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Cumans

Turkic nomadic people

13 dated entries naming Cumans, drawn from 13 separate years between 1068 CE and 1279 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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11th century

  • 1068Battle of the Alta River: The Cumans defeat the Kievan Rus' forces of Grand Prince Iziaslav I, and his brothers Sviatoslav II and Vsevolod I.source
  • 1091April 29 – Battle of Levounion: Emperor Alexios I, supported by his allies, defeats 80,000 of Pechenegs (including women and children) at the Evros River, near Enos (modern Turkey). The Cumans and Byzantine forces fall upon the enemy camp, slaughtering all in their path. The Pechenegs are butchered so savagely, that this people is almost wiped out.source
  • 1093May 26 – Battle of the Stugna River: The nomadic Cumans defeat a Kievan joint force led by the princes of Kievan Rus' at the Stuhna River in the valley near Trepol. Rostislav Vsevolodovich, prince of Pereyaslavl, drowns while fleeing the battle.source
  • 1095Summer – The nomadic Cumans cross the River Danube and invade Thrace, to support the pretender Constantine Diogenes (son of the late Emperor Romanos IV). The Cumans occupy the province of Paristrion (located in the Lower Danube). Emperor Alexios I places Byzantine detachments to guard the passes over the Balkan Mountains, but they are bypassed.source

12th century

  • 1111March 27 – Battle of the Salnitsa river: Prince Vladimir of Kievan Rus' inflicts a crushing defeat on the Cumans (Polovtsy).source
  • 1113April 16 – Sviatopolk II, Grand Prince of Kiev, dies after a 20-year reign and is succeeded by his 60-year-old cousin Vladimir II Monomakh. He begins a campaign against the Cumans on the steppe in an effort to reunite the land of Kievan Rus'.source
  • 1185Igor Svyatoslavich's failed campaign against the Cumans, later immortalized in The Tale of Igor's Campaign, takes place this year.source
  • 1190Isaac II starts a campaign against the Bulgarians, who claim their independence. After passing the Balkan Mountains, Isaac marches westward to besiege Tarnovo, the new Bulgarian capital. Meanwhile, the Byzantine fleet reaches the Danube River in order to block the way of Cuman reinforcements from the North. The defense of Tarnovo is led by Ivan Asen I, emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria. After spreading rumors of the arrival of a Cuman army to relieve the city, Isaac orders to retreat to Stara Zagora.source

13th century

  • 1205April 14 – Battle of Adrianople: Latin forces under Baldwin I are defeated and eliminated in a successful ambush by Bulgarians, Vlachs and Cumans. Baldwin is captured and taken as prisoner to Veliko Tarnovo – where he is locked up at the top of a tower in the Tsarevets fortress. Later, Baldwin is possibly executed by orders of Kaloyan (this according to the Byzantine historian George Akropolites).source
  • 1207Prince Mstislav Mstislavich ("the Daring") clashes with his uncle Rurik Rostislavich, Grand Prince of Kiev, and is forced to surrender the town of Torchesk (a major centre of resistance against Polovtsian raids).source
  • 1223Spring – The Polovtsian army assembles on the Terek River lowlands and are joined by Alan, Circassian, and Don Kipchak/Cuman forces. The Mongol army crosses the Caucasus Mountains, but is trapped in the narrow mountain passes. The Mongol generals Subutai and Jebe (the Arrow) send an embassy to the Polovtsians and convince them to break their alliance with the Caucasian peoples. The Mongol cavalry invades the Caucasus region and devastates the local villages, seizing slaves, cattle and horses.source
  • 1239Autumn – King Béla IV of Hungary allows some 40,000 Cumans, pagan nomads fleeing the Mongols, to settle in Hungary between the rivers Danube and Theiss, after their leader, Köten, has promised to convert to Christianity.source
  • 1279August 5 – The Diet of Hungary adopts the so-called Cuman laws to regulate the social status and lifestyle of the nomadic and pagan Cumans living in the Kingdom of Hungary.source

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