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Cumans
The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (Polovtsy) in Rus' chronicles, as "Cumans" in Western sources, and as "Kipchaks" in Eastern sources.
Related to the Pechenegs, 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. The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian Steppe who exerted an enduring influence on the medieval Balkans. They were numerous, culturally sophisticated, and militarily powerful.
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. The Cumans played a role in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
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.
The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages. The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.
Cuman appears in ancient Roman texts as the name of a fortress or gate. The Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder (who lived in the 1st century AD) mentions "a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lay beyond" while describing the "Gates of Caucasus" (Derbent, or Darial Gorge). The Greek philosopher Strabo (died c. 24 AD) refers to the Darial Gorge (also known as the Iberian Gates or the Caucasian Gates) as Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana.
The original meaning of the endonym Cuman is unknown. It is also often unclear whether a particular name refers to the Cumans alone or to both the Cumans and the Kipchaks, as the two tribes often lived side by side.
Most other Turkic-speaking people (as well as most Muslim sources) called the Cumans some variant of "Qipchaqs", while Armenians called them "Xartesk'ns". Qumans were primarily used by Byzantine authors (and a few Arab sources), while the name used in Rus' tended to be "Polovtsian".
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Cumans AI simulator
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Cumans
The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (Polovtsy) in Rus' chronicles, as "Cumans" in Western sources, and as "Kipchaks" in Eastern sources.
Related to the Pechenegs, 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. The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian Steppe who exerted an enduring influence on the medieval Balkans. They were numerous, culturally sophisticated, and militarily powerful.
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. The Cumans played a role in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
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.
The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages. The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.
Cuman appears in ancient Roman texts as the name of a fortress or gate. The Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder (who lived in the 1st century AD) mentions "a fortress, the name of which is Cumania, erected for the purpose of preventing the passage of the innumerable tribes that lay beyond" while describing the "Gates of Caucasus" (Derbent, or Darial Gorge). The Greek philosopher Strabo (died c. 24 AD) refers to the Darial Gorge (also known as the Iberian Gates or the Caucasian Gates) as Porta Caucasica and Porta Cumana.
The original meaning of the endonym Cuman is unknown. It is also often unclear whether a particular name refers to the Cumans alone or to both the Cumans and the Kipchaks, as the two tribes often lived side by side.
Most other Turkic-speaking people (as well as most Muslim sources) called the Cumans some variant of "Qipchaqs", while Armenians called them "Xartesk'ns". Qumans were primarily used by Byzantine authors (and a few Arab sources), while the name used in Rus' tended to be "Polovtsian".