Konchak's horde (the Don Cumans)

Who he is

Name

Konchak, son of Otrok (alive on 1 January 1200 not pinned: last securely mentioned in 1187); if he is dead, his son Yuri Konchakovich, called "greater than all the Polovtsy" in 1223

Title

khan of the Don Cumans

Since

Konchak leads the horde's raids from the 1170s (Encyclopedia of Ukraine: allied with the Olgovichi in 1171)

Born

not pinned

Family

Grandson of Sharukan, who gave his name to the town of Sharukan on the Donets; son of Otrok (Atrak), who served David IV of Georgia and came back to the Don after Vladimir Monomakh's death in 1125, while his uncle Syrchan stayed on the Don. His sister (Gurandukht in the Georgian tradition) was David IV's second wife (1118). His brother Eltut fell in 1180. His daughter married Igor's son Vladimir during Vladimir's captivity (1185-1187) and was baptised; the couple came back to Rus' in 1187 with a child. His son Yuri Konchakovich (a baptismal name; the Turkic name is not known) gave a daughter in marriage to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich about 1205 and was killed by the Mongols in 1222 or 1223. Some writers make Kotian and Somogur his sons (en.wikipedia, Köten): disputed.

Confidence

low

en.wikipedia (Konchak, Cumans, Köten, Yaroslav II); de.wikipedia (Kumanen); Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Konchak, Cumans); the Hypatian chronicle's accounts of 1185-1187 and the Galician-Volhynian legend of Otrok, from the standard accounts.

What it holds

• The Donets steppe below the Rus' fort of Donets (by Kharkiv), with the Oskol and the Aidar
• The Don from below the Voronezh mouth to the delta, with the Khoper mouth and the Sal steppe
• Winter quarters (zimovishcha) by the lower Don, the Mius and the Azov shore
• The old towns of Sharukan, Sugrov and Balin on the Donets (decayed; see their records)
• The ruin of Belaya Vezha (Sarkel) on the lower Don

How it was acquired

Inherited: the horde of Sharukan and Otrok, back on the Don since about 1125.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Olgovichi of Chernigov (Igor, senior prince since 1198; his son Vladimir, Konchak's son-in-law). Rivals: the princes of Kiev and their Black Hoods; Vsevolod III, who attacked the Don in 1198 (and will make a marriage peace about 1205); the other hordes when it suits them.

How things stand that morning

Free and unconquered on the Donets and the Don. No fighting with a Rus' prince is recorded since Vsevolod's campaign of 1198; the horde is tied by marriage to Igor of Chernigov. Ground across its edges: north-west, the Seversk forts of the Olgovichi on the upper Donets and the Seim (che); north, the empty forest-steppe toward Ryazan's frontier on the Voronezh (rya); west, the Burchevichi (The Burchevichi); south-west, the Lukomorians on the Azov shore (The Lukomorians); east, the Cumans of the Volga-Don steppe (Cumans of the lower Volga); the Brodniki live by the lower Don (The Brodniki).

Wealth

Herds; captives and ransom (Vladimir Igorevich and his men, 1185-1187); a share of the slave and fur trade through the Azov and Crimean ports; gifts from Rus' allies.

Military

The largest horde host of the steppe in the 1180s, able to join other hordes (Gza's in 1185) against a Rus' coalition. Falls back on the sea when a strong Rus' army comes (1198). No numbers for 1200.

Threats

• Vsevolod III of Vladimir (campaign of 1198)
• Rus' coalitions from Kiev
• Roman of Galicia (from 1201, later)
• The Mongols (1222-1223, later)

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.

In 1200

1. During 1200The horde summers on the Donets and the middle Don; no raid or campaign is recorded.Depends on: peace with Chernigov and Vladimir Stopped by: a Rus' prince calling it into his war, or a new campaign by Vsevolod

Later, on the likely course

1. Spring 1201, most probably (after this year)Igor Sviatoslavich, Konchak's in-law and senior prince of Chernigov, dies (en.wikipedia gives 1201 or 1202); the Olgovichi's seniority passes on (che).Depends on: natural death Stopped by: nothing
2. About 1205 (after this year)Yuri Konchakovich marries his daughter to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich: a marriage peace with Vsevolod III.Depends on: Yuri leading the horde; Vsevolod seeking peace on the southern frontier Stopped by: war between them
3. 1222-1223 (after this year)Yuri Konchakovich is killed by the Mongols; the horde is broken at the Kalka (31 May 1223).Depends on: the Mongol advance Stopped by: nothing in the horde's power

Places of note

• Kayala battlefield (site disputed): Where Konchak and Gza destroyed Igor's army in May 1185; the Kayala is placed on the Kalmius, the Torets or the Kagalnik. Point is conventional.
• Belaya Vezha (Sarkel), ruin: The deserted Rus' fortress on the lower Don (Belaya Vezha).

Where the sources disagree

• Konchak's death: en.wikipedia says 1187, de.wikipedia about 1201; both are guesses from his last mentions (see The Cumans).
• en.wikipedia (Konchak) says Yuri took Kiev for Rurik in 1203; the Laurentian chronicle names only "all the Polovtsian land".
• Vsevolod's campaign to the Don is given here as 1198 (Laurentian chronicle under 6706); the text could not be checked in this run, and some summaries give 1199.

Evidence: Konchak is well attested to 1187; his horde's leader for 1188-1204 is not named. The range is the conventional one (Donets and Don) of modern reconstructions.

On the map: A pasture range, not a border; drawn after modern reconstructions. The seat point only marks the range: the horde had no fixed seat.

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