Saksin

Who holds it

Name

not named for 1200 (not pinned)

Title

its own rulers (amirs)

Since

not pinned

Born

not applicable

Family

not applicable

Confidence

low

en.wikipedia (Saqsin, Abu Hamid al-Gharnati); al-Gharnati and the Laurentian chronicle (1229) from the standard accounts.

Lord in 1200

Not pinned: its own Muslim notables and amirs; the Cuman khans of the lower Volga around it (Cumans of the lower Volga).

How things stand that morning

A self-governing Muslim trading town among the Cumans of the lower Volga; holder not named.

Council

Its Muslim notables and jurists; the town's amirs (not named).

Communities

Turkic Muslims (Oghuz and Kipchak), with Bulgar and Khazar elements (the Samosdelka finds); visiting merchants from Khwarazm and Bulgar (not pinned).

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Walls and castle

Not known; the Samosdelka site is a mound settlement in the delta with brick buildings.

Trade and crafts

Furs from the north via Bulgar (squirrel, beaver); fish from the delta; salt; the river and caravan trade between Volga Bulgaria, Khwarazm, the Caspian and the steppe.

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. 1229 (after this year)The Mongols drive the Saksins and the Cumans up the Volga to Bulgar.Depends on: the Mongol advance

Where the sources disagree

• Site disputed: Samosdelka in the delta (excavations of D. Vasilyev, from 2003) or between Volgograd and Akhtubinsk (Pletneva). The seat point and near land follow Samosdelka (coordinates approximate).

Evidence: A traveller of the 1130s-1150s, a chronicle line of 1229 and excavations; nothing for 1200.

On the map: Placed at Samosdelka; the site is not certain.

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