The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language . They are referred to as Polovtsy in Rus', Cumans in Western and Kipchaks in Eastern sources.
115-892: Related to the Pecheneg , they inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea and along the Volga River known as Cumania , from which the Cuman–Kipchaks meddled in the politics of the Caucasus and the Khwarazmian Empire . The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian Steppe who exerted an enduring influence on the medieval Balkans . They were numerous, culturally sophisticated, and militarily powerful. Many eventually settled west of
230-730: A combined Byzantine and Cuman army under Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos . Alexios I recruited the defeated Pechenegs, whom he settled in the district of Moglena (today in Macedonia ) into a tagma "of the Moglena Pechenegs". Attacked again in 1094 by the Cumans, many Pechenegs were slain or absorbed. The Byzantines defeated the Pechenegs again at the Battle of Beroia in 1122, on the territory of modern-day Bulgaria. With time
345-579: A commercial interest in Crimea , where they also took tribute from Crimean cities. A major area of commerce was the ancient city of Sudak , which Ibn al-Air viewed as the "city of the Qifjaq from which (flow) their material possessions. It is on the Khazar Sea. Ships come to it bearing clothes. The Qifjiqs buy from them and sell them slaves. Burtas furs, beaver, squirrels..." Due to their political dominance,
460-582: A disastrous defeat in 1180; Elrut, Konchek's brother died in battle. In 1177, a Cuman army that was allied with Ryazan sacked six cities that belonged to the Berendei and Torkil . In 1183, the Rus' defeated a large Cuman army and captured Khan Kobiak (Kobek) as well as his sons and other notables. Subsequently, Khan Konchek concluded negotiations. Like his son Khan Köten , preceding the Mongol invasion, Khan Konchek
575-536: A few Arab sources), while the name used in Rus' tended to be "Polovtsian". In Turkic languages qu , qun , qūn , quman or qoman means "pale, sallow, cream coloured", "pale yellow", or "yellowish grey". While it is normally assumed that the name referred to the Cumans' hair, Imre Baski—a prominent Turkologist —has suggested that it may have other origins, including: Observing that the Hungarian exonym for Cumans—i.e. Kun , Kunok —appeared as Cunus , Cuni in
690-528: A fortress or gate. The Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder (who lived in the 1st century AD), mentions "a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lay beyond" while describing the "Gates of Caucasus" ( Derbent , or Darial Gorge ),. The Greek philosopher Strabo (died c. 24 AD) refers to the Darial Gorge (also known as
805-530: A hollow tree, their original human ancestress gave birth to her son. Németh points to the Siberian qıpčaq "angry, quick-tempered" attested only in the Siberian Sağay dialect . Klyashtorny links Kipchak to qovï , qovuq "unfortunate, unlucky"; yet Golden sees a better match in qïv "good fortune" and adjectival suffix -čāq . Regardless, Golden notes that the ethnonym's original form and etymology "remain
920-518: A job (and dying from tuberculosis on 11 July 1770). Polenov resigned in April 1771. The Hypatian Codex was forgotten by almost everyone including empress Catherine in the decades thereafter. The Czech scholar Josef Dobrovský probably briefly examined it in autumn 1792. After the Khlebnikov Codex was accidentally discovered in the summer of 1809, Nikolay Karamzin began searching for
1035-588: A matter of contention and speculation". Kievan Rus' , Mamluk , Hungarian , and Chinese sources preserved the names of many Cuman-Kupchak tribal groupings: Seven Cuman tribes eventually settled in Hungary, namely: Baskakov thought that the Moguty, Tatrany, Revugy, Shelьbiry, and Topchaki belonged to the Chorni Klobuky . The original homeland of the Cumans is unknown before their eventual settlement in
1150-635: A military confrontation. In 1061, however, the Cumans, under the chieftain Sokal, invaded and devastated the Pereyaslavl principality; this began a war that would go on for 175 years. In 1068 at the Battle of the Alta River , the Cumans defeated the armies of the three sons of Yaroslav the Wise , Grand Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev , Prince Sviatoslav of Chernigov , and Prince Vsevolod of Pereyaslavl . After
1265-585: A resistance against the relentlessly advancing Mongols led by Jebe and Subutai . The Mongols crossed the Caucasus mountains in pursuit of Muhammad II , the shah of the Khwarezmid Empire , and met and defeated the Cumans in Subcaucasia in 1220. The Cuman khans Danylo Kobiakovych and Yurii Konchakovych died in battle, while the other Cumans, commanded by Khan Köten , managed to get aid from
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#17327723537431380-644: A role in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. ( Tokhara Yabghus , Turk Shahis ) After the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in 1237, many Cumans sought asylum in the Kingdom of Hungary , as many of them had already settled there in the previous decades. The Cumans also played an important role in
1495-629: A second attempt by the Mongols failed; the alliance then crossed the Dnieper River and marched eastward for nine days pursuing a small Mongol contingent, unknowingly being led by a false retreat. The battle took place near the Kalka River in 1223. Pecheneg ( Tokhara Yabghus , Turk Shahis ) The Pechenegs ( / ˈ p ɛ tʃ ə n ɛ ɡ / ) or Patzinaks were a semi-nomadic Oghuz Turkic people from Central Asia who spoke
1610-486: A state, instead forming a Cuman–Kipchak confederation ( Cumania /Desht-i Qipchaq/Zemlja Poloveckaja (Polovcian Land)/Pole Poloveckoe (Polovcian Plain)), which stretched from the Danube in the west to Taraz , Kazakhstan in the east. This was possibly due to their facing no prolonged threat before the Mongol invasion, and it may have either prolonged their existence or quickened their destruction. Robert Wolff states that it
1725-553: A year, however, as the Rus' had suffered from their raids for decades. But when news reached Kiev that the Mongols were marching along the Dniester River, the Rus' responded. Mstislav of Galich then arranged a council of war in Kiev, which was attended by Mstislav Romanovich , Prince Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal and Mstislav Svyatoslavich of Chernigov . The princes promised support to Khan Koten's Cumans and an alliance between
1840-545: Is a compendium of three Rus' chronicles : the Primary Chronicle , Kievan Chronicle and Galician-Volhynian Chronicle . It is the most important source of historical data about Kievan Rus' . The language of this work is Old Church Slavonic with many East Slavisms . The codex was discovered in Ukraine in 1617 by Zacharias Kopystensky , and was then copied by monks in 1621. The codex later known as
1955-500: Is called White Cumania, it is 50 miles. White Cumania is a large inhabited city ... Indeed, in this fifth part of the seventh section there is the northern part of the land of Russia and the northern part of the land of Cumania ... In this sixth part there is a description of the land of Inner Cumania and parts of the land of Bulgaria." According to the 12th-century Jewish traveler Petachiah of Regensburg "they have no king, only princes and royal families". Cumans interacted with
2070-642: Is hinted at in the remark of al-Biruni regarding a people that "are of the race of al-Lān and that of al-Ās and their language is a mixture of the languages of Khwarazmians and the Badjanak.". If the latter assumption is valid, the Kangars' ethnonym suggests that (East) Iranian elements contributed to the formation of the Pecheneg people but Spinei concedes that Pechenegs were of "a predominantly Turkic character... beyond any doubt". This may be mirrored in
2185-467: Is no means of travelling in this desert except in wagons." The Persian historian Hamdallah Mustawfi (1281–1349) wrote that Cumania has a cold climate and that it has excellent pasturage and numerous cattle and horses. The 14th-century Travels of Sir John Mandeville , note that Cumania is one of the great kingdoms in the world, but it is not all inhabited. For at one of the parts there is so great cold that no man may dwell there; and in another part there
2300-596: Is possible that certain tribes forming a part of the Cuman–Kipchak conglomerate were of Mongolic origin. Golden considers the Ölberli to have originally been Mongolic-speaking and argues that they were pushed westwards as a result of socio-political changes among the Khitans. The Syrian historian Yaqut (1179–1229) also mentions the Qun in The Dictionary of Countries , where he notes that "(the sixth iqlim) begins where
2415-465: Is so great heat that no man may endure it ... And the principal city of Comania is clept [called] Sarak [Serai], that is one of the three ways for to go into India. But by that way, he may not pass no great multitude of people, but if it be in winter. And that passage men clepe the Derbend. The other way is for to go from the city of Turkestan by Persia, and by that way be many journeys by desert. And
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#17327723537432530-541: Is uncertain whether this group's formation is connected to the Pechenegs' first or second migration (as it is proposed by Pritsak and Golden, respectively). According to Mahmud al-Kashgari, one of the Üçok clans of the Oghuz Turks was still formed by Pechenegs in the 1060s. In the 9th century, the Byzantines allied with the Pechenegs, using them to fend off other, more dangerous tribes such as Kievan Rus' and
2645-552: The Asen dynasty of the Second Bulgarian Empire, or who were in Byzantine service. Cumans at that time also resettled in the Kingdom of Georgia and were Christianized. There they achieved prominent positions , helped Georgians to stop the advance of Seljuk Turks , and helped make Georgia the most powerful kingdom of the region (they were referred to as naqivchaqari). After the death of the warlike Monomakh in 1125, Cumans returned to
2760-926: The Balkans , the Cumans were in contact with all the statal entities. They fought with the Kingdom of Hungary, allied with the Bulgarians of the Second Bulgarian Empire (they were the empire's most effective military component) and with the Vlachs against the Byzantine Empire . A variant of the oldest Turkic chronicle, Oghuzname (The Oghuz Khan's Tale), mentions the Cumans fighting the Magyars, Rus', Romanians (Ulak), and Bashkirs , who had refused to submit to their authority. In alliance with
2875-496: The Battle of the Stugna River , but they were defeated later by the combined forces of Rus principalities led by Monomakh and were forced out of the Rus' borders to the Caucasus. In these battles some Pecheneg and Oghuz groups were liberated from the Cumans and incorporated into the Rus' border-guard system. Khan Boniak launched invasions on Kiev in 1096, 1097, 1105, and 1107. In 1096, Boniak attacked Kiev and burned down
2990-547: The Black Sea and Constantinople , in turn leading Rus' to again attempt action. Offenses were halted during 1166–1169, when Grand prince Andrey Bogolyubsky , son of Khan Ayepa's daughter, took control of Kiev in 1169 and installed Gleb as his puppet. Gleb brought in "wild" Cumans as well as Oghuz and Berendei units. Later, the princes of the Principality of Chernigov attempted to use Khan Konchek's army against Kievan Rus' and Suzdal . This Chernigov-Cuman alliance suffered
3105-554: The Bulgarians and Vlachs , the Cumans are believed to have played a significant role in the uprising led by brothers Asen and Peter of Tarnovo , resulting in victory over Byzantium and the restoration of Bulgaria's independence in 1185. István Vásáry states that without the active participation of the Cumans, the Vlakho-Bulgarian rebels could never have gained the upper hand over the Byzantines, and ultimately without
3220-627: The Carpathian Mountains and laid siege on Przemyśl, which prompted David Igorevich, an ally of Volodar Rostislavich, to persuade the Cumans, under Khan Boniak and Altunopa, to attack the Hungarians. The Hungarian army was soundly crushed by the Cumans; the Illuminated Chronicle mentions that "rarely did Hungarians suffer such slaughter as in this battle." In 1104 the Cumans were allied with Prince Volodar. In 1106,
3335-723: The Chagatai word gang ("chariot"), semantically related to the Turkic Gaoche . Omeljan Pritsak proposed that the name had initially been a composite term (Kängär As , mentioned in Old Turkic texts) deriving from the Tocharian word for stone (kank) and the ethnonym As , suggesting that they were Tocharian-speaking or at least formed a confederation consisting of Tocharian, Eastern Iranian and Bulgaric Turkic elements. Their connection with Eastern Iranian elements
3450-733: The Cuman language became Crimea's lingua franca . Thus the language was adopted by the Karaite Jewish and Crimean Armenian communities (who produced many documents written in Kipchak with the Armenian alphabet), where it was preserved for centuries up to the modern day. The Cumans first encountered the Rus' in 1055, when they advanced towards the Rus' Pereyaslavl principality , but Prince Vsevolod reached an agreement with them thus avoiding
3565-538: The Hypatian manuscript was first mentioned in S. S. Bashilov's October 1767 letter to August Ludwig von Schlözer (Catherine had previously appointed Schlözer as full professor of Academy of Sciences on 3 January 1765 with a 5-year contract ). At some point after Schlözer left Saint Petersburg on 15 June 1765 (to organise education of Russian history students at the University of Göttingen ), but before autumn 1767,
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3680-708: The Hypatian Codex was most likely acquired from the Ipatievsky Monastery (Hypatian Monastery) in Kostroma on 15 May 1767. This would have happened during the May–June 1767 Volga voyage of Empress Catherine II ( r. 1762–1796 ), who was highly interested in reading Rus' chronicles, and collecting them all at the capital city of Saint Petersburg (one of the goals of her voyage). Count Vladimir Grigorievich Orlov (1743–1831), then director of
3795-537: The Hypatian Codex would not see the light until 1871. The codex contains the second-oldest surviving manuscript of the Primary Chronicle , after the Laurentian Codex . The Hypatian manuscript dates back to c. 1425, but it incorporates much precious information from the lost 12th-century Kievan and 13th-century Galician-Volhynia chronicles. The codex was possibly compiled at the end of
3910-541: The Hypatian Codex . It was rediscovered after he asked Academy president Novosiltsev to help find it, and delivered to Karamzin in Moscow in early October 1809. When Karamzin finally began publishing abstracts of the Hypatian Codex as part of his magnum opus History of the Russian State from 1816 onwards, the scholarly community was finally introduced with the codex on a large scale. The first full publication of
4025-672: The Kangly ; however, Wang Pu 's institutional historical work Tang Huiyao apparently distinguishes the Kang(ju) from the Kangheli (aka Kangly ). Menges saw in Kang-ar-as the plural-suffix -as , and Klyashtorny the Turkic numerus collectivus -ar- , -er- . Mahmud al-Kashgari , an 11th-century man of letters who specialized in Turkic dialects argued that the language spoken by
4140-530: The Latin Crusaders . Cuman troops continued to be hired throughout the 13th and 14th century by both the Bulgarians and Byzantines. The Cumans who remained east and south of the Carpathian Mountains established a county named Cumania, which was a strong military base in an area consisting of parts of Moldavia and Wallachia . Like most other peoples of medieval Eastern Europe, the Cumans put up
4255-663: The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences must have acquired it. Schlözer returned to Saint Petersburg in autumn 1766 one last time before settling in Göttingen definitively. Before leaving, he gave instructions to Bashilov, who was dissatisfied with his humble position at the Academy, unable to do and get credit for his own work. In the letter of 12 October 1767, Bashilov wrote that the codex had been delivered from
4370-426: The Magyars (Hungarians). The Uzes, another Turkic steppe people, eventually expelled the Pechenegs from their homeland; in the process, they also seized most of their livestock and other goods. An alliance of Oghuz , Kimeks , and Karluks was also pressing the Pechenegs, but another group, the Samanids , defeated that alliance. Driven further west by the Khazars and Cumans by 889, the Pechenegs in turn drove
4485-489: The Norman king of Sicily , William the Bad . A group of Pechenegs was present at the Battle of Andria in 1155. The Pechenegs as a group were last mentioned in 1168 as members of Turkic tribes known in the chronicles as the " Chorni Klobuky (Black Hats)". It is likely that the Pecheneg population of Hungary was decimated by the Mongol invasion of Hungary , but names of Pecheneg origin continue to be reported in official documents. The title of "Comes Bissenorum" (Count of
4600-436: The Old Rus translation of Josephus Flavius (ed. Meshcherskiy, 454) which adds "the Yas , as is known, descended from the Pecheneg tribe." On the basis of their fragmentary linguistic remains, scholars view them as Common Turkic -speakers, most probably Kipchak ( Németh , followed by Ligeti ) or Oguz ( Baskakov ). Hammer-Purgstall classifies the Chinese Kangju and Byzantine Kangar as purely Turkic name variants of
4715-680: The Pecheneg language . In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Pechenegs controlled much of the steppes of southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula . In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus' , and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars. The Pechenegs were mentioned as Bjnak , Bjanak or Bajanak in medieval Arabic and Persian texts, as Be-ča-nag in Classical Tibetan documents, and as Pačanak-i in works written in Georgian . Anna Komnene and other Byzantine authors referred to them as Patzinakoi or Patzinakitai . In medieval Latin texts,
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4830-487: The Rus' principalities, Bulgaria , the Byzantine Empire , and the Wallachian states in the Balkans ; with Armenia and the Kingdom of Georgia (see Kipchaks in Georgia ) in the Caucasus ; and with the Khwarezm Empire in Central Asia. The Cumans– Kipchaks constituted an important element and were closely associated with the Khwarazmian royal house via marital alliances. The Cumans were also active in commerce with traders from Central Asia to Venice . The Cumans had
4945-408: The Second Bulgarian Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Nicaea Empire 's Anatolia . The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages . The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people. Cuman appears in ancient Roman texts as the name of
5060-419: The Tobol-Irtysh and Baraba Tatars belongs to the Kypchak group . The Cumans entered the grasslands of the present-day southern Russian steppe in the 11th century AD and went on to assault the Byzantine Empire , the Kingdom of Hungary , the Principality of Pereyaslavl and Kievan Rus' . The Cumans' entry into the area pressed the Oghuz Turks to shift west, which in turn caused the Pechenegs to move to
5175-445: The " Torkmens , Pechenegs, Torks , and Polovcians " descended from "the godless sons of Ishmael , who had been sent as a chastisement to the Christians". The Turkic Khaganate collapsed in 744 which gave rise to a series of intertribal confrontations in the Eurasian steppes . The Karluks attacked the Oghuz Turks , forcing them to launch a westward migration towards the Pechenegs' lands. The Uighur envoy's report testifies that
5290-411: The 13th century. The title page, written in red letters, names it Лѣт̑писеч̑ Рускии . съ Бм҃ъ починаємь . ѡч҃е блгс̑в ("Rus' chronicle. Let us begin with God. Father, bless us"), and continues in black letters with Повѣсть временныхъ лѣт̑ ("The Tale of Bygone Years"). The flyleaf contains, in relatively recent handwriting, the title Лeтoпиceц Киeвcкий ("The Kievan Chronicle"), and includes
5405-412: The 800s to 1230 AD [the Cumans] spread their political influence in the broad steppes from Altai to Crimea and Danube . Irtysh with its adjoining steppes (at least below the lake Zaisan ) was in the sphere of that confederation. Members of the confederation undoubtedly also were the ancestors of the present Kumandy [in Altai] and Teleuts, which is evidenced by their language that like the language of
5520-439: The Academy of Sciences, accompanied the empress on the voyage and wrote in his diary that three chronicles were acquired from the Ipatievsky Monastery on 15 May 1767, which were subsequently sent to Moscow and ended up in the Petersburg Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Ever since, the Hypatian Codex has been preserved there with registration number "16.4.4". According to the Istoriia Biblioteki Akademii Nauk SSSR ,
5635-831: The Besenyő territory of the Pechenegs, where he taught and converted individuals to Islam. In the late 12th century, Abu Hamid al-Gharnati referred to Hungarian Pechenegs – probably Muslims – living disguised as Christians. In the southeast of Serbia, there is a village called Pečenjevce founded by Pechenegs. After war with Byzantium, the remnants of the tribes found refuge in the area, where they established their settlement. [REDACTED] Media related to Pechenegs at Wikimedia Commons Hypatian Chronicle The Hypatian Codex (also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis ; Belarusian : Іпацьеўскі летапіс ; Russian : Ипатьевская летопись ; Ukrainian : Іпатіївський літопис , romanized : Ipátijivśkyj litópys , IPA: [ipˈɑtʲijiu̯sʲkɪj lʲiˈtɔpɪs] )
5750-414: The Black Sea, influencing the politics of Kievan Rus' , the Galicia–Volhynia Principality , the Golden Horde Khanate, the Second Bulgarian Empire , the Kingdom of Serbia , the Kingdom of Hungary , Moldavia , the Kingdom of Georgia , the Byzantine Empire , the Empire of Nicaea , the Latin Empire , and Wallachia , with Cuman immigrants becoming integrated into each country's elite. The Cumans played
5865-422: The Chazars and the so-called Uzes. But fifty years ago the so-called Uzes made common cause with the Chazars and joined battle with the Pechenegs and prevailed over them and expelled them from their country, which the so-called Uzes have occupied till this day. [...] At the time when the Pechenegs were expelled from their country, some of them of their own will and personal decision stayed behind there and united with
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#17327723537435980-493: The Cuman victory, they repeatedly invaded Kievan Rus', devastating the land and taking captives, who became either their slaves or were sold at markets in the south. The most vulnerable regions were the Principality of Pereyaslavl, the Principality of Novgorod-Seversk and the Principality of Chernigov . The Cumans invaded and plundered the eastern part of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1091. The invading Cumans were leading by chieftain Kapolcs, they broke first in Transylvania , then
6095-430: The Cumans advanced into the Principality of Volhynia , but were repelled by Sviatopolk II . In 1114, the Cumans launched an invasion, from the western Romanian Plain, into the Byzantine Balkans once more. This was followed up by another incursion in 1123/1124. In 1135, the Cumans again invaded the Kingdom of Poland. During the second and third crusades, in 1147 and 1189, crusaders were attacked by Cumans, who were allied to
6210-444: The Cumans after they attacked the Kingdom of Hungary . In 1091, the Pechenegs , a semi-nomadic Turkic people of the prairies of southwestern Eurasia , were decisively defeated as an independent force at the Battle of Levounion by the combined forces of a Byzantine army under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and a Cuman army under Togortok/Tugorkan and Boniak. Attacked again in 1094 by the Cumans, many Pechenegs were again slain. Some of
6325-456: The Cumans and resulted in the liberation and incorporation of more Pecheneg and Oghuz tribes. During this time, the Cumans raided the Byzantine Empire and Volga Bulgaria . Volga Bulgaria was attacked again at a later stage, by Khan Ayepa, father-in-law of Grand Prince of Kiev Yuri Dolgorukiy , perhaps at his instigation. The Volga Bulgars in turn poisoned Ayepa "and the other princes; all of them died." In 1089, Ladislaus I of Hungary defeated
6440-423: The Cumans conquered the Kipchaks , if the Śari whom the Quns had defeated were to be identified as Kipchaks, or whether they simply represent the western mass of largely Kipchak-Turkic speaking tribes. The Quns and Śari (whom Czeglédy (1949:47-48,50) identifies with Yellow Uyghurs ) were possibly induced into the Kimek union or took over said union and absorbed the Kimek. As a result, the Kipchaks presumably replaced
6555-458: The Cumans encompassed the western half of the confederation, while the Kipchaks and (presumably) the Kangli/ Kankalis (possibly connected to three Pecheneg tribes known collectively as Kangars) encompassed the eastern half. This confederation and their living together may have made it difficult for historians to write exclusively about either nation. The Kipchaks' folk-etymology posited that their name meant 'hollow tree'; according to them, inside
6670-404: The Cumans threatened King Ladislaus with revenge and demanded to free the Cuman prisoners. King Ladislaus marched to the Hungarian border to prevent the next invasion. The two armies clashed near Severin , the Hungarian army was victorious, King Ladislaus killed Ákos, the Cuman chieftain. The Cumans initially managed to defeat the Grand Prince Vladimir II Monomakh of Kievan Rus' in 1093 at
6785-422: The Cumans were also fighting the Rus' . The Russian Primary Chronicle mentions Yemek Cumans who were active in the region of Volga Bulgaria . The vast territory of the Cuman–Kipchak realm consisted of loosely connected tribal units that represented a dominant military force but were never politically united by a strong central power; the khans acted on their own initiative. The Cuman–Kipchaks never established
6900-492: The Cumans were called Folban , Vallani or Valwe —all derivatives of Proto-Germanic root * falwa- meaning "pale" (> English "fallow"). In the German account by Adam of Bremen , and in Matthaios of Edessa , the Cumans were referred to as the "Blond Ones". As stated above, it is unknown whether the name Kipchak referred only to the Kipchaks proper, or to the Cumans as well. The two tribes eventually fused, lived together and probably exchanged weaponry, culture and languages;
7015-409: The Eurasian steppe's western part. Chinese authors mentioned a Tiele tribe named 渾 ( Mand. Hún (< MC * ɦuon ), possibly a transcription of underlying * Qun ) located north of the Tuul River . The writings of al-Marwazi (c. 1120) state that a Turkic "Qun" people came from the northern Chinese borders—"the land of Qitay" (possibly during a part of a migration from further east). After leaving
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#17327723537437130-515: The Iberian Gates or the Caucasian Gates) as Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana . The original meaning of the endonym Cuman is unknown. It is also often unclear whether a particular name refers to the Cumans alone, or to both the Cumans and the Kipchaks , as the two tribes often lived side by side. Most other Turkic-speaking people (as well as most Muslim sources) called the Cumans some variant of "Qipchaqs", while Armenians called them "Xartesk'ns". Qumans were primarily used by Byzantine authors (and
7245-553: The Ipatievsky Monastery to the Committee of the Academy of Sciences, where Alexei Yakovlevich Polenov (1738–1816) was given the task of describing and copying the Hypatian Codex in order to prepare it for publication. In response to Schlözer's request for more information on the codex, Bashilov provided more details, leading the excited Schlözer to write An Abstract from a Report from St. Petersburg dated 16 (27) December 1767 , which Johann Christoph Gatterer (1727–1799) included in his 1768 book published in Göttingen. Because Schlözer
7360-414: The Kangars received this denomination because "they are more valiant and noble than the rest" of the people "and that is what the title Kangar signifies". Because no Turkic word with a similar meaning is known, Ármin Vámbéry connected the ethnonym to the Kyrgyz words kangir ("agile"), kangirmak ("to go out riding") and kani-kara ("black-blooded"), while Carlile Aylmer Macartney associated it with
7475-447: The Kayala river in 1185 but was defeated; this battle was immortalized in the Rus' epic poem The Tale of Igor's Campaign , and Alexander Borodin 's opera, Prince Igor . The dynamic pattern of attacks and counterattacks between the Rus' and the Cumans indicates that both rarely, if ever, were able to attain the unity needed to deal a fatal blow. The Cuman attacks on the Rus' often had Caucasian and Danubian European implications. In
7590-417: The Khazars supremacy. In addition to these two branches, a third group of Pechenegs existed in this period: Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Ibn Fadlan mention that those who decided not to leave their homeland were incorporated into the Oghuz federation of Turkic tribes. Originally, the Pechenegs had their dwelling on the river Atil (Volga), and likewise on the river Geïch , having common frontiers with
7705-409: The Kimeks as the union's dominant group, while the Quns gained ascendancy over the westernmost tribes and became Quman (though difficulties remain with the Qun-Cuman link and how Qun became Cuman, e.g. qun + man "the real Quns"? > * qumman > quman ?). Kimeks were still represented amongst the Cuman– Kipchaks as Yimek ~ Yemek. Potapov writes that: ... during the period from the end of
7820-440: The Kipchaks, yet anthropologically speaking the majority of Turkic peoples had East Asian admixture and generally Kimeks –Kipchaks were dark-haired and brown-eyed. An alternative etymology of Polovtsy is also possible: the Slavic root *pȍlje "field" (cf. Polish, Russian pole ), which would therefore imply that Polovtsy were "men of the field" or "men of the steppe" in contrast to the Lipovtsi . In Germanic languages ,
7935-409: The Magyars west of the Dnieper River by 892. Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria employed the Pechenegs to help fend off the Magyars. The Pechenegs were so successful that they drove out the Magyars remaining in Etelköz and the Pontic steppes , forcing them westward towards the Pannonian plain , where they later founded the Hungarian state . By the 9th and 10th centuries, Pechenegs controlled much of
8050-431: The Oghuz and Pecheneg waged war against each other already in the 8th century, most probably for the control of the trade routes. The Oghuz made an alliance with the Karluks and Kimaks and defeated the Pechenegs and their allies in a battle near the Lake Aral before 850, according to the 10th-century scholar, Al-Masudi . Most Pechenegs launched a new migration towards the Volga River , but some groups were forced to join
8165-465: The Oghuz. The latter formed the 19th tribe of the Oghuz tribal federation in the 11th century. The Pechenegs who left their homeland settled between the Ural and Volga rivers. According to Gardizi and other Muslim scholars who based their works on 9th-century sources, the Pechenegs' new territory was quite large, with a 30-day-walk extension, and were bordered by the Cumans , Khazars , Oghuz Turks and Slavs . The same sources also narrate that
8280-668: The Pecheneg Horde moved towards the Danube , crossed the river, and disappeared out of the Pontic steppes . Pecheneg mercenaries served under the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert . After centuries of fighting involving all their neighbours—the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria , Kievan Rus', Khazaria, and the Magyars—the Pechenegs were annihilated as an independent force in 1091 at the Battle of Levounion by
8395-542: The Pecheneg realm, stretched west as far as the Siret River (or even the Eastern Carpathian Mountains ), and was four days distant from "Tourkias" (i.e. Hungary ). The whole of Patzinakia is divided into eight provinces with the same number of great princes. The provinces are these: the name of the first province is Irtim; of the second, Tzour; of the third, Gyla; of the fourth, Koulpeï; of
8510-596: The Pechenegs attacked and besieged Kiev ; some joined the Prince of Kiev, Sviatoslav I , in his Byzantine campaign of 970–971, though eventually they ambushed and killed the Kievan prince in 972. According to the Primary Chronicle , the Pecheneg Khan Kurya made a chalice from Sviatoslav's skull, in accordance with the custom of steppe nomads. The fortunes of the Rus'-Pecheneg confrontation swung during
8625-463: The Pechenegs fled to Hungary, as the Cumans themselves would do a few decades later. In 1091/1092 the Cumans, under Kopulch, raided Transylvania and Hungary, moving to Bihor and getting as far as the Tisza and Timiș rivers. Loaded with goods and prisoners they then split into three groups, after which they were attacked and defeated by King Ladislaus I. In 1092, the Cumans resumed their raids against
8740-625: The Pechenegs made regular raids against their neighbors, in particular against the Khazars and the latter's vassals, the Burtas , and sold their captives. The Khazars made an alliance with the Ouzes against the Pechenegs and attacked them from two directions. Outnumbered by the enemy, the Pechenegs were forced into a new westward migration. They marched across the Khazar Khaganate, invaded
8855-537: The Pechenegs south of the Danube lost their national identity and became fully assimilated, mostly with Romanians and Bulgarians . Significant communities settled in the Hungarian kingdom , around 150 villages. In the 12th century, according to Byzantine historian John Kinnamos , the Pechenegs fought as mercenaries for the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in southern Italy against
8970-671: The Pechenegs spoke a Turkic language. The Pechenegs are thought to have belonged to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic family , but their language is poorly documented and therefore difficult to further classify. Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos lists eight Pecheneg tribal groupings, four on each side of the Dnieper river , reflecting the bipartite left-right Turkic organization. These eight tribes were in turn divided into 40 sub-tribes, probably clans. Constantine VII also records
9085-463: The Pechenegs was a variant of the Cuman and Oghuz idioms. He suggested that foreign influences on the Pechenegs gave rise to phonetical differences between their tongue and the idiom spoken by other Turkic peoples. Anna Komnene likewise stated that the Pechenegs and the Cumans shared a common language. Although the Pecheneg language itself died out centuries ago, the names of the Pecheneg "provinces" recorded by Constantine Porphyrogenitus prove that
9200-1003: The Pechenegs were referred to as Pizenaci , Bisseni or Bessi . East Slavic peoples use the terms Pečenegi or Pečenezi (plural of Pečeneg ), while the Poles mention them as Pieczyngowie or Piecinigi . The Hungarian word for Pecheneg is Besenyő ; the Romanian term is Pecenegi . According to Max Vasmer and some other researchers the ethnonym may have derived from the Old Turkic word for "brother-in-law, relative” ( baja , baja-naq or bajinaq ; Azerbaijani : bacanaq , Kyrgyz : baja , Turkmen : baja and Turkish : bacanak ), implying that it initially referred to an "in-law related clan or tribe". Peter Golden considers this derivation by no means certain. In Mahmud Kashgari 's 11th-century work Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk , Pechenegs were described as "a Turkic nation living around
9315-469: The Pechenegs) lasted for at least another 200 years. In 15th-century Hungary, some people adopted the surname Besenyö ( Hungarian for "Pecheneg"); they were most numerous in the county of Tolna . One of the earliest introductions of Islam into Eastern Europe came about through the work of an early 11th-century Muslim prisoner who was captured by the Byzantines. The Muslim prisoner was brought into
9430-423: The Rus' and Cumans was formed. It was decided that the Rus' and Cumans would move east to seek and destroy any Mongols they found. The Rus' princes then began mustering their armies and moved towards the rendezvous point. The army of the alliance of the Rus' and Cumans numbered around 80,000. When the alliance reached Pereyaslavl, they were met by a Mongol envoy that tried to persuade them not to fight. This as well as
9545-539: The Rus' and also attacked the Kingdom of Poland : and reportedly reached northern cities located in Lithuania . In 1094-1095 the Cumans, led by Tugorkan, in support of the exiled Byzantine pretender Constantine Diogenes (as a pretext to plundering), invaded the Balkans and conquered the Byzantine province of Paristrion . The Cumans then advanced all the way to Adrianople and Anchialos but could not conquer them. In
9660-511: The Rus' princes. As the Mongols were approaching Russia , Khan Köten fled to the court of his son-in-law, Prince Mstislav the Bold of Galich , where he gave "numerous presents: horses, camels, buffaloes and girls. And he presented these gifts to them, and said the following, 'Today the Mongols took away our land and tomorrow they will come and take away yours'." The Cumans were ignored for almost
9775-582: The Slavic root *polvъ "pale; light yellow; blonde". Polovtsy or Polovec is often said to be derived from the Old East Slavic polovŭ (половъ) "yellow; pale" by the Russians—all meaning "blond". The old Ukrainian word polovtsy (Пóловці), derived from polovo "straw"—means "blond, pale yellow". The western Cumans, or Polovtsy, were also called Sorochinetses by the Rus' —apparently derived from
9890-609: The Turkic sary chechle "yellow-haired". A similar etymology may have been at work in the name of the Śārī , who also migrated westward ahead of the Qun. However, according to O. Suleymenov polovtsy may come from a Slavic word for "blue-eyed", i.e. the Serbo-Croatian plȃv (пла̑в) means "blue", but this word also means "fair, blonde" and is a cognate of the above; cf. West Slavic Polish płowy , Eastern Slavic polovŭ , Russian polóvyj (поло́вый), Ukrainian polovýj (полови́й). Blonde individuals likely existed among
10005-421: The chronicles and was applied to earlier nomads such as Pechenegs or Oghuzes , György Györffy derived Kun from Huns , instead of Qun , which he kept separate from Kun . However, István Vásáry rejected Györffy's hypothesis and contended that "the Hungarian name of the Cumans must go back to one of their self-appellations, i.e. to Qun ." In the Hypatian Codex , a certain individual is called Kuman , while in
10120-696: The country of the Rum ", where Rum was the Turkic word for the Eastern Roman Empire or Anatolia , and "a branch of Oghuz Turks "; he subsequently described the Oghuz as being formed of 22 branches, of which the Pecheneg were the 19th. Pechenegs are mentioned as one of 24 ancient tribes of Oghuzes by 14th-century statesman and historian of Ilkhanate -ruled Iran Rashid-al-Din Hamadani in his work Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh ("Compendium of Chronicles") with
10235-655: The distinction between the "Turkic Pechenegs" and "Khazar Pechenegs" mentioned in the 10th-century Hudud al-'alam had its origin in this period. The Hudud al-'Alam —a late 10th-century Persian geography—distinguished two Pecheneg groups, referring to those who lived along the Donets as "Turkic Pechenegs", and to those along the Kuban as "Khazarian Pechenegs". Spinei proposes that the latter denomination most probably refers to Pecheneg groups accepting Khazar suzerainty, implies that some Pecheneg tribes had been forced to acknowledge
10350-600: The dwelling places of the Hungarians , and expelled them from the lands along the Kuban River and the upper course of the river Donets . There is no consensual date for this second migration of the Pechenegs: Pritsak argues that it took place around 830, but Kristó suggests that it could hardly occur before the 850s. The Pechenegs settled along the rivers Donets and Kuban . It is plausible that
10465-671: The fifth, Charaboï; of the sixth, Talmat; of the seventh, Chopon; of the eighth, Tzopon. At the time at which the Pechenegs were expelled from their country, their princes were, in the province of Irtim, Baïtzas; in Tzour, Kouel; in Gyla, Kourkoutai; in Koulpeï, Ipaos; in Charaboï, Kaïdoum; in the province of Talmat, Kostas; in Chopon, Giazis; in the province of Tzopon, Batas. Paul Pelliot originated
10580-546: The first certain reference to the Pechenegs. The report recorded an armed conflict between the Be-ča-nag and the Hor ( Uyghurs or Oghuz Turks ) peoples in the region of the river Syr Darya . Ibn Khordadbeh (c. 820 – 912 CE), Mahmud al-Kashgari (11th century), Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100–1165), and many other Muslim scholars agree that the Pechenegs belonged to the Turkic peoples. The Russian Primary Chronicle stated that
10695-490: The following years, when knights of the First Crusade were passing through the empire, Byzantium offered the Cumans prestige titles and gifts in order to appease them; subsequently good relations ensued. From 1097 to 1099, Sviatopolk II of Kiev requested help from the Cumans against Coloman, King of Hungary , who was involved in a feud with Volodar of Peremyshl , Prince of Przemyśl . King Coloman and his army crossed
10810-554: The lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars (like the 920 war on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev , reported in the Primary Chronicle ). The Pecheneg wars against Kievan Rus' caused the Slavs from Walachian territories to gradually migrate north of the Dniestr in the 10th and 11th centuries. Rus'/Pecheneg temporary military alliances also occurred however, as during the Byzantine campaign in 943 led by Igor. In 968
10925-567: The lands of the Khitans (possibly due to the Khitans' expansion), the Qun entered the territory of the Śari people, whom the Quns expelled. Marwazi wrote that the Qun were Nestorian Christians . Golden surmised that these Quns might have sprung "from that same conglomeration of Mongolic peoples from which the Qitañ sprang"; however, Golden later suggested that the Quns were Turkic . Despite this, it
11040-599: The meaning of the ethnonym as "the one who shows eagerness". The 17th-century Khan of the Khanate of Khiva and historian Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur mentions the Pechenegs as bechene among 24 ancient tribes of Turkmens (or Oghuzes) in his book Shajara-i Tarākima (“Genealogy of the Turkmen") and provides for its meaning as "the one who makes". Three of the eight Pecheneg "provinces" or clans were collectively known as Kangars . According to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ,
11155-635: The meridian shadow of the equinox is seven, six-tenths, and one-sixth of one-tenth of a foot. Its end exceeds its beginning by only one foot. It begins in the homeland of the Qayi , Qun , Khirkhiz , Kimak , at- Tagazgaz , the lands of the Turkomans , Fārāb, and the country of the Khazars ." The Armenian historian, Matthew of Edessa (died 1144), also mentioned the Cumans, using the name χarteš , meaning "blond", "pale", "fair". It cannot be established whether
11270-564: The military support of the Cumans, the process of Bulgarian restoration could never have been realized. The Cuman participation in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185 and thereafter brought about basic changes in the political and ethnic sphere of Bulgaria and the Balkans. The Cumans were allies in the Bulgarian–Latin Wars with emperor Kaloyan of Bulgaria . In 1205, at the Battle of Adrianople (1205) , 14,000 Cuman light cavalry contributed to Kaloyan's crushing victory over
11385-496: The names of eight former tribal leaders who had been leading the Pechenegs when they were expelled by the Khazars and Oghuzes . Golden , following Németh and Ligeti , proposes that each tribal name consists of two parts: the first part being an equine coat color , the other the tribal ruler's title. The Erdim, Čur, and Yula tribes formed the Qangar/Kenger ( Greek : Καγγαρ) and were deemed "more valiant and noble than
11500-458: The parallel account of the Laurentian Codex he is called Kun (" Polovčinu menem Kunui" , Vásáry considers this a corruption of Kunu , Russian dative of Kun ). Even after the Cumans were no longer the dominant power in their territory, people still referred to the area as Cumania. The Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta (1304 – c. 1369), said of Cumania: "This wilderness is green and grassy with no trees, nor hills, high or low ... there
11615-605: The princely palace in Berestove; he also plundered the Kievan Cave Monastery. Boniak was defeated near Lubny in 1107 by the forces of the Kievan Rus' princes. The Cumans led by Boniak crushed the Hungarian army led by Coloman in 1099 and seized the royal treasury. In 1109, Monomakh launched another raid against the Cumans and captured "1000 tents". In 1111, 1113, and 1116, further raids were launched against
11730-666: The proposal that the Book of Sui —a 7th-century Chinese work—preserved the earliest record on the Pechenegs. The book mentioned a people named Bĕirù , who had settled near the Ēnqū and Alan peoples (identified as Onogurs and Alans , respectively), to the east of Fulin (or the Eastern Roman Empire ). Victor Spinei emphasizes that the Pechenegs' association with the Bĕirù is "uncertain". He proposes that an 8th-century Uighur envoy's report, which survives in Tibetan translation, contains
11845-548: The reign of Vladimir I of Kiev (990–995), who founded the town of Pereyaslav upon the site of his victory over the Pechenegs, followed by the defeat of the Pechenegs during the reign of Yaroslav I the Wise in 1036. Shortly thereafter, other nomadic peoples replaced the weakened Pechenegs in the Pontic steppe : the Cumans and the Torks . According to Mykhailo Hrushevsky ( History of Ukraine-Ruthenia ), after its defeat near Kiev
11960-734: The rest". According to Omeljan Pritsak , the Pechenegs are descendants from the ancient Kangars who originate from Tashkent . The Orkhon inscriptions listed the Kangars among the subject peoples of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate . Pritsak says that the Pechenegs' homeland was located between the Aral Sea and the middle course of the Syr Darya, along the important trade routes connecting Central Asia with Eastern Europe, and associates them with Kangars . According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus , writing in c. 950, Patzinakia,
12075-425: The so-called Uzes, and even to this day they live among them, and wear such distinguishing marks as separate them off and betray their origin and how it came about that they were split off from their own folk: for their tunics are short, reaching to the knee, and their sleeves are cut off at the shoulder, whereby, you see, they indicate that they have been cut off from their own folk and those of their race. However, it
12190-566: The steppe along the Rus' borders. Fighting resumed in 1128; Rus' sources mention that Sevinch, son of Khan Boniak , expressed the desire to plant his sword "in the Golden gate of Kiev", as his father had done before him. On 20 March 1155, Prince Gleb Yuryevich took Kiev with the help of a Cuman army under the Cuman prince Chemgura. By 1160 Cuman raids into Rus' had become an annual event. These attacks put pressure on Rus' and affected trade routes to
12305-470: The steppes of southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula . Although an important factor in the region at the time, like most nomadic tribes their concept of statecraft failed to go beyond random attacks on neighbours and spells as mercenaries for other powers. In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus' . For more than two centuries they had launched raids into
12420-570: The territory between the Danube and Tisza rivers. The Cumans tried to leave Hungary with their huge booty and prisoners, but King Ladislaus I of Hungary reached and defeated them near the Temes river. King Ladislaus offered the Christianity for the Cuman survivors, the majority of them accepted, thus the king settled them in Jászság . The rumor of the losing battle reached the Cuman camp,
12535-635: The third way is that cometh from Comania and then to go by the Great Sea and by the kingdom of Abchaz ... After that, the Comanians that were in servage in Egypt, felt themselves that they were of great power, they chose them a soldan [sultan] amongst them, the which made him to be clept Melechsalan. And in his time entered into the country of the kings of France Saint Louis, and fought with him; and [the soldan] took him and imprisoned him; and this [soldan]
12650-549: The west of the Dnieper River . Cuman and Rus' attacks contributed to the departure of the Oghuz from the steppes north of the Black Sea . Mahmud al-Kashgari , writing in 1076, says that in the east Cuman territory bordered a town near Talas . The Cumans first entered the Bugeac ( Bessarabia ) at some point around 1068–1078. They launched a joint expedition with the Pechenegs against Adrianople in 1078. During that same year
12765-426: Was discipline and cohesion that permitted the Cuman–Kipchaks to conquer such a vast territory. Al-Idrīsī states that Cumania got its name from the city of Cumania; he wrote, "From the city of Khazaria to the city of Kirait is 25 miles. From there to Cumanie, which has given its name to the Cumans, it is 25 miles; this city is called Black Cumania. From the city of Black Cumania to the city of Tmutorakan (MaTlUqa), which
12880-457: Was slain by his own servants. And after, they chose another to be soldan, that they clept Tympieman; and he let deliver Saint Louis out of prison for a certain ransom. And after, one of these Comanians reigned, that hight [was called] Cachas, and slew Tympieman, for to be soldan; and made him be clept Melechmenes. In East Slavic languages and Polish, they are known as the Polovtsy , derived from
12995-402: Was successful in creating a more cohesive force out of the many Cuman groups—he united the western and eastern Cuman–Kipchak tribes. Khan Konchek also changed the old Cuman system of government whereby rulership went to the most senior tribal leader; he instead passed it on to his son Koten. Igor Svyatoslavich , prince of the Principality of Novgorod-Seversk, attacked the Cumans in the vicinity of
13110-494: Was that after Schlözer left Saint Petersburg to continue his work in Göttingen, Bashilov and Polenov were assigned to continue work on the Nikon Chronicle ' s publication instead. The Academy tried to get Schlözer to return to Petersburg as late as February 1769, and eventually terminated his contract per 1 January 1770, which effectively terminated the work on Rus' chronicle publications, and leaving Bashilov without
13225-462: Was working in Göttingen and could not proceed to study the Hypatian text further until he had received a complete copy, Schlözer incessantly wrote letters urging Bashilov (who did not respond for over six months) to hurry up and send him a copy ("I am waiting for the requested copy of the Hypatian Codex every mail day" in an August 1768 letter), which finally arrived a few days later. The reason
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