_eng.png) The Cuman–Kipchak confederation in Eurasia, c. 1200 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Cumania | |
| Languages | |
| Cuman | |
| Religion | |
| Tengrism (historically), Christianity (in Balkans), Islam (in Anatolia, Balkans) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kipchaks, Pecheneg, Tatars, Manavs, Bashkirs, Nogais, Kazakhs[1] |
The Cumans or Kumans[a][2] were a Turkic[2][3][4][5] nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsy in Rus', Cumans in Western and Kipchaks in Eastern sources.[6]
Related to the Pecheneg,[7] they inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea and along the Volga River known as Cumania, from which the Cuman–Kipchaks meddled in the politics of the Caucasus and the Khwarazmian Empire.[8]: 7 The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian Steppe who exerted an enduring influence on the medieval Balkans.[9]: 116 [10] They were numerous, culturally sophisticated, and militarily powerful.[11]: 13
Many eventually settled west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Kievan Rus', the Galicia–Volhynia Principality, the Golden Horde Khanate, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Moldavia, the Kingdom of Georgia, the Byzantine Empire, the Empire of Nicaea, the Latin Empire, and Wallachia, with Cuman immigrants becoming integrated into each country's elite.[12]: 281 The Cumans played a role in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire.[8][13]: 50 Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman–Kipchak confederation.[11]: 7
| History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century |
|---|
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| History of Tatarstan |
|---|
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After the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in 1237, many Cumans sought asylum in the Kingdom of Hungary, as many of them had already settled there in the previous decades. The Cumans also played an important role in the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Nicaea Empire's Anatolia.[8]: 2 [12]: 283 [14][15]
The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages.[5]: 186 The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.
- ^ Williams, Brian G. (2001). The Crimean Tatars: The Diaspora Experience and the Forging of a Nation. Brill. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9004121226.
- ^ a b Kovács, Szilvia (2020). "Kumans". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
- ^ Robert Lee Wolff: "The 'Second Bulgarian Empire'. Its Origin and History to 1204". Speculum, Volume 24, Issue 2 (April 1949), 179. "Thereafter, the influx of Pechenegs and Cumans turned Bulgaria into a battleground between Byzantium and these Turkish tribes ..."
- ^ Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204–1453. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-0-8122-1620-2.
- ^ a b Spinei, Victor (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004175365. Archived from the original on 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
- ^ "Polovtsy". Encyclopedia.com. 31 May 2023.
- ^ "Cumans". Encyclopediaofukraine.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
- ^ a b c Vásáry, István (2005). Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5218-3756-9.
- ^ Bartlett, W. B. (2012). The Mongols: From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-0791-7.
- ^ Prawdin, Michael (1940). The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy. Transaction Publishers. pp. 212–15. ISBN 978-1-4128-2897-0. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
- ^ a b Nicolle, David; Shpakovsky, Victor (2001). Kalka River 1223: Genghiz Khan's Mongols Invade Russia. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-233-3.
- ^ a b Sinor, Denis, ed. (1990). The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5212-4304-9.
- ^ Grumeza, Ion (4 August 2010). The Roots of Balkanization: Eastern Europe C.E. 500–1500. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-5135-6. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ Golev, Konstantin (2018). "The Bulgarophilia of the Cumans in the Times of the First Asenids of Bulgaria". Golden Horde Review. 6 (3): 455. doi:10.22378/2313-6197.2018-6-3.452-471.
- ^ "Mitochondrial-DNA-of-ancient-Cumanians". Goliath.ecnext.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-24. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
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