The Pechenegs In Khazar History 141
According to A. Sakharov, “the treaty of 944 gave Rus’ an opportunity for
action against Khazaria with the support of the Byzantine army”.71 Military
clauses, affecting the Northern Black Sea region, point to the establishment of
“a military alliance between Rus’ and Byzantium against the Khazar Khaganate
and its allies”.72 The participation of Rus’ forces in the Byzantine army after 944
is recorded for the first time in 949, when a military campaign was launched
against Crete.73 Of particular interest is the account of Al-Masudi regarding
the allied actions of the two states against the Syrian ruler Sayf Al-Dawla dur-
ing the 950s. In his last work, The Book of Notification and Review, written in
the year of his death, 956, Al-Masudi states that many of the Rus’ had “recently
entered the community of Ar-Rum (the Byzantine community), as had the
Al-Arman (the Armenians) and Al-Burgar (the Bulgarians) [.. .] and Al-Bajanak
(the Pechenegs) [.. .] And they (the Byzantines) relocated them (the Rus’,
Armenians, Bulgarians and the Pechenegs) to garrisons in many of their for-
tresses near the border with Ash-Shamiyah (Syria) and directed them at Burjan
and the other peoples that were hostile to them and surrounded their lands”.74
Firstly, the account shows that the alliance between the Byzantines,
Armenians, Bulgarians (the Danubian ones) and the Rus’ (their good relations
at that time are noted in other sources as well) also included the Pechenegs.
Ibn Al-Asir (1160–1234) talks about the military operations that the Byzantines,
Bulgarians, Rus’ and Armenians conducted against Syria in 954 and 955, with-
out including the Pechenegs in his account.75 Of particular importance in this
case is the addition, made by Al-Masudi: according to him, this military alli-
ance was not only related to the campaign against Syria, but was also directed
against the other enemies of the empire.
The only specific name, mentioned by Al-Masudi in this regard, is Burjan.
In Eastern literature, this term is used for two nations—the Burgundians
and the Bulgars. V. Beilis rejects the possibility that Burjan referred to the
Burgundians (who are mentioned this way only once) and assumes that the
word was “some generalized name for the European enemies of Byzantium, of
whom our author had only a vague knowledge”.76 It is generally accepted that
in Eastern literature Burjan referred to the Danubian Bulgarians, but in this
71 Sakharov 1984, 228.
72 Sakharov 1984, 227.
73 Levchenko 1956, 21.
74 Beilis 1961, 23.
75 Beilis 1961, 28; Levchenko 1956, 216–217. It is quite probable that this account refers to the
Bulgars of Asia Minor, situated in today’s East Turkey (see Venedikova 1998).
76 Beilis 1961, 30.