According to the List of Old Bulgar Rulers, Kormesios 1's name was Kormisosh and his family name was Vokil; the length of his reign was seventeen years; Runciman, First Bulgarian Empire, Appendix II, pp. 273 ("Kormisosh 17 years, his race Vokil, and his years shegor tvirem"), 277 (for the chronology). The List says that "this prince changed the race of Dulo, that is to say Vikhtum". All his predecessors as rulers named in the List were of the family of Dulo; he is the first from a different family. See also his successors Vinekh 1 (family Ukil), Telets 1 (family Ugain) and Umor (family Ukil).

He was ruler of the Bulgars from 740 to 756; see Grumel, Chronologie, p.388. He was allegedly ruler of the Bulgars (κύριον Βουλγαρίας) in 715/716, when he made a peace treaty with the Romans, then under Theodosios III (Theodosios 2) and the patriarch Germanos 8 (therefore between the consecration of Germanos 8 in August 715 and the overthrow of Theodosios 2 in late 716); the treaty was recalled by Krum 1 in 812: Theoph. AM 6305. In 715/716 the ruler of the Bulgars was not Kormesios but Tervel (Tervel 1), whose name should presumably be restored in the text. Possibly Kormesios 1 also at some time made a peace treaty with the Romans, leading to the confusion.

Kormesios 1 was ruler of the Bulgars some time before 763; he was the father-in-law of Sabinos 1 (Σαβῖνον, γαμβρὸν ὄντα Κορμεσίου τοῦ πάλαι κυρίου αὐτῶν): Theoph. AM 6254. See also Runciman, op. cit., pp. 35-37.

(Publishable link for this person: )