Teleryg 1 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | M/L VIII |
| Dates | 772 (taq) / 777 (tpq) |
| Variant Names | Telerigos |
| Ethnicity | Bulgar |
| Locations | Constantinople; Bulgaria; Bulgaria (residence); Bulgaria (officeplace) |
| Titles | Patrikios (dignity); Ruler of the Bulgars (office) |
| Textual Sources | Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle); Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history) |
| Seal Sources | Oikonomides, N., A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Washington, DC, 1986); Zacos, G. and Veglery, A., Byzantine Lead Seals, vol. I (in 3 parts) (Basel, 1972). |
Teleryg 1 was ruler of Bulgaria from 772/773 to 777; see Grumel, Chronologie, p. 388. As the ruler of Bulgaria (ὁ δὲ Τελέριγος, ὁ κῦρις Βουλγαρίας), in 775 he tricked the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) into disclosing the names of the emperor's secret allies among the Bulgars; he then executed them: Theoph. AM 6266, cf. Zon. XV 8. 11-14 (ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀρχηγὸς Τελέριχος).
Probably identical with the ruler of the Bulgars (ὁ κῦρις Βουλγαρίας) who planned with a large army to capture Berzitia but was ambushed by Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) after his plans were disclosed by the emperor's secret informants and who was badly defeated: Theoph. AM 6265 (late in 772).
In 776/777, still ruler of the Bulgars (Τελέριγος, ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων κύριος), Teleryg 1 fled for refuge to the emperor (Leo IV, Leo 4); he was made a patrikios and married a cousin of the empress Eirene 1 (Anonyma 10), and was also baptised and treated with great honour: Theoph. AM 6269 (καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν πατρίκιον ζεύξας αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Εἰρήνης ἐξαδέλφην).
Teleryg 1 was the owner of an extant seal: Zacos and Veglery 3188 = Oikonomides, Dated Seals, p. 51, no. 41. The inscription reads: τω σω - δουλω - + Τελ - ερυγ Θε - οφυλακ - τω πατρ - ικιω). The seal has on the obverse a cruciform monogram of Χριστὲ βοήθει. The date of the seal is in or after 776/777. Oikonomides rightly sees in the name "Theophylaktos" the name which was given to Teleryg when he was baptised; see Oikonomides, Dated Seals, p. 51. See also Runciman, First Bulgarian Empire, pp. 41-43.
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