The Alan lands north of the main ridge: the upper Kuban with the Teberda and Zelenchuk (the old church centre of Arkhyz), the valleys of the Baksan, Chegem, Cherek and Urukh, the Ardon and the Darial gorge of the Terek, and the plains along the middle Terek.
A Christian people with a metropolitan of Constantinople, kin to the Georgian royal house (Tamar's mother and husband) and to the Rus' princes (Vsevolod the Big Nest's wife Maria was an Alan). Their kingdom is loosening into the lordships of princely families; within forty years a missionary will find 'as many princes as villages'.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not pinned: the princely house of David Soslan's kin leads; no king is named for 1199-1200
- Title
- Princes of the Alans
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
How things stand that morning
Independent princes; no general ruler can be named.
Customs and assemblies
Princely families with armed followers in fortified villages and towers; valley assemblies of elders (thin).
Overlord claims
None. Georgia is kin and ally and holds the Darial fortress; the Kipchaks of the steppe are neighbours.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200No dated event recorded.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Few written sources; the extent rests on general accounts (from the Laba to the Argun before the Mongols).
On the map: The northern edge on the plains is a guess; Kipchak and Alan grazing overlapped.
Primary sources for Alans and mountain peoples
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The History of Derbent and Shirvan, as preserved in Munejjim-bashi's Jami al-duwal, Anonymous (an 11th-century author of Derbent, excerpted by Munejjim-bashi, died 1702) (about 1075; preserved in an Ottoman compilation of the 1670s). The only local history of the Shirvanshahs and the emirs of Derbent, surviving as extracts in a 17th-century Ottoman compilation.
- The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.