NIKOLAOS [Nikola] [Kumet], son of --- (-[976] or before). Samuil, later Tsar of Bulgaria, names "my father, my mother, my brother…Nicolas…--- and David" in a monument erected in [992/93][108]. The evidence for his supposed Armenian origin is provided by the Armenian historian Asolik, who refers to "deux frères qui s´appelaient Komsajag…l´aîné…Samuel, de nationalité arménienne, originaire du canton de Derjan" (on the Euphrates, west of Erzerum), adds that Emperor Basilieos had brought them with mercenary troops to Macedonia to fight the Bulgars, that they defected "au roi des Bulgares, qui était eunuque" (referring to Roman, see above), and that "les Comitopoules occupèrent la pays bulgare et entrèrent en guerre acharnée contre l´empereur"[109]. While it is clear that Samuil´s mother´s name was Armenian (see below), the same cannot be said for Nikolaos, although it is possible that this was not his original name. No other information is known about Samuil´s father, or his more distant ancestry, but their family background was presumably modest in light of the passage from Asolik which is quoted above. It is assumed that he died before the revolt organised by his sons as he is not named in the primary sources in connection with this event.
m RIPSIME, daughter of --- (-before [992/93]). Samuil, later Tsar of Bulgaria, names "my father, my mother, my brother…Nicolas…--- and David" in a monument erected in [992/93][110]. Adontz quotes the monument (in Bulgarian) in full, including Samuil´s mother´s name. However, on the subsequent page he states that "du nom de la mère il ne reste que la dernière lettre" and that "Michel de Devol permet de le rétablir en témoignant que le père de Samuel s´appelait Nicolas et la mère ????µ?"[111]. Unfortunately, he gives no citation for this statement but on an earlier page quotes a passage inserted in another text written by "Michel évêque de Devol", and cites a German secondary source although it is not at all clear from what he writes that this is where the passage naming Samuil´s mother can be found[112]. No other information is known about Ripsimé. However, one somewhat outlandish scenario appears to reconcile the conflicts between the different primary sources, discussed below under Ripsimé´s supposed son Aaron, which relate to the parentage of her supposed four sons: that Ripsimé was the anonymous Armenian wife of Ivan, brother of Tsar Peter I, who married Nikolaos as her second husband, and that Aaron and Moisei were her sons by her first marriage, while Samuil and David were born to her second husband. As noted below, it is considered that this possibility is too remote to justify recasting the presentation of the families in the present document.
Nikola Kumet & his wife had [five] children