Cumania
Cuman–Kipchak Confederation Dasht-i Qibchaq | |||||||||||
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| 10th century–1241 | |||||||||||
Cuman, Kipchak | |||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 10th century | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1241 | ||||||||||
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| History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century |
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The name Cumania originated as the
A different, more organized entity that was later known as the
History and political interactions
By the 11th and 12th centuries, the nomadic confederacy of the Cumans and (Eastern) Kipchaks (who were a distinct tribe with whom the Cumans created a confederacy, although other sources say that Cumans and Kipchak are simply different names for the same tribe
Using the traditional Turkic assignment of colours to the cardinal points, White Cumania used to be located to the west and may have denoted eastern Wallachia, while Black Cumania was located to its north and may have denoted Moldavia.
._Simferopol_Museum,_Crimea,_Ukraine.jpg)
As in the case of many other large nomadic Eurasian confederacies, the ethnonym "Cuman" (referring to the inhabitants of Cumania) denoted different ethnic realities. While the main component was probably the Turkic-speaking tribes, the confederacy included other ethnic components as well. Cumania was primarily a political name, referring to the leading, integrating tribe or clan of the confederacy or state. The Cumans, when they first appear in written sources, are members of a confederacy irrespective of their tribal origin. Former tribal names disappeared when the tribe in question became part of a political unit. For instance, when we hear of an incursion of Cumans, it means that certain tribes of the Cuman confederacy took part in a military enterprise. In his "History of the Mongols", the Persian historian
The vast territory of this Cuman-Kipchak realm, consisting of loosely connected tribal units who were the military dominating force, was never politically united by a strong central power. Cumania was neither a state nor an empire, but different groups under independent rulers, or khans, who acted on their own initiative, meddling in the political life of the surrounding states: the Russian principalities,
In the Balkans, we find the Cumans in contact with all of the statal entities of that time, fighting with the Kingdom of Hungary, allied with the
This Pontic Cumania, (and the rest of the Cumanias to the east), ended its existence in the middle of the 13th century, with the
Kunság and the Catholic Diocese of Cumania
On the
Cumania name was also preserved as part of the
,_12th_-_13th_century.jpg)
Hence, Cumania diocese became part of the superior archbishopric of Esztergom, determining King
So, at that moment, Hungarian and Papal documents use the name Cumania to refer to the land between the eastern border of the lands of
In a charter from 1247, parts of this earlier Cumania were granted to the Knights Hospitaller, as were the Banate of Severin and the Romanian cnezats of Ioan and Lupu (a fluvio Olth et Alpibus Ultrasylvanis totam Cumaniam …excepta terra Szeneslai Woiavode Olacorum).[13] These, from a juridical point of view, had an inferior status than the states of Seneslau (east of the Olt River) and Litovoi (west of the Olt River), cnezats which continued to belong to the Romanians (quam Olacis relinquimus prout iidem hactenus tenuerant), "like they held them so far".
See also
| History of Russia |
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 |
 Russia portal |
- Turkic peoples
- Timeline of Turks (500–1300)
- Cuman people
- Pechenegs
- Kipchaks
- Kunság
- Mongol invasion of Europe
- History of Romania
- Crimean Karaites, an ethnic group with possible Cuman origins
- Cuman language
References
| History of Ukraine |
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 Ukraine portal |
Footnotes
- ^ Adjiev M. Eskenderovich, The Kipchaks, An Ancient History of the Turkic People and the Great Steppe, Moscow 2002, p.30
- ^ Al-Idrisi (1989). Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-'afaq. Beirut. pp. 428–429.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Vásáry. Cumans. p. 5.
- ^ Drobny, Jaroslav (2012), Cumans and Kipchaks: Between Ethnonym and Toponym (PDF), pp. 205–217
- ^ OCLC 1015991131.
- OCLC 1111434007.
- S2CID 248169243.
- ^ Alexandru D. Xenopol in "Histoire des Roumains", Paris, 1896, i, 168 quotes Rashid al-Din:
In the middle of spring the princes crossed the mountains in order to enter the country of the
people. - ^ The letter of Pope Gregory the IXth:
Gregorius Episcopus … venerabili fratri … Strigoniensi Archiepiscopo apostolicae sedis legato salutem … Nuper siquidem per litteras tuas nobis transmissas accepimus, quod Jesus Christus … super gentem Cumanorum clementer respiciens, eis salvationis ostium aperuit his diebus. Aliqui enim nobiles gentis illius per te ad baptismi gratiam pervenerunt, et quidam princeps Bortz nomine de terra illorum cum omnibus sibi subditis per ministerium tuum fidem desiderat suscipere christianam; propter quod unicum filium suum una cum fratribus praedicatoribus, messis dominicae operariis in terra praedicta, ad te specialiter destinavit, attentius obsecrans, ut personaliter accedens ad ipsum et suos viam vitae ostenderes ipsis … Unde quamvis pro executione voti tui, quod emiseras pro terrae sanctae succursu, in peregrinationis esses itinere constitutus, confidei exinde pervenire posse, si piis eorum desideriis condescendas, intermisso dictae peregrinationis itinere, dilectum filium … Archidiaconum de Zala ad nos destinare curasti … supplicans ut tibi hoc faciendi, non obstante voto praedicto, licentiam praeberemus, et … in Cumania et Brodnic terra illae vicina, de cuius gentis conversione speratur, legationis officium tibi committere dignaremur … Datum Anagniae II. Kal. Aug. Pontificatus nostri anno I.
- ^ The full list of titles was
- Bela Dei gratia Hungariae
- Dalmatiae
- Croatiae
- Romae
- Serviae
- Gallicie
- Lodomerie
- Cumanieque Rex
- ^ The full text of the letter of Pope Gregory the IXth to King Béla of Hungary (14 November 1234) is:
.In Cumanorum episcopatu, sicut accepimus, quidam populi, qui Walati vocantur, existunt, qui etsi censeantur nomine christiano, sub una tamen fide varios ritos habentes et mores, illa committunt, que huic sunt nomini inimica… Nam Romanam ecclesiam contempnentes, non a venerabili fratre nostro… episcopo Cumanorum,qui loci diocesanus existit, sed a quibusdam pseudoepiscopis, Grecorum ritum tenentibus, universa recipiunt ecclesiastica sacramenta, et nonnulli de regno Ungarie, tam Ungari, quam Theutonici et alii orthodoxi, morandi causa cum ipsis transeunt ad eosdem, et sic cum eis, quia populus unus facti cum eisdem Walathis eo contempto, premissa recipiunt sacramenta, in grave orthodoxorum scandalum et derogationem non modicam fidei christiane. Ne igitur ex diversitate rituum pericula proveniant animarum, nos volentes huiusmodi periculum obviare, ne prefati Walathi materiam habeant pro defectu sacramentorum ad scismathicos episcopos accedendi, eidem episcopo nostris damus litteris in mandatis, ut catholicum eis episcopum illi natione conformem provida deliberatione constituat sibi iuxta generalis statuta concilii vicarium in predictis, qui ei per omnia sit obediens et subiectus
- ^ The Diploma of King Andrew of Hungary, 11 March 1291, mentions the 'universities' of Saxon, Siculian and Wallachian nobles at Alba Iulia, yet at the assembly of Buda on 29 July 1292 there is mention of the 'universitas nobilium Ongarorum, Siculorum, Saxonum et Comanorum'; the term Cumans simply replacing that of Wallachs.
- ^ The text of the letter is
Bela dei gratia Hungariae … Rex … Contulimus … a fluvio Olth et Alpibus Ultrasylvanis totam Cumaniam …excepta terra Szeneslai Woiavode Olacorum, quam eisdem relinquimus, prout iidem hactenus tenuerunt … a primo introitu … fratrum usque ad viginti quinque annos omnes reditus Cumaniac terrae integraliter domus percipiat iam praefecta, praeterquam de terre Szeneslay antedicta …; Anno ab incurnatione domini MXXXLVII. IIII. Nonas Junii. Regni autem nostri anno duodecimo.
Notes
- Istvan Vasary: "Cumans and Tatars", Cambridge University Press, 2005;
- Binder Pál: "Antecedente şi consecinte sud-transilvanene ale formarii voievodatului Munteniei (sec. XIII-XIV.)" II.; Századok 1995, Budapest;
- Norman Angell: "Peace Theories and the Balkan War"; 1912.
Further reading
- Golden, Peter B. (2009). "QEPČĀQ". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
