The Burchevichi

Who he is

Name

Osoluk and Izai, named for 1193 (whether they lead the horde on 1 January 1200 is not pinned)

Title

khans of the Burchevichi

Since

not pinned (named 1193)

Born

not pinned

Family

Not known. The Burchevichi are one of the Cuman clans the Rus' chronicles name (Encyclopedia of Ukraine lists them with the Toksobichi and the Yeltunovichi).

Confidence

low

The Hypatian chronicle under 1193 (6701), from the standard accounts (Golubovsky; Pletneva); Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Cumans).

What it holds

• The left bank of the Dnieper below Kremenchuk, the Samara and the Orel, to the Donets watershed (conventional)
• Winter quarters by the Dnieper rapids and the Samara (conventional)

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the princes of Kiev and Pereyaslavl and the Black Hoods (the raid of 1193). Allies: not pinned.

How things stand that morning

Unconquered; no clash recorded since 1193. Across its edges: north, Pereyaslavl's frontier on the Sula and the Vorskla (kie); north-east, the Seversk land and the fort of Donets (che); east, Konchak's horde (Konchak's horde (the Don Cumans)); south, the Lukomorians (The Lukomorians); west, across the Dnieper, the seashore Cumans (Cumans of the Bug and the Dniester).

Wealth

Herds; plunder and captives from the Pereyaslavl and Kiev borderlands; tolls on the Dnieper road past the rapids (not pinned).

Military

Its own horde host; no numbers.

Threats

• Kiev and the Black Hoods
• Pereyaslavl, reinforced by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in 1200 or 1201
• Roman of Galicia (1201-1204, 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. During 1200No raid or campaign recorded.Depends on: peace on the Pereyaslavl frontier Stopped by: a Rus' raid or a call to war from Rurik or the Olgovichi

Where the sources disagree

• The placement on the Dnieper's left bank is Pletneva's; Golubovsky and others place the Burchevichi differently. The 1193 names come from the standard accounts; the chronicle text could not be checked in this run.

Evidence: One chronicle passage (1193) names the khans; nothing for 1194-1200.

On the map: Conventional placement of a horde known from one passage. 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