82 CHAPTER 1
Similar is the role of the kavkhan in the Bulgarian state as a vicegerent of
the ruler in his absence.289 John Exarch writes: “As the prince, when going to
war or elsewhere, leaves a deputy to judge and exercise power, and with his
homecoming the latter loses his power; and when the prince does so many
times—appoints and removes the deputy, he himself always remains the
ruler and master, his power is not diminished by his absence, and his deputy
is always slavishly submissive—so the light rules the air with its brilliance”.290
According to V. Giuzelev, “for the Bulgarians of the Early Middle Ages the exis-
tence of the state was unthinkable not only without a king, but also without a
kavkhan”.291
A. Kaloianov expresses a rather different view, presuming that the vicege-
rent in Bulgaria was the kana boila kolobur.292 The koloburs are usually identi-
fied with priests (Magi), with the kana boila kolobur being seen as the high
priest. One of the main functions of the koloburs was to ward off the elemental
forces. Their position was not passive, meaning that they were not tied to a
particular temple or sanctuary. They were part of the army and participated
in military campaigns.293 According to A. Kaloianov, the reason Kana Persian
remained in Pliska during the military campaign of 837 was the apparition of
Halley’s Comet. It was seen as God’s omen for natural disasters, wars, epidem-
ics and last but not least—for the death of kings. Its apparition justified rebel-
lions against authority. The existence of such a notion in Bulgaria is confirmed
by John Exarch who noted that there were stars that foreboded the death of
kings. A. Kaloianov also quotes T. Mollov who sees a connection between
the murder of Aaron in 989 and the apparition of Halley’s Comet. Thus, in
view of this mystical celestial omen, in 837 the ruler’s vicegerent was the kana
boila kolobur.294 The theory of the vicegerency of the kana boila kolobur is
not incompatible with the vicegerency of the kavkhan. Given that the ruler
of Bulgaria held both the administrative, military and spiritual power, and the
kavkhan’s functions were associated with the first two, it seems only logical to
assume that there was also a vicegerent for the spiritual power, especially in
such exceptional occasions as the apparition of Halley’s Comet.
289 Giuzelev 2007, 115.
290 Giuzelev 2007, 115. See also Ioan Ekzarkh. Shestodnev, in Kochev 2000, 50.
291 Giuzelev 2007, 88.
292 Kaloianov 2003, 151–156.
293 On the koloburs, see Stepanov 1999a, 87–89; Stanilov 2003b, 22.
294 Kaloianov 2003, 151, 204, and 214–215; see also Mollov 1997, 111–120. A similar belief existed
in Bulgaria until the mid-nineteenth century, when the death of the Russian tsar was
explained with the apparition of a tailed star (Marinov 2003, 45).