The name Cumania originated as the
Latin exonym for the Cuman–Kipchak confederation, which was a tribal
confederation in the western part of the
Eurasian Steppe, between the 10th and 13th centuries. The
confederation was dominated by two
Turkic nomadic tribes: the
Cumans (also known as the Polovtsians or ''Folban'') and the
Kipchaks
The Kipchaks or Qipchaks, also known as Kipchak Turks or Polovtsians, were a Turkic nomadic people and confederation that existed in the Middle Ages, inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the 8th century as part of the Sec ...
. Cumania was known in Islamic sources as ''Desht-i Qipchaq'', which means "Steppe of the Kipchaks"; or "foreign land sheltering the Kipchaks", in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and ''al-Qumāniyīn'' in Arabic. Russian sources have referred to Cumania as the "Polovtsian
Steppe" (''Polovetskaia Step''), or the "Polovtsian
Plain" (''Pole Polovetskoe'').
A different, more organized entity that came later known as the
Golden Horde was also referred to as "Comania" by Armenian chronicler Hethum (Hayton) of Korykos.
"Cumania" was also the source of names, or alternate names, for several smaller areas – some of them unconnected geographically to the area of the federation – in which Cumans and/or Kipchaks settled, such as the historic region of
Kunság
Kunság (german: Kumanien; la, Cumania) is a historical, ethnographic and geographical region in Hungary, corresponding to a former political entity created by and for the Cumans or Kuns. It is currently divided between the counties of Bács ...
in Hungary, and the former
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cumania
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cumania was a Latin-rite bishopric west of the Siret River (in present-day Romania) from 1228 to 1241. The lands incorporated into the diocese had been dominated by the nomadic Cumans since about 1100. Catholic missi ...
(in
Romania and Hungary). Hethum of Korykos described Cumania as "wholly flat and with no trees".
Ibn Battuta said of Cumania, "This wilderness is green and grassy with no trees, nor hills, high or low ... there is no means of travelling
in this desert except in wagons." Battuta's contemporary,
Hamdallah Mustawfi
Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, a ...
, elaborated, "This is of the Sixth Clime, its plains bear excellent pasturage ... but there are here few houses or towns or villages. Most of the inhabitants are nomads of the plain ... Most of the lands here are swamps ... The pasturage, however, being excellent, horses and cattle are numerous, and the population for the most part subsists on the produce thereof. The climate is cold, and their water comes from springs and wells."
Meaning
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 ) were the dominant force over the vast territories stretching from the present-day
Kazakhstan, southern Russia,
Ukraine, to southern
Moldavia and eastern
Wallachia in present day Romania. Considering the nomadic way of life of these peoples, these frontiers can be regarded only as approximate; hence there were various definitions over what Cumania meant over the course of time. Depending on their region and their time, different sources each used their own vision to denote different sections of the vast Cuman territory: in
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, Russian,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
n,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
n,
Persian and Muslim sources, Cumania meant the
Pontic steppe, that is the steppelands to the north of the
Black Sea and on its eastern side as far as the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asi ...
, where the lowlands between the
Dnieper, the
Volga, the
Ural
Ural may refer to:
*Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan
*Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan
*Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan
*Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India
*Ural Federal District, in Russia
*Ural econo ...
and the
Irtysh rivers were favorable to the nomadic lifestyle of the Cumans. Later, for a short time period, in Western sources Cumania also referred to the area in eastern Wallachia and southern Ukraine (centered on the lowlands of
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak ( Bulgarian and Ukrainian: Буджак; ro, Bugeac; Gagauz and Turkish: ''Bucak''), historically part of Bessarabia until 1812, is a historical region in Ukraine and Moldova. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danu ...
and the
Bărăgan Plain
The Bărăgan Plain ( ro, Câmpia Bărăganului ) is a steppe plain in south-eastern Romania. It makes up much of the eastern part of the Wallachian Plain. The region is known for its black soil and a rich humus, and is mostly a cereal-growing are ...
), referring to the area where the first contact between the Cumans and the
Western Christians took place, and where, later, the Cumans of the region would accept Roman Catholicism.
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.
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
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, referred to Cumania around 1236–1237, during the Mongol invasion of
Möngke, the future Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. Among others, he mentions the Kipchaks, the Turkophone
Asi (probably the same as the later
Jassic tribe) and the "Karaulaghi" (Black, i.e. "from the north",
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
).
[ Alexandru D. Xenopol in "Histoire des Roumains", Paris, 1896, i, 168 quotes Rashid al-Din:
]
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,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
, Byzantium and the
Wallachian states in the Balkans, Armenia and Georgia (see
Kipchaks in Georgia) in the Caucasus, and
Khwarezm, having reached as far as to create a powerful caste of warriors, the
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...
s, serving the Muslim Arab and Turkish Caliphs and Sultans.
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
Bulgarians
Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe.
Etymology
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...
and
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
against the Byzantine Empire For example,
Thocomerius, by name apparently a Cuman warlord (also known as
Tihomir, he might have been a Bulgarian noble), was possibly the first one to unite the Bulgarian states, north from the Danube, from the west and the east of the
Olt River, and his son
Basarab I
Basarab I (), also known as Basarab the Founder ( ro, Basarab Întemeietorul; c. 1270 – 1351/1352), was a '' voivode'' and later the first independent ruler of Wallachia who lived in the first half of the . Many details of his life are uncer ...
is considered the first ruler of the united and independent
Wallachia. This interpretation corresponds with the general view of the situation of the Romanian lands in the 11th century, with the natives living in collections of village communities, united in various small confederacies, with more or less powerful chiefs trying to create little kingdoms, some paying tribute to the various militarily dominant nomadic tribes (see
Romania in the Middle Ages).
This pontic Cumania, (and the rest of the Cumanias to the east), ended its existence in the middle of the 13th century, with the Great Mongol Invasion of Europe. In 1223,
Genghis Khan defeated the Cumans and their Rus' allies at the
Battle of Kalka
The Battle of the Kalka River (russian: Битва на реке Калке; uk, Битва на річці Калка) was fought between the Mongol Empire, whose armies were led by Jebe and Subutai, and a coalition of several Rus' principalit ...
(in modern Ukraine), and the final blow came in 1241, when the Cuman confederacy ceased to exist as a political entity, with the remaining Cuman tribes being dispersed, either becoming subjects of the Mongol conquerors as part of what was to be known as the
Golden Horde, or fleeing to the west, to the Byzantine Empire, the
Bulgarian Empire
In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between th ...
, and the
Kingdom of Hungary.
''Kunság'' and the Catholic Diocese of Cumania
On the
Great Hungarian Plain
The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...
, Cuman settlers gave their name to two regions known as Kunság, the
Hungarian word for Cumania:
Greater Cumania
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality
* ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
* "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014
*Greater Bank, an Australian ...
(''Nagykunság'') and
Little Cumania
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
(''Kiskunság''), located on the Great Hungarian Plain. Here, the Cumans maintained their language and some ethnic customs well into the
modern era.
Cumania name was also preserved as part of the
Roman Catholic ecclesiastical structure with a "Diocese of Cumania" existing until 1523 in what is now
Romania, long after the Cumans ceased to be a distinct group in the area. At
Milcovul, years earlier, in 1227, the Cuman warlord Bortz accepted Catholic Christianity from missionary
Dominican friars.
Pope Gregory IX heard about the mass conversion of the Cumans, and on 1 July 1227 empowered
Robert, Archbishop of Esztergom
Robert ( hu, Róbert; died 1 November 1239) was a French-born prelate in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 13th century. He was Archbishop of Esztergom between 1226 and 1239 and Bishop of Veszprém from 1209 till 1226. He played ...
, to represent him to Cumania and in neighbouring Land of the
Brodnici
The Brodnici (russian: Бродники, ukr, Бродники) were a tribe of disputed origin.
Etymology
In some opinions, the name, as used by foreign chronicles, means a person in charge of a ford (water crossing) in Slavic language (cf. Sla ...
. Teodoric, the bishop of this new diocese, became the guardian of the Dominican Order in the Kingdom of Hungary.
Hence, Cumania diocese became part of the superior archbishopric of Esztergom, determining King
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fathe ...
to add "Rex Cumaniae" (King of Cumania) to his titles in 1228, and later to grant asylum to the Cumans in face of the Mongol invasion. The Diocese of Cumania, or of Milcovul, had subordinated in
Transylvania the
abbacy of
Sibiu, the dioceses of
Burzenland
Țara Bârsei, Burzenland () or Barcaság is a historic and ethnographic area in southeastern Transylvania, Romania with a mixed population of Romanians, Germans, and Hungarians.
Geography
The Burzenland lies within the Southern Carpathians ...
,
Brasso
Brasso is a metal polish designed to remove tarnish from brass, copper, chrome and stainless steel. It is available either directly as a liquid or as an impregnated wadding pad.
History
Brasso originated in Britain in about 1905. Reckitt & ...
and
Orbai, and over the Carpathians, in the lands of the "infidel"
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
Vlachs (''in partibus infidelium''), all the Christian Catholics, irrespective of their ethnicity, despite the fact that many believers fell under the influence of the Romanian Orthodox "pseudo" bishops (''episcopo Cumanorum, qui loci diocesanus existit, sed a quibusdam pseudoepiscopis Graecorum ritum tenentibus'').
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
Seneslau Seneslau, also Seneslav or Stănislau, was a Vlach '' voivode'' mentioned in the Diploma of the Joannites issued by king Béla IV of Hungary (1235–1270) on 2 July 1247. The diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of S ...
and the land of the Brodnici (
Buzău
The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the C ...
, southern
Vrancea Vrancea may refer to:
*Vrancea County, Romania
*Vrancea Mountains
The Vrancea Mountains ( ro, Munții Vrancei) are a mountain range in the Curvature Carpathians in Romania. Located mostly in western Vrancea County, they also cover parts of Bacă ...
and southern
Galați): that is Cumania meant, more or less,
Muntenia. At that time, the use of the name ''Cumania'' should not to be understood as asserting the existence of a Cuman state, nor even a land inhabited by Cuman tribes (as the bulk of them had either fled, or were
destroyed by the Mongols, and the rest had been absorbed) but rather to the Diocese of Cumania. From the military point of view, the land comprising the Diocese of Cumania was held either by the
Teutonic Order (as early as 1222), or by the Vlachs (Brodnics or the Vlachs of Seneslau). The term Cumania had come to mean any Catholic subordinated to the Milcovul Diocese, so much so that in some cases, the terms Cuman and Wallach (more precisely, Roman Catholic Wallach, as the Orthodox Christians were considered
schismatic, and the Pope did not officially recognise them) were interchangeable.
In a charter from 1247, parts of this earlier Cumania were granted to the
Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...
, as were the
Banate of Severin
The Banate of Severin or Banate of Szörény ( hu, Szörényi bánság; ro, Banatul Severinului; la, Banatus Zewrinensis; bg, Северинско банство, ; sr, Северинска бановина, ) was a Hungarian political, mili ...
and the Romanian cnezats of Ioan and Lupu (''a fluvio Olth et Alpibus Ultrasylvanis totam Cumaniam …excepta terra Szeneslai Woiavode Olacorum'').
[The text of the letter is
] 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
*
Turkic peoples
*
Timeline of Turks (500-1300) Timeline of the Turks may refer to:
* Timeline of the Turks (500–1300) a general chronology between 500 and 1300
* Uyghur timeline a detailed timeline up to 763 (excludes most of Uyghur Khaganate)
* Timeline of the Sultanate of Rûm exclusively a ...
*
List of Turkic dynasties and countries
The following is a list of dynasties, states or empires which are Turkic-speaking, of Turkic origins, or both. There are currently six recognised Turkic sovereign states. Additionally, there are six federal subjects of Russia in which a Turkic l ...
*
Cuman people
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sough ...
*
Pechenegs
The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა� ...
*
Kipchaks
The Kipchaks or Qipchaks, also known as Kipchak Turks or Polovtsians, were a Turkic nomadic people and confederation that existed in the Middle Ages, inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the 8th century as part of the Sec ...
*
Kunság
Kunság (german: Kumanien; la, Cumania) is a historical, ethnographic and geographical region in Hungary, corresponding to a former political entity created by and for the Cumans or Kuns. It is currently divided between the counties of Bács ...
*
Mongol invasion of Europe
*
History of Romania
*
Crimean Karaites
The Crimean Karaites or Krymkaraylar (Crimean Karaim: Кърымкъарайлар, ''Qrımqaraylar'', singular къарай, ''qaray''; Trakai dialect: ''karajlar'', singular ''karaj''; he, קראי מזרח אירופה; crh, Qaraylar; ), a ...
, an ethnic group with possible Cuman origins
*
Cuman language
Cuman or Kuman (also called Kipchak, Qypchaq or Polovtsian) was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the Kipchak-Cuman branch. C ...
References
Footnotes
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
*
{{Turkic topics
Kipchaks
Romania in the Early Middle Ages
Moldova in the Early Middle Ages
Medieval Ukraine
Cumans
Former confederations
Historical Turkic states