Kipchaks in Georgia
Encyclopedia
Kipchaks
are an ancient nomadic, Turkic people who occupied large territories from Central Asia
to Eastern Europe
. They, together with the Cumans (Cuman - Kipchak confederation) played an important role in the history of many nations in the region, Georgia
among them. At the height of this Caucasian
power from the 12th to the 13th centuries, Georgian monarchs recruited thousands of Kipchak/Cuman mercenaries and successfully exploited their service against the neighboring Muslim
states.
The first contacts between the Georgians and Cumans-Kipchaks date back to the 11th century when the Cumans and Kipchaks founded a nomadic confederation in the southern Russia
n steppe
s. Their relations with Georgia seem to have been generally peaceful. Moreover, the Georgian politicians of that time saw the Cuman-Kipchaks as potential allies against the Seljuk conquests. According to Georgian chronicles, Georgians knew about the Cumans-Kipchaks good fighting skills, their bravery, and the enormous human resources that they had."
The architect of the Georgian–Cuman/Kipchak alliance was the Georgian king David IV “the Builder”
(r. 1089–1125), who employed tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of Cuman-Kipchak soldiers and settled them in his kingdom in 1118. This measure, one of the central parts of David’s military reforms during his struggle against the Seljuk invaders, had been preceded by the visit of the high-ranking Georgian delegation, including the king himself and his chief adviser and tutor George of Chqondidi
, to the Cuman-Kipchak headquarters. To secure the alliance with these nomads, David married a Cuman-Kipchak princess, Gurandukht, daughter of Khan
Otrok
(Atraka, son of Sharaghan, of the Georgian chronicles), and invited his new in-laws to settle in Georgia. David mediated a peace between the Cumans-Kipchaks and Alans
, and probably had some consultations also with the Velikiy Kniaz of Kievan Rus'
, Vladimir Monomakh, who had defeated Otrak in 1109, to secure a free passage for the Cuman-Kipchak tribesmen back to Georgia.
As a result of this diplomacy, 40,000 Cuman-Kipchak families under Otrak moved to settle in Georgia. According to the agreement, each Cuman-Kipchak family was to contribute a fully armed soldier to the Georgian army. They were given land, rearmed and became a regular force under the direct control of the king. Five thousand men were enrolled in the royal guards; the remainder were posted chiefly to frontier regions confronting the Seljuk Turks. They led a semi-nomadic way of life, wintering in the Kartli
an lowlands in central Georgia, and carrying out their summertime duties along the foothills of the Caucasus
.
The medieval compendium of the East Slavic chronicles known as Hypatian Codex
relates that after the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, Khan Syrchan of the Don
Cumans-Kipchaks, Otrak’s brother, sent a singer Or’ to Otrak and asked him to return home. Legend has it that when Otrak heard Or’ singing an old Cuman-Kipchak song and smelled steppe grass, he became nostalgic for the steppe life and finally left Georgia. Yet a number of the Kipchak mercenaries settled permanently within Georgia, converted to Orthodox Christianity
, and integrated with the local population.
(1156–1184) as a new military aristocracy in sharp contrast to the old, frequently self-interested, Georgian feudal lords. This caused a great discontent in the aristocratic opposition, which forced George’s successor Queen Thamar (1184–1213) to retire virtually all high-ranking assimilated Cumans-Kipchaks, particularly Qubasar, Afridon and Qutlu Arslan
. The latter is sometimes referred to as the Georgian Simon de Montfort
in reference to his demands to limit the royal power.
Thamar and her successor, George IV Lasha
(1213–1223), continued to employ Cuman-Kipchak mercenaries, perhaps in tens of thousands. They were referred by the Georgians as qivchaqni akhalni, i.e., "new Kipchaks". One part of them, however, was refused to be enrolled in the royal army, and they moved on to Ganja, Arran
, in what is now Azerbaijan
. The Georgians subsequently defeated these marauding bands and scattered them. Although the Cuman-Kipchaks continued to serve in the Georgian ranks, a number of the Cuman-Kipchak units joined the Khwarezmian prince Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu in his expedition against Georgia
in 1225, thereby guaranteeing his victory. The Cumans-Kipchaks remained on both sides of the divide during the Mongol
campaigns in Georgia
in the late 1230s, but most subsequently integrated with the Mongol horde
s.
scholars, the traces of the Cuman-Kipchak presence in Georgia can be found in the Turkish–Georgian borderlands, particularly in the Rize Province
. They relate some of the existing local family names to the Cuman-Kipchak clans who had once served to Georgia. The Kumbasars, the purported descendants of the above mentioned Qubasar (Kubasar), are an example. The Meskhetian Turks, a large Muslim
community deported from Georgia under the Soviet
dictator Joseph Stalin
in 1944, also claim sometimes that the medieval Cumans-Kipchaks of Georgia may have been one of their possible ancestors.
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...
are an ancient nomadic, Turkic people who occupied large territories from Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
to Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. They, together with the Cumans (Cuman - Kipchak confederation) played an important role in the history of many nations in the region, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
among them. At the height of this Caucasian
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
power from the 12th to the 13th centuries, Georgian monarchs recruited thousands of Kipchak/Cuman mercenaries and successfully exploited their service against the neighboring Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
states.
Early period
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
s. Their relations with Georgia seem to have been generally peaceful. Moreover, the Georgian politicians of that time saw the Cuman-Kipchaks as potential allies against the Seljuk conquests. According to Georgian chronicles, Georgians knew about the Cumans-Kipchaks good fighting skills, their bravery, and the enormous human resources that they had."
The architect of the Georgian–Cuman/Kipchak alliance was the Georgian king David IV “the Builder”
David IV of Georgia
David IV "the Builder", also known as David II , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125....
(r. 1089–1125), who employed tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of Cuman-Kipchak soldiers and settled them in his kingdom in 1118. This measure, one of the central parts of David’s military reforms during his struggle against the Seljuk invaders, had been preceded by the visit of the high-ranking Georgian delegation, including the king himself and his chief adviser and tutor George of Chqondidi
George of Chqondidi
George of Chqondidi was a Georgian churchman and court minister best known as a tutor and the closest adviser of King David IV of Georgia George of Chqondidi (died c. 1118) was a Georgian churchman and court minister best known as a tutor and the closest adviser of King David IV of Georgia...
, to the Cuman-Kipchak headquarters. To secure the alliance with these nomads, David married a Cuman-Kipchak princess, Gurandukht, daughter of Khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
Otrok
Otrok
Otrok was an early eleventh-century Kipchak chieftain who was involved in the wars with Kievan Rus', and later served to the king of Georgia...
(Atraka, son of Sharaghan, of the Georgian chronicles), and invited his new in-laws to settle in Georgia. David mediated a peace between the Cumans-Kipchaks and Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
, and probably had some consultations also with the Velikiy Kniaz of Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
, Vladimir Monomakh, who had defeated Otrak in 1109, to secure a free passage for the Cuman-Kipchak tribesmen back to Georgia.
As a result of this diplomacy, 40,000 Cuman-Kipchak families under Otrak moved to settle in Georgia. According to the agreement, each Cuman-Kipchak family was to contribute a fully armed soldier to the Georgian army. They were given land, rearmed and became a regular force under the direct control of the king. Five thousand men were enrolled in the royal guards; the remainder were posted chiefly to frontier regions confronting the Seljuk Turks. They led a semi-nomadic way of life, wintering in the Kartli
Kartli
Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...
an lowlands in central Georgia, and carrying out their summertime duties along the foothills of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
.
The medieval compendium of the East Slavic chronicles known as Hypatian Codex
Hypatian Codex
The Hypatian Codex is a compendium of three chronicles: the Primary Chronicle, Kiev Chronicle, and Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. It is the most important source of historical data for southern Rus'...
relates that after the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, Khan Syrchan of the Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
Cumans-Kipchaks, Otrak’s brother, sent a singer Or’ to Otrak and asked him to return home. Legend has it that when Otrak heard Or’ singing an old Cuman-Kipchak song and smelled steppe grass, he became nostalgic for the steppe life and finally left Georgia. Yet a number of the Kipchak mercenaries settled permanently within Georgia, converted to Orthodox Christianity
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, and integrated with the local population.
Later period
The Christianized (and already Georgianized) Kipchak officers, known to the Georgians as naqivchaqari (i.e., "de-Kipchakized"), played a crucial role in suppressing the nobles' revolts of that time. Through their loyal service to the Georgian crown they grew in influence and prestige, and emerged during the reign of George IIIGeorge III of Georgia
Giorgi III , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was king of Georgia from 1156 to 1184. His reign, and that of Tamar, are seen as the 'golden age' of Georgian history, the era of empire, diplomatic success, military triumphs, great learning, cultural, spiritual, and artistic flowering.-Life:He succeeded on...
(1156–1184) as a new military aristocracy in sharp contrast to the old, frequently self-interested, Georgian feudal lords. This caused a great discontent in the aristocratic opposition, which forced George’s successor Queen Thamar (1184–1213) to retire virtually all high-ranking assimilated Cumans-Kipchaks, particularly Qubasar, Afridon and Qutlu Arslan
Qutlu Arslan
Qutlu Arslan was the 12th-century Georgian politician and statesman sometimes referred to as the Georgian Simon de Montfort for his rebellion, in circa 1184, against the unlimited royal power.A Georgianized Kipchak Qutlu Arslan was the 12th-century Georgian politician and statesman sometimes...
. The latter is sometimes referred to as the Georgian Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...
in reference to his demands to limit the royal power.
Thamar and her successor, George IV Lasha
George IV of Georgia
George IV Lasha of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Georgia from 1213 to 1223....
(1213–1223), continued to employ Cuman-Kipchak mercenaries, perhaps in tens of thousands. They were referred by the Georgians as qivchaqni akhalni, i.e., "new Kipchaks". One part of them, however, was refused to be enrolled in the royal army, and they moved on to Ganja, Arran
Arran (Azerbaijan)
Arran , also known as Aran, Ardhan , Al-Ran , Aghvank and Alvank , or Caucasian Albania , was a geographical name used in ancient and medieval times to signify the territory which lies within the triangle of land, lowland in the east and mountainous in the west, formed by the junction of Kura and...
, in what is now Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. The Georgians subsequently defeated these marauding bands and scattered them. Although the Cuman-Kipchaks continued to serve in the Georgian ranks, a number of the Cuman-Kipchak units joined the Khwarezmian prince Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu in his expedition against Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
in 1225, thereby guaranteeing his victory. The Cumans-Kipchaks remained on both sides of the divide during the Mongol
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
campaigns in Georgia
Mongol invasions of Georgia
The Mongol invasions reached the kingdom of Georgia and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in 1234, forcing Georgia into submission by 1238....
in the late 1230s, but most subsequently integrated with the Mongol horde
Horde
Horde may refer to:* Ordo * a clan or army of steppe nomads . See Orda * the Blue and White Horde, formed 1226, 1227* the Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s...
s.
Legacy
According to modern TurkishTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
scholars, the traces of the Cuman-Kipchak presence in Georgia can be found in the Turkish–Georgian borderlands, particularly in the Rize Province
Rize Province
Rize Province is a province of north-east Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. Its capital is the city of Rize.-Geography:...
. They relate some of the existing local family names to the Cuman-Kipchak clans who had once served to Georgia. The Kumbasars, the purported descendants of the above mentioned Qubasar (Kubasar), are an example. The Meskhetian Turks, a large Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
community deported from Georgia under the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
dictator Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in 1944, also claim sometimes that the medieval Cumans-Kipchaks of Georgia may have been one of their possible ancestors.
See also
- Battle of DidgoriBattle of DidgoriThe Battle of Didgori was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the crumbling Great Seljuq Empire at the place of Didgori, 40 km west of Tbilisi, the modern-day capital of Georgia, on August 12, 1121...
- CumansCumansThe Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
- History of GeorgiaHistory of Georgia (country)The nation of Georgia was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty in the 9th to 10th century, arising from a number of predecessor states of ancient Colchis and Iberia...
- kipchak people
- CumaniaCumaniaCumania is a name formerly used to designate several distinct lands in Eastern Europe inhabited by and under the military dominance of the Cumans, a nomadic tribe who, with the Kipchaks, created a confederation. The Cumans were also known as the Polovtsians, or Folban...
- Cuman languageCuman languageCuman was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans and Kipchaks; the language was similar to the today's Crimean Tatar language...
- Battle of Kalka River