 Friar William described "Blakia" as "Assan's territory" south of the lower Danube, showing that he identified it with the northern regions of the Second Bulgarian Empire.On the border between Halych and the Brodniks, in the 11th century, a Viking by the name of Rodfos was killed in the area by Blakumen who supposedly betrayed him.In 1164 Vlach shepherds around the same region took the future Byzantine emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, as a prisoner.