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Cuman, also called Polovtsy, Polovtsian, or the Anglicized Polovzian (Russian: Половцы Polovcy, Ukrainian: Половцi Polovtsi, Turkish: Kumanlar, Bulgarian: Кумани Kumani, Romanian: Cumani, Hungarian: Kunok), is a Western European exonym for the western Kipchaks. The Cumans were a nomadic Turkic tribe who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River.

History

Originally inhabiting the steppes of southern Siberia and northern Kazakhstan the Cumans entered the lands of present-day southern Ukraine, as well as historic Moldavia, Wallachia, and part of Transylvania, in the 11th century. Having conquered the area, they continued their assaults by attacking and plundering the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and Rus. In 1089, they were defeated by Ladislaus I of Hungary.

Pechenegs, a semi-nomadic Turkic people of the steppes of southwestern Eurasia, were annihilated as an independent force at the Battle of Levounion by a combined Byzantine and Cuman army under Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1091. Attacked again in 1094 by the Cumans, many Pechenegs were slain or absorbed.

In alliance with the Vlachs and the Bulgarians during the Vlach-Bulgar Rebellion by brothers Asen and Peter of Tarnovo, the Cumans are believed to have played a significant role in the rebellion's final victory over Byzantium and the restoration of Bulgaria's independence (1185). The Cumans defeated the Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Kievan Rus in the 12th century (at the Battle of the Stugna River) but were crushed by the Mongols in 1238, after which most of them fled Wallachia and Moldova and took refuge in Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Byzantine Empire. After many clashes with the Hungarians, the Cumans were eventually evicted from Hungary to join their kin who lived in Bulgaria. Later, however, a large segment of them were re-invited back to Hungary. The Cumans who remained scattered in the steppe of what is now Russia joined the Golden Horde khanate. In the 11th century the Cumans established their own country named Cumania, in an area comprised of Moldavia and Walachia.

The Hungarian kings claimed supremacy on the territory of Cumania, among the 9 titles of the Hungarian kings of the Arpad and Anjou dynasties were the rex Cumaniae (further titles of Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia—since Ladislaus I of Hungary inherited the 2 kingdoms based on his sister's right from his brother in law, and of Servia (Serbia), Rama (Bosnia), Lodomeria, Galitia and Bulgaria—based on their possession of Vidin, ca. 2% of the whole territory, further the Anjous were princes of Salerno as well).

In the 13th century, the Western Cumans adopted Roman Catholicism (in Hungary they all later became Calvinist) and the Gagauzes Pravoslav/Orthodox, while the Eastern Cumans converted to Islam. The Catholic Diocese of Cumania founded in Milcov in 1227 and including what is now Romania and Moldova, retained its title until 1523. It was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Esztergom.

The Cuman influence in the region of Wallachia and Moldavia was so strong that the earliest Wallachian rulers bore Cuman names. Given that the rulers Tihomir and Bassarab I governed territories formerly ruled by Romanian leaders (mentioned in the Diploma of the Joannites of 1247), and given that there is no archaeological evidence to sustain the continuous presence of a Cuman population (only Hungarian documents mentioning a toll-paying Wallachian population), the ruling elite was gradually assimilated such as in Bulgaria's case by the majority population they governed, which became Romanian.

Basarab I, son of the Wallachian prince Tihomir of Wallachia obtained independence from Hungary at the beginning of the 14th century. The name Basarab is considered as being of Cuman origin, meaning "Father King".

Cuman influence also persisted in the Kingdom of Hungary with the Cuman language and customs persisting in autonomous Cuman territories (Kunság) until the 17th century.

It is generally believed that the Bulgarian mediaеval dynasties Asen, Shishman and Terter had some Cuman roots.

Legacy

While the Cumans were gradually assimilated into eastern European populations, their trace can still be found in placenames as widespread as the city of Kumanovo in the Northeastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, Comăneşti in Romania and Comana in Dobruja.

The Cumans settled in Hungary had their own self-government there in a territory that bore their name, Kunság, that survived until the 19th century. There, the name of the Cumans (Kun) is still preserved in county names such as Bács-Kiskun and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and town names such as Kiskunhalas and Kunszentmiklós.

The Cumans were organized into four tribes in Hungary, Kolbasz / Olas in the big Cumania around Karcag, and the other three in the lesser Cumania. The other Cuman group in Hungary is the paloc group, the name deriving from the Slav Polovetz. They live in the Northern Hungary and current Slovakia and have a specific dialect. Their Cuman origin is not documented as the other two Cuman territory but their name derives from the above word. They have a very special "a" sound close to Turkish "a", unlike Hungarian pronunciation.

Unfortunately, the Cuman language disappeared from Hungary in the 17 century, possibly following the Turkish occupation.
Their 19 century biographer, Gyarfas Istvan in 1870 was on the opinion that they speak Hungarian together with the Iazyges population. Despite this mistake he has the best overview on the subject concerning details of material used. [1]

Also, toponyms of Cuman language origin can be found especially in the Romanian counties of Vaslui and Galaţi, including the names of both counties.

In the countries where the Cumans were assimilated, family surnames derived from the words for "Cuman" (such as coman or kun, "kuman") are not uncommon. Among the people that have such a name are Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci, Romanian poet Otilia Coman (Ana Blandiana), contemporary painter Nicolai Comănescu and Romanian football player Gigel Coman.
Traces of the Cumans are also the Bulgarian surname Kumanov (feminine Kumanova), its Macedonian variant Kumanovski (feminine Kumanovska) and the widespread Hungarian surname Kun. This name was also used as a magyarized version of the Jewish-German name Kohn/Cohen , like for the communist leader Bela Kun.

The Cumans appear in Russian culture in the The Tale of Igor's Campaign and are the Russians' military enemies in Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor which features a set of "Polovtsian Dances".

Further reading

• Vasary, Istvan (2005) "Cumans and Tatars", Cambridge University Press.
• Gyarfas Istvan: A Jaszkunok Törtenete: http://vfek.vfmk.hu/00000097/toc/index.htmlhttp://vfek.vfmk.hu/00000097/toc/index.html
• Györffy György: A Codex Cumanicus mai kerdesei
• Györffy György: A magyarsag keleti elemei
• Hunfalvy: Etnographia

See also

• Cumania
• Kipchak
• Nomad
• Crimean Tatars
• Pechenegs
• Turkic peoples
• Battle of the Kalka River
• Mongol invasion of Rus
• Tatar invasions
• Crimean Karaites, an ethnic group possibly with Cuman origins
• Battle of the Stugna River
• Battle of Levounion

External links

• Catholics and Cumans
• Mitochondrial DNA of ancient Cumanians: culturally Asian steppe nomadic immigrants with substantially more western Eurasian mitochondrial DNA lineages