The
Cumans (
Turkish:
kuman / plural kumanlar[1] Hungarian:
kun / plural kunok;
[2] Greek: Κο(υ)μάνοι,
Ko(u)mánoi;
[3] Latin:
Pallidi, Comani, Cuni,
[4]Romanian:
cuman / plural cumani,
Polish:
Połowcy, Plauci (Kumanowie),
Russian: Половцы,
Polovtsy;
Ukrainian: Половці,
Polovtsi;
Bulgarian: Кумани,
Czech: Plavci,
Georgian: ყივჩაყი, ყიფჩაღი,
German: Falones, Phalagi, Valvi, Valewen, Valani) were a
Turkic[2][5][6][7] nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-
Kipchak confederation. After the
Mongol invasion (1237), many sought
asylum in
Hungary[8] and, subsequently,
Bulgaria. The Cumans had also settled in Hungary and Bulgaria before the
Mongol invasion.
[9][10][11]
Related to the
Pecheneg,
[12] they inhabited a shifting area north of the
Black Sea and along the
Volga River known as
Cumania, where the Cuman-Kipchaks meddled in the politics of the
Caucasus and the
Khwarezm Empire.
[13] Many eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of
Kievan Rus', the
Galicia–Volhynia Principality, the
Golden Horde Khanate, the
Second Bulgarian Empire,
Serbia, the
Kingdom of Hungary,
Moldavia, the
Kingdom of Georgia,
Abkhazia, the
Byzantine Empire, the
Empire of Nicaea, the
Latin Empire and
Wallachia.
[11] The Cumans also had a pre-eminent role in the
Fourth Crusade and in the creation of the
Second Bulgarian Empire.
[14][15] Cuman and
Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the
Cuman-Kipchak confederation.
[15][16] The
Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early
Turkic languages.
[17] The
Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual which was written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.
The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the
Eurasian steppe who exerted an enduring impact on the medieval Balkans.
[18][19] They were numerous, culturally sophisticated and militarily powerful.
[20] The basic instrument of Cuman political success was military force, which dominated each of the warring Balkan factions. Groups of the Cumans settled and mingled with the local population in regions of the Balkans. Those Cumans that settled in the Balkans were the founders of three successive Bulgarian dynasties (
Asenids,
Terterids, and
Shishmanids) and the Wallachian dynasty (
Basarabids).
[21][22][23][24][25] But in the cases of the Basarab and Asenid dynasties, medieval documents refer to them as
Vlach (
Romanian) dynasties.
[26][27] They played an active role in the
Byzantine Empire, the
Kingdom of Hungary, the
Second Bulgarian Empire and
Serbia, with Cuman immigrants being integrated into each country's elite.
The Cumans' name in Russian and German means "yellow", in reference to the color of the Cumans' hair.
[28] The Ukrainian word
Polovtsy (Пóловці) means "blond" / "pale yellow", since the old Ukrainian word
polovo means "straw".
Kuman(
quba/quw) means "pale yellow" / "yellowish grey" / "pale/sallow, cream coloured" in
Turkic.
[29][30] Some authors put forward the idea that the name
Polovtsy referred to "men of the field, or of the steppe" (from the Ukrainian word
pole: open ground, field), not to be confused with
polyane (cf. Greek
polis: city). In Slavic languages the word 'polyane' literally means "open ground, field". According to O. Suleymenov
polovtsy came from a word for "blue-eyed", since the
Serbo-Croatian word
plavmeans "blue":
[31] the
Eastern Slavic equivalent would take the regular form
*polov. A west Russian chronograph mentions the Cumans being called Половцы (Polovtsy) and Кум (Kum).
[32] The western Cumans/Polovtsy were also called
Sorochinetses by the Rus, this word deriving from
sary chechle which means yellow haired in Turkic; the word was also evident in the Sary people, who went ahead of or were pushed by the Qun.
[33]
It is difficult to know whether the etymology was actually referring to Cumans or mostly Kipchaks as both tribes had fused together and lived side by side.
[34] The Cumans were called
Folban,
Vallani/Valwe by Germans.
[17] In the German account by Adam of Bremen, and Matthaios of Edessa, the Cumans were referred to as the “Blond Ones”.
[35] They were called
Kun(Qoun)/Kunok by the Hungarians, and
Polovtsy/Polovec (from Old East Slavic "половъ" — yellow) by the Russians — all meaning "blond".
[36] The word Kipchak is derived from the Iranian
kip for red/blone and
cak/chak meaning Scyth.
[37] It is difficult to know which group historians were referring to when they used the name Kipchak, as they could refer to the Cumans only, the Kipchaks only, or to both together. The two nations joined and lived together (and possibly exchanged weaponry, culture and fused languages), with the Cumans encompassing the western half of the confederation, while the Kipchaks and (assumably) the Kangli/
Kankalis (a ruling clan of the Pechenegs) encompassing the eastern half.
[34] This confederation and their living together may have made it difficult for historians to write exclusively about either nation.
Origins
Asia, circa 1200
The ethnic origins of the Cumanians are uncertain.
[23][40][41] The Cumans were reported to have blond hair, fair skin and blue eyes (which set them apart from other groups and later puzzled historians),
[36][42][43] although their anthropological characteristics suggests that their geographical origin might be in Inner-Asia, South-Siberia, or as Istvan Vassary postulates, east of the large bend of the
Yellow River in China.
[9][44][45][46] Robert Wolff states that it is conjectured that ethnically the Cumans may not originally have been Turkic.
[47]The Roman natural philosopher, Pliny (who lived in the first century A.D), in describing the "Gates of Caucasus" (
Derbent), mentions "a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lay beyond."
[48] The writings of al Marwazi (c. 1120) state that the 'Qun' people (as the Cumans were called in Hungary) came from the northern Chinese borders - "the land of Qitay" (possibly during a part of a migration from further east). After leaving the lands of the
Khitans (possibly due to Kitai expansion
[47]), they entered the territory of the Shari/Sari people. Marwazi wrote that the Qun were Nestorian Christians.
[49] It cannot be concluded whether the Cumans conquered the
Kipchaks or simply represent the western mass of largely Kipchak-Turkic speaking tribes. A "victim" of the Cuman migration to the west was the
Kimek Khanate, which dissolved but then regrouped again under Kipchak-Cuman leadership. Due to this,
Kimek tribal elements were represented amongst the Cuman-
Kipchaks. The Qun are also mentioned by the Syrian historian Yaqut in
The Dictionary of Countries, where he mentions "(The sixth iqlim) begins where 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 Qani, Qun, Khirkhiz, Kimak, at-Tagazgaz, the lands of the Turkomans, Fārāb, and the country of the Khazars."
[50][51] The Armenian historian,
Matthew of Edessa, also mentioned the Cumans, by the name χartešk (khartes, meaning blond/pale/fair).
[52][53] The Cumans entered the grasslands of the southern
Russian steppe in the 11th century and continued 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 the right of the Dnieper River.
[17] Cuman and Rus attacks contributed to the Oghuz to depart from the steppes north of the
Black Sea.
[17] The Cumans first enter the Bugeac (Bessarabia) at some point around 1068-1078. The Cumans launched a joint expedition with the Pechenegs against
Adrianople in 1078. During that same year the Cumans were also fighting the
Rus'.
[17] The Russian
Primary Chronicle mentions Yemek Cumans who were active in the region of
Volga Bulgaria.
[11][23]
The vast territory of the Cuman-Kipchak realm consisted of loosely connected tribal units who were the 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 a state, instead forming a Cuman-Kipchak confederation (
Cumania/Desht-i Qipchaq/Zemlja Poloveckaja(Polovcian Land)/Pole Poloveckoe(Polovcian Plain),
[54] which stretched from the
Danube in the west to
Taraz,
Kazakhstan in the east.
[55] This was possibly due to them facing no prolonged threat before the Mongol invasion, and it may have either prolonged their existence or quickened their destruction.
[56] Robert Wolff states that it was through discipline and cohesion that permitted the Cuman-Kipchaks to conquer such a vast territory.
[57] 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 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."
[58] The
Golden Horde Khanate was also referred to as "Comania" by Armenian chronicler Hethum (Hayton) of Korykos.
[59] The Moroccan traveler,
Ibn Batutta, said of Cumania, "This wilderness is green and grassy with no trees, nor hills, high or low...there is no means of travelling in this desert except in wagons." The Persian historian,
Hamdallah Mustawfi, wrote that Cumania has a cold climate and that it has excellent pasturage and numerous cattle and horses.
[60] The traveler,
John Mandeville, wrote 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 is so great heat that no man may endure it...And the principal city of Comania is clept 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 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 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] 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 Cachas, and slew Tympieman, for to be soldan; and made him be clept Melechmenes."
[61]According to the 12th-century Jewish traveler
Petachiah of Regensburg “they have no king, only princes and royal families.”
[56] Cumans interacted with the
Rus' principalities,
Bulgaria,
Byzantine Empire, and the
Wallachian states in the
Balkans; with
Armenia and
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.
[62] The Cumans were also active in commerce with traders from
Central Asia to
Venice.
[63] The Cumans had 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 was viewed by Ibn al-Air 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, the
Cuman language became the lingua franca of the region. Thus the language was adopted by the
Karaite Jewish and Crimean Armenian communities (who produced many documents written in Kipchak with the Armenian alphabet
[64]), where it was
preserved for centuries up to the modern day.
[62]
The Cuman-Kipchaks created a powerful caste of warriors, the
Mamluks and the
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo). These Mamluks came from Crimea and were from the Cuman clans of Burchevichi (Mamluk:Burch-oghlu), a part of which also settled in Hungary and mentioned as the Borchol; Itoba and Toksobichi (Mamluk:Toqsoba).
[65] These three clans were mentioned by Rus' sources, the former two appearing to be part of the "Non Wild" Cumans.
[55] The Mamluks were seen as "true lords", with social status above freeborn Egyptian Muslims.
[66] The Cuman-Kipchak
Qutub-ud-din Aibak was appointed as governor of a part of the realm of
Muhammad Ghori. Qutub proclaimed independence after the death of his patron and created the
Delhi Sultanate;
[67] his line is known as the
Mamluk Dynasty due to his origin.
[68] The most prominent Cuman Sultan of the Mamluk Sultanate was Sultan
Baibars, who defeated King
Louis IX of France and resisted the Mongol invasion, defeating them at the
Battle of Ain Jalut and the
Battle of Elbistan (by using the feigned retreat tactic); he is considered as one of the greatest medieval Muslim leaders.
[69][70] Mamluks in the empire retained a particularly strong sense of Cuman identity, to the degree that the biography of Sultan
Baibars, as reflected by Ibn Shaddad, focused on his birth and early years in Desht-i-Kipchak (“Steppe of the Kipchaks”/Cumania), as well as enslavement and subsequent travels to Bulgaria and the Near East. The historian Dimitri Korobeinikov relates how Baibars’ story sums up the tragic fate of many Cumans after the
Battle of Kalka River and the
Mongol invasion of Europe. Roman Kovalev states that this story can further be seen as a mechanism for the preservation of a collective memory broadly reflecting a sense of Cuman identity in the
Mamluk Sultanate.
[71] In the latter part of the 1260s the Mamluks were allied with the Golden Horde against the Ilkhnate.
[72] The creation of this specific warrior class was described as the "mamluk phenomenon" by
David Ayalon and was of great political importance.
[73]
Cumans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
