It is uncertain whether this Altsek can be identified with another Bulgar lord, Altsiok. According to the Chronicle of Fredegar, Altsiok deserted the Avar Khaganate in 631–632. Altsiok settled in Bavaria with 9,000 Bulgars under Frankish king Dagobert I. Altsiok is known to have moved to the Venetian March with his 700 remaining men after Dagobert I slaughtered most of his people.[3][4][5]
Paul the Deacon in his Historia Langobardorum writing after the year 787 says that in his time Bulgars still inhabited the area, and that even though they speak "Latin," "they have not forsaken the use of their own tongue."[7] In later times they had evidently become completely assimilated.
Human graves of a steppe nomadic character as well as horse burials dated to the second half of the 8th century AD attest to the presence of Bulgars in the Molise and Campania regions.[8]Toponyms containing the root bulgar and personal names such as Bulgari and di Bulgari continued to appear in medieval documents relating to the Italian Peninsula.
In the 17th century, Bulgarian Roman Catholics often visited Rome in their attempts to negotiate support for a Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Prominent religious and public leaders such as Petar Bogdan and Petar Parchevich spent time in the city. The first book printed in modern Bulgarian, Abagar, was published in Rome in 1651.[5]
^ abБакалов, Георги; Милен Куманов (2003). "Алцек". Електронно издание "История на България" (in Bulgarian). София: Труд, Сирма. ISBN954528613X.
^ abАнгелов, Димитър (1971). "Заселване на прабългарите в Балканския полуостров и образуване на славянобългарската държава". Образуване на българската народност (in Bulgarian). София: Наука и изкуство, "Векове". p. 204. OCLC19966366.
^ abcКолев, Йордан (2005). Българите извън България (in Bulgarian). София: Тангра ТанНакРа. pp. 261–265, 425. ISBN954-9942-73-2.
^"Chapter XXIX". History of the Langobards. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 19 September 2009. During these times a duke of the Bulgarians, Alzeco by name, left his own people, from what cause is unknown, and peacefully entering Italy with the whole army of his dukedom, came to king Grimuald, promising to serve him and to dwell in his country. And the king directing him to Beneventum to his son Romuald, ordered that the latter should assign to him and his people places to dwell in. [1] Duke Romuald, receiving them graciously, accorded to them extensive tracts to settle which had been deserted up to that time, namely, Sepinum (Sepino), Bovianum (Bojano), Isernia [2] and other cities with their territories and directed that Alzeco himself, the name of his title being changed, should be called gastaldius [3] instead of duke. And they dwell up to the present time in these places, as we have said, and although they also speak Latin, they have not at all forsaken the use of their own language.
Italy
