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Ahtum (Bulgarian and Serbian Cyrillic: Ахтум; Hungarian: Ajtony; also spelled Ohtum or Achtum) was an early 11th century voivod (duke) of Banat (now mostly divided between Romania and Serbia) and a descendant of Glad, another local duke and governor in the First Bulgarian Empire. Ahtum was the last local ruler who opposed to the establishment of Hungarian Kingdom.
Life
Ahtum was of Christian Orthodox faith, an ally of the Byzantine Empire and was sustained by an army of Cumans, Bulgarians and Vlachs. He was baptized as Orthodox Christian in Vidin, but even after he became Christian, Ahtum had 7 wives. Territory where he ruled was located between Mureş, Tisa, and Danube rivers, and southern Carpathians, in the region, which was, latter, named Banat.
Various sources mention that Ahtum was vassal of the First Bulgarian Empire (referred as Macedonian Empire in Serbian sources ), vassal of the Kingdom of Hungary and independent ruler. According to one source, his capital was located near river Mureş, while according to another source his capital was Vidin. Ahtum also built many churches and monasteries through which he was spreading Christianity in Transylvania.
Ahtum was eventually defeated by the Hungarian Kingdom, in the time of Hungarian King Stephen. The date of the defeat is not clear, some historians suggesting 1028, while others around 1002. According to the Gesta Hungarorum, Ahtum was killed by Csanad, the son of Bobuka. After his death, the Banat is included in the Hungarian Kingdom.
Sources
The main historical source about Ahtum is the Legend of Saint Gerard (Sancti Gerardi) and he is also mentioned in the Anonymus' Gesta Hungarorum. Its mention in the Legend has nothing to do with the life of Saint Gerard. This story was probably inserted in order to emphasise a victory of a Roman Catholic rite ruler against an Orthodox rite one at a time when the Popes were trying to expand their influence in South-Eastern Europe.
The Legend of Saint Gerard discloses that followers of a Bulgarian dualist heresy called Bogomilism were present in Ahtum's realm. They invoked the Archangel Uriel whose name is common in amulets and magic rituals.
Another fact proving the close connections between Ahtum and Bulgaria is the architectural plan of the five-apse church which he built in the Cenad fortress. It closely copies that of a church in Vinitsa near the Old Bulgarian capital of Preslav (893-971).
Literature
- Kristó, G., "Aitony and Vidin", in Turkish-Bulgarian-Hungarian Relations (VI.-XI. c.) (Budapest, 1981) (Studia Turco-Hungarica, 5), pp. 129-135.
- Peter Rokai, Zoltan Đere, Tibor Pal, Aleksandar Kasaš, "Istorija Mađara", Beograd, 2002.
- E. v. Ivánka, "Gerardus Moresanus, der Erzengel Uriel und die Bogomilen", Orientalia Christiana Periodica, XXI, 1-2 (1955) (Miscellanea Georg Hofmann S.J.), S. 143-146.
- S. Móré Heitel, "Despre biserica lui Ahtum de la Morisena (Cenad)", Studii şi materiale de istorie medie, XXIII (2005), pp. 9-21.