The medieval Kypchak Khanate is a conglomeration of Polovtsian tribes that owned vast steppe territories of Eurasia. Their lands stretched from the mouth of the Danube in the west to the Irtysh in the east and from the Kama in the north to the Aral Sea in the south. The existence of the Kypchak Khanate - XI - XIII centuries.
Backstory
The Cumans (other names: Kipchaks, Polovtsy, Cumans) were a Turkic people with a classic steppe way of life of nomads. In the VIII century, they entrenched themselves in the territory of modern Kazakhstan. Their neighbors were Khazars and Oguzes. The ancestors of the Cumans are the Sirs, who roamed the steppes of the eastern Tien Shan and Mongolia. That is why the first written evidence about this people is Chinese.
In 744 the Cumans fell under the rule of the Kimaks and lived in the Kimak Khaganate for a long time. In the 9th century, the situation became exactly the opposite. The Polovtsians achieved hegemony over the Kimaks. This is how the Kypchak Khanate arose. At the beginning of the 11th century, it ousted the neighboring Oghuz tribe from the lower reaches of the Syr Darya River. On the border with Khorezm, the Polovtsians had the city of Sygnak, where they spent their winter nomad camp. Now in its place are the ruins of an ancient city of great archaeological value.
Formation of the State
By 1050, the Kypchak Khanate had swallowed up the entire territory of modern Kazakhstan (except Semirechye). In the east, the border of this state reached the Irtysh, and its western borders stopped at the Volga. In the south, the Kypchaks reached Talas, in the north - the Siberian forests.
The ethnic composition of these nomads was formed as a result of merging with many other nations. Historians distinguish two key Kipchak tribes: Yanto and Se. In addition, the Cumans mixed with their conquered neighbors (Turks and Oghuz). In total, researchers count up to 16 Kipchak tribes. These are Borili, Toxoba, Durut, Karaborikles, Bizhanak, etc.
In the middle of the 11th century, the Kypchak Khanate reached the peak of its expansion. The nomads stopped in the Black Sea and Russian steppes, having reached the border of the Byzantine Empire. As a result of this mass migration, the Kypchak community disintegrated into two conditional parts: western and eastern. The border between them ran along the Volga (the Polovtsy called it "Itil").
Community structure
Kypchak society was class and socially unequal. The main property that guaranteed prosperity was cattle and horses. It was their number in the household that was considered an indicator of a person's place on the social ladder. Part of the livestock was in communal ownership. Such animals were marked with tamgas (special marks). Pastures traditionally belonged to the aristocracy.
Most of the Kipchaks consisted of ordinary pastoralists and community members. They were considered free, although they often came under the patronage of more influential relatives. With the loss of his livestock, a man was deprived of the opportunity to roam and became a yatuk - a settled resident. The most disenfranchised in Polovtsian society were slaves. The Kypchak Khanate, whose economy was largely based on forced labor, increased the number of slaves at the expense of prisoners of war.
Relations with Russia
In the first half of the 11th century, the Russian-Polovtsian wars began. The nomads did not try to conquer the East Slavic principalities, but came to foreign lands for the sake of robbery and new slaves. The steppe people took away property and livestock and devastated agricultural land. Their attacks were unexpected and swift. As a rule, the nomads managed to disappear long before the princely squads arrived at the place of their invasion.
The lands around Kyiv, Ryazan, Pereyaslavl, as well as Porosye and Severshchina most often suffered. It was on their rich lands and cities that the Kypchak Khanate aimed its merciless attacks. 11 - the beginning of the 13th century - the period of regular clashes between the steppes and Russian squads. Because of the danger in the south, people tried to move closer to the forests, which significantly stimulated the migration of the East Slavic population to the Vladimir principality.
Chronicle of raids
When the Kypchak Khanate, whose territory had grown significantly, came into contact with Russia, the Slavic state, on the contrary, entered a period of crisis caused by feudal fragmentation and internalinternecine wars. Against the backdrop of these events, the danger of nomads has increased significantly.
The first serious defeat of the Polovtsians, led by Khan Iskal, was inflicted on the Pereyaslav prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich in 1061. Seven years later, the steppes defeated the army of the Russian coalition of three Rurik on the Alta River. In 1078, the Kyiv prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich died in the battle on Nezhatina Niva. All these tragedies fell on Russia largely due to the inability of the specific monarchs to agree among themselves for the common good.
Victory of Rurikovich
The medieval Kypchak Khanate, whose political system and external relations resemble the classic example of a horde, successfully terrorized Russian lands for a long time. Nevertheless, the defeat of the Eastern Slavs could not last forever. Vladimir Monomakh became the personification of a new round of the fight against the Polovtsians.
In 1096, this prince defeated the Kypchaks on the Trubezh River. The leader of the nomads Tugorkan died in the battle. Interestingly, the founder of the Kypchak Khanate is not known to historians for certain. Information remained only about those rulers who declared war on neighboring powers or entered into diplomatic relations with them. Khan Tugorkan was one of them.
Dangerous neighborhood
Thanks to the perseverance of the Slavic squads, the expansion that the Kypchak Khanate continued for many decades stopped. In short, the resources of the Polovtsy were not enough to shake the sovereignty of Russia. Rurikovich tried to deal with uninvited guests by anyavailable ways. The princes arranged border fortifications and settled in them peaceful settled Turks - black hoods. They lived in the south of the Kyiv land and for a considerable time served as a shield of Russia.
Vladimir Monomakh was the first not only to defeat the Kipchaks, but also made an attempt to launch an offensive into the endless steppe. His campaign of 1111, to which other Rurikovichs joined, was organized following the example of the Crusade, in which the Western knights conquered Jerusalem from the Muslims. Later, the practice of offensive wars in the steppe became a tradition. The most famous in Russian folklore was the campaign of the Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavovich, the events of which formed the basis of the "Tale of Igor's Campaign".
Polovtsi and Byzantium
Rus was not the only European state with which the Kipchak Khanate had contact. A summary of the relations between the steppes and the Byzantine Empire is known from medieval Greek chronicles. In 1091, the Polovtsy entered into a brief alliance with the Russian prince Vasilko Rostislavich. The goal of the coalition was to defeat other nomads - the Pechenegs. In the 11th century, they were forced out by the Polovtsy from the Black Sea steppes and now also threatened the borders of the Byzantine Empire.
Not wanting to endure the presence of the horde at their borders, the Greeks entered into an alliance with Vasilko and the Kypchaks. In 1091, their united army, led by Emperor Alexei I Komnenos, defeated the Pechenegs at the Battle of Lebourne. However, the Greeks did not develop friendship with the Polovtsians. Already in 1092, the khanate supported the impostor andpretender to power in Constantinople False Diogenes. The Polovtsy invaded the territory of the empire. The Byzantines defeated the uninvited guests in 1095, after which they did not try to go beyond their native steppe for a long time.
Allies of the Bulgarians
If the Kipchaks were at enmity with the Greeks, then with the Bulgarians from the same Balkans they almost always had allied relations. For the first time, these two peoples fought on the same side in 1186. At that time, the Bulgarians crossed the Danube and prevented Emperor Isaac II Angel from suppressing the uprising of their compatriots in the Balkans. In the campaign, the Polovtsian hordes actively helped the Slavs. It was their swift attacks that horrified the Greeks, who were not accustomed to fighting such an opponent.
In 1187 - 1280. Asenis were the ruling dynasty in Bulgaria. It was their relations with the Kypchaks that were an example of a strong alliance. For example, at the beginning of the 13th century, Tsar Kaloyan, together with the steppes, more than once disturbed the possessions of his neighbor, the Hungarian king Imre. At the same time, an epoch-making event took place - the Western European knights captured Constantinople, destroyed the Byzantine Empire, and built their own, Latin, on its ruins. The Bulgarians immediately became sworn enemies of the Franks. In 1205, the famous battle near Adrianople took place, in which the Slavic-Polovtsian army defeated the Latins. The crusaders suffered a crushing defeat, and their emperor Baldwin was even captured. The decisive role in the victory was played by the maneuverable Kypchak cavalry.
Conquest by the Mongols
No matter how bright the successes of the Polovtsy in the west, they all faded against the backdrop of the terrible threat that was approaching Europe from the east. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongols began to build their own empire. They first conquered China and then moved west. Having easily conquered Central Asia, the new conquerors began to push the Polovtsians and their neighboring peoples.
In Europe, the Alans were the first to be hit. The Kipchaks refused to help them. Then it was their turn. When it became clear that the invasion of the Mongols could not be avoided, the Polovtsian khans turned to the Russian princes for help. Many Rurikovich really responded. In 1223, the united Russian-Polovtsian army met the Mongols in the battle on the Kalka River. It suffered a resounding defeat. After 15 years, the Mongols returned to establish their yoke over Eastern Europe. In the 1240s. The Kypchan Khanate was finally destroyed. The Polovtsy as a people disappeared over time, dissolving among other ethnic groups of the Great Steppe.
