The litmus test by which one can determine the origin of a people is language. The Pecheneg language belongs to the Turkic family, which includes many speakers from Turkey to Siberia and Central Asia. Within this large community, there are small subgroups. In the case of the Pechenegs, these are the Oguz languages, to which he is ranked. Knowing this, we can find out their next of kin.
Origin of the Pechenegs
Relatives of the Pechenegs are the Oguzes - another nomads who took an active part in the education of the peoples of Central Asia. The Pechenegs are their closest neighbors, who decided to move west from the trans-Volga steppes. Several reasons are given. Perhaps it was a tribal feud, as well as serious climatic changes in the habitat, including drought, which meant a decrease in vital resources.
One way or another, but the union of tribes moved to the west. It happened at the end of the 9th century, exactly at the time of the emergence of a centralized East Slavic state. For this reason, the newcomers did not go north, but continued their journey to the west up to the borders with Bulgaria and Byzantium. New neighbors settled in the Black Sea steppes, on the territorymodern Ukraine.
Despite their Turkic roots, the nomads eventually acquired some Caucasoid features. So, contemporaries argued that the inhabitants of the steppes have black hair and shave their beards, and a person from Kiev, when meeting with them, can easily get lost in the crowd. Such words seem somewhat contradictory, but this was also possible, especially considering that after successful raids, the steppes took local residents as concubines.
The nature of the relationship between Russia and nomads
From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, there was an abyss of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by a warlike disposition. And if Russia over time acquired the features of a real state that provides for itself, which means it can not attack its neighbors for the purpose of profit, then its southern neighbors have remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.
The Pechenegs are another wave thrown out by the Asian steppes. On the territory of Eastern Europe, this scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first it was the Huns, who, with their migration, laid the foundation for the Great Migration of Nations. Arriving in Europe, they terrified the more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. In the future, the Slavs and Magyars followed their path. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and settle in a certain territory.
Slavs, among other things, have become a kind of "human shield" of Europe. It was they who constantly took the blow of neword. The Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. In the future, the Polovtsy will come to their place, and in the XIII century - the Mongols.
Relations with the steppes were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push neighbors. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.
First clashes between nomads and Slavs
The Pechenegs and Rus' first clashed when the nomads attacked the Kyiv ruler Askold. These data are disputed by some historians, but no one denies the fact of a military confrontation between the newcomers from the steppes and Prince Igor in 915 and 920. By this time, the power of Rurikovich had already extended to Novgorod, from where he himself came.
With such great resources and number of people, Russia was able to hold back the onslaught of nomads from the south. Under the son of Igor - Svyatoslav - the horde periodically fights on his side as mercenaries, for example, against Byzantium. However, the union was never strong. The same Svyatoslav Igorevich died from a Pecheneg ambush on the Dnieper rapids, after John Tzimiskes offered the Khan a lot of gold.
The heyday of the steppes
In those years, the nomadic union reaches its peak of development. Thanks to the campaigns of the Slavs, Khazaria fell. Now the lower reaches of the Volga were empty, and consequently, they were immediately occupied by the horde. The raid of the Pechenegs could not survive the few colonies of the Slavs in the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut, on the territory of modernMoldova. About the quasi-state on the outskirts of Europe, not only immediate neighbors, but also Catholic monarchies in the west, as well as Arab travelers have heard a lot.
Under Vladimir the Red Sun, the confrontation between the two forces went on with varying degrees of success. In particular, on Trubezh in 993 the prince won, while in 996 near Vasiliev the Slavs were defeated. Vladimir not only sent an army to the border regions. He was the first to take advantage of the practice of building fortresses on the border with the steppe, with the help of signal lights on which it was possible to quickly notify Kyiv of impending danger. In addition, ramparts were created that prevented the steppes from grazing herds, and thus forced them to go south.
Participation in civil strife in Russia
After the death of the Baptist of Russia in the principality began civil strife between his sons. The nomads acted as mercenaries in this conflict on the side of Svyatopolk the Accursed, who did not shy away from the dirtiest methods, including the insidious murder of his brothers. Like the name of the fanatic, the word "Pechenegs" is still found as a synonym for barbaric behavior.
Svyatopolk was defeated. Yaroslav the Wise came to power. Under him, the Pechenegs disturbed Russia for the last time. In 1036, they tried to besiege unarmed Kyiv, but were defeated by the army of the Grand Duke who came to the rescue.
Polovtsian threat
After several defeats from the Slavs, the position of the Pechenegs became threatening. In the XI century in Russia, the era of the formation of specific principalities began, andthe disunity of the princes was to the advantage of the nomads. However, at this time, a new horde appeared in the east. They were Polovtsy (in different sources also Cumans or Kypchaks). It was they who expelled the former owners of the Black Sea steppe from their places. It is also important that the new nomads brought their faith, Islam, to the old ones. Some khans accepted it, some, on the contrary, refused. Such feuds could not benefit the union.
Polovtsy and Pechenegs were ethnically close. Both of them belonged to the Turkic peoples. However, this did not prevent the hostility and defeat of one of the parties. The Polovtsy and the Pechenegs were unequal in strength, since the new horde had fresh reinforcements from Asia on the side, while the old alliance suffered from constant wars with strong neighbors.
Further destiny
The displaced nomads went to the Balkan Peninsula or to Hungary, where they assimilated with the local population and ceased to exist as a separate nation. However, this is only one of the points of view.
According to another theory, the Pechenegs are the ancestors of the current Gagauz people living in Moldova and professing Orthodoxy. Throughout the 11th century, hordes were still encountered in some sources. For example, they participated in the wars of Byzantium against the Seljuks. The last serious defeat was inflicted on the Turkic tribe in 1091, when the combined army of the emperor and the Polovtsy defeated the aggressors at the walls of Constantinople. The defeat of the Pechenegs was complete and final. No one else heard from them.
Nevertheless, the memory of the steppes was alive among the people for a long time. So,already in 1380, in the battle on the Kulikovo field, the hero Chelubey, who began the battle with his own duel, was called the Pecheneg by the chronicler.
Lifestyle
The steppes, as one would expect, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and wandered along with their animals. Fortunately, there were all conditions for this, since the tribal union was located in a vast area. The internal structure was like this. There were two big groups. The first settled between the Dnieper and the Volga, while the second roamed between Russia and Bulgaria. In each of them there were forty genera. The approximate center of the tribe's possessions was the Dnieper, which divided the steppes into western and eastern.
The head of the tribe was chosen at the general meeting. Despite the tradition of counting votes, it was mostly children who inherited fathers.
Burials
Pecheneg archeological monuments are represented by small mounds. The dead are always turned with their heads to the west. As a rule, a person was buried with a horse. Therefore, in the burial mounds, in addition to human bones, horse bones also come across. Such a cult is the norm in nomadic communities.
Also, all kinds of trophies were left in the grave, either as a reward or as booty (earrings, jewelry and coins of gold Byzantine coinage). The Pechenegs are also the owners of a frightening arsenal. Therefore, weapons were buried with the soldiers. As a rule, this is a broadsword (saber).
The remains are found mainly on the territory of Ukraine. In Russia, the Pecheneg mounds are most oftenmeet in the Volgograd region.
