Avar Ring, and is released to return to Bulgaria and claim its crown. Kardam, now quite old, progressively relinquishes power (especially after 799) and serves again as vizier until he dies in 802 or 803.
799 - Krum leads the Bulgars to crush the Avars for the last time against the anvil of Charlemagne's knights. He has ended, permanently, Bulgarian subservience to the Avars, cementing his leadership over the clans and giving him the weight needed to reform Bulgarian law. He also adds large chunks of the Pannonian Plain--former Avar lands, to Bulgaria.
803 - Krum welcomes the scattering remnants of the once-great Avar state and incorporates them as subsidiary tribes, much as the Avars served as the head of their own confederation for centuries.
811 - Krum traps and destroys Nikephoros I and his army as they return from debauchery and assault on his capital, Pliska. He has the emperor's skull plated in silver as his favorite drinking cup.
813 - Krum is wounded by a treacherous ambush outside the walls of Byzantium, and his army retires without taking the city.
814 - Krum does not long survive Charlemagne, and dies in April, his wound having never fully healed and his plans to return and capture Constantinople prepared but unrealized. He is succeeded by his son, Omurtag.
Over succeeding generations Byzantine fury at Krum and his line is intense, and no direct descendants are known to have survived. Though, perhaps, some may have followed in the traces of the Lombards, changed their name and migrating to Italy as the D'Este of 700 years later....
--Khanwulf