Salan

Salan, Dux Salanus or Zalan (Bulgarian and Serbian Cyrillic: Салан or Залан; Hungarian: Zalán; Romanian: Salanus) was, according to the Gesta Hungarorum, a local Bulgarianvoivod (duke) who ruled in the 9th century between Danube and Tisa rivers in the south and Carpathians in the north. The capital of his voivodship (duchy) was Titel. The exact border of his duchy is not clear: according to some sources, his duchy included present-day northern Serbia, much of present-day central Hungary, present-day eastern Slovakia and part of present-day western Ukraine and northern Romania, while according to other sources his duchy included only present-day Bačka region of Serbia and Hungary.

History

According to Gesta Hungarorum, Salan (Salanus) was an Orthodox vassal of the Byzantine Empire or of the Bulgarian tsar (Emperor), but it is not clear if he was of Bulgarian origin or from the local Slavic, Vlach or Avar population. Serbian historian Dr Aleksa Ivić supposes that Salan was a Slavic king. The chronicle states that he was descendant of the Bulgarian Khan who conquered the territory up to the borders of Russia and Poland after the death of Attila the Hun.