“The Avars were large of stature and proud of spirit, and God destroyed them. They all perished, and not one Avar survived. There is to this day a proverb in Rus’ [sic] which runs, ‘They perished like the Avars.’ Neither race nor heir of them remains. The Pechnegs came after them, and the Magyars passed by Kiev later during the time of Oleg.” (The Primary Russian Chronicle)

During the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the establishment of medieval Europe, which was once commonly referred to as the Dark Ages, many different tribes migrated across Europe, feeding on what was left of Rome and attempting to establish new kingdoms in the vacuum. Most of these tribes were Germanic in ethnicity and language and shared the same goals of either entering Roman territory to become Roman citizens or tearing down Rome completely. These tribes caused havoc on the edge of Roman territory in Europe, and Rome’s cultural and political power gradually transferred to Constantinople, which became the seat of the Byzantine Empire.

The Germanic tribes eventually coalesced into kingdoms and laid the foundation for the Middle Ages in Western Europe, while the Byzantine Empire carried on many Roman traditions and extended its influence into Eastern Europe. The road to the Middle Ages, though, was uneven and often quite violent. Many peoples and kingdoms collapsed at the hands of groups in their earliest stages of development, one of which was the Avars.

The Avars entered Eastern Europe from the Central Asian steppes in the 6th century, and like the Huns before them and the Cumans and Magyars after them, the Avars were raiders and warriors who lived on their horses. The Avars’ impact on Europe was immediately felt, and from the Byzantine Empire to the Merovingian Kingdom in Gaul, some of Europe’s strongest powers had to learn how to deal with these new people through a combination of diplomacy and warfare. Eventually, the Avars established themselves in what is today Hungary and played an important role in the development of European history during its transitional period by earning a reputation as a fearsome and sometimes avaricious group. The medieval sources described the Avars as efficient and brutal horseback warriors who could devastate entire kingdoms in a matter of days and leave just as quickly, usually with the region’s women and treasures. The chroniclers, who were usually members of the Church, related how brutal the Avars were and the apparent supernatural powers they had.

The reality is that although the Avars may have been an effective war machine for more than 200 years, they were not much different than other ethnic groups in Europe at the time, and there was much more to Avar culture than just war. Archaeological excavations have revealed that the Avars developed unique artistic styles, practiced a religion that was similar to that of other steppe peoples, and peacefully traded with non-Avars. By the mid-eighth century, the Avars were becoming a sedentary people and might have joined the ranks of medieval European kingdoms as the Magyars later did if not for a conflict with Charlemagne and the Franks that ended their time in Europe.