Kutilzis

**Kutilzis** was a leader of the Khazars in the 9th century. He is attested in contemporary sources from the Byzantine and Abbasid empires, and in later sources from the Kingdom of Hungary. Kutilzis clashed with the Byzantines under Michael Syntiritis on multiple occasions, even defeating him twice in the Caucasus.

## Biography

### Early life

Kutilzis was born some time in the 850s. In Hungarian manuscripts from the 1000s, Kutilzis is cited as being a “prince of the Don” by 873. The first contemporary source of his existence is a brief mention in a Byzantine manuscript in which it says that Kutilzis “led Khazars against the Bolghar Khan” near the Dniester.

### Reign over the Khazars

Contemporary Byzantine sources state that Kutilzis usurped the Khazar throne in 877. He made his capital at Sarkel. Kutilzis was the first and only Pagan khagan in a while, disrupting the Khazar Jewish tradition.

Hungarian sources also state that around this time, Kutilzis “subjugated the Magyars of Etelköz”. This is most often interpreted as meaning that he enforced tribute upon them, although it is also possible that Kutilzis vassalized or conquered the early Hungarians. So, the Hungarians would remain tributaries of Khazaria for about twenty years, until their migration to Pannonia.

In 881 or 882, Kutilzis probably clashed with the Byzantines, somewhere near Chersonesus. It was after this defeat that a letter to the Byzantine emperor Michael IV addressed Kutilzis as “slayer of Romans and Sklabenoi”. From this, it is inferred that Kutilzis clashed with or even subjugated the Slavic tribes of the Dnieper. It is also mentioned in the letter that Kutilzis “enacted tribute upon the people of the Caucasus”. This is generally taken as meaning the Abkhazians and Alanians.

#### Battles of Samtredia, Bakuriani, and Tsolakert

There are two battles in which Kutilzis fought and won against the Byzantines, and he would aid the Abbasids in a third battle, one which he would die in.

At Samtredia, Eusthatius tells us that the Byzantines had decided to invade Abkhazia in the spring of 889 to liberate it from Khazar tributary. The Byzantines numbered about 18,500 and the Khazars numbered probably around 22,000. The Khazar forces met them at Samtredia. Both the Byzantines and Khazars were exhausted from crossing mountains. For the Byzantines, it was the Meskheti Range, and for the Khazars, it was the Caucasus Mountains. The Khazar cavalry, located across the river from the Byzantines, waited for their enemies to cross the river, which they did, but not before raining down many arrows upon the Khazars, inflicting some, but not many losses. Upon the Byzantine crossing of the river, the Khazar cavalry charged them, destroying the Byzantine force, and leaving little survivors.

In summer, the Khazars moved down the mountain passes, chasing the Byzantines to a valley known as Bakuriani in the native Georgian language. The Khazars probably numbered around 19,000 at this point, with the Byzantines, who had received reinforcements, numbering around 12,000. Due to the Khazar unfamiliarity and unsuitability with the Georgian geography, the Khazars started off losing, but due to the death of an important Byzantine commander, Basil Diogenes, at the hands of a Khazar warrior, the tide would start to turn in the Khazars' favor. Due to the demoralization of the Byzantines, as well as the numerical superiority of the Khazars, the Byzantines would lose to the Khazars and Kutilzis yet again.

After Bakuriani, Kutilzis appears to have gone back home to Sarkel, to quell local revolts and to enforce his rule over some other tributaries, such as the Magyars, who appeared to be slipping away from Khazar control, as they would migrate to Pannonia very soon. However, Kutilzis would return to Anatolia in 892 to fight the Byzantines once again.

The Khazars once again journeyed over the Caucasus, eventually reaching the Armenian city of Tsolakert. Kutilzis would meet with the Abbasid commander near Tsolakert, where the two agreed to fight alongside eachother in battle. However, Michael IV himself, as well as the Armenian king Malkhas (who would ironically die in battle against the Abbasids a few years later), would be leading the opposing forces. The Khazars fought well, and they were succeeding, due to the area's geography, being very flat and easily used by cavalry. However, it is said that after hours of fighting, Kutilzis was killed by an Armenian warrior. The Khazar forces, seeing the death of their emperor, would charge the Armenians, devastating their army, and allowing both the remaining Khazars and the Abbasids to focus on fighting the Byzantines. The Abbasids and Khazars won the battle, but Kutilzis died, and the Khazars would never reach the same heights they reached under him.

After Kutilzis' death, his son, Baghatur, took control of Khazaria, and many of the gains Kutilzis made would be lost. The Magyars, Alans, Slavs, and Abkhazians all broke free from Khazar control. The Khazars never attempted to reconquer any of the lost lands, and would mostly stay the same, with the nobility and Baghatur converting back to Judaism shortly after Kutilzis' death.