Kypchak khanate: origin and history

The medieval Kypchak Khanate is a conglomerate of Polovtsian tribes who owned the 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 Kama in the north to the Aral Sea in the south. The time of existence of the Kypchak Khanate - XI - XIII centuries.

Prehistory

Polovtsi (other names: Kypchaks, Polovchans, Kumans) were a Turkic people with a classical steppe way of life of nomads. In the VIII century, they were entrenched in the territory of modern Kazakhstan. Their neighbors were Khazars and Oguzes. The ancestors of the Polovtsians are Syrah who roamed in the steppes of the eastern Tien Shan and Mongolia. That is why the first written testimonies about this people are Chinese.

In 744, the Polovtsi fell under the power of the Kimaki and lived for a long time in the Kimak Kaganate. In the IX century, the situation became directly opposite. The Polovtsi achieved hegemony over the Kimaks. So the Kypchak Khanate arose. At the beginning of the 11th century it displaced the neighboring Oghuz tribe from the lower reaches of the Syr Darya River . On the border with Khorezm, the Polovtsians had the town of Sygnak, where they spent the winter wanderings. Now in its place are the ruins of an ancient settlement, representing a serious archaeological value.

Formation of the state

By 1050 the Kypchak Khanate had absorbed the entire territory of modern Kazakhstan (except for Semirechie). In the east, the border of this state reached the Irtysh, and its western borders stopped on 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 peoples. Historians distinguish two key tribes of the Kypchaks: yanto and se. In addition, the Polovtsians mingled with their conquered neighbors (Turks and Oguzes). The total number of researchers is up to 16 tribes of the Kypchaks. It was borili, toxob, durut, karaborikly, bizhanak, etc.

In the middle of the 11th century, the Kypchak Khanate reached its peak of expansion. The nomads stopped in the Black Sea and Russian steppes, reaching the border of the Byzantine Empire. As a result of this mass migration, the Kypchaks disintegrated into two conventional parts: the western and the eastern. The border between them ran along the Volga (the Polovtsians called it "Itil").

Public structure

The Kipchak society was socially unequal. The main property that guaranteed welfare was cattle and horses. It was their number in the farm 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, by tradition, belonged to the aristocracy.

Most of the Kypchaks consisted of ordinary herders and community members. They were considered free, although often passed under the patronage of more influential relatives. With the loss of their livestock, the man was deprived of the opportunity to wander and became a yatuk - a sedentary inhabitant. The most disenfranchised in the 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 XI century Russian-Polovtsian wars began. The nomads did not attempt to conquer the Eastern Slavic principalities, but they came to foreign lands for the sake of robbery and new slaves. Steppenaks selected property and livestock and devastated agricultural lands. Their attacks were unexpected and swift. As a rule, the nomads had time to disappear long before the prince's squads arrived to the place of their invasion.

The most frequently suffered lands around Kiev, Ryazan, Pereyaslavl, as well as Porosye and Severchina. It was on their rich lands and cities that they aimed their merciless attacks on the Kypchak Khanate. 11 - the beginning of the 13th century - the period of regular clashes between steppe people and Russian squads. Because of the danger in the south, people tried to move closer to the forests, which markedly stimulated the migration of the East Slavic population to the Vladimir principality.

Chronicles of raids

When the Kypchak khanate, the territory of which has significantly increased, came into contact with Rus, the Slav state, on the contrary, entered a period of crisis caused by feudal fragmentation and internal internecine wars. Against the background of these events, the danger of nomads increased at times.

The first serious defeat of the Polovtsians, led by Khan Iskal, was inflicted on Pereiaslav prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich in 1061. Seven years later, the steppe people defeated the army of the Russian coalition of the three Rurik people on the river Alta. In 1078, the Kiev prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich was killed in the battle on Nezhatinoi Niva. All these tragedies came down on Rus in many respects because of the inability of the specific monarchs to agree among themselves for the common good.

Victory of Rurik

The medieval Kypchak Khanate, whose political system and external connections resemble the classical example of a horde, for a long time successfully terrorized the Russian lands. Nevertheless, the defeats of the Eastern Slavs could not last forever. The personification of a new round of struggle against the Polovtsians was Vladimir Monomakh.

In 1096, this prince defeated the Kypchaks on the Trubezh River. In the battle, the leader of the nomads Tugorkan was killed. It is interesting that the founder of the Kypchak Khanate, for certain historians is unknown. The information remained only about those rulers who declared wars to neighboring powers or entered into diplomatic relations with them. Khan Tugorkan was one of them.

Dangerous neighborhood

Thanks to the persistence of the Slavic detachments, the expansion that the Kypchak Khanate continued for many decades stopped. In short, the resources of the Polovtsi did not suffice to shake the sovereignty of Russia. Rurikovich tried to fight uninvited guests by any available means. The princes arranged border fortifications and settled in them peaceful settled Türks - black hoods. They lived in the south of the Kiev land and for a considerable time served as the shield of Russia.

Vladimir Monomakh was the first not only to break the Kypchaks, but also made an attempt to launch an offensive into the boundless steppe. His campaign of 1111, to which the other Rurikovichi joined, was organized following the example of Krestovy, in which Western knights conquered Jerusalem from the Muslims. In the future, the practice of offensive wars in the steppe became a tradition. The most famous in Russian folklore was the campaign of the northern Prince Igor Svyatoslavovich, whose events formed the basis of the "Lay of Igor's Host".

Polovtsy and Byzantium

Russia was not the only European state with which the Kypchak khanate was in contact. The summary of the relations of the steppe people with the Byzantine Empire is known from the medieval Greek chronicles. In 1091 the Polovtsi entered into a brief alliance with the Russian prince Vasilko Rostislavich. The goal of the coalition was the defeat of other nomads - Pechenegs. In the XI century, they were driven out by the Polovtsi from the Black Sea steppes and now threatened also the borders of the Byzantine Empire.

Not wishing to endure the presence of the horde at their borders, the Greeks entered into an alliance with Vasilko and the Kypchaks. In 1091, their combined army, headed by Emperor Alexis I Comnenus, defeated the army of the Pechenegs at the battle of Leburn. However, the Greeks did not have a friendship with the Polovtsi. Already in 1092, the Khanate supported the pretender and the contender for power in Constantinople, False Diogenes. Polovtsy invaded the territory of the empire. The Byzantines defeated uninvited guests in 1095, after which for a long time they did not attempt to go beyond the native steppe.

Allies of the Bulgarians

If with the Greeks Kypchaks were at enmity, then with the Bulgarians from the same Balkans they were almost always associated with allied relations. For the first time these two people fought on the same side in 1186. At that time the Bulgarians crossed the Danube and prevented the Emperor Isaac II Angel from suppressing the rebellion of their compatriots in the Balkans. In the campaign the Slavs were actively helped by the Polovtsian hordes. It was their swift attacks that horrified the Greeks, who were not accustomed to fighting such an enemy.

In 1187 - 1280 years. The ruling dynasty in Bulgaria was Aseni. It was their relationship with the Kypchaks that were an example of a strong alliance. For example, at the beginning of the 13th century, King Kaloyan, along with the steppe inhabitants, repeatedly troubled the possession of his neighbor 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 its own - Latin one - on its ruins. The Bulgarians immediately became sworn enemies of the Franks. In 1205 there was a famous battle at Adrianople, in which the Slavic-Polovtsian army defeated the Latins. Crusaders suffered a crushing defeat, and their emperor Baldwin even was captured. The decisive role in the victory was played by the maneuverable cavalry of the Kypchaks.

Conquest by the Mongols

Whatever the bright successes of the Polovtsi in the west, they all faded against the terrible threat that was approaching Europe from the east. At the beginning of the 13th century, Mongolians began to build their own empire. First they conquered China, and then moved west. Without much difficulty conquering Central Asia, new conquerors began to crowd the Polovtsi and neighboring nations.

In Europe, the first to hit were Alans. The Kypchaks refused to help them. Then came 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 with the Mongols in the battle on the Kalka River. It suffered a devastating defeat. After 15 years, the Mongols returned to establish their yoke over Eastern Europe. In the 1240's. The Kypchan khanate was finally destroyed. Polovtsi as a people eventually disappeared, merging with other ethnicities of the Great Steppe.