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104-797: It is unclear how the first Cossack community appeared on the Terek. One theory is that they were descendants of the Khazar state and of the Tmutarakan Principality, as there are records indicating that Mstislav of Tmutarakan in the Battle of Listveno in 1023 had Cossacks on his side when he destroyed the army of Yaroslav the Wise . This would mean the Slavic peoples of the Caucasus are native to

208-617: A band of three Cossack sotnias to the Kumyk lands, founding a frontier town called 'Tersky' (location uncertain). This may have been partially motivated by his tense relations with Yermak Timofeyevich . He subsequently founded Andreyevo (the modern Endirey ), which was said to be named for him. In the late 16th century several campaigns by the Terek Cossacks were carried out against the Ottoman Empire ( Temryuk ) which led

312-702: A count of the Holy Roman Empire. Since the feudal era, any count whose territory lay within the Empire and was under the immediate jurisdiction of the Emperor with a shared vote in the Reichstag came to be considered a member of the "upper nobility" ( Hochadel ) in Germany, along with princes ( Fürsten ), dukes ( Herzöge ), electors ( Kurfürsten ), and the emperor himself. A count who

416-558: A hoard of 4th century golden coins. Hermonassa was a centre of the Bosporan cult of Aphrodite and in the early centuries CE was trading with the Alans . There is also archaeological evidence of extensive replanning and construction in the 2nd century CE. After a long period as a Roman client state, the Bosporan kingdom succumbed to the Huns , who defeated the nearby Alans in 375/376. With

520-434: A landgrave was a Landgräfin or landgravine. Examples: Landgrave of Thuringia , Landgrave of Hesse , Landgrave of Leuchtenberg , Landgrave of Fürstenberg-Weitra . The title is now borne by the hereditary heirs to the deposed monarchs of Hesse ( Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse and Wilhelm, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld), who lost their throne in 1918. A gefürsteter Graf (English: princely count )

624-497: A light blue waistcoat. Wide grey trousers were worn, tucked into soft leather boots without heels. Officers wore silver epaulettes, braiding and ferrules, the latter in their czerkeskas . This Caucasian national dress was also worn by the Kuban Cossack Host but with different waistcoat and facing colours (red). Tall black fur hats were worn on all occasions with light blue cloth tops and (for officers) silver lace. A whip

728-415: A local peasant found a stone with an inscription stating that Prince Gleb had measured the sea from here to Kerch in 1068. Archaeological excavations of the site were begun in the 19th century and have continued since. The habitation level in places exceeds twelve meters. During much of the 17th and 18th centuries the area was dominated by Cossacks centered on the town of Taman , which was located near

832-482: A short inscription in Cyrillic letters. Then in 1094, like Mstislav before him, he returned to Rus to claim the throne of Chernigov. Byzantine interest in the city was maintained through this succession of client rulers, and thereafter by more direct rule for a while, for an important reason. There were naphtha deposits in the area and this was a vital ingredient of their main tactical weapon, Greek Fire . Up until

936-514: A teip - thus, those who didn't join teips (like the Cossacks) would be subject to theft by the poor, etc. Many of the educated elite also lost their positions in government, industry and academia to locals connected with those in power (which previously they had a vast advantage in due to the situation after the return of the Chechens from exile). Nadteretchny, Naursky and Shelkovskoy raions of

1040-588: A total deportation of all Chechens, Ingush, Karachay and Balkar people to Kazakhstan . In the aftermath, most of the land was portioned, between loyal mountainous peoples such as Kabardins, Ossetians and Dagestanis, and Russians and Cossacks. For example, a vast Grozny Oblast was created encompassing almost all of the historic lower-Terek Cossack lands, whilst North Ossetia took the Sunzha and Kabardin ASSR had central line cossack stanitsas. This status quo continued until

1144-718: Is a Reichsgraf who was recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor as bearing the higher rank or exercising the more extensive authority of an Imperial prince ( Reichsfürst ). While nominally retaining only a comital title, he was accorded princely rank and, usually, arms by the emperor. An example of this would be the Princely County of Habsburg , the namesake of the Habsburg Dynasty , which at various points in time controlled vast amounts of lands throughout Europe. A Burggraf , or Burgrave ,

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1248-407: Is also dispute that Chechens were antagonistic towards ethnic Russians and Cossacks because they were ethnic Russian (as opposed to because of their hostility to Chechen statehood) - there were two originally ethnic Russian Chechen teips, and the president's wife was Russian. The Chechen clan system protects individuals from theft and murder because the whole clan would become involved, and one can join

1352-633: Is linked to a specific countship, whose unique title emerged during the course of its history. These unusually named countships were equivalent in rank to other Counts of the Empire who were of Hochadel status, being entitled to a shared seat and vote in the Imperial Diet and possessing Imperial immediacy , most of which would be mediatised upon dissolution of the Empire in 1806. The corresponding titles in Scandinavia are greve (m.) and grevinna (f.) and would commonly be used in

1456-408: Is treated as part of the legal surname. In Austria, its use is banned by law, as with all hereditary titles and nobiliary particles . In Switzerland , the title is not acknowledged in law. In the monarchies of Belgium, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, where German is one of the official languages , the title continues to be recognised, used and, occasionally, granted by the national fons honorum ,

1560-658: Is usually translated simply as count and is combined with a territorial suffix (e.g., Count of Holland , Count Reuss ) or a surname ( Count Fugger , Count von Browne ). Even after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Reichsgrafen retained precedence above other counts in Germany. Those who had been quasi-sovereign until German mediatisation retained, until 1918, status and privileges pertaining to members of reigning dynasties . Notable Reichsgrafen have included: A complete list of Reichsgrafen with immediate territories as of 1792 can be found in

1664-467: The Graf , or Gräfin , and the nobiliary particle if any. Today, having lost their legal status, these terms are often not translated, unlike before 1919. The titles do, however, retain prestige in some circles of society. The suffix -graf occurs in various office titles which did not attain nobiliary status but were either held as a sinecure by nobleman or courtiers, or functional officials such as

1768-561: The gräfliche title, often relating to a specific domain or jurisdiction of responsibility, e.g. Landgraf , Markgraf , Pfalzgraf ( Count Palatine ), Burggraf , Wildgraf , Waldgraf , Altgraf , Raugraf , etc. Although as a title Graf ranked, officially, below those of Herzog (duke) and Fürst (prince), the Holy Roman Emperor could and did recognise unique concessions of authority or rank to some of these nobles, raising them to

1872-590: The Azov Campaigns in 1695, the Ottoman Empire retaliated against the Terek Cossacks and in 1707 most of their outposts were destroyed on the right bank of the Terek. In 1711 Graf Apraskin re-settled all of the Rowing Cossacks on the left bank of the Terek River, this move was met with resentment, and during the entire 18th century the Terek Cossacks would still inhabit the left bank and use

1976-611: The Ingush were never subdued and their raids and risings made the Northern Caucasus a festering sore for the Volunteer Army." In 1920 many Terek Cossacks were deported to Ukraine and the northern part of European Russia and a new Mountain ASSR was formed. This left the former Sunzha-Terek Mesopotamia triangle split by the returned Chechen land stretching through the middle. The remaining portions were formed by

2080-468: The List of Reichstag participants (1792) . A Markgraf or Margrave was originally a military governor of a Carolingian "mark" ( march ), a border province. In medieval times the borders of the Holy Roman Empire were especially vulnerable to foreign attack, so the hereditary count of these "marches" of the realm was sometimes granted greater authority than other vassals to ensure security. They bore

2184-537: The Silk Road to the east. The inhabitants included Greeks , Armenians , Rus' , Jews , Ossetians , Lezgins , Georgians , and Circassians . After the destruction of the Khazar empire by Sviatoslav I of Kiev in the mid-10th century, Khazars continued to inhabit the region. The Mandgelis Document , a Hebrew letter dated AM 4746 (985–986) refers to "our lord David, the Khazar prince" who lived in Taman and who

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2288-671: The Sunzha Cossack Okrug which also encompassed lands around Grozny. However, the Sunzha's importance to the Vainakh peoples as their historical territorial heart ensured that the early communists, mindful of the claims of indigenous peoples, would return it in order to turn them from the Mensheviks toward the Bolsheviks (to balance out the anti-Bolshevik Cossacks). A deadlock formed in the Northern Caucasus. On one hand,

2392-688: The Terek Delta , and in 1837 a Malorossiyan ( Little Russian ) regiment (formed in 1831 to combat the November Uprising in Poland ) was resettled on the upper Terek north of Vladikavkaz. In 1842 the regiment was incorporated into the Line host. This was followed by the formation of the Sunzha regiment with its Ataman Sleptsov. By this point the Russian control in the Caucasus had improved, with

2496-604: The Vainakhs and an existing insurgency by a Khasan Israilov was fuelled by supplies via Nazi paradrops. By autumn 1942, the insurgency diverted significant Red Army resources, including aviation. However, after the Battle of Stalingrad the Germans began a mass evacuation from the Caucasus. The price that mountainous people paid was dear, in late 1943 as part of Soviet Collective punishment , Operation Lentil began, which saw

2600-626: The Volga Cossacks were defeated by the strelets Ivan Murashkin , many scattered, some of whom settled in the Terek basin and Voevoda Novosiltsev built the second Terka on the Terek, marking the start of the Terek Cossacks. In 1584 this Terka was again taken over by Cossacks, some of whom were recruited by the Georgian king Simon I of Kartli . In a separate story, an ataman of the Don Cossack Host named Andrei Shadrin led

2704-414: The legal surname (with the former title thus now following the given name, e.g. Otto Graf Lambsdorff ). As dependent parts of the surnames ( nichtselbständige Namensbestandteile ), they are ignored in alphabetical sorting of names, as is any nobiliary particle , such as von or zu , and might or might not be used by those bearing them. The distinguishing main surname is the name following

2808-511: The 19th century, leaving the Graf with few legal privileges beyond land ownership, although comital estates in German-speaking lands were often substantial. Nonetheless, various rulers in German-speaking lands granted the hereditary title of Graf to their subjects, particularly after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Although lacking the prestige and powers of the former Imperial counts, they remained legal members of

2912-620: The Afghan border in Central Asia . Until 1914 the Terek Cossack Host wore a full dress uniform comprising a dark grey/black kaftan (knee length collarless coat) with light blue shoulder straps and braid on the wide cuffs. Ornamental containers ( czerkeska ) which had originally contained single loading measures of gunpowder for muzzle-loading muskets, were worn on the breasts of the kaftans. The kaftan had an open front, showing

3016-657: The Agrakhan Cossacks as well as Armenians and Georgians. When the Kalmyks arrived in the northwestern Caspian a combined campaign was waged against Temryuk during the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739) , where the Terek Cossacks were led by Atamans Auka and Petrov. In 1736 and again in 1765 the right bank of the Terek, still nominally Cossack property, was offered to Chechens who wanted to adopt Russian patronage and re-settle there (noting that historically,

3120-547: The Caucasus, resulting in a large growth in Cossack and indigenous mountain populations. This created friction on land ownership. The Cossacks held extensive fertile areas in the lowlands and steppes, whilst the indigenous mountain populations only held land in the mountainous zones. Peace was preserved, by a complex Russian policy of supporting loyal clan leaders and free supplies of food and goods The Terek Cossacks took part in campaigns against Geok-Tepe in 1879 and in 1885 up to

3224-613: The Chechens. Tmutarakan Tmutarakan ( Russian : Тмутарака́нь , romanized :  Tmutarakán' , IPA: [tmʊtərɐˈkanʲ] ; Old East Slavic : Тъмуторокань , romanized:  Tǔmutorokanǐ ) was a medieval principality of Kievan Rus' and trading town that controlled the Cimmerian Bosporus , the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov , between the late 10th and 11th centuries. Its site

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3328-456: The Cossack regions, that belonged to the once Terek Oblast from the national autonomies. In Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia and Dagestan this was resolved by granting the Cossacks full minority rights, that raised on par with titular nations, and today Cossacks play an important role in local administration, culture and development. In Chechnya and Ingushetia however, the situation

3432-502: The Cossacks were very adverse to Bolshevism, and the latter responded with a Decossackization policy. On the other hand, many mountainous peoples were hostile to any Russian rule, Red or White (most originally looked to the Reds as a force also fighting against their foes, the Cossacks, but after the Reds began adopting similar policies as their Tzarist predecessors, resentment resurfaced), and continued fighting Russian/Cossack populations. In

3536-477: The First Chechen War, which others dispute, saying that while tens of thousands (as opposed to 300,000) left, most left due to the First Chechen War during it; Russian sources claim it was due to anti-Russian discrimination and violence, whereas others (such as Russian liberals Boris Lvin and Andrei Illarionov, and Western commentators Gall and De Waal< see below) cite economic reasons and the loss of

3640-522: The Greek verb γρᾰ́φειν ( graphein ) 'to write'. Other explanations have been put forward, however; Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm , while still noting the potential of a Greek derivation, suggested a connection to Gothic : gagrêfts , meaning 'decision, decree'. However, the Grimms preferred a solution that allows a connection to Old English : gerēfa ' reeve ', in which the ge- is a prefix, and which

3744-532: The Grimms derive from Proto-Germanic *rōva 'number'. The comital title of Graf is common to various European territories where German was or is the official or vernacular tongue, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Alsace, the Baltic states and other former Habsburg crown lands . In Germany, all legal privileges of the nobility have been officially abolished since August 1919, and Graf , like any other hereditary title,

3848-428: The Holy Roman Empire was required. Subsequently, the latter ceased to be obligatory. Some are approximately of comital rank, some higher, some lower. The more important ones are treated in separate articles (follow the links); a few minor, rarer ones only in sections below. A Reichsgraf was a nobleman whose title of count was conferred or confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor , and meant "Imperial Count", i.e.,

3952-497: The Kizlyar district was passed onto Dagestan. Old problems of land ownership quickly resurfaced, and many returning Chechens and Ingush, forbidden to re-settle in the mountains, were settled in Cossack stanitsas. The politics of Stagnationed USSR towards titular nations was also two-faced, on one hand all signs of nationalism were repressed, on the other hand Soviet authorities actively encouraged assignation of jobs and selection to

4056-550: The Republic of Chechnya practically lost the traditional Cossack population. After an attempted coup against Dudayev (who was seen as a threat to Russian oil transit) failed, Moscow responded with a military operation to reconquer Chechnya (see First Chechen War ); many Terek Cossacks jumped at the opportunity to show their loyalty, and formed volunteer units that operated with the Russian Army. These were created to fight in

4160-558: The Russian tactics from defensive to offensive and began building the Sunzha - Vladikavkaz line where strongholds such as Groznaya and Vnezapnaya were founded. Yermolov further reformed the whole structure of the Cossacks and in 1819 replaced elected Atamans with appointed commanders. In Transcaucasia , Cossacks took part in the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) where they participated in the Siege of Kars and other key battles. After Yermolov

4264-516: The Russians of the republic were not immediately made victims. Cossacks and Russians, unsurprisingly, were staunch foes of Chechen independence from Russia. Chechens feared that Cossacks were variously plotting to undermine the independence which they saw as a desperate necessity and to detach a large part of their state. The chronic economic hardship of Chechnya during and after the Soviet period and

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4368-726: The Sultan to complain to Ivan the Terrible . In 1589 the first outpost on the Sunzha was built and a permanent Terka, later known as Tersky Gorodok, was built on the lower Terek. During the Time of Troubles in 1606 four thousand Terek Cossacks left for the Volga to support their own candidate for the Tsar, Ileyka Muromets. By 1614 the Rowers supported the new Romanov monarch and aided him in quelling

4472-588: The Sunzha and Terek stanitsas against Chechens. During the Second Chechen War , once again Cossack units took part as an auxiliary support, and this time were allowed to establish in the Naursky raion, which still had a Russian minority; today the stanitsa of Naurskaya remains strongly associated with the Cossack movement in Chechnya. The two wars have brought large suffering to both the Cossacks and

4576-529: The Terek Cossacks sent six cavalry regiments, one Guards squadron and one mounted artillery regiment to the Balkans and a further seven regiments and mounted battery were mobilized against the rebelling Chechens and Dagestanis, who initiated an uprising against Tsarist authorities in 1878. In the 1880s the arrival of the railways and the discovery of oil made the Terek Oblast one of the wealthiest in

4680-542: The Terek Cossacks spared some men and took part in combat under Yerevan , but on the whole most of them were in constant defence of their home lines. All this changed when in 1816 General Yermolov took command of the Caucasus army. Having by now secured major strategic footholds in most of the North Caucasus and Georgia following the last war fought with Persia and the resulting Treaty of Gulistan , he found himself able to make major adjustments. In 1818 he changed

4784-571: The Terek Cossacks took part in three campaigns which took them to the Circassian port of Anapa in western Caucasus. The major gap in the western section of the line of defense was solved in 1792 when the Black Sea Cossacks were re-settled there. The next three decades brought severe difficulties for the Russian effort in the Caucasus. After the joining of Georgia to Russia in 1801 and the subsequent Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) ,

4888-656: The Terek Oblast, Vladikavkaz became the administrative centre for North Ossetia , likewise the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Oblast was also awarded to Cossack territories. On the lower Terek, between 1923 and 1937, the Dagestan ASSR administered the extensive territory there ( Kizlyar , Terek Delta ). Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies. However, on

4992-573: The Terek line and Kizlyar. In 1771 Yemelyan Pugachev arrived in Terek , and, to show loyalty, Ataman Tatarintsev arrested him. Pugachev fled and the Pugachev Rebellion in 1772–1774 gained no support on the Terek. The Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) and the resulting Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca gave Russia the pretext under which they could begin their expansion into the Caucasus , marking

5096-431: The Vth regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cossack Division . Soon the war came to Cossack lands themselves, in 1942 the Nazi offensive Case Blue , and by autumn, the western regions of the former Terek Cossack Hosts were occupied. By November, the Battle of the Caucasus reached North Ossetia, and Germans were already making plans to lease the oilfields in Grozny. Most of the Cossack population took part in repelling

5200-445: The bulk of the trading there was handled by Jews. Other variants of the city's name are "Samkersh" and "Samkush". Fortified with a strong brick wall and boasting a fine harbor, Tamatarkha was a large city of merchants. It controlled much of the Northern European trade with the Byzantine Empire and Northern Caucasus . There were also trade routes leading south-east to Armenia and the Muslim domains, as well as others connecting with

5304-444: The central Caucasus were founded by the re-settlers including: Giorgiyevsk in 1777 by the Khopyor regiment, and Vladikavkaz in 1784. During this early phase several high-profile battles took place. In June 1774 Devlet-Girey sent a massive Kabardin Army against the Terek Cossacks, on 10-11 of June the stanitsa of Naurskaya was heroically defended against the invaders and in 1785 Kizlyar was defended against Sheikh Mansur. In 1788–91

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5408-406: The collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the late 5th century, the area passed within the Roman sphere once again but was taken by the Bulgars in the 6th century. Following the fall of the city to the Khazars in the late 7th century, it was rebuilt as a fortress town and renamed Tamatarkha . Arabic sources refer to it as Samkarsh al-Yahud (i.e., "Samkarsh of the Jews") in reference to the fact that

5512-481: The control of Kievan Rus'. The Greek colony of Hermonassa was located a few miles west of Phanagoria and Panticapaeum , major trade centers for what was to become the Bosporan Kingdom . The city was founded in the mid-6th century BCE by Mytilene (Lesbos), although there is evidence of others taking part in the enterprise, including Cretans . The city flourished for some centuries and many ancient buildings and streets have been excavated from this period, as well as

5616-400: The count's strongholds or fiefs, as the burgrave dwelt usually in a castle or fortified town. Some became hereditary and by the modern era obtained rank just below a count, though above a Freiherr ' (baron) who might hold a fief as vassal of the original count. Unlike the other comital titles, Rhinegrave, Wildgrave ( Waldgrave ), Raugrave , and Altgrave are not generic titles. Rather, each

5720-463: The crises, Chechens and Ingush on the Sunzha line wiping out several Cossack stanitsas. In 1918, according to Peter Kenez , "The Bolsheviks were more successful in the nearby Terek. In November the Twelfth Red army defeated the Cossacks who fought independently of the Volunteer army ." However, by January 1919, the defeat of the Eleventh Red Army forced the Twelfth to retreat from Terek towards Astrakhan . Yet, according to Kenez, "The Chechen and

5824-401: The end of the 12th century the imperial authorities were forbidding their Genoese trading partners access to the city known to them as Matracha . In the 13th century the city passed to the Empire of Trebizond (a Byzantine successor state). Its last recorded mention was in a scroll of 1378. The region fell under the control of the Republic of Genoa in the 14th century and formed part of

5928-598: The end of the Line Cossack Host. In 1860 it was divided, with the two western regiments joining the Black Sea Cossacks to form the Kuban Cossack Host and the remaining into the Terek Cossack Host . The next decade showed a gradual reform from military to civil control. In 1865 a permanent police force was formed, and in 1869 the Terek Oblast was formed, consisting of eight mountainous districts (populated by indigenous people) and seven Cossack subdivisions. Several regimental reforms followed: Kizlyar and Rower as well as Mountain and Mozdok regiments were united into two (reducing

6032-416: The end, the Red Army had to use Cossack tactics and hire local population to police the region. The idea of sandwiching a Cossack district within a Chechen autonomy was seen as a solution. In the 1930s, to make the mountainous autonomies more sustainable in economical terms, they were united with the remaining Cossack holdings: the Sunzha district was retaken by the Chechen-Ingush ASSR , the former capital of

6136-429: The historic adversity between Russians and Caucasus people, it never removed the tension, as both sides saw each other gaining favours at their expense. During the perestroika , Cossacks once again took steps to re-create their nationality . Many Cossack organisations were formed throughout the former Host. However, in doing so, many wished to review the existing administrative borders in the Northern Caucasus, and return

6240-409: The initiative firmly in the Cossack hands. Most of the battles took place in Chechen and Dagestani territories far away from Cossack homes. During the 1840s several successful expeditions were mounted deep into the mountains. The Line Cossacks participated in the Crimean War (1853–1856) and finally in the closing phase of the Russian advance against Shamil in 1859. The end of the Caucasus War marked

6344-442: The invader. During the 1920s and 30s, despite efforts of Soviet Union to pacify the mountainous peoples via different programmes, such as Korenizatsiya , there was still low-level criminal secession movements in the highlands. Nazi Germany decided to use this friction in creating a fifth column out of them. In the central Caucasus, these were the Karachay and Balkars who carried out low-level insurgency. Further east, these were

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6448-419: The lands immediately north of the Terek river were indeed Chechen before the Mongol invasion and even to a degree after it, and the Chechen highlands were dependent on their agricultural production). By the latter half of the 18th century, relations between the Cossacks and the mountain people began to sour. In 1765 the outpost of Mozdok was founded, which became an immediate target for Kabardins who attacked

6552-422: The large income gap between Russians and Chechens before 1990 also worsened tensions. For these reasons and for the centuries of fighting between Cossacks and Chechens, ethnic relations were highly hostile. President Dzhokhar Dudayev , himself married to a Russian, tried to suppress ethnic tensions, which he viewed as a destabilizing element to an already impoverished and internationally isolated republic. However,

6656-432: The local Circassians (also known as Kasogi) and other indigenous tribes, but his success provoked the suspicion of neighboring Greek Chersonesos in the Crimea, whose Byzantine envoy poisoned him on 3 February 1066. Afterwards command of Tmutarakan returned to the prince of Chernigov and then to the Grand Prince of Kiev , Vsevolod Yaroslavich . In 1079, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich appointed a governor ( posadnik ), but he

6760-427: The local nobility, entitled to whatever minor privileges were recognised at the ruler's court. The title, translated as "count", was generally accepted and used in other countries by custom. Many Continental counts in Germany and Austria were titled Graf without any additional qualification. Except in the Kingdom of Prussia from the 19th century, the title of Graf was not restricted by primogeniture : it

6864-402: The minorities rather than Russians. As a result, of the positive discrimination and better economic prospects in other regions of the USSR, many Russians migrated from the Northern Caucasus to other regions, such as the Tselina , Russian Far East and the Baltic Republics . Naturally, the high birth rate, of the mountainous peoples, meant that many sold their homes to them. Although this hid

6968-401: The new rulers during this period. Vladimir's son Mstislav of Chernigov was the prince of Tmutarakan at the start of the 11th century. During his reign, a first stone church was dedicated to the Mother of God ( Theotokos ). The excavated site suggests that it was built by Byzantine workmen and has similarities with the church Mstislav went on to commission in Chernigov . After his death, he

7072-422: The number of sub-divisions to five), and in 1871 a charter for Terek Cossacks was published. From the 1870s onwards the Eastern Caucasus remained largely peaceful (if one discounts uprisings waged by the Chechens in the late 1870s and the occasional exchange of raids). However the Terek Cossacks took part in several Imperial Wars, including campaigns against Khiva in 1873. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)

7176-429: The other hand, all these lands (northern Chechnya, Kizlyar, Little Kabarda, historical North Ossetia, East Prigorodny/Western Ingushetia, etc.) had historically been inhabited by Caucasian peoples before the end of the Caucasian Wars . Thus by the start of the Second World War only the historical Terek Left-bank was not administered by autonomies, however, most of the administration and urban population of those regions

7280-464: The prestigious privilege of Ebenbürtigkeit . In regions of Europe where nobles did not actually exercise Landeshoheit over the populace, the Graf long retained specific feudal privileges over the land and in the villages in his county, such as rights to peasant service, to periodic fees for use of common infrastructure such as timber, mills, wells and pastures. These rights gradually eroded and were largely eliminated before or during

7384-421: The previous disproportionate privilege held by the Russians during Soviet times, as well as the mass bombing of Grozny during the First Chechen War, where 4 out of 5 Russians in Chechnya lived. As noted by ethnic Russian economists Boris Lvin and Andrei Illiaronov, the rate and number of departures of ethnic Russians from Chechnya during 1991–94 was actually less than other areas (Kalmykia, Tuva and Yakutia). There

7488-582: The protectorate of Gazaria , based at Kaffa . It was within the territory administered by the Ghisolfi family and was conquered by the Crimean Khanate in 1482 and by Russia in 1791. A possible remaining Khazar connection is suggested by mention of “Jewish princes” in Tamatarkha under both Genoese and Tatar rule. The city subsequently fell into ruin and the site was rediscovered in 1792, when

7592-567: The region having settled there much earlier.) But later Terek Cossacks assimilated the first Terek Cossacks and introduced their own new agriculture. The earliest known records of Slavic settlements on the lower Terek River date to 1520 when the Ryazan Principality was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and a lone group left and settled in the natural haven of the Terek River (modern northern Chechnya). The early settlement

7696-732: The reigning monarch. From the Middle Ages , a Graf usually ruled a territory known as a Grafschaft ('county'). In the Holy Roman Empire , many Imperial counts ( Reichsgrafen ) retained near-sovereign authority in their lands until the Congress of Vienna subordinated them to larger, neighboring monarchs through the German mediatisation process of 1815, preserving their precedence, allocating familial representation in local legislatures, some jurisdictional immunities and

7800-541: The remains of Tmutarakan. The modern town of Temryuk is nearby. Speculations have been advanced for how the settlement came by its later name. That it derives from the Tatar language is generally assumed. Jean Richard also mentions the Greek for "fish curing" ( Τομη΄ταριχα ), an important Black Sea product. Afterwards it might have been given a Russian folk etymology, combining t'ma ("darkness") and tarakan ("cockroach"), to mean metaphorically 'the back of beyond',

7904-757: The rich vineyards and lands right up until 1799. Also in 1720 the Rowers and Tereks were fully incorporated into the Russian Empire and during the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723) , the Cossacks aided Peter I of Russia in his conquest of the eastern Dagestan and the capture of Derbent . During the campaign the 1000 re-settled Don Cossacks on the Agrakhan and the Sulak formed the Agrakhan Cossack Host ( Аграханское Казачье Войско ), which

8008-566: The same family. Examples: Burgrave of Nuremberg , Burgrave of ( Burggraf zu ) Dohna-Schlobitten Initially burgrave suggested a similar function and history as other titles rendered in German by Vizegraf , in Dutch as Burggraaf or in English as Viscount ( Latin : Vicecomes ); the deputy of a count charged with exercising the count's prerogatives in overseeing one or more of

8112-496: The second half of the 1950s, when there was once again a cool-down in Soviet government towards Cossacks after the death of Joseph Stalin. In 1957, all of the deported mountainous people were rehabilitated, and their republics restored. However this was not done in previous borders, for example, the historic homeland of lower Terek, Naursky and Schyolkovsky districts were incorporated into the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, whilst

8216-522: The sense that Vladimir Mayakovsky gives it. Graf Graf (feminine: Gräfin ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility , usually translated as " count ". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks , the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of " earl " (whose female version is "countess"). The German nobility

8320-629: The start of the century-long Caucasus War . In 1769–1770 almost half of the Volga Cossacks were re-settled around Mozdok. In 1776 further settlers arrived including more of the Volga Cossacks (the remaining Cossacks on the lower Volga were separated into the Astrakhan Cossacks Host ) and the Khopyor Cossacks from the eastern Don territory. These formed the Azov -Mozdok defence line. Major foreposts for Russian expansion into

8424-477: The statements of the President about "hospitality" were not convincing enough, and Dudayev had other priorities, such as handling the economic conditions inherited from the Soviet age and international isolation, another major problem. An exodus of ethnic Russians occurred, although its causes and intensity are disputed. Some sources say that virtually the whole Russian population that left (300,000 people) before

8528-514: The status of gefürsteter Graf or "princely count". But a grafliche title with such a prefix did not always signify a higher than comital rank or membership in the Hochadel . Only the more important of these titles, historically associated with degrees of sovereignty, remained in use by the 19th century, specifically Markgraf and Landgraf . In Russia, the title of Graf ( Russian : Граф ; feminine: Графиня, romanized Grafinya )

8632-600: The third-person in direct address as a mark of courtesy, as in grevinnan . German nobility , although not abolished (unlike the Austrian nobility by the new First Austrian Republic in 1919), lost recognition as a legal class in Germany under the Weimar Republic in 1919 under the Weimar Constitution , article 109. Former hereditary noble titles legally simply transformed into dependent parts of

8736-544: The title "margrave" until the few who survived as sovereigns assumed higher titles when the Empire was abolished in 1806. Examples: Margrave of Baden , Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth . Since the abolition of the German Empire at the end of World War I, the heirs of some of its former monarchies have resumed use of margrave as a title of pretence , e.g. Maria Emanuel , Margrave of Meissen and Maximilian, Margrave of Baden . A Landgraf or Landgrave

8840-583: The unrest in Astrakhan . In 1633 they destroyed the remnants of the Nogay Horde and a decade later aided the Don Cossacks against the Crimean Khanate in 1646. By the mid 17th century the Cossacks again expanded into the Sunzha where they built a new outpost in 1651. Two years later the outpost withstood a hailing attack by Kumyks and Dagestanis . Though the battle ensured the Tsar's respect, it

8944-403: Was a 12th- and 13th-century military and civil judicial governor of a castle (compare castellan , custos , keeper ) of the town it dominated and of its immediate surrounding countryside. His jurisdiction was a Burggrafschaft , burgraviate. Over time the office and domain to which it was attached tended to become hereditary by Imperial grant or retention over generations by members of

9048-413: Was a nobleman of comital rank in feudal Germany whose jurisdiction stretched over a territory larger than usually held by a count within the Holy Roman Empire . The status of a landgrave was elevated, usually being associated with suzerains who were subject to the Holy Roman Emperor but exercised sovereign authority within their lands and independence greater than the prerogatives to which a simple Graf

9152-754: Was advised that the Cossacks pull down the outpost. In the 1670s the Terek Cossacks helped to defeat Stenka Razin in Astrakhan . In 1680 after the Raskol in the Russian Orthodox Church reached the Don Cossacks , a number of Old Believers left the Don River and settled first on the Kuma and later on the Agrakhan . After the aid of the Terek and Rowing Cossacks to the Don Cossacks during

9256-443: Was captured two years later by David Igorevich and Volodar Rostislavich , who seized the city. Exiled from the city to Byzantium by Khazar agents during this turbulent time, Oleg Svyatoslavich returned to Tmutarakan in 1083 and ousted the usurpers, adopting the title of " archon of Khazaria" ( Arakhan of Tmutar), and placed the city under nominal Byzantine control. But he also issued rough silver coins in his own name which included

9360-528: Was different. There was a long-running ethnic conflict between the Chechen returnees and the Russian settlers of the region. Before 1989, the Russians had dominated all parts of government as well as the workforce, but then this reversed with the "Chechen revolution" in 1990, where the Chechen and Ingush majority took control of the ruling of their homeland. Russians were left jobless as able Vainakh took their places. The Russian language remained in many schools and

9464-455: Was dominated by ethnic Russians. This was paralleled with the gradual down-folding of anti-Cossack repressions and their eventual rehabilitation by the mid-1930s, including forming numerous units in the Red Army. Cossacks fought on both sides of the Second World War . Many Cossack prisoners of war joined Nazi Germany who promised to free their lands from Bolshevism. Terek Cossacks made up

9568-577: Was entitled, but the title itself implied no specific, legal privileges. Landgraf occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such minor royalty as the Elector of Hesse or the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar , who functioned as the Landgrave of Thuringia in the first decade of the 20th century. The jurisdiction of a landgrave was a Landgrafschaft or landgraviate, and the wife of

9672-427: Was followed by a succession of short-lived petty dynasts. Gleb Svyatoslavich was given command of the city by his father, Svyatoslav Yaroslavich , but in 1064 he was displaced by the rival Rus prince Rostislav Vladimirovich who in his turn was forced to flee the city when Gleb approached with an army led by his father. Once Svyatoslav left, however, Rostislav expelled Gleb once again. During his brief rule, he subdued

9776-512: Was gradually divided into high and low nobility. The high nobility included those counts who ruled immediate imperial territories of " princely size and importance" for which they had a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet . The word Graf derives from Middle High German : grave , which is usually derived from Latin : graphio . Graphio is in turn thought to come from the Byzantine title grapheus , which ultimately derives from

9880-404: Was inherited by all legitimate descendants in the male line of the original titleholder, the males also inheriting an approximately equal share of the family's wealth and estates. Usually a hyphenated suffix indicated which of the familial lands a particular line of counts held, e.g. Castell-Rudenhausen . In the medieval Holy Roman Empire, some counts took or were granted unique variations of

9984-527: Was introduced by Peter the Great . The first Russian graf (or count) was Boris Petrovich Sheremetev , elevated to this dignity in 1706 for the pacification of the Astrakhan uprising (1705–1706) . Then Peter granted six more graf dignities. Initially, when someone was elevated to the graf's dignity of the Russian Empire , the elevated person recognition by the German Emperor in the same dignity of

10088-577: Was located at the mouth of the Aktash River . This formed the oldest Cossack group, the Greben Cossacks (Гребенские казаки Grebenskiye Kazaki ) who settled on both banks of the river. In 1559–71 the Tsardom of Russia , in the course of several campaigns, built several fortifications, during which the first Terka was built, later taken over by the still independent Cossacks. In 1577, after

10192-538: Was not a Reichsgraf was likely to possess only a mesne fief ( Afterlehen ) — he was subject to an immediate prince of the empire, such as a duke or prince elector . However, the Holy Roman Emperors also occasionally granted the title of Reichsgraf to subjects and foreigners who did not possess and were not granted immediate territories — or, sometimes, any territory at all. Such titles were purely honorific . In English, Reichsgraf

10296-516: Was recalled from the Caucasus, a new reform took place and the interim regiments in the central Caucasus were united with the three Hosts on the Terek to form the Caucasus Line Cossack Host (Кавказское линейное казачье войско, Kavkazskoye lineynoye kazachye voysko ) in 1832, and the new Nakazny Ataman was named Peter Verzilin. Several reforms followed: In 1836 the Kizlyar and Family regiments were united and made responsible for

10400-443: Was the ancient Greek colony of Hermonassa ( Ancient Greek : Ἑρμώνασσα ) founded in the mid 6th century BCE, by Mytilene (Lesbos), situated on the Taman peninsula , in present-day Krasnodar Krai , Russia , roughly opposite Kerch . The Khazar fortress of Tamantarkhan (from which the Byzantine name for the city, Tamatarcha , is derived) was built on the site in the 7th century, and became known as Tmutarakan when it came under

10504-505: Was united with the Terek Cossacks. In 1735 by a new agreement with Persia the Sulak line was abandoned, and Agrakhan Cossacks were re-settled on the lower Terek Delta, and the fort of Kizlyar was founded. Thus in 1735 three hosts were formed: Grebenskoye ( Гребенское Rowing) from the descendants of the earliest Cossacks, Tersko-Semeynoye ( Терско-Семейное Terek-Family) from the re-settled Agrakhan Cossacks up to Kizlyar, and Tersko-Kizlyarskoye ( Терско-Кизлярское Terek-Kizlyar) from

10608-425: Was used instead of spurs. Prior to 1908, individual cossacks from all Hosts were required to provide their own uniforms (together with horses, Caucasian saddles and harness). On active service during World War I the Terek Cossacks retained their distinctive dress but with a dark waistcoat replacing the conspicuous light blue one and without the silver ornaments or blue facings of full dress. A black felt cloak ( bourki )

10712-536: Was visited by envoys from Kievan Rus to ask about religious matters. Although the exact date and circumstances of Tmutarakan's takeover by Kievan Rus are uncertain, the Hypatian Codex mentions Tmutarakan as one of the towns that Vladimir the Great gave to his sons, which implies that Rus control over the city was established in the late 10th century and certainly before Vladimir's death in 1015. Bronze and silver imitations of Byzantine coinage were struck by

10816-655: Was worn in bad weather both in peace-time and on active service. The Terk and Kuban Cossacks of the Imperial Escort ( Konvoi ) wore a special gala uniform; including a scarlet kaftan edged with gold braid and a white waistcoat. The arrival of the February and later the October Revolution caught most Cossacks on the front lines in Kurdistan . The unrequited mountainous peoples took full advantage of

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