Avars, The

AVARS, THE: A tribe related to the Huns, who from the middle of the sixth century came into contact with the Christian nations—first with the Byzantine empire, and then with the Frankish kingdom; but they learned Christianity from neither of these. Virgil of Salzburg seems to have been the first to attempt their conversion, and Charlemagne supported him. Duke Tassilo of Bavaria summoned them to Germany as allies against him; in 788 they attacked the Frankish kingdom from two sides, but were repulsed on both, and the struggle ended with their complete subjugation in 796, when they accepted Christianity as one of the conditions of peace. The territory thus won for Charlemagne and Christian missions extended from the Enns and the slopes of the Styrian Alps to the Danube. It was divided between the dioceses of Aquileia, Salzburg, and Passau. The Avars, however, soon afterward disappeared from history, probably being absorbed by the Slavic population which formed a majority in their territory.

A. Hauck.

Bibliography: Schiefner, Versuch über das Awarische, St. Petersburg, 1862; Hauck, KD, ii, 419.