The names of the Mongols, Huns, and Scythians immediately come to mind when discussing nomadic
peoples of the Great Eurasian Steppe. But the Cuman-Qipchaq people belongs among them as some
of the most influential of these societies. In this video, we will discuss their origin,
history, and society, and their so-called confederation, which dominated the steppes
on the eve of the Mongol Expansion and was among their greatest rivals.
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The Cuman-Qipchaqs were a nomadic people who dominated the Eurasian steppes from Ukraine
to Kazakhstan from the eleventh century until the Mongol conquest in the thirteenth century.
Predominantly speakers of Turkic languages, historical sources use a variety of terminology
to refer to them. Broadly speaking, Cuman predominates in European and Byzantine sources,
Polovsty in Rus’ accounts, Qipchaq in Islamic sources and both Qipchaq and Qangli
in Chinese and Mongol sources. European accounts called their territory Cumania,
with Islamic sources using Dasht-i Qipchaq. The sources sometimes use these terms interchangeably,
while others indicate these were distinct groups within this shared milieu. Thus, the inhabitants
on the far west were largely people identified as Cumans, while east of the Caspian Sea, the Qangli
were the dominant faction, and in between Qipchaq lived across the steppe. Altogether they tend to
be called the Cuman-Qipchaq Confederation. Like most steppe peoples, the origins of the
Cuman-Qipchaqs are hotly debated, with numerous contradictory theories put forth. We will try to
keep to the most broadly agreed upon facts. A common yet controversial theory associates the
first mention of the Qipchaq with a group called the Sir in the eighth century Orkhon Inscriptions
in Mongolia of the Second Türkic Khaganate. Other Türkic and Uyghur monuments of the following
centuries may bear the Qipchaq name on them, but these readings are disputed due to the conditions
of the inscriptions. Efforts to identify them with groups mentioned in Chinese sources are likewise
contentious. Only in the ninth century are their whereabouts better defined, as Islamic geographers
clearly identify the Qipchaq within a poorly understood polity known as the “Kimek Union,”
in eastern Kazakhstan. Over the next centuries, we can track their steady movement westwards,
displacing existing Turkic peoples like the Oghuz, helping encourage the movement of the
ancestors of the Seljuqs into Islamic lands. Then in the eleventh century, a series of
large-scale western migrations rocked Asia, likely set off by the Khitan-ruled Liao Dynasty in North
China and Mongolia trying to tighten its power over the peoples of Manchuria and the Mongolian
plateau. Broadly these migrations are referred to in Islamic sources as the Qun Migrations,
named for one of the primary groups within this movement. The Qun moved quickly across
the steppes; the migration began around 1018, and by the 1050s they were in the Pontic Steppes,
suddenly appearing in Rus’ and Byzantine sources and crushing the Pecheneg nomads. While some
sources at the time referred to them as Qun, as Hungarian still does, we also see them adopt
the Turkic suffix -man on their name. These Qun-men, or Qu-men, became their most common
designation in European sources; Cuman. From the mid-eleventh century onwards,
the Cumans, ruling over the western part of the Qipchaq, were the dominant nomadic peoples of the
Eurasian steppes. Though modern writing calls them a confederation, this was rather a sea of
independent Turkic princes from the Carpathians to the Irtysh River who, at least to outsiders,
could be broadly grouped together as Cumans in the steppes of modern Ukraine; Qipchaqs between
the Don River and Caspian Sea, and a third group east of the Ural River and in modern Kazakhstan,
where we see references to both Qipchaq and Qangli. In the early twelfth century,
this group became dominated by the Ölberli, who appear to have fled the Jurchen-Jin Dynasty’s
conquest of the Khitan, who had in turn fled west to establish the Empire of Qara-Khitai in the
1130s. Whether any of them recognized themselves as any sort of shared “Cuman-Qipchaq” identity we
cannot say, as all accounts come from outsiders and little is known of their internal matters.
Interestingly, most names associated with the western part of this group relate to paleness or
the colour yellow. The route of Cuman, qu, likely comes from the Old Turkic word meaning “pale,
flaxen, yellow.” It seems, broadly speaking, that most names for the Cumans in the west
direct are translations of the same term. This has led some to suggest it was a reference to
the yellow grasslands of the steppes; others, a reference to pale-coloured horses of the Cumans;
some have even suggested that this was a reference to Cumans being predominantly blond-haired!
The Cuman-Qipchaps were the elite within the steppe, ruling over existing Turkic
nomads and others. Lands and peoples were assigned to the Cuman-Qipchap aristocracy
to rule over. Much of their wealth was in their animals; herds of sheep, goats,
cattle and horses in great number. Pastures for winter and summer were designated, and the various
members of society moved between them seasonally. Like most Eurasian steppe nomads, they lived their
life on horseback and practiced archery daily; as highly skilled and mobile horse archers,
they were fearsome raiders or valuable mercenaries across Eurasia. In terms of religion, there is a
general assumption of Turkic animism and worship of Tengri. Canines were venerated among them,
as many Cumans and Qipchaqs names relating to dogs and wolves are known, and several sources
attest to their habit of cutting a dog in half to mark important occasions, alliances and weddings.
Aristocrats were entombed in large-burial mounds known as kurgans, which show indications
of animal sacrifice, including dogs and horses. There are also indications of Christianity among
them. The Central Asian Muslim geographer al-Marwazi in the early twelfth century
describe them as Eastern Christians, or so-called Nestorianism. In Rus’ lands, some converted to
Orthodox Christianity, especially when marrying into them, or to Catholicism by Cumans in the
Hungarian Kingdom, or converted by Franciscan missionaries. Meanwhile those in Islamic
states were often staunch converts to Islam. Major divisions between the various Cuman-Qipchap
unions were marked by the great steppes rivers like the Don, Volga, Ural and more. While at
times certain princes among them rose up to develop a greater following, there does not seem
to have been any sort of political framework that stretched across the entirety of their lands. All
Cuman-Qipchaq princes were largely independent lords. Even their titulature is unknown;
while it is common to call their leaders “Khans,” there is no clear indication any held it as a
title. Contemporary sources always translate their titles to the equivalent of king, duke, prince and
so forth, whereas khan is regularly untranslated or given an equivalent term meaning emperor.
The Cuman-Qipchaq were well-known as ferocious warriors, preeminent ranged and skirmishing
troops. Their horsemen raided Central Asia, the Caucasus, Central and southeastern Europe and the
Rus’ principalities, as well as each other; this internal warfare made the steppes particularly
dangerous to travel during that time. Often this was as mercenaries. Rus’ princes often sought to
get as much military assistance from the Cumans as possible; in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
Cuman troops were regular auxiliaries of the Bohemians and Hungarians against Germans and
Austrians. The Byzantine Empire first made allies of the Cumans to destroy the Pechenegs,
but by the late twelfth century Cuman troops helped the Bulgarians and Vlachs push out the
Byzantines to establish the Second Bulgarian Empire in the 1180s. In Georgia, a major
community of Qipchaqs settled there and became valued allies of the Georgian Kings. Across the
former lands of the Great Seljuqs, Qipchaqs could be in great numbers on both sides of a conflict.
These contacts were often sealed with marriage alliances. In Rus’, Hungary and Georgia,
a number of royals took Cuman-Qipchaq princesses as wives, who were baptized and took Christian
names; usually, their pre-baptismal name is unknown. In the Khwarezmian Empire,
Qipchaqs were not just most of the armed troops of the Shah, but their own elite as the Khwarezmian
leadership married into them over generations. They served in the regional trade. Their horses
were prized as hardy animals for war, and they exported the rest of their livestock too. They
were conduits for trade, transferring goods from Volga Bulgharia and Siberia, such as furs,
honey, and slaves, to the wider world via the Crimean peninsula, where many Cumans settled
as permanent traders. Some picked up agriculture, even just seasonally: the early fourteenth century
Codex Cumanicus, a dictionary and linguistic manual for traders to learn the Cuman language,
features many agricultural terms. A few towns associated with them are noted in the sources; a
city called Saqsin, for example, was a major trade up along the Lower Volga River under them, but
little is known of it. Burial mounds show that the elite enjoyed access to many imported wares;
the Chungul Barrow site in southern Ukraine likely marks a Cuman lord buried with armour, weapons and
imported goods, with Byzantine amphorae and silk-caftan, drug jars from Syria and a cup
from the Rhineland, golden chains and a torque. A brief mention can also be made of the famous
mustached masks associated with them: this was an association made by Soviet archaeologists in the
early twentieth century, but is not doubted, as the provenance of surviving examples is uncertain,
or came from graves which are more likely to date to the Mongol period, as the masks
are usually found in association with a style of helmet developed in the fourteenth century
that likely came with the Mongols west, while there is some surviving paintings
that seem to indicate Mongol usage of these masks. Games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance
have popularized the Cuman association, but there is no current evidence to support it
being a distinguishing feature of their equipment. The Cuman-Qipchaq world was completely transformed
with the arrival of the Mongols. First contact came when some of Chinggis Khan’s enemies,
fleeing his unification of Mongolia, sought shelter with the eastern Qangli and Qipchaq
around the Aral Sea. In 1218, Chinggis Khan’s oldest son Jochi and the young general Sübeedei
pursued and fought a series of battles in western Kazakhstan. The Mongols were victorious,
but attacked by the Khwarezm-shah Muhammad II during their retreat— Muhammad’s army being
composed of many Qipchaqs as well. When the great Mongol invasion of Khwarezm was launched in 1219,
the Mongols regularly fought the Qipchaq troops of the Shah, many of whom defected to the Mongols.
After the initial invasion, Jochi was sent into the steppes around the Aral Sea to subjugate
the Qipchaqs there, while the generals Jebe and Sübeedei passed through the Caucasus Mountains
and fought Qipchaqs and Cumans in the western steppes, at the famous Kalka River battle and
sacked the Qipchaq settlement of Saqsin. Many Qipchaq were captured and brought east to fight
against the Jin Dynasty. In turn, some even defected to join the Jin against the Mongols.
Between 1223 and 1235, next few years there was sporadic combat as the Mongol Empire steadily
expanded to the Ural River. The Mongols saw it as an important front. Chinese accounts from the
period indicate that Chinggis Khan and the Mongol leadership saw the Qipchaq as their most dangerous
foes. As fellow-nomads, they had a fearsome potential if they united against the Mongols.
This brought extra impetus in the early 1230s, when a Qipchaq named Bachman in the Volga Steppes
began to organize a resistance. By 1236, the great invasion led by Sübeedei and Jochi’s son Batu was
underway, cutting this Qipchaq resistance, and Bachman, in half. Other Cumans, notably under the
leader Koten, fled before the Mongols to shelter in Hungary, where Mongol armies pursued them.
By the mid-1240s, after putting down several revolts, the Mongols had subjugated
the Cuman-Qipchaqs. The Desht-i Qipchaq was then reorganized, their pastures and peoples
redistributed among the Mongols and sent around their empire as servants and soldiers for their
armies, and many sold overseas in slavery. Many were sent east to fight for the Mongols,
with the future Great Khan Khubilai using them against the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan and
against the Song Dynasty. The unit grew in time and by the late-thirteenth century was
known as the Qipchaq Guard, one of the Great Khan’s most important and influential units.
While their lands fell under Mongol dominion, those who were displaced outside of their former
homeland showed a remarkable ability to adapt to their new environments. In the twelfth century,
Cuman-Qipchaqs became a favoured source of ghulams or mamluks, professional slave soldiers for
Islamic states. Sold abroad as young children, they were converted to Islam, professionally
trained and provided the finest equipment. They were famed for their combat prowess and loyalty
to their new masters, often considered more loyal than the monarch’s own sons. The Ghurid Sultanate,
which conquered from eastern Iran through North India, relied extensively upon them and after the
death of the last Ghurid Sultan in 1206, his Qipchaq ghulams promptly divided his empire
between themselves; one of these became the Delhi Sultanate, which dominated northern India for the
next three centuries. For its first decades, most of the Delhi Sultanate’s leadership and elite were
Qipchaqs; Delhi’s famous female sultan, Raziya Sultana, was a Qipchaq-princess born in India.
The most famous Qipchaq Mamluk Dynasty was in Egypt. The final Ayyubid rulers purchased many
Qipchaqs as Mamluks who then seized power in the 1250s. Many, including their famed Sultan Baybars,
had been displaced by the Mongols as youths, and in a twist of fate were responsible for the most
famous Mongolian defeat at ‘Ayn Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks of Egypt continued to purchase more
Qipchaqs from the steppes, resisting the Mongol Ilkhanate for decades and capturing
the final Crusader hold-outs in the region. In southeastern Europe, a dynasty of likely
Cuman origin, the Terteroba, took power in Bulgaria in the 1280s, backed by the powerful
Mongol prince Nogai. Other regional lords intermarried with or had Cuman ancestors,
possibly including the infamous Vlad Dracul. In Hungary, King Béla IV invited the Cumans back
after the Mongol invasion, giving them extensive lands in the middle of his kingdom and forming an
important part of the Hungarian army against Mongols and other Europeans. He married his
heir István to a Cuman princess, and when their son, Laszló, took the throne he was infatuated
with his mother’s culture. He was derisively remembered as Laszló the Cuman. To this day,
the lands given to the Cumans in Hungary are known as Lesser and Great Cumania. On the other end of
the continent in Mongol ruled China, the Qipchaq Guard grew in might, and its commander became one
of the most powerful men in the Khanate. Under its commander, an Ölberli Qipchaq named El-Temür,
the Great Khan was his puppet until his death in 1335, upon which his family was purged.
In the Golden Horde, the Mongol khanate ruling the former Cuman-Qipchaq lands, the small Mongolian
population was gradually absorbed amongst its Turkic subjects. By the fourteenth century use
of the Mongolian language was reduced to among the royal family, ceremonial duties, select government
institutions and for diplomacy with the other Mongol Khanates. Though it is common today to
refer to the Golden Horde as the Qipchaq Khanate, there is no indication this term was ever in use
by the Horde itself; given that it viewed the Qipchaqs as its subjects, it seems doubtful they
would have identified themselves by them in favour of its Chinggisid identity. Rather, the Cumans and
Qipchaqs in Horde lands began to identify themselves as Tatars; the Codex Cumanicus,
for example, already in the early fourteenth century used Tatar to refer to the Cuman language.
In this manner, the Qipchaq continued on and became the ancestors of many Turkic peoples
across Eurasia, especially Tatars, Kyrgyzs and Kazakhs, whose languages are classified in the
Qipchaq branch of the Turkic language family. Our series on various nomadic cultures will
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