Kipchaks

{{Short description|Medieval Turkic nomadic tribe of Central Asia and Europe}}

File:"Padishah (Emperor) of Dast-i Qipchaq". Tabriz or Qavin, circa 1550. British Museum, 1948-10-9-056.jpg depiction of the Padishah (Emperor) of Dast-i Qipchaq. Tabriz or Qavin, circa 1550. British Museum, 1948-10-9-056.{{cite book |last1=Sims |first1=Eleanor |title=Peerless images : Persian painting and its sources |date=2002 |publisher=New Haven : Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-09038-3 |pages=272-273 |url=https://archive.org/details/peerlessimagespe0000sims/page/272/mode/1up?view=theater}}]]

File:Kypchak steppe 11-12.png in Eurasia, {{c.}} 1200|alt=The Desht-i Kipchak in Eurasia, {{c.}} 1200]]

The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (Polovtsy) in Russian annals,{{cite book |last1=Galeotti |first1=Mark |title=Forged in War: A military history of Russia from its beginnings to today |date=7 November 2024 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4728-6254-9 |page=62 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Forged_in_War/Ts8fEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |language=en}} were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe.

First mentioned in the eighth century as part of the Second Turkic Khaganate, they most likely inhabited the Altai region from where they expanded over the following centuries, first as part of the Kimek–Kipchak confederation and later as part of a confederation with the Cumans. There were groups of Kipchaks in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, China, Syr Darya, and Siberia. Cumania was conquered by the Mongol Empire in the early 13th century.

Terminology

The Kipchaks interpreted their name as meaning "hollow tree" (cf. Middle Turkic: kuv ağaç);{{cite book|last= Clauson|first= Gerard|title= An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-13th Century Turkish|year= 1972|publisher= Oxford University Press|page= 581}} according to them, inside a hollow tree, their original human ancestress gave birth to her son.Julian Baldick, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uAReTyY2ScsC&q=Animal+and+Shaman%3A+Ancient+Religions+of+Central+Asia Animal and Shaman: Ancient Religions of Central Asia], p.55. Németh points to the Siberian qıpčaq "angry, quick-tempered" attested only in the Siberian Sağay dialect (a dialect of Khakas language).Golden, Peter B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. p. 271 Klyashtorny links Kipchak to qovı, qovuq "unfortunate, unlucky"; yet Golden sees a better match in qıv "good fortune" and adjectival suffix -čāq. Regardless, Golden notes that the ethnonym's original form and etymology "remain a matter of contention and speculation".Golden, Peter B. [https://www.academia.edu/12226908/The_Turkic_World_in_Mahmud_Kashghari The Turkic world of Mahmud al-Kashgari]. p. 522

History

File:Baba 010.jpg in Luhansk.]]

On the Kipchak steppe, a complex ethnic assimilation and consolidation process took place between the 11th and 13th centuries.{{sfn|Agajanov|1992|p=74}} The western Kipchak tribes absorbed people of Oghuz, Pecheneg, ancient Bashkir, Bulgar and other origin; the eastern Kipchak merged with the Kimek, Karluk, Kara-Khitai and others. They were all identified by the ethnonym Kipchak.{{sfn|Agajanov|1992|p=74}} Groups and tribes of possible Mongolic or para-Mongolic extraction were also incorporated into the eastern Kipchak conglomerate. Peter Golden argues that the Ölberli were pushed westwards due to socio-political changes among the para-Mongolic Khitans, such as the collapse of the Liao dynasty and formation of the Qara Khitai, and attached themselves to the eastern Kipchak confederation where they eventually came to form a part of the ruling strata and elite. Golden identifies the Ölberli with the Qay whom are recorded as the Xi in Chinese sources and Tatabı in Turkic inscriptions, and were of Mongolic or para-Mongolic background - likely stemming from the Xianbei.{{cite journal |last1=Golden |first1=Peter |title=Cumanica II: The Ölberli (Ölperli): The Fortunes and Misfortunes of an Inner Asian Nomadic Clan |journal=Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi |date=1987 |volume=VI |pages=16–22 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35378750 |access-date=2 May 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Golden |first1=Peter |title=Cumanica V: The Basmils and Qipchaqs |journal=Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi |date=2006 |volume=15 |pages=16–17 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4154932}}

Chinese histories only mentioned the Kipchaks a few times: for example, Yuan general Tutuha's origin from Kipchak tribe Ölberli,Toqto'a et al. Yuanshi, [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%85%83%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7128#%E5%9C%9F%E5%9C%9F%E5%93%88%E3%80%88%E3%80%94%E7%89%80%E5%85%80%E5%85%92%E3%80%95%E3%80%89[12] vol. 128 Tutuha] or some information about the Kipchaks' homeland, horses, and the Kipchaks' physiognomy and psychology.Xu Qianxue, Zizhi Tongjian Houbian (17th century) Vol. 141–142. Zhejiang University Copy [https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&file=61386&page=42#%E6%AC%BD%E5%AF%9F%E9%83%A8%E5%8E%BB%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E4%B8%89%E8%90%AC%E9%A4%98%E8%A3%8F%E5%A4%8F%E5%A4%9C%E6%A5%B5%E7%9F%AD%E6%97%A5%E8%B9%94%E6%B2%92%E8%BC%99%E5%87%BA%E5%9C%9F%E7%94%A3%E8%89%AF%E9%A6%AC%E5%AF%8C%E8%80%85%E4%BB%A5%E8%90%AC%E8%A8%88%E4%BF%97%E7%A5%8D%E9%87%91%E9%9D%A9%E5%8B%87%E7%8C%9B%E5%89%9B%E7%83%88%E9%9D%92%E7%9B%AE%E8%B5%A4%E9%AB%AA p. 42 of 124] "欽察部去中國三萬餘裏夏夜極短日蹔沒輙出土産良馬富者以萬計俗祍金革勇猛剛烈青目赤髪" en. "The Kipchak tribe is situated at a distance of over 30,000 li from China. In summer, the evening is extremely short; the sun temporarily sets then immediately rises. Their soil produces good horses, that the rich people count by ten thousands. They customarily sleep armed and armored; they are courageous, fierce, firm, and vehement; [they are] blue/green-eyed and red-haired". Note: the expression "祍金革" lit. "to lie/to sleep with metal and leather > to sleep armed and armored" is not to be taken literally; it is a Chinese literary trope about the northerners' supposedly rugged and hardy nature; e.g. Liji [https://ctext.org/liji/zhong-yong#n10271 "Zhong Yong"] quote: "衽金革，死而不厭，北方之強也，而強者居之。", tr.: "To sleep armed and armored, to die undismayed; those are strengths in the north, the forceful dwell there."{{sfn|Lee|Kuang|2017|ps=: "Concerning the physiognomy of the Qipchaq tribe, the Zizhi tongjian houbian [Later compilation to the comprehensive mirror to aid in government], a seventeenth-century continuation of Sima Guang’s Zizhi tongjian by Xu Qianxue, states that they had 'blue eyes and red hair (青目赤髪)'."|pp=213, 217–218, 225–226}}{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Waldman|editor1-first=Carl|editor2-last=Mason|editor2-first=Catherine|title=Kipchaks |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of European Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfv6HKXErqAC&pg=PA475|year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-2918-1|pages=475–476}}

File:0925 Kipchak style helmet 13th c.JPG

The Kipchaks were first unambiguously mentioned in Persian geographer ibn Khordadbeh's Book of Roads and Kingdoms as a northernly Turkic tribe, after Toquz Oghuz, Karluks, Kimeks, Oghuz, J.f.r (either corrupted from Jikil or representing Majfar for Majğar), Pechenegs, Türgesh, Aðkiš, and before Yenisei Kirghiz.{{sfn|Golden|2014|p=186}} Kipchaks possibly appeared in the 8th-century Moyun Chur inscription as Türk-Qïbchaq, mentioned as having been part of the Turkic Khaganate for fifty years;{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} even so, this attestation is uncertain as damages on the inscription leave only -čq (𐰲𐰴) (*-čaq or čiq) readable.[https://bitig.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=23&m=1 Moyun Chur inscriptions] "Note 207" at [https://bitig.kz/index.php?lang=e Türik Bitig] It is unclear if the Kipchaks could be identified with, according to Klyashtorny, the [Al]tï Sir in the Orkhon inscriptions (薛延陀; pinyin: Xuè-Yántuó),{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=271}}{{sfn|Klyashtorny|2005|p=243}}{{sfn|Ergin|1980|p=33, 52}} or with the Juéyuèshī (厥越失) in Chinese sources;{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}}Du You, Tongdian, [https://ctext.org/tongdian/199/zhs#n565362 vol. 199] ""自厥越失、拔悉彌、駮馬、結骨、火燖、觸木昆諸國皆臣之" tr. "Many states such as Jueyueshi, Basmyls, Boma, Kirghizes, Khwarazmians, and Chumukun, etc. all submitted themselves (to Duolu Qaghan)." however, Zuev (2002) identified 厥越失 Juéyuèshī (< MC *kiwat-jiwat-siet) with toponym Kürüshi in the Ezhim river valley (Ch. Ayan < MCh. 阿豔 *a-iam < OTrk. Ayam) in Tuva Depression.{{sfn|Zuev|2002|p=236}} Linguist Bernard Karlgren and some Soviet scholars (e.g. Lev GumilyovGumilev, L. N. (2006). "İklim Değişiklikleri ve Göçebe Göçleri". (A. Batur, trans.), Avrasyadan Makaleler I, (pp. 131–151). İstanbul: Selenge Yayınları. p. 140 of pp. 131–151) attempted to connect the Kipchaks to the Qūshé ~ Qūshí (屈射), a people once conquered by the Xiongnu; however, Golden deems this connection unlikely, considering 屈射's Old Chinese pronunciation *khut m-lak and Eastern Han Chinese *kʰut źa ~ kʰut jak/jɑk (as reconstructed by Schuessler, 2009:314,70).{{efn|Schuessler (2014) reconstructs 屈射's 200 BCE Old Chinese pronunciation as k(ʰ)ut-źakSchuessler, Axel (2014). "Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words" (PDF). Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica (53). p. 273}}{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=270}}{{sfn|Golden|2014|p=185}} The relationship between the Kipchaks and Cumans is unclear.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}}

While part of the Turkic Khaganate, they most likely inhabited the Altai region.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} When the Khaganate collapsed, they became part of the Kimek confederation, with which they expanded to the Irtysh, Ishim and Tobol rivers.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} They then appeared in Islamic sources.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} In the 9th century Ibn Khordadbeh indicated that they held autonomy within the Kimek confederation.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} They entered the Kimek in the 8th- or beginning of 9th century, and were one of seven original tribes.{{sfn|Agajanov|1992|p=69}} In the 10th-century Hudud al-'Alam it is said that the Kimek appointed the Kipchak king.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} The Kimek confederation, probably spearheaded by the Kipchaks, moved into Oghuz lands, and Sighnaq in Syr Darya became the Kipchak urban centre.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} Kipchak remnants remained in Siberia, while others pushed westwards in the Qun migration.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} As a result, three Kipchak groups emerged:{{sfn|Golden|1990|pp=278–279}}

Kipchaks of the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Kipchaks of the Syr Darya, associated with the Khwarazmian dynasty.
Kipchaks of Siberia, later composing the Siberian Tatars.

The early 11th century saw a massive Turkic nomadic migration towards the Islamic world.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=279}} The first waves were recorded in the Kara-Khanid Khanate in 1017–18.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=279}} It is unknown whether the Cumans conquered the Kipchaks or were simply the leaders of the confederacy of the Kipchak–Turkic tribes.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=279}} What is certain is that the two peoples gradually mingled politically and that, from the second half of the 12th century onwards, the names Cumans and Kipchaks became interchangeable to refer to the whole confederacy.{{sfn|Vásáry|2005|p=6}}

File:Cumania (1200) eng.png in c. 1200.]]

The Mongols defeated the Alans after convincing the Kipchaks to desert them through pointing at their likeness in language and culture.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} Nonetheless, the Kipchaks were defeated next.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} Under khan Köten, Kipchaks fled to the Principality of Kiev (the Ruthenians), where the Kipchaks had several marriage relations, one of which was Köten's son-in-law Mstislav Mstislavich of Galicia.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} The Ruthenians and Kipchaks forged an alliance against the Mongols, and met at the Dnieper to locate them.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} After an eight-day pursuit, they met at the Kalka River (1223).{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} The Kipchaks, who were horse archers like the Mongols, served as the vanguard and scouts.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} The Mongols, who appeared to retreat, tricked the Ruthenian–Kipchak force into a trap after suddenly emerging behind the hills and surrounding them.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}} The fleeing Kipchaks were closely pursued, and the Ruthenian camp was massacred.{{sfn|May|2016|p=96}}

The nomadic Kipchaks were the main targets of the Mongols when they crossed the Volga in 1236.{{sfn|May|2016|p=103}} The defeated Kipchaks mainly entered the Mongol ranks, while others fled westward.{{sfn|May|2016|p=103}} Köten led 40,000 families into Hungary, where King Bela IV granted them refuge in return for their Christianization.{{sfn|May|2016|p=103}} The refugee Kipchaks fled Hungary after Köten was murdered.{{sfn|May|2016|p=103}}

After their fall, Kipchaks and Cumans were known to have become mercenaries in Europe and taken as slave warriors. In Egypt, the Mamluks were in part drawn from Kipchaks and Cumans.{{sfn|Vásáry|2005|p=39}}

In 1239–1240, a large group of Kipchaks fleeing from the Mongols crossed the Danube. This group, which has an estimated population of over 10 thousand, wandered for a long time to find a suitable place to settle in Thrace. In order to prevent the Kipchaks from plundering and to prevent the Seljuks, Mongols and Latin Empire from occupying the lands of the Empire of Nicaea and to benefit from their military capabilities, Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes invited the Kipchaks from the Balkans to the service of the Empire of Nicaea. He settled some of them in Anatolia (what is now Turkey), to protect the Empire of Nicaea from foreign invasions.GOLUBOVSKİY, P.V., Peçenegi, Torki i Polovtsı Rus i Step Do Naşestviya Tatar, Veçe, Moskva, 2011.ÖZTÜRK, Meriç T., The Provıncıal Arıstocracy In Byzantine Asia Minor (1081–1261), Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, İstanbul, 2013.WOLF, Robert Lee, “The Latın Empire Of Constantinople 1204–1261”, A History Of The Crusaders, Volume II Later Crusades (1189–1311), General ed. Kenneth M. Setton, ed. By. Robert Lee Wolf and Harry W. Hazard, The Unıversıty Of Wısconsın Press, Madıson, Milwaukee and London, 1969, s. 187–233. When the Ottomans conquered the lands they lived in, these Kipchaks intermixed with the Turkmen and were assimilated among Turks.{{cite journal |last=Ayönü |first=Yusuf |date=August 2012 |title=Bati Anadolu'dakı Türk Yayilișina Karși Bızans İmparatorluğu'nun Kuman-Alan Topluluklarini Balkanlardan Anadolu'ya Nakletmesi |trans-title=The Transfer of Cumans and Alans from Balkans to Anatolia by Byzantine Empire against the Turkish Expansion in the Western Anatolia |journal=Belleten |language=tr |publisher=Turkish Historical Society |volume=76 |issue=276 |pages=403–418 |doi=10.37879/belleten.2012.403 |s2cid=245309166 |doi-access=free }} [https://belleten.gov.tr/ozet/2688/eng DOI: English version]{{cite journal |author=Dimitri Korobeinikov |date=2015 |title=The Cumans in Paphlagonia |url=https://www.academia.edu/22592533 |journal=Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi |issue=18 |pages=29–44}}{{cite thesis |type=MA thesis |author=Caroline Gurevich |title=The Image of the Cumans in Medieval Chronicles: Old Russian and Georgian Sources in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries |publisher=Central European University |place=Budapest |date=May 2017 |url=http://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/gurevich_caroline.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823154726/http://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/gurevich_caroline.pdf}}{{cite web |author=Rustam M. Shukurov |title=Latent Turkification of Byzantium (ca. 1071–1461) |url=https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/fellows/shukurov-2004-2005 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks}} The Kipchaks who settled in Western Anatolia during the reign of Nicea Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes are the ancestors of a community called Manav living in Northwest Anatolia today.{{Cite web |title=Anadolu'ya yerleştirilen Kumanlar (Manavlar) |url=http://m.belediyehaberleri.com.tr/yazarlar/ekrem-hayri-peker/anadoluya-yerlestirilen-kumanlar-manavlar/369#:~:text=Kumanlar%C4%B1n%20di%C4%9Fer%20ad%C4%B1%20K%C4%B1p%C3%A7ak't%C4%B1r,Anadolu'ya%20yerle%C5%9Ftirildikleri%20de%20yazmaktad%C4%B1r.}}{{Cite journal |last=Yilmaz |first=Adil |date=2018 |title=Bızans'in Anadolu'ya Yerleştırdığı Son Türkler |trans-title=The Last Turks Settled in Anatolia by Byzantium |url=https://www.academia.edu/36801899 |journal=Eski̇çağ Araştirmalari Dergi̇si̇ |language=tr |issue=3 |pages=29–32 |trans-journal=Journal of Ancient Researches}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=YALAKOVA'DAN YALOVA'YA Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık Anısına Yalova Tarihi Araştırmaları |url=http://www.yalovaozelidare.gov.tr/kurumlar/yalovaozelidare.gov.tr/Tasarim/yayinlarimiz/6_Yalakova_dan-Yalova_ya-Kitap-Metni.pdf}}{{Cite web |title=Acar, Kenan (2010). Kuzeybatı Anadolu Manav Türkmen Ağızları Üzerine Birkaç Not |url=http://www.fed.sakarya.edu.tr/arsiv/yayinlenmis_dergiler/2010_2/makale_1.pdf}}{{Cite web |title=Muharrem ÖÇALAN SAKARYA- İZMİT YÖRESİ YERLEŞİK TÜRKMENLERİ MANAV AĞIZLARINDA ÖTÜMSÜZ PATLAYICI ÜNSÜZ DEĞİŞMELERİ |url=https://turkoloji.cu.edu.tr/YENI%20TURK%20DILI/muharrem_ocalan_sakarya.pdf}}{{Cite journal |title=CİHAN YALVAR, ANADOLU'DA SON TÜRK İSKÂNI: İZNİK İMPARATORLUĞU'NDA KUMAN-KIPÇAKLAR VE YALOVA KAZIMİYE (YORTAN) İLE ELMALIK (SARUHANLI) KÖYLERİNDEKİ VARLIKLARI |journal=Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları |date=19 February 2021 |volume=127 |issue=250 |pages=11–36 |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tda/issue/60394/798906 |last1=Yalvar |first1=Cihan }}{{Cite web |last=Uzelac |first=Aleksandar |date=March 2019 |title=Cumans in the Latin Empire of Constantinople |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332081076}}{{Cite web |last=Korobeinikov |first=Dimitri |date=2012 |title=The Cumans in the Empire of Nicaea |url=https://www.academia.edu/5826298}}

Another Kipchak migration in Anatolia dates back to the period of the Chobanids Beylik, which ruled around Kastamonu (a city in Anatolia). Hüsameddin Emir Çoban, one of the Seljuk emirs, crossed the Black Sea and made an expedition to the Kipchak steppes and returned with countless booty and slaves. As a result of the expedition, a few Kipchak families in Crimea were brought to Sinop by sea via Sudak and settled in the Western Black Sea region. In addition, maritime trade intensified with the Crimea and Kipchak regions in the Isfendiyarids Beylik.{{Cite web |last=Akar |first=Ali |title=TURKİYE TURKÇESİ AGİZLARİNDA OĞUZCA DİŞİ DİL UNSURLARİ |url=https://www.ayk.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AKAR-AL%C4%B0-T%C3%9CRK%C4%B0YE-T%C3%9CRK%C3%87ES%C4%B0-A%C4%9EIZLARINDA-O%C4%9EUZCA-DI%C5%9EI-D%C4%B0L-UNSURLARI.pdf}}{{Cite journal |last=Korkmaz |first=Zeynep |date=1965 |title=BARTIN VE YÖRESİ AĞIZLARINDAKİ LEHÇE TABAKALAŞMASI |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/turkoloji/issue/43362/527807 |journal=Türkoloji Journal|volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=227–249 |doi=10.1501/Trkol_0000000025 }}

Language

The Kipchak–Cuman confederation spoke a Turkic language (Kipchak languages, Cuman language){{sfn|Golden|1990|p=279}} whose most important surviving record is the Codex Cumanicus, a late 13th-century dictionary of words in Kipchak, Cuman, and Latin. The presence in Egypt of Turkic-speaking Mamluks also stimulated the compilation of Kipchak/Cuman-Arabic dictionaries and grammars that are important in the study of several old Turkic languages.

When members of the Armenian diaspora moved from the Crimean peninsula to the Polish-Ukrainian borderland, at the end of the 13th century, they brought Kipchak, their adopted Turkic language, with them.An Armeno-Kipchak Chronicle on the Polish-Turkish Wars in 1620–1621, Robert Dankoff, p. 388 During the 16th and the 17th centuries, the Turkic language among the Armenian communities of the Kipchak people was Armeno-Kipchak. They were settled in the Lviv and Kamianets-Podilskyi areas of what is now Ukraine.Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, p. 85, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.{{full citation needed|date=March 2022}}

The literary form of the Cuman language became extinct in the 18th century in the region of Cumania in Hungary. Cuman in Crimea, however, became the ancestor of the central dialect of Crimean Tatar."Crimean Tatar proper, called the 'central dialect', belonged to the West Kipchak subbranch as a descendant of Kuman." (Lars Johanson, Turkic, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pg. 62)

Mongolian linguistic elements in the Kipchak–Kimek confederation remain "unproven";{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=279}} though that confederation's constituent Tatar tribe possibly had been Mongolic speakers who later underwent Turkification.Peter B. Golden (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. O. Harrassowitz. pp. 184–185.

Religion

The Kipchaks practiced Tengrism.{{sfn|May|2016|p=221}} Muslim conversion occurred near Islamic centres.{{sfn|May|2016|p=221}}

Some Kipchaks and Cumans were known to have converted to Christianity around the 11th century, at the suggestion of the Georgians, as they allied in their conflicts against the Muslims. A great number were baptized at the request of Georgian King David IV, who also married a daughter of Kipchak Khan Otrok. From 1120, there was a Kipchak national Christian church and an important clergy.{{sfn|Roux|1997|p=242}} Following the Mongol conquest, Islam rose in popularity among the Kipchaks of the Golden Horde.[http://www.islamset.com/islam/civil/kipchak.html Islamic Civilization] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512013502/http://www.islamset.com/islam/civil/kipchak.html |date=2008-05-12 }}

Culture

=Kurgan stelae=

Confederations

=Kimek=

The confederation or tribal union which Kipchaks entered in the 8th- or beginning of 9th century as one of seven original tribes is known in historiography as that of the Kimek (or Kimäk).{{sfn|Agajanov|1992|p=69}} Turkic inscriptions do not mention the state with that name.{{cite book|title=Central Asiatic Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gggLAQAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=O. Harrassowitz}} 10th-century Hudud al-'Alam mentions the "country of Kīmāk", ruled by a khagan (king) who has eleven lieutenants that hold hereditary fiefs.Hudud al-'Alam, ch. 18 Furthermore, Andar Az Khifchāq is mentioned as a country (nāḥiyat) of the Kīmāk, 'of which inhabitants resemble the Ghūz in some customs'.

In the 9th century Ibn Khordadbeh indicated that they held autonomy within the Kimek confederation.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}} They entered the Kimek in the 8th- or beginning of 9th century, and were one of the seven original tribes.{{sfn|Agajanov|1992|p=69}} In the 10th-century's Hudud al-'Alam it is said that the Kimek appointed the Kipchak king.{{sfn|Golden|1990|p=278}}

Physical appearance

File:Baybars, Medallion IV, Baptistère de Saint-Louis.jpg Sultan Baybars on the Baptistère de Saint Louis (1320–1340).{{cite journal |last1=Fuess |first1=Albrecht |title=Sultans with Horns: The Political Significance of Headgear in the Mamluk Empire (MSR XII.2, 2008) |date=2018 |page=76, 84, Fig. 5 |doi=10.6082/M100007Z |url=https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/1148/files/MSR_XII-2_2008-Fuess-pp71-94.pdf |journal=Mamlūk Studies Review |volume=12 |issue=2 |quote=p.76: On the so-called Baptistère de Saint Louis, a large brass basin inlaid with silver and gold from the early Mamluk period, we can identify enthroned figures of a ruler apparently wearing the sharbūsh. Behrens-Abouseif has convincingly made the case that these figures represent Sultan Baybars, the great Mamluk hero and victor over the Mongols and Crusaders 30 (figs. 4 and 5).}} Baybars was of Turkic Kipchack origin, as was Qalawun.{{cite book |last1=Northrup |first1=Linda |title=From Slave to Sultan: The Career of Al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn and the Consolidation of Mamluk Rule in Egypt and Syria (678-689 A.H./1279-1290 A.D.) |date=1998 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |isbn=978-3-515-06861-1 |page=66, note 4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DivRsJGJaKwC&pg=PA66 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Winter |first1=Michael |last2=Levanoni |first2=Amalia |title=The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society |date=2004 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-13286-3 |page=391 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBBMJJTEoKMC&pg=PA391 |language=en}}]]

The looks of a typical Kipchak are a matter of debate. This is because in spite of their Eastern origins, several sources point at them being white, blue-eyed, and blond. It is important to elaborate, however, that the full range of available data sketches a more complex picture. While the written sources often emphasize a fair complexion the craniometric and genetic data, as well as some historical descriptions, support the image of a people highly heterogenous in appearance. Skulls with East Asian features are often found in burials associated with the Kipchaks in Central Asia and Europe.Oshanin, L.V. 1964. Anthropological Composition of the Population of Central Asia, and the Ethnogenesis of its Peoples (trans. V.M. Maurin, ed. H. Field). Cambridge (MA): Peabody Museum of Archaeology.

An early description of the physical appearance of Kipchaks comes from the Great Ming Code (大明律) Article 122,{{cite book |last1=Yonglin |first1=Jiang |title=The Mandate of Heaven and The Great Ming Code |date=1 July 2011 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-80166-7 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-7-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 |language=en}} in which they were described as overall 'vile' and having blonde/red hair and blue/green eyes. Han Chinese were not required to marry with Kipchaks.{{cite book |last1=Swope |first1=Kenneth M. |title=The Ming World |date=8 August 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-13466-7 |page=312 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjKoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT312 |language=en}}{{harvnb|Lee|2017|p=207}} Fair complexion, e.g. red hair and blue or green eyes, were already noted by the Chinese for some other ancient Turkic tribes, such as the Yenisei Kirghiz, while the Tiele (to whom the Qun belonged) were not described as foreign looking, i.e. they were likely East Asian in appearance.Lee, J. Y., & Kuang, S. (2017). A comparative analysis of Chinese historical sources and Y-DNA studies with regard to the early and medieval turkic peoples. Inner Asia, 19(2), 197–239. It is noted that "Chinese histories also depict the Turkic-speaking peoples as typically possessing East/Inner Asian physiognomy, as well as occasionally having West Eurasian physiognomy." Lee and Kuang believe it is likely "early and medieval Turkic peoples themselves did not form a homogeneous entity and that some of them, non-Turkic by origin, had become Turkicised at some point in history." The Yenisei Kirghiz are among those suggested to be of turkicised or part non-Turkic origin. According to Lee & Kuang, who cite Chinese historical descriptions as well as genetic data, the turcophone "Qirghiz" may have been of non-Turkic origin, and were later Turkified through inter-tribal marriage. Gardizi believed the red hair and white skin of the Kipchaks was explained by mixing with the "Saqlabs" (Slavs), while Lee & Kuang note the non-Turkic components to be better explained by historical Iranian-speaking nomads.

Genetics

File:Genealogy of bashkirian kipchak clan.jpg

Russian anthropologist Oshanin (1964: 24, 32) notes that the 'Mongoloid' phenotype, characteristic of modern Kipchak-speaking Kazakhs and Qirghiz, prevails among the skulls of the historical Qipchaq and Pecheneg nomads found across Central Asia and Ukraine; Lee & Kuang (2017) propose that Oshanin's discovery is explainable by assuming that the historical Kipchaks' modern descendants are Kazakhs, whose men possess a high frequency of haplogroup C2's subclade C2b1b1 (59.7 to 78%). Lee and Kuang also suggest that the high frequency (63.9%) of the Y-DNA haplogroup R-M73 among Karakypshaks (a tribe within the Kipchaks) allows inferrence about the genetics of Karakypshaks' medieval ancestors, thus explaining why some medieval Kipchaks were described as possessing "blue [or green] eyes and red hair.{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Joo-Yup |title=A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and y-dna Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples |journal=Inner Asia |date=2017 |volume=19 |issue=2 |doi=10.1163/22105018-12340089 |page=213|s2cid=165623743 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320552611|doi-access=free }}

A genetic study published in Nature in May 2018 examined the remains of two Kipchak males buried between c. 1000 AD and 1200 AD.{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|loc=Supplementary Table 2, Rows 20, 105}} One male was found to be a carrier of the paternal haplogroup C2{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|loc=Supplementary Table 9, Row 14}} and the maternal haplogroup F1b1b,{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|loc=Supplementary Table 8, Row 75}} and displayed "increased East Asian ancestry".{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|p=4}} The other male was found to be a carrier of the maternal haplogroup D4{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|loc=Supplementary Table 8, Row 44}} and displayed "pronounced European ancestry".{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|p=4}}

Legacy

=Kipchak peoples and languages=

File:PSM V54 D647 Kipchak people of the Turkoman peoples.png

The modern Northwestern branch of the Turkic languages is often referred to as the Kipchak branch. The languages in this branch are mostly considered to be descendants of the Kipchak language, and the people who speak them may likewise be referred to as Kipchak peoples. Some of the groups traditionally included are the Manavs, Karachays, Balkars, Siberian Tatars, Nogays, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Volga Tatars, and Crimean Tatars. There is also a village named Kipchak in Crimea. Qypshaq, which is a development of "Kipchak" in the Kazakh language, is one of the constituent tribes of the Middle Horde confederation of the Kazakh people. The name Kipchak also occurs as a surname in Kazakhstan. Some of the descendants of the Kipchaks are the Bashkirian clan Qipsaq.Муратов Б.А., Суюнов Р.Р. ДНК-генеалогия башкирских родов из сако-динлинской подветви R1a+Z2123//Суюнов Р.Р. Гены наших предков (2-е издание). Том 3, серия «Этногеномика и ДНК-генеалогия», ЭИ Проект «Суюн». Vila do Conde, Lidergraf, 2014, — 250 c., илл., Португалия (Portugal), С.15–77

Radlov believed that among the current languages Cuman is closest to the Mishar dialect of the Tatar language.{{Cite web |title=Публикация ННР О языке куманов: По поводу издания куманского словаря |url=http://books.e-heritage.ru/book/10085556}} Especially the regional Mishar dialects of Sergachsky district have been named as "faithfully close to original Kipchak".Leitzinger, Antero: Mishäärit – Suomen vanha islamilainen yhteisö. Helsinki: Kirja-Leitzinger, 1996. {{ISBN|952-9752-08-3}}. (p. 41)

Notable people

Kipchak confederations

Ayyub Khan ({{floruit}} 1117), Kipchak leader
Bačman ({{floruit}} 1229–1236), Kipchak leader in the Lower Volga
Qačir-üküle ({{floruit}} 1236), Kipchak leader in the Lower Volga
Köten ({{floruit}} 1223–1239), Kipchak leader

Kipchak ancestry

Al-Mansur Qalawun, Mamluk sultan of Egypt (r. 1279–1290)
Baibars, Mamluk sultan of Egypt (r. 1260–1277)
El Temür, chancellor of the Chinese-Mongolian Yuan dynasty
Faris ad-Din Aktai, Mamluk emir
Nasir ad-Din Qabacha, Mamluk Sultan of Multan

Notes

References

Sources

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{{cite journal |last1=Damgaard |first1=P. B. |last2=Marchi |first2=N. |display-authors=1 |date=May 9, 2018 |title=137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2 |access-date=April 11, 2020 |journal=Nature |publisher=Nature Research |volume=557 |issue=7705 |pages=369–373 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2 |pmid=29743675 |bibcode=2018Natur.557..369D |hdl=1887/3202709 |s2cid=13670282 |ref={{harvid|Damgaard et al.|2018}}|hdl-access=free }}
{{cite book|last= Ergin|first= Muharrem|title= Orhun Abideleri|publisher= Boğaziçi Yayınları|location= İstanbul|year= 1980|language= tr}}
{{cite book|last=Golden|first=Peter B.|editor=Sinor, Denis|title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia|chapter=The peoples of the south Russian steppes|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=PA256 |year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-24304-9|pages=256–284}}
{{cite book|last=Golden|first=Peter B.|title=An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People|year= 1992|publisher= Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden}}
{{cite journal|last= Golden|first=Peter B.|title= Qıpčaq|journal= Turcology and Linguistics. Éva Ágnes Csató Festschrift|editor= Nurettin Demir|year=2014}}
{{cite journal|last= Klyashtorny|first= Sergey|title= The Polovcian Problems (II): Qipčaqs, Comans, and Polovcians| journal= Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|volume = 58|issue= 3|location= Szeged, Hungary|year= 2005|pages= 243–248|publisher= Akadémiai Kiadó|doi= 10.1556/AOrient.58.2005.5.2|doi-broken-date= 1 November 2024|jstor= 23658648|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/23658648|url-access= subscription}}
{{Cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Joo-Yup|last2=Kuang|first2=Shuntu|date=2017-10-18|title=A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and y-dna Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples |journal=Inner Asia|volume=19|issue=2|pages=197–239|issn=2210-5018|doi=10.1163/22105018-12340089|doi-access=free}}
{{cite book|last=May|first=Timothy |title=The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]: A Historical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4gB9DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA221|date=7 November 2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-340-0|pages=221–}}
{{cite book|author-link=Jean-Paul Roux|last=Roux|first=Jean-Paul|year=1997|title=L'Asie Centrale, Histoire et Civilization|publisher=Librairie Arthème-Fayard|isbn=978-2-213-59894-9}}
{{cite book |last=Vásáry |first=István |title=Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge and New York |isbn=978-0-521-83756-9}}
{{cite book|last= Zuev|first= Yury|title= Rannie tyurki: ocherki istorii i ideologii|publisher= Daik Press|location= Almaty|year= 2002|language= ru}}

External links

[http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/paksoy-2/cam2.html Codex Cumanicus]
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041013025137/http://sophistikatedkids.com/turkic/70+Dateline/kipchak+dateline+En.htm |date=October 13, 2004 |title=Kipchak dateline }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150206000538/http://www.adji.ru/book11_1.html Murad ADJI, The Kipchaks]

Category:Turkic nomadic tribes

Category:Turkic peoples

Category:Turkic peoples of Asia

Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia

Category:History of Kievan Rus'

Category:Ethnic groups in Ukraine

Category:Extinct Turkic peoples