Sugdaea under the Cumans

Who he is

Name

not named (not pinned): which horde holds the overlordship is not recorded

Title

the Cuman khans as overlords; the town run by its Greek notables (archons) and its archbishop

Since

Cuman control from the end of the 11th century (Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World; Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium)

Born

not applicable

Family

not applicable

Confidence

medium

en.wikipedia (Sudak), after the Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World and the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium; Ibn al-Athir as quoted there.

Overlord

The Cuman khans of the steppe Crimea (which horde is not pinned). The archbishopric of Sougdaia is under the patriarch of Constantinople.

What it holds

• The town of Sugdaea with its citadel rock and harbour (Sudak)
• The Sudak valley and the coast between Novyi Svit and the Meganom headland

How it was acquired

The Cumans took the eastern Crimea in the late 11th century.

Allies and rivals

Trading partners: Byzantine and Anatolian merchants; the Rus'. Rivals for the port later: the Seljuks of Rum (about 1222).

How things stand that morning

A self-governing Greek port under Cuman overlordship. Across its edges: the Cuman steppe Crimea (Cumans of the Crimea); west along the coast, Byzantine Gothia (Gothia (Crimea)).

Wealth

The slave, fur and cloth trade of the Black Sea; tolls on ships.

Military

The citadel rock above the harbour (the great Genoese walls are of the 14th century); the town's own men; Cuman protection.

Threats

• The Seljuks of Rum, who attack it about 1222 (later)
• The Mongols, 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.

1. About 1222 (after this year)The Seljuk sultan Kayqubad's expedition besieges and takes Sudak (the Encyclopedia of Ukraine dates a Rus' and Cuman counter-attack to 1221).Depends on: Seljuk sea power from Sinope Stopped by: nothing in the town's power
2. 1223 (after this year)The Mongols raid Sudak after the Kalka.Depends on: the Mongol advance Stopped by: nothing in the town's power

Where the sources disagree

• The Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Cumans) says the princes and khans attacked Sudak, "held by the Seljuk Turks", in 1221; en.wikipedia (Sudak) dates the Seljuk siege to about 1222.

Evidence: Cuman overlordship from the late 11th century to the 13th is the reference-work view; no document of 1200 survives.

On the map: The extent of the town's land is approximate.

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