Asprokastron

Who holds it

Name

Not pinned: no holder is recorded for 1199-1200

Title

Lord of the site

Confidence

low

The Greek name Asprokastron is attested from the 10th century (Constantine VII); en.wikipedia says the site was a haven for the princes of Galicia between the 12th and the 14th centuries (no dated notice given) and was controlled by the Cumans in the 13th century; the Genoese trade post (Maurocastro, Moncastro) dates from about 1290; the stone citadel is of the 13th-14th centuries.

Lord in 1200

Not pinned: most likely within the Cuman range of the Bugeac, perhaps with Galician or Greek traders calling; no lord, garrison or town is recorded for 1200.

What the town holds

Not recorded.

Allies and rivals

Not recorded.

How things stand that morning

A site in Cuman country with no recorded lord.

Wealth

Not recorded.

Military

Not recorded.

Threats

• None recorded

Council

None recorded.

Communities

None recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Militia

None recorded.

Walls and castle

Ruins of ancient Tyras and of a late Roman and Byzantine fort; the medieval citadel is later (13th-14th century).

Trade and crafts

Fish and salt of the liman; the Dniester road to Galicia (not attested for 1200).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: No written notice for 1199-1200; the later history (Genoese from about 1290) must not be back-projected.

On the map: A point only.

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