Pechenegs

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(Redirected from
Pecheneg
)
This article is about the Turkic tribe. For the Russian weapon, see
Pecheneg machine gun
.
Pechenegs
Varangian army of Rus, from the Madrid Skylitzes.
Regions with significant populations
Eastern Europe, Anatolia (historical)
Languages
Pecheneg language (historical)
Religion
Christianity (in the Balkans, Anatolia) and Tengrism (historical); Islam (in Anatolia, Balkans)
Related ethnic groups
Other Oghuz Turks and Cumans
Pecheneg Khanates
889–1091
Pecheneg Khanates and neighbouring territories, c.1030
Pecheneg Khanates and neighbouring territories, c.1030
StatusKhanate
Common languagesPecheneg
History 
• Established
889
• Disestablished
1091
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Khazar Khaganate
Kipchaks
History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century
Court of Seljuk ruler Tughril III, circa 1200 CE.
Court of Seljuk ruler Tughril III, circa 1200 CE.
Turkic peoples
Oghuz Turks
Karluks
Kipchaks
Onogurs
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Turkic Mythology
Belief system: Tengrism and Shamanism
Chief gods and goddesses: Kayra and Ülgen
Epics and heroes: Ergenekon and Asena
Major concepts: Sheka and Grey wolf
Pre-14th century
Yenisei Kyrgyz People 202 BCE–13th CE
  • Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate
Dingling 71 BC–?? AD
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(Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis)

Sabiri People
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 665-850
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 1299–1922

The Pechenegs (

Crimean Peninsula. In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus'
, and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars.

Ethnonym

The Pechenegs were mentioned as Bjnak, Bjanak or Bajanak in medieval

East Slavic peoples use the terms Pečenegi or Pečenezi (plural of Pečeneg), while the Poles mention them as Pieczyngowie or Piecinigi.[1] The Hungarian word for Pecheneg is Besenyő; the Romanian term is Pecenegi.[1]

According to

Old Turkic word for "brother-in-law, relative” (baja, baja-naq or bajinaq; Azerbaijani: bacanaq, Kyrgyz: baja, Turkmen: baja and Turkish: bacanak), implying that it initially referred to an "in-law related clan or tribe".[1][2] Peter Golden considers this derivation by no means certain.[3]

In

Eastern Roman Empire or Anatolia, and "a branch of Oghuz Turks"; he subsequently described the Oghuz as being formed of 22 branches, of which the Pecheneg were the 19th.[4]

Pechenegs are mentioned as one of 24 ancient tribes of

Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh ("Compendium of Chronicles") with the meaning of the ethnonym as "the one who shows eagerness". The 17th-century Khan of the Khanate of Khiva and historian Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur mentions the Pechenegs as bechene among 24 ancient tribes of Turkmens (or Oghuzes) in his book Shajara-i Tarākima
(“Genealogy of the Turkmen") and provides for its meaning as "the one who makes".

Three of the eight Pecheneg "provinces" or clans were collectively known as

Kirghiz words kangir ("agile"), kangirmak ("to go out riding") and kani-kara ("black-blooded"), while Carlile Aylmer Macartney associated it with the Chagatai word gang ("chariot"),[7] semantically related to the Turkic Gaoche.[8]

Omeljan Pritsak proposed that the name had initially been a composite term (Kängär As, mentioned in Old Turkic texts) deriving from the Tocharian word for stone (kank) and the ethnonym As, suggesting that they were Tocharian-speaking or at least formed a confederation consisting of Tocharian, Eastern Iranian and Bulgaric Turkic elements. Their connection with Eastern Iranian elements is hinted at in the remark of al-Biruni regarding a people that "are of the race of al-Lān and that of al-Ās and their language is a mixture of the languages of Khwarazmians and the Badjanak.".[9]

If the latter assumption is valid, the Kangars' ethnonym suggests that (East) Iranian elements contributed to the formation of the Pecheneg people but

Josephus Flavius (ed. Meshcherskiy, 454) which adds "the Yas, as is known, descended from the Pecheneg tribe." On the basis of their fragmentary linguistic remains, scholars view them as Common Turkic-speakers, most probably Kipchak (Németh, followed by Ligeti)[12] or Oguz (Baskakov).[13] Hammer-Purgstall classifies the Chinese Kangju and Byzantine Kangar as purely Turkic name variants of the Kangly;[14] however, Wang Pu's institutional historical work Tang Huiyao apparently distinguishes the Kang(ju) from the Kangheli (aka Kangly).[15] Menges saw in Kang-ar-as the plural-suffix -as, and Klyashtorny the Turkic numerus collectivus -ar-, -er-.[16][17]

Language

Main article: Pecheneg language

Mahmud al-Kashgari, an 11th-century man of letters who specialized in Turkic dialects argued that the language spoken by the Pechenegs was a variant of the Cuman and Oghuz idioms.[18] He suggested that foreign influences on the Pechenegs gave rise to phonetical differences between their tongue and the idiom spoken by other Turkic peoples.[19] Anna Komnene likewise stated that the Pechenegs and the Cumans shared a common language.[18] Although the Pecheneg language itself died out centuries ago,[20] the names of the Pecheneg "provinces" recorded by Constantine Porphyrogenitus prove that the Pechenegs spoke a Turkic language.[21] The Pechenegs are thought to have belonged to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic family, but their language is poorly documented and therefore difficult to further classify.[22]

Composition

Byzantine emperor

Dnieper river, reflecting the bipartite left-right Turkic organization. These eight tribes were in turn divided into 40 sub-tribes, probably clans. Constantine VII also records the names of eight former tribal leaders who had been leading the Pechenegs when they were expelled by the Khazars and Oghuzes. Golden, following Németh and Ligeti, proposes that each tribal name consists of two parts: the first part being an equine coat color, the other the tribal ruler's title.[23]

The Erdim, Čur, and Yula tribes formed the Qangar/Kenger (Greek: Καγγαρ) and were deemed "more valiant and noble than the rest".

Tribal Compositions
Transcribed tribal name Reconstructed tribal name Meaning Location Transcribed leader's name Reconstructed leader's name
Ιαβδι-ερτί(μ) *Yavdı[a]-Erdim[b] Tribe of the Erdem[c] with brilliant, shining horses Dniepr's west bank Βαϊτζαν *Bay[d]-ča
Κουαρτζι-τζούρ *Küerči[e]-Čur Tribe of the Čur with bluish horses Dniepr's east bank Κούελ *Küğel[f]
Χαβουξιν-γυλά *Qabuqšın-Yula or *Khabuži/Kapuži-Jula[g] Tribe of the Yula with bark-colored horses Dniepr's west bank Κουρκοῡται *Qorqutai[h]
Συρου-κουλπέη *Suru-Kül-Bey Tribe of the Kül-Bey with grayish horses Dniepr's east bank Ιπαόν *Ipa / *Iba (?),[i]
Χαρα-βοη *Qara-Bay Tribe of the Bey with black horses Dniepr's west bank Καϊδούμ *Qaydum[j]
Βορο-ταλμάτ *Boru-Tolmač Tribe of the Tolmač[k] with grayish horses Dniepr's east bank Κώσταν *Qosta[l]
Γιαζι-χοπὸν *Yazı-Qap(ğ)an Tribe of the
Qap(ğ)an
with dark-brown horses		 Dniepr's west bank Γιαζή *Yazı[m]
Βουλα-τζοπόν *Bula-Čopan[n] Tribe of the Čopan with piebald horses Dniepr's east bank Βατᾱν *Bata / *Bota[o]

Notes

  1. ^ or "Yawdı"
  2. ^ or "Erdem"
  3. ^ bravery, virtue
  4. ^ wealthy
  5. ^ From küverči < küğerči
  6. ^ bright-green
  7. ^ Possibly not an equine coat color; cf. Ottoman Turkish قاپو‎ kapu "door, gate, Porte", Hung. kapu "gate, entrance, door". If so, this tribe was the guardians of the Pechenegs to the west.[24]
  8. ^ From qorqut- "to frighten"
  9. ^ cf. Hung. Ipoch; may be Ipa + Hung. dim. suffix -cs (-ç).[25]
  10. ^ From qayt- < qayıt- < qaðıt- "to turn back"; cf. Hung. Kajdan
  11. ^ "interpreter, translator"
  12. ^ cf. Sağay qosta "foe-seeking magical arrow"(?)
  13. ^ From Yazığ, metathesis of Yağız
  14. ^ or "Čaban"
  15. ^ "small camel"

History

Origins and area

According to Omeljan Pritsak, the Pechenegs are descendants from the ancient Kangars who originate from Tashkent. The Orkhon inscriptions listed the Kangars among the subject peoples of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Pritsak says that the Pechenegs' homeland was located between the Aral Sea and the middle course of the Syr Darya, along the important trade routes connecting Central Asia with Eastern Europe, and associates them with Kangars.[26]

According to

Siret River (or even the Eastern Carpathian Mountains), and was four days distant from "Tourkias" (i.e. Hungary).

The whole of Patzinakia is divided into eight provinces with the same number of great princes. The provinces are these: the name of the first province is Irtim; of the second, Tzour; of the third, Gyla; of the fourth, Koulpeï; of the fifth, Charaboï; of the sixth, Talmat; of the seventh, Chopon; of the eighth, Tzopon. At the time at which the Pechenegs were expelled from their country, their princes were, in the province of Irtim, Baïtzas; in Tzour, Kouel; in Gyla, Kourkoutai; in Koulpeï, Ipaos; in Charaboï, Kaïdoum; in the province of Talmat, Kostas; in Chopon, Giazis; in the province of Tzopon, Batas.

— Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio[27]
Pontic steppes
, c. 1015

Eastern Roman Empire).[28][29][30] Victor Spinei emphasizes that the Pechenegs' association with the Bĕirù is "uncertain".[29] He proposes that an 8th-century Uighur envoy's report, which survives in Tibetan translation,[31] contains the first certain reference to the Pechenegs.[29] The report recorded an armed conflict between the Be-ča-nag and the Hor (Uyghurs or Oghuz Turks) peoples in the region of the river Syr Darya.[29][32]

Polovcians" descended from "the godless sons of Ishmael, who had been sent as a chastisement to the Christians".[34][35]

Westward migration

Europe 1097

The

Volga River, but some groups were forced to join the Oghuz. The latter formed the 19th tribe of the Oghuz tribal federation in the 11th century.[36][2]

The Pechenegs who left their homeland settled between the

Slavs.[37][38]

Tamga of Pecheneg tribe as per Abul-Ghazi's «Genealogy of Turkmens»

The same sources also narrate that the Pechenegs made regular raids against their neighbors, in particular against the Khazars and the latter's vassals, the

Kuban River and the upper course of the river Donets.[37][41] There is no consensual date for this second migration of the Pechenegs: Pritsak argues that it took place around 830,[39] but Kristó suggests that it could hardly occur before the 850s.[42]

The Pechenegs settled along the rivers

Hudud al-'alam had its origin in this period.[39] The Hudud al-'Alam—a late 10th-century Persian geography—distinguished two Pecheneg groups, referring to those who lived along the Donets as "Turkic Pechenegs", and to those along the Kuban as "Khazarian Pechenegs".[9] Spinei proposes that the latter denomination most probably refers to Pecheneg groups accepting Khazar suzerainty, implies that some Pecheneg tribes had been forced to acknowledge the Khazars supremacy.[29]

In addition to these two branches, a third group of Pechenegs existed in this period: Constantine Porphyrogenitus and

Ibn Fadlan mention that those who decided not to leave their homeland were incorporated into the Oghuz federation of Turkic tribes.[2][39]

Originally, the Pechenegs had their dwelling on the river Atil (Volga), and likewise on the river

Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio[43]

However, it is uncertain whether this group's formation is connected to the Pechenegs' first or second migration (as it is proposed by Pritsak and Golden, respectively).[2][39] According to Mahmud al-Kashgari, one of the Üçok clans of the Oghuz Turks[44] was still formed by Pechenegs in the 1060s.[39]

Alliance with Byzantium

Sviatoslav enters Bulgaria with Pecheneg allies,[45] from the Constantine Manasses Chronicle.

In the 9th century, the

Magyars
(Hungarians).

The Uzes, another

Cumans by 889, the Pechenegs in turn drove the Magyars west of the Dnieper
River by 892.

Tsar

Pannonian plain, where they later founded the Hungarian state
.

Late history and decline

By the 9th and 10th centuries, Pechenegs controlled much of the steppes of southeast

Crimean Peninsula
. Although an important factor in the region at the time, like most nomadic tribes their concept of statecraft failed to go beyond random attacks on neighbours and spells as mercenaries for other powers.

In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus'. For more than two centuries they had launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars (like the 920 war on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev, reported in the Primary Chronicle). The Pecheneg wars against Kievan Rus' caused the Slavs from Walachian territories to gradually migrate north of the Dniestr in the 10th and 11th centuries.[46] Rus'/Pecheneg temporary military alliances also occurred however, as during the Byzantine campaign in 943 led by Igor.[note 2]

Andrey Ivanovich Ivanov.[47]

In 968 the Pechenegs

Pontic steppes
.

Pecheneg mercenaries served under the Byzantines at the

Moglena (today in Macedonia) into a tagma "of the Moglena Pechenegs".[49] Attacked again in 1094 by the Cumans, many Pechenegs were slain or absorbed. The Byzantines defeated the Pechenegs again at the Battle of Beroia in 1122, on the territory of modern-day Bulgaria. With time the Pechenegs south of the Danube lost their national identity and became fully assimilated, mostly with Romanians and Bulgarians. Significant communities settled in the Hungarian kingdom, around 150 villages.[50]

In the 12th century, according to Byzantine historian

Andria in 1155.[52]

class=notpageimage|
The Pechenegs and contemporary Asian polities circa 1000 CE.

The Pechenegs as a group were last mentioned in 1168 as members of Turkic tribes known in the chronicles as the "

Chorni Klobuky (Black Hats)".[53] It is likely that the Pecheneg population of Hungary was decimated by the Mongol invasion of Hungary
, but names of Pecheneg origin continue to be reported in official documents. The title of "Comes Bissenorum" (Count of the Pechenegs) lasted for at least another 200 years.

In 15th-century Hungary, some people adopted the surname Besenyö (

county of Tolna. One of the earliest introductions of Islam into Eastern Europe came about through the work of an early 11th-century Muslim prisoner who was captured by the Byzantines. The Muslim prisoner was brought into the Besenyő territory of the Pechenegs, where he taught and converted individuals to Islam.[54] In the late 12th century, Abu Hamid al-Gharnati referred to Hungarian Pechenegs – probably Muslims – living disguised as Christians. In the southeast of Serbia, there is a village called Pečenjevce founded by Pechenegs. After war with Byzantium, the remnants of the tribes found refuge in the area, where they established their settlement.[55][56][57][58][59][60]

Settlements bearing the name Pecheneg

Leaders

See also

Notes

  1. Latin
    : Pacinacae, Bisseni
  2. Caspian expeditions
    .
  3. ^ The chronicler explains the town's name, derived from the Slavic word for "retake", by the fact that Vladimir "retook" the military glory from the Pechenegs.
  4. ^ While his rule's exact end cannot be dated, Kurya was no longer khan by 988.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Spinei 2003, p. 93.
  2. ^ a b c d Golden 2003, p. I.64.
  3. ^ Peter Benjamin Golden. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic peoples. p. 264.
  4. ^ Maḥmūd, Kāshgarī; James Kelly (1982). Türk Şiveleri Lügatı = Dīvānü Luġāt-It-Türk. Duxbury, Mass: Tekin.
  5. ^ a b Curta 2006, p. 182.
  6. ^ Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (ch. 37), p. 171.
  7. ^ Macartney 1968, pp. 104–105.
  8. ^ Golden, Peter B., "Ethnogenesis in the Tribal Zone: The Shaping of the Türks". From: Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes, ed. C. Hriban, Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologicaeque Antiquitatis et Medii Aevi, IX (Bucharest-Brăla, 2011):17-63 / ISBN 978-973-27-2152-0
  9. ^ a b c Pritsak 1975, p. 213.
  10. ^ Spinei 2003, p. 94.
  11. ISBN 9789047428800
    / Brill 2009, p.181
  12. ^ Németh, "Die Inschriften," 16, pp. 50-1; Ligeti, "A magyar nyelv," p.362, 506; and Györffy, "A Besenyők nyelve," p.170-91. Cited in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition), Vol.VIII, Leiden 1994, p.289
  13. ^ Баскаков, Н. А. Тюркские языки, Москва 1960, с. 126-131.
  14. ^ Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph, Freiherr von, Geschichte der Goldenen horde in Kiptschak, das ist: der Mongolen in Russland, 1840. digital page n70 or 6/mode/2up.
  15. ^ Tang Huiyao, "Vol. 72" quote: "康國馬。康居國也。是大宛馬種。形容極大。武德中。康國獻四千匹。今時官馬。猶是其種。……康曷利馬。印宅。" rough translation: "Horses of the Kang nation, which is the Kangju nation. They are a stock of Dayuan horses. In the middle of the Wude era [622 - 626 CE], the Kang nation tributed 4,000 horses. Nowadays, the officials' horses are [probably] of that stock. [...] Kangheli's horses; tamga [resembles] [character] 宅"
  16. ^ K. H. Menges, Altaic elements, s. 101-104. (cited PDF)
  17. ^ S.G. Klyaštornij, Drevnetyurkskie Runiçeskie Pamyatniki Kak Istoçnik Po Istorii Sredney Azii, Moscow 1964, p.163-167 (cited PDF)
  18. ^ a b Spinei 2003, p. 95.
  19. ^ Spinei 2009, p. 181.
  20. ^ Spinei 2009, p. 343.
  21. ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 239.
  22. ^ Баскаков, Н. А. Тюркские языки, Москва 1960, с. 126-131.
  23. ^ Golden 1992, p. 265-6.
  24. ^ A magyarok eredete, Vámbéry
  25. Acta Orientalia
    : 78.
  26. ^ Pritsak 1975, pp. 211–212.
  27. ^ Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (ch. 37), p. 167.
  28. ^ a b Pritsak 1975, p. 211.
  29. ^ a b c d e f Spinei 2003, p. 113.
  30. ^ Golden 2011, p. 232.
  31. ^ Róna-Tas 1999, p. 235.
  32. ^ Venturi, Federica (2008). "An Old Tibetan document on the Uighurs: A new translation and interpretation". Journal of Asian History. 1 (42): 21.
  33. ^ Spinei 2009, p. 182.
  34. ^ Spinei 2009, p. 186.
  35. ^ Russian Primary Chronicle (year 6604/1096), p. 184)
  36. ^ a b c d e Pritsak 1975, p. 212.
  37. ^ a b Pritsak 1975, p. 213-214.
  38. ^ Spinei 2003, p. 114.
  39. ^ a b c d e f g Pritsak 1975, p. 214.
  40. ^ Spinei 2003, pp. 113–114.
  41. ^ a b Kristó 2003, p. 138.
  42. ^ Kristó 2003, p. 144.
  43. ^ Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (ch. 37), pp. 167., 169.
  44. ^ Atalay 2006, p. I.57.
  45. ^ "Problems of Byzantine Historiography ~ Three Notes on Miniatures in the Chronicle of Manasses". Retrieved June 21, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  46. ISBN 5-244-00072-1
  47. ^ "Stories About Spies. Story 1. Through the Pecheneg Camp". szru.gov.ua.
  48. ISBN 978-0244174873
    .
  49. ISBN 1-85728-495-X
    .
  50. ^ "besenyők" [Pechenegs]. Magyar néprajzi lexikon. Vol. One. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. 1977.
  51. ^ Kinnamos, IV, 4, p. 143
  52. ^ Chalandon 1907
  53. ^ Ivan Katchanovski, Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio, Myroslav Yurkevich, Historical Dictionary of Ukraine, Scarecrow Press, 2013, p. 439.
  54. ^ Arnold, Thomas Walker (June 21, 1896). "The preaching of Islam; a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith". Westminster, A. Constable and co. Retrieved June 21, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  55. ^ Studies on Pechenegs Dr. AKDES KURAT
  56. ^ ATLAS NATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES ISSN 2602-4128 TWO FRIEND PEOPLE IN THE NORTH OF THE BLACK SEA: ON THE RELATIONS OF THE PECHENEKS AND THE KUMAN-KIPCHAKS
  57. ^ T.R. FIRAT UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY THE RELATIONS OF PEÇENEK AND KIPÇAKS WITH THE BYZANTINE STATE MASTER'S THESIS
  58. ^ Ayçiçek, Recep. "Peçenekler". Peçenekler. Retrieved June 21, 2023 – via www.academia.edu.
  59. S2CID 252493145
    . Retrieved June 21, 2023 – via belleten.gov.tr.
  60. ^ "Türkalemiyiz.com "Türk Dünyasının İnternet Sitesi"". www.turkalemiyiz.com. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  61. S2CID 252493145
    .

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Further reading

External links

Media related to Pechenegs at Wikimedia Commons

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