Cumans of the Crimea

Who holds it

Title

no khan named for 1200

Since

not applicable

Born

not applicable

Family

not known

Confidence

low

en.wikipedia (Sudak, Cherson (theme), Cumans).

How things stand that morning

Unconquered. Across its edges: Byzantine Cherson and Gothia in the mountains (Governor of Cherson, Gothia (Crimea)); Sugdaea under their own overlordship (Sugdaea under the Cumans); the ports of the Kerch strait (Korchev, Byzantine-claimed); north of Perekop, the Lukomorians (The Lukomorians).

Wealth

Herds; salt; tribute from Sudak; the slave and fur trade through Sudak.

Military

Horde host; no numbers.

Threats

• The Seljuks of Rum (Sudak, about 1222, later)
• The Mongols (1223, later)

Customs

As in the other hordes: the khan and his kin, the clans, tents and wagons (vezhi), winter quarters by the sea and the river mouths, summer pastures inland; war and peace made by the khan with his kin.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The reference works give Cuman control of the eastern Crimea from the late 11th century; nothing names a khan.

On the map: A pasture range drawn after modern reconstructions, not a border.

Primary sources for The Cumans

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 Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
• The Laurentian Chronicle (the Suzdal continuation kept in the late 12th and 13th centuries; manuscript 1377). The court record of Vsevolod III of Vladimir. Read online
• History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
• The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
• 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
• The Tale of Igor's Campaign (about 1187 to 1200 (disputed)). A poem on Igor Sviatoslavich's defeat by the Polovtsians in 1185 that addresses the princes of the day by name: Vsevolod of Vladimir, Rurik and David Rostislavich, Yaroslav of Galich, Roman of Volhynia and the Olgovichi of Chernigov, of whom Igor himself was prince from 1198. Read online