In ancient times, dozens of different peoples and tribes lived on the territory of the modern Russian Federation and Europe. The tribes fought among themselves, attacked Russia, engaged in agriculture or roamed along with their cattle. To successfully pass the exams, you have to find out how the Pechenegs lived, who they were and what kind of relationship they had with Kievan Rus. In this short article, we'll take a quick look at what is known about them.
Term
The Pechenegs are a union of ancient nomadic tribes, which was organized around the eighth - ninth century. They began to roam across the territory of Central Asia. The ethnonym "Pecheneg" most likely came from the term Bech (bech), which was called the next leader of the united tribes.
Features of nomads
Arab, Byzantine, European and Russian scientists described these tribes, their features and where they came from to the Russian lands. In all sources, they are presented as barbarians, despite the organization of the tribe and their well-structured management system. Perhaps they were called barbarians in Ancient Rus because of a different culture and language that was incomprehensible to the Slavs, because the Pechenegs had their own language - Turkic. And for the Slav, their speech sounded like “var var var var”.
In the works of ancient scientists, representatives of this tribe looked like courageous warriors of short stature, Caucasian race with dark hair like the earth. It is also said that they wore beards and dressed very modestly. Their outfits did not differ in any way from other nomadic tribes, and sometimes from the inhabitants of Russia.
Like all nomadic tribes, the Pechenegs were engaged in cattle breeding, went hunting, which brought them meat, milk and skins, which they successfully traded. There were occasional clashes with other local tribes. At the head of their tribes was the kagan, who played the role of the chief governor, resolved internal issues, that is, performed judicial functions. The most famous rulers:
- Smoking - attacked and destroyed the army of Svyatoslav, ordered to make a cup from his skull and drink from it at feasts.
- Metigai - was baptized by Vladimir the Great.
- Baltchar - faithfully served Byzantium.
The peculiarity of the tribe was from the funeral rites. They poured small mounds, the deceased was laid with his head to the west. Together with him were buried his horses, sabers, arrows, bow, coins, gold ...
Fight for land
A nomadic way of life and their own livestock forces them to look for new and new lands. For this reason, the place where they lived had to be pastures. Attacks from the neighbors - the Oghuz and Khazars, forced the Pechenegs by the end of the ninth century to leave Central Asia and head towards the European continent.
Faced with the Hungarians living on the lands between the Danube and the Volga, the nomads conquered their lands and partially settled there. Later, these nomads, like the Polovtsians later, at one time, split into two groups. And they will begin to exist separately, in short, the western ones will partially remain on the conquered lands, and the eastern ones will continue their nomadic path.
In 880-890, the Pechenegs will reach the Crimea. Seeing the wealth of the Russian lands, the Pechenezh Kaganate will make constant raids on the princely lands, which will give rise to a conflict between them and Kievan Rus.
The fall of the Khazar Kaganate made it possible for the nomads to occupy new territories without a fight. Vast lands from Byzantium to Russia, population growth, regular raids and successful trade made it possible for the Pechenegs to increase their military power.
Under Prince Igor
Prince Igor Stary. Years of reign 912 - 945
Igor ruled the principality from 912 to 945, and it was on his reign that the Pechenegs appeared on these lands, from whose raids he constantly had to defend his native land. There were conflicts with nomads, but probably in 915 or 920. Nothing is really clear about the rest of the years of this prince's reign. Perhaps there were two Igor's at all. Nevertheless, in the campaign of 944, Igor persuaded the Pechenegs to march on Byzantium in 944. So the times of conflict were often replaced by periods of cooperation, such as in the future it will be in the 13th century, already with the Polovtsy against the Mongol-Tatars.
Under Svyatoslav
At the time of Svyatoslav's reign (945-972), the Pechenegs decided to go to war against Kiev in 968, but Svyatoslav won a victory, because he was taught from childhood in the Varangian traditions - to fight and win! After such a fiasco, the nomads had no choice but to make peace with Svyatoslav.
Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. Years of reign 962 - 972
They even took the side of the prince in the campaign against Byzantium, but, unfortunately, this alliance did not last long and already in 972, on the rapids of the Dnieper, they would kill the prince when he returned from a military campaign to the Bulgarian lands. Thereafter, raids and military conflicts resumed.
Under Vladimir the Holy
For the young man, who ascended the Kiev throne in 979, the Pechenegs were enemy number one, since they killed their father and did not want to submit to the great princely power.
Prince Vladimir Saint (Red Sun). Reign years 979 - 1015
Taking advantage of the internal problems of the nomads (one part accepts Islam, and the other goes over to the Byzantine side), the Grand Duke defeats the enemy's army. But this victory did not end the war.
Yaroslav the Wise and the end of the Pechenezh horde
Yaroslav's path to the Kiev throne was paved with bloody battles and fraternal struggle for Kiev. The steppe dwellers took the side of Svyatopolk (Yaroslav's brother), which fell out of favor with the next Kiev prince. Having ascended the throne in 1019, Yaroslav decides to go against the old enemy and stop the raids of the barbarians. Luck smiled at the ruler, and he finally defeated the enemy army near Kiev in 1036, killing almost all the men of the tribe. This victory became one of the greatest in the history of Russia.
By the way, it was in honor of this victory that the St. Sophia Church was laid in Kiev.
Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Years of reign 1019 - 1054
The superiority of the Pechenegs was deprived, divided into hundreds of small tribes, they continued to roam. Settling on Russian lands, they began to assimilate with the local residents, accepting their Orthodox faith, traditions, rituals, and way of life. And by the end of the fourteenth century, this steppe people will disappear from the political map of the world.
Heritage
On the materially and spiritually rich Russian lands, each person, each new tribe brought something of their own, with which they replenished the wealth, which is now reflected in our culture, language and customs. Scientists argue about the heritage of the Pechenegs and the question of who their modern descendants are.
One thing is clear that the Gagauz and Karakalpaks (Turkic peoples living on the territory of modern Moldova and part of the Odessa region in Ukraine, and the latter on the territory of Uzbekistan) are their descendants.
They spoke their own languages and professed different faiths. Other researchers believe that the Yurmats are the true heirs of the clan. The Yurmats are a Bashkir tribe, which is now geographically referred to the Saratov region of Russia. In addition, the indigenous population of Kyrgyzstan (Kirghiz) has a whole clan that descends from the Pechenegs. It was this clan that was the main population of the city of Bechen (bech is a Pechenezh word meaning leader).
As the saying goes, "the Prophetic Oleg is going to take revenge on the unreasonable Khazars." Were they really on the level of development lower than the Slavs? What do we even know about this people?
Let's get answers to these questions together.
The Mystery of a Disappeared People
Thanks to the mentions in written sources of the period of Kievan Rus, we know that Prince Svyatoslav destroyed the main cities of the Khazar Kaganate.
Sarkel, Semender and Itil were destroyed, and the state of the state was undermined. After the 12th century, nothing is said about them at all. The latest information available indicates that they were captured and conquered by the Mongols.
Until this time - from the 7th century - Khazaria is spoken of in Arab, Persian, Christian sources. Its kings have tremendous influence in the territories of the North Caucasus and the Caspian steppes in the region of the Volga estuary. Many neighbors paid tribute to the Khazars.
Until now, this people is shrouded in mystery, and many information does not agree. Researchers have a hard time wading through the nationalities of eyewitness accounts.
The Arabs have some measures of distance and time, the Turks have completely different ones, add here also Byzantine, Jewish, Slavic and Khazar concepts. City names are often cited in one paragraph in Islamic style, in another in Hebrew or Turkic. That is, it is quite possible that there were more or less cities, since it has not yet been possible to fully compare the ethnonyms. As well as discovering the remains of all large settlements.
Judging by the correspondence, it turns out to be the most complete confusion and nonsense. In the descriptions of the king, the cities are huge, 500 kilometers each, and the provinces are tiny. Perhaps, again, this is a feature of the nomadic measure of distances. Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians considered the journey as days, and distinguished the length of the road in the mountains and on the plain.
How did it really happen? Let's figure it out gradually.
Origin hypotheses
In the middle of the 7th century, in the expanses of flat Dagestan, in the Eastern Ciscaucasia, a hitherto unknown, but very strong people appeared - the Khazars. Who is this?
They call themselves "kazars". The word, according to the majority of researchers, comes from the common Türkic root "kaz", meaning the process of "nomadism". That is, they can simply call themselves nomads.
Other theories concern Persian ("Khazar" - "thousand"), Latin (Caesar) and Turkic ("enslave") languages. In fact, it is not known for certain, so we add this question to the list of open ones.
The origin of the people themselves is also under a veil of secrecy. Today, the majority considers it to be Turkic. What tribes claim to be the ancestors?
According to the first theory, these are the heirs of the Akatsi tribe, one part of the once great empire of the Huns.
The second option is that they are considered immigrants from Khorasan.
These hypotheses have little support.
But the next two are strong enough and are confirmed by some facts. The only question is which sources are more accurate.
So, the third theory refers the Khazars to the descendants of the Uighurs. The Chinese refer to them in their chronicles as the "Ko-sa people." During the collapse of the Hunnic empire, taking advantage of the weakening of the Avars, part of the Oguzes went west. The self-names of the groups are translated as "10 tribes", "30 tribes", "white tribes", and so on.
Were there any Khazars among them? Who can confirm this? It is believed that this people was among them.
In the process of resettlement, they end up in the Northern Caspian region and the Kuban. Later, with the growth of influence, they settled in the Crimea and near the mouth of the Volga.
Crafts developed with the emergence of cities. Jewelers, blacksmiths, potters, tanners and other craftsmen form the basis for domestic trade.
The nobility and the ruling elite, as well as the army, lived at the expense of plunder and tribute from the conquered neighbors.
In addition, duties and taxes on goods that were transported through the territory of the kaganate made up a significant item of income. In view of the fact that the history of the Khazars is inextricably linked with the crossroads "east-west", they simply could not help but take advantage of the opportunities.
In the hands of the kaganate was the route from China to Europe, under the control of the state was navigation along the Volga and the northern part of the Caspian Sea. Derbent became a wall separating two warring religions - Orthodoxy and Islam. Which gave an unprecedented opportunity for the emergence of intermediary trade.
In addition, Khazaria became the largest transit point in the slave trade. The captive northerners were well bought by the Persians and Arabs. Girls are like concubines for harems and servants, men are like warriors, houseworkers and for other hard work.
Also, the state minted its own coin in the 10-11 centuries. Although she was an imitation of Arab money, a remarkable point is that in the inscription "Muhammad is a prophet", on the Khazar coins, there was the name "Moses".
Culture and religion
Researchers obtain the main information about the people from original written sources. With nomadic tribes such as the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians, things are more complicated. An ordered set of documents simply does not exist.
And scattered inscriptions of a religious or everyday nature do not carry a large semantic load. Of these, only grains of information are received.
How much do we learn about the culture of the tribe from the inscription on the pot "made by Joseph"? Here it will be possible to understand only that pottery and some linguistic traditions, for example, the belonging of names to different peoples, were widespread. Although this is not entirely true. This vessel could simply be bought and brought, for example, from the same Byzantium or Khorezm.
In fact, only one thing is known. The "foolish Khazars" included several nationalities and tribes who spoke Slavic, Arab, Turkic and Jewish dialects. The elite of the state communicated and kept documentation in Hebrew, and ordinary people used the runic script, which leads to a hypothesis about its Turkic roots.
Modern researchers believe that the Chuvash language is the closest to the Khazar language from the existing ones.
Religions in the state were also different. However, by the time of the decline of the Khaganate, Judaism became more and more dominant and dominant. The history of the Khazars is thoroughly connected with him. In the 10-11 centuries, the "peaceful coexistence of faiths" came to an end.
Even disorder broke out among the Jewish and Muslim quarters of large cities. But in this case, the followers of the Prophet Muhammad were smashed.
We can hardly judge the state of affairs in the lower strata of society due to the absence of any sources, except for a few brief mentions. But more on that later.
Khazar documents
Stunning sources about the state of affairs in the state, its history and structure have come to us thanks to one Spanish Jew. The Cordoba courtier, by the name of Hasdai ibn Shafrut, wrote a letter to the Khazar king with a request to tell about the kaganate.
Such an act was caused by his surprise. Being himself a Jew, and highly educated, he knew about the absent-mindedness of his fellow tribesmen. And here merchants from the East talk about the existence of a centralized, powerful and highly developed state, dominated by Judaism.
Since among Hasdai's duties was diplomacy, he, as an ambassador, turned to the kagan for truthful information.
He got an answer all the same. Moreover, it was written (rather dictated) by himself personally "Melech Joseph, son of Aaron", the kagan of the Khazar empire.
In the letter, he gives a lot of interesting information. The greeting says that his ancestors had diplomatic ties with the Umayyads. Then he tells about the history and structure of the state.
According to him, the ancestor of the Khazars is the biblical Japhet, the son of Noah. Also, the king tells the legend about the adoption of Judaism in the role of the state religion. According to her, it was decided to replace paganism, which was previously practiced by the Khazars. Who could do it in the best way? Of course, the priests. A Christian, a Muslim and a Jew were invited. The latter turned out to be the most eloquent and argued the rest.
According to the second version (not from the letter), the test for the priests consisted of deciphering unknown scrolls, which, by a "lucky chance", turned out to be the Torah.
Further, the kagan tells about the geography of his country, its main cities and the life of the people. They spend the spring and summer in a nomad, and in the cold season they return to the settlements.
The letter ends with a boastful remark about the position of the Khazar Kaganate as the main deterrent that saves Muslims from the invasion of northern barbarians. Russia and the Khazars, it turns out, were very hostile in the 10th century, which led to death
Where did the whole people disappear?
And yet, Russian princes such as Svyatoslav and Oleg the Prophet could not destroy the entire people at the root. The Khazars had to stay and assimilate with the invaders or neighbors.
In addition, the army of the kaganate's mercenaries was also not small, since the state was forced to maintain peace in all the occupied territories and confront the Arabs with the Slavs.
To date, the following is recognized as the most plausible version. The empire owes its disappearance to the coincidence of several circumstances.
First, the rise in the level of the Caspian Sea. More than half of the country ended up at the bottom of the reservoir. Pastures and vineyards, dwellings and other things simply ceased to exist.
Thus, pressed by a natural disaster, people began to flee and move to the north and west, where they faced opposition from their neighbors. So the Kiev princes got the opportunity to "take revenge on the unreasonable Khazars." There was a reason for a long time - taking people into slavery, duties on
The third reason, which served as a control shot, was confusion in the conquered tribes. They sensed the weakness of the position of their oppressors and rebelled. The provinces were gradually lost one after another.
As the sum of all these factors, the exhausted state fell as a result of the Rusich campaign, which destroyed three main cities, including the capital. The prince's name was Svyatoslav. The Khazars were unable to oppose worthy opponents to the northern pressure. Mercenaries don't always fight to the end. Your life is more precious.
The most plausible version of who the surviving descendants are is as follows. In the course of assimilation, the Khazars merged with the Kalmyks, and today they are part of this people.
References in literature
In view of the small amount of preserved information, works about the Khazars are divided into several groups.
The first is historical documents or religious controversy.
The second is fictional fiction based on the search for the lost country.
The third is pseudo-historical works.
The main characters are the kagan (often as a separate character), the king or bek Joseph, Shafrut, Svyatoslav and Oleg.
The main theme is the legend of the adoption of Judaism and the relationship between peoples such as the Slavs and the Khazars.
War with the Arabs
In total, historians distinguish two armed conflicts in the 7-8 centuries. The first war lasted about ten years, the second - more than twenty-five.
The confrontation was between the Kaganate and three caliphates, which replaced each other in the process of historical development.
In 642, the first conflict was provoked by the Arabs. They invaded through the Caucasus into the territory of the Khazar Kaganate. Several images on vessels have survived from this period. Thanks to them, we can understand what the Khazars were. Appearance, weapons, armor.
After ten years of haphazard skirmishes and local conflicts, the Muslims decided on a massive attack, during which they suffered a crushing defeat at Belendzher.
The second war was longer and more prepared. It began in the first decades of the eighth century and lasted until 737. During this military conflict, the Khazar troops reached the walls of Mosul. But in response, the Arab troops captured Semender and the headquarters of the kagan.
Such clashes continued until the 9th century. After that, peace was concluded in order to strengthen the positions of the Christian states. The border passed beyond the wall of Derbent, which was Khazar. Everything farther south belonged to the Arabs.
Russia and the Khazars
The Khazars were defeated by the Kiev prince Svyatoslav. Who will deny it? However, the fact reflects only the ending of the relationship. What happened during the couple of centuries preceding the conquest?
The Slavs in the annals are mentioned by individual tribes (Radimichi, Vyatichi and others), which were subordinate to the Khazar Kaganate until they were captured by Prophetic Oleg.
It is said that he imposed a lighter tribute on them with the only condition that they would not pay the Khazars now. This turn of events undoubtedly provoked a corresponding reaction from the empire. But the war is not mentioned in any source. We can only guess about it by the fact that peace was concluded and the Rus, Khazars and Pechenegs went on joint campaigns.
This is such an interesting and difficult fate for this people.
The Pechenegs' tactics are simple. They swiftly attacked the villages, created panic, killed the defenders, filled their bags with prey and disappeared. They never had the task of settling the occupied territories.
First, the Pechenegs attacked Byzantium, and then crossed the Danube around the second half of the 11th century. This was the great transition of the Pechenezh Horde, which had a significant impact on the development of history.
The Pechenegs were pagans. Bon - a religion of Tibetan origin was native to them. They did not like to wash. They did not cut their hair, they braided it in long black braids. A hat was put on top of the head.
They are melted across rivers with the help of bags specially sewn from leather. All the necessary ammunition is placed inside, and then all this is sewn together so tightly that not a single drop of water passes. Their horses were famous for their speed. They crossed large areas with ease. Arrows moistened with snake venom led to certain death, even with a slight scratch.
Exotic food
The main food is millet, rice. Pechenegs cook cereals in milk. Salt is not. They milked the horses and drank mare's milk instead of water; they did not fry the raw meat, but put it under the saddle to keep it warm. If hunger was already unbearable, they did not disdain cats and steppe animals. They were treated with infusions of various steppe herbs. They knew what kind of herbal infusion to drink to increase their range of vision. Many of them could shoot a bird on the fly the first time.
They swore the oath of allegiance to each other by piercing their fingers - they took turns drinking drops of blood.
The nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs lived in the trans-Volga steppes, then began to inhabit the territory beyond the Volga and the Urals, from where they left to the west.
War with Russian princes
In the Nikon Chronicle, you can find a story about the first summer clash of the troops of the Kiev princes Askold and Dir with the Pechenegs in Transnistria.
Igor Rurikovich, who ascended the throne, was able to make peace with the Pechenegs, but they, despising such treaties, had already made not a short raid, but marched across Russia. Therefore, Igor Rurikovich again enters into a fight with them. Pechenegs go to the steppe.
Pechenegs reconnaissance worked well
They had a well-organized intelligence service. When Svyatoslav Igorevich and his army set out on a campaign against Bulgaria, the Pechenezh hordes unexpectedly besieged Kiev. The townspeople defend their city with their last strength in the absence of the main combat units. A Russian scout, who knows the Pechenezh language well, was able to get through their cordons, swim across the Dnieper and call for help from the voivode Pretich. He immediately rushed to the aid of the besieged - the Pechenegs thought that these were the main troops of Svyatoslav Igorevich and rushed to flee, but they stopped near the Lybed River and sent envoys to the voivode to find out if Svyatoslav was really coming. The voivode answered them that it was his advanced units that were going in front, and behind them were the main ones. The Pechenezh Khan immediately became a friend and offered a gift - a saber and a horse.
While the negotiations were going on, Svyatoslav was able to direct his troops against the invaders and drive them far back.
The Pechenezh Khan Smoke was defeated by the son of Svyatoslav
The Pechenegs were able to defeat Svyatoslav only when he was returning from the Byzantine campaign. Near the Dnieper rapids, the Pechenegs organized several ambushes, killed all the Russians. The prince died too. The Pechenezh Khan Kurya made a golden goblet out of his skull and boasted of this trophy in front of other Pechenegs.
The eldest son of Svyastoslav, the eleven-year-old Yaropolk, under the command of his regent Svenald, avenged his deceased father in 978 and imposed a large tribute on the enemies.
Russian "Serpentine Shafts"
The large fortifications - "Serpentine Shafts", were built to protect against the attacks of the steppe nomads. The Russians organize round-the-clock watch not only on the ramparts, but also send reconnaissance detachments far to the extent.
In 988, Prince Vladimir tried to negotiate with the Pechenegs, and attracted some princes to his side. But two years later, other Pechenezh princes again raided the territory of Russia, causing enormous harm. The response was immediate - Vladimir and his army completely defeated the Pechenegs. But two years later, the Pechenegs gathered their army again and stood near the Trubezh River. The Russian troops, warned by intelligence, were already standing on the opposite side of the river. The Pechenezhsky fighter challenged the Russian hero Yan to a duel. The Russian won. Then the troops, inspired by this victory, pounced on the Pechenegs and put them to flight.
The last foray into Russia under Yaroslav the Wise
After the death of Vladimir, the Pechenegs supported Svyatopolk, and Yaroslav had to win the victory on two fronts. In the battle near the city of Lyubech, the Pechenegs did not participate against Yaroslav, they were cut off by the lake and did not want to force it.
After coming to power, Yaroslav spent a lot of time and effort to strengthen borders and cities.
Finally, in 1036, the last battle took place. When Yaroslav was in Novgorod, they laid siege to Kiev. But the Russian prince was able to return to the battlefield and organize a defense. The Pechenegs attacked first along the entire front. The Russians' counterattack came as a surprise to them. The fight lasted all day, but Yaroslav was able to win. True, as historians note, with great difficulty.
Where did the Pechenegs disappear?
The remnants of the Pechenegs went deep into the steppe and never again attempted to attack Russia. Their leader, Prince Tirach, attacked Bulgaria, then Byzantium, but was exhausted in continuous battles and gradually his army disintegrated. Some went to serve as mercenaries in the Byzantine, Hungarian and Russian troops. Other Pechenegs moved to the southeast, where they merged with other peoples.
Modern descendants of the Pechenegs
They became the progenitors of the Karapalkaps, Bashkirs, Gagauzes (a Turkic people living in Bessarabia, Odessa region of Ukraine, on the territory of Moldova as part of the autonomous territory of Gagauz). The Kirghiz large clan Bechens originate from the Pechenegs.
The Polovtsi are one of the most mysterious steppe peoples that went down in Russian history thanks to the raids on the principalities and the repeated attempts of the rulers of the Russian lands, if not to defeat the steppe inhabitants, then at least to come to an agreement with them. The Cumans themselves were defeated by the Mongols and settled over a large part of Europe and Asia. Now there is no people who could directly trace their genealogy to the Polovtsians. And yet they certainly have descendants.
In the steppe (Deshti-Kipchak - Kipchak, or Polovtsian steppe) lived not only the Polovtsians, but also other peoples, who are sometimes united with the Polovtsians, sometimes considered independent: for example, the Cumans and Kuns. Most likely, the Polovtsians were not a "monolithic" ethnic group, but were divided into tribes. Arab historians of the early Middle Ages distinguish 11 tribes, Russian chronicles also indicate that different Polovtsian tribes lived west and east of the Dnieper, east of the Volga, near the Seversky Donets.
Many Russian princes were the descendants of the Polovtsians - their fathers often married noble Polovtsian girls. Not so long ago, a dispute broke out about how Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky actually looked. According to the reconstruction of Mikhail Gerasimov, in his appearance, Mongoloid features were combined with Caucasoid ones. However, some modern researchers, for example, Vladimir Zvyagin, believe that there were no Mongoloid features in the appearance of the prince at all.
What did the Polovtsians themselves look like?
There is no consensus among researchers on this score. In the sources of the XI-XII centuries, the Polovtsians are often called "yellow". The Russian word also probably comes from the word "sexual", that is, yellow, straw.
Some historians believe that among the ancestors of the Polovtsians were the "dinlins" described by the Chinese: people who lived in southern Siberia and were blond. But the authoritative researcher of the Polovtsi Svetlana Pletneva, who has repeatedly worked with materials from the burial mounds, does not agree with the hypothesis about the "fair hair" of the Polovtsian ethnic group. “Yellow” can be the self-name of a part of a nationality, in order to distinguish itself, to oppose the rest (in the same period, there were, for example, “black” Bulgarians).
According to Pletneva, the bulk of the Polovtsians were brown-eyed and dark-haired - these are Turks with an admixture of Mongoloid. It is quite possible that among them there were people of different types of appearance - the Polovtsians willingly took as wives and concubines of Slavs, however, not of princely families. The princes never gave their daughters and sisters to the steppe dwellers. In the Polovtsian nomad camps there were also Rusichs who were captured in the battle, as well as slaves.
Hungarian king of the Cumans and the "Cuman Hungarians"
Part of Hungary's history is directly related to the Cumans. Several Polovtsian families settled on its territory already in 1091. In 1238, pressed by the Mongols, the Polovtsians under the leadership of Khan Kotyan settled there with the permission of King Bela IV, who needed allies.
In Hungary, as in some other European countries, the Polovtsians were called "Cumans". The lands on which they began to live were named Kunság (Kunsag, Kumania). In total, up to 40 thousand people arrived at the new place of residence.
Khan Kotyan even gave his daughter to Bela's son Istvan. He and the Polovtsian Irzhebet (Ershebet) had a boy Laszlo. For his origin he was nicknamed "Kun".
According to his images, he did not look like a Caucasian without an admixture of Mongoloid features. Rather, these portraits remind us of the reconstruction of the external appearance of the steppe inhabitants familiar from history textbooks.
Laszlo's personal guard consisted of his fellow tribesmen, he appreciated the customs and traditions of his mother's people. Despite the fact that he was officially a Christian, he and other Cumans even prayed in Cuman (Cuman).
The Cuman Polovtsians gradually assimilated. For some time, until the end of the 14th century, they wore national clothes, lived in yurts, but gradually adopted the culture of the Hungarians. The Cuman language was supplanted by the Hungarian language, the communal lands became the property of the nobility, who also wanted to look "more Hungarian". The Kunsag region was subordinated to the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. As a result of the wars, up to half of the Kipchak Polovtsians perished. A century later, the language completely disappeared.
Now the distant descendants of the steppe dwellers do not differ in any way from the rest of the inhabitants of Hungary - they are Caucasians.
Polovtsi in Bulgaria
Polovtsi arrived in Bulgaria for several centuries. In the XII century, the territory was under the rule of Byzantium, the Polovtsian settlers were engaged in cattle breeding there, trying to enter the service.
In the 13th century, the number of steppe dwellers who moved to Bulgaria increased. Some of them came from Hungary after the death of Khan Kotyan. But in Bulgaria they quickly mixed with the locals, adopted Christianity and lost their special ethnic traits. Possibly, Polovtsian blood is now flowing in a certain number of Bulgarians. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to accurately identify the genetic characteristics of the Polovtsians, because there are plenty of Turkic features in the Bulgarian ethnic group due to its origin. Bulgarians also have a Caucasian appearance.
Polovtsian blood in Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Uzbeks and Tatars
Many Cumans did not migrate - they mixed with the Tatar-Mongols. The Arab historian Al-Omari (Shihabuddin al-Umari) wrote that, having joined the Golden Horde, the Polovtsians switched to the position of subjects. The Tatar-Mongols who settled on the territory of the Polovtsian steppe gradually mixed with the Polovtsians. Al-Omari concludes that after several generations the Tatars began to look like the Polovtsians: “as if from the same clan (with them),” because they began to live on their lands.
Subsequently, these peoples settled in different territories and took part in the ethnogenesis of many modern nations, including Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Kirghiz and other Turkic-speaking peoples. The types of appearance for each of these (and those listed in the title of the section) nations are different, but each has a share of Polovtsian blood.
The Polovtsi are also among the ancestors of the Crimean Tatars. The steppe dialect of the Crimean Tatar language belongs to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, and the Kypchak is a descendant of the Polovtsian. The Cumans mixed with the descendants of the Huns, Pechenegs, and Khazars. Now the majority of Crimean Tatars are Caucasians (80%), Crimean steppe Tatars have Caucasian-Mongoloid appearance.
Another mysterious ancient people who settled all over the world are the gypsies. You can find out about that in one of our previous reviews.
