232 CHAPTER 5
that all the subjugated territories had a tudun. On the contrary, the accounts
regarding Khazar tuduns are extremely few in number and limited in time.
There is only one mention of a Khazar tudun in Chersonesus (on the Crimean
Peninsula) between the years 705 and 711. Even then the city was part of the
Byzantine Empire. Therefore, the position of the tudun signified a representa-
tive of the khagan, and not a local governor of a subjugated territory. In the
Turkic Khaganates, the tuduns oversaw the administration of the conquered
lands, which continued to be governed by their own rulers.32 S. Pletneva’s argu-
ment that there was a Bulgarian ruler and a Khazar tudun in Bosporus and
Phanagoria33 cannot be proven.
During the same period (703–704), the governor of Bosporus bore the title
of balgitzi. Regardless of the various opinions on the matter, it is clear that
this was the Khazar governor of the city (region). A similar title, bolushchi,
is also mentioned in the Cambridge Document, regarding the Samkerts gov-
ernor Pesakh (the mid-tenth century).34 The governors in question are prob-
ably sovereign administrative ones that answered directly to the khagan, with
both cities having no other (local) authorities. In Joseph’s letter, Bosporus and
Samkerts are mentioned in a region, where no ethnic groups or tributary tribes
are named.
It is therefore unclear to me why A. Novosel’tsev speaks with certainty about
the existence of tuduns not only in the Crimea, but also in Volga Bulgaria.35 Ibn
Fadlan’s account, which remains the only source on the status of this Bulgar
state that was subjugated to the Khazar Khaganate, does not mention such
a title. At this time (the early tenth century), the ruler of the Volga Bulgars
Almish bore the title elteber. The same title was also borne by the ruler of the
Caucasian Huns in Dagestan at the end of the seventh century. Written sources
indicate that both rulers were subjects of the Khazar khagan, but enjoyed con-
siderable autonomy in their domestic and, to some extent, foreign policy. In
32 Golden 1980, 215–216; Naumenko 2004b, 97–98. According to Pritsak 1981b, no. 11, 264–265,
the Khazar Khaganate used three types of governance over the “city-states”, one of which
was through a Khazar governor, called a tudun. Baranov 1990, 148–149 rejects in general
the existence of a tudun position in Khazaria.
33 Pletneva 1976, 32. The same applies to the view of Tortika 2006a, 143, according to whom
the forest-steppe area of the Don Region was controlled by at least three tuduns.
34 It is not clear what this title exactly signifies (given that balgitzi and bolushchi are the
same), since it does not appear anywhere else in the written sources. According to
Bozhilov and Dimitrov 1995, 51–52, it was borne by the ruler of the Black Bulgars. Still, the
meaning of the title remains unclear—see for instance Golden 1980, 165; Pritsak 1981b,
no. 11, 264–265; Novosel’tsev 1990, 144; Naumenko 2004b, 98–99; Tortika 2006a, 255.
35 Novosel’tsev 1990, 108.