The second place after the Byzantine trade was occupied by trade with the Muslim East, which was conducted through the two Volga peoples, the Khazars and the Kama Bolgars, the Russians went to these peoples from the Sea of Azov by the Don to the place where it approached the Volga and where the Khazar fortress Sarkel stood, built with with the help of Byzantine architects. Here Russia was dragged from the Don to the Volga and then went either down this river to the capital of the Khazar kingdom Itil, or up to the city of Great Bolgars.
Itil lay on both banks of the Volga not far from its mouths. Here, on one of the islands, there was a palace of the Khazar Khagan, surrounded by walls. The Kagan, his court and some of the people professed the Jewish religion; the rest of the inhabitants of Khazaria were partly Muslims, partly Christians, most of all pagans. Only for the winter the inhabitants of Itil gathered in this city; and in summer most of them dispersed over the surrounding plains and lived in tents, engaged in cattle breeding, gardening and agriculture. Their main food was Saracen millet and fish. Merchants flocked to the Khazar capital even from distant countries of Europe and Asia. By the way, there was a part of the city occupied by Russians and Slavic merchants in general. Russian guests who came here usually paid a tithe, or a tenth of their goods, in favor of the kagan. Many of the Russ also served as mercenaries in his forces. Between Khazaria and Kama Bulgaria lay the country of Burtases, in which Russian traders bartered for furs of fur-bearing animals, especially marten furs.
Kama Bulgaria had as its center the city of Great Bolgars, which lay a little below the Kama mouth on the left side of the Volga, at some distance from the river itself. The Bulgarian king lived here, who adopted the Muslim faith with his people, and since then this region has entered into active trade relations with Muslim Asia.
Not only Arab merchants came here, but also various artisans, among other things, architects who helped the Bulgarians build stone mosques, royal palaces and city walls. The favorite food of the Bulgarians was horse meat and millet. The springs cast almost no ray of light on the origin of this kingdom. In all likelihood, it was founded by a small part of the great Slavic-Bulgarian tribe that moved here from the south. This handful of Slavs, completely torn off from their fellow tribesmen by subsequent popular movements, little by little mixed with the native inhabitants of the Finnish and Turkish roots. But for a long time she enlivened this region with her enterprising, commercial character; and in the 10th century, apparently, it still partially retained its nationality; at least the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan sometimes calls the Kama Bolgars Slavs.
The Arabs who visited Itil and the Great Bolgars left us curious stories about the Russes they met there. Particularly interesting are the stories of Ibn Fadlan, who was among the ambassadors sent by the Caliph of Baghdad to Almas, the king of the Kama Bolgars, in the first quarter of the 10th century. He describes the Russes as tall, stately, fair-haired, with sharp eyes; they wore a short cloak thrown over one shoulder, an axe, a knife and a sword with a wide undulating blade of Frankish workmanship and were very prone to strong drinks. Their wives wore metal jewelry (sustugi?) on their chests with a ring on which a knife hung, and gold and silver chains made up of coins (mainly Arab) around their necks, the number of which was determined by the state of the husband; but they were especially fond of necklaces made of green beads (hitherto the favorite adornment of Great Russian women).
Having sailed to the Bulgarian capital, the Russes first of all went to their idols, which looked like pillars or blockheads with human heads; they approached the highest of them (of course, to Perun), fell on their faces, prayed to him for help in trade and placed their offerings in front of him, which consisted of food supplies, which are meat, bread, milk, onions, and, in addition, from hot drinks, i.e. honey or wine.
Then they built large wooden buildings for themselves on the banks of the Volga and settled in them for 10 or 20 people with their goods, which mainly consisted of furs and slaves. If the sale is slow, the merchant brings gifts to the main idol for the second and third time; in case of continued failure, he places offerings in front of lesser idols that depicted the wives and children of the chief god and asks their intercession. When the trade goes well, the Russian merchant kills several oxen and sheep, distributes part of the meat to the poor, and puts the rest in front of the idols as a token of his gratitude. At night dogs come and devour this sacrificial meat; and the pagan thinks that the gods themselves deigned to eat his offering.
The funeral customs of the Russes are remarkable, according to the description of the same Ibn Fadlan. They simply burned the poor dead in a small boat, and the rich - with different ceremonies. Fadlan managed to be present at the burial of one noble and wealthy Rusyn. The deceased was first placed in a grave, where they left him for ten days, and meanwhile they were engaged in preparations for a solemn burial, or feast. To do this, his cash property was divided into three parts: one third was separated for the family, the other for funeral clothes, and the third for wine and, in general, for the funeral feast (from this third part it was called feast). Since every Rusin, and especially a rich one, had several wives or concubines, usually one of them volunteered to die with her master in order to go with him to paradise, which pagan Russia imagined as a beautiful green garden. On the day appointed for the burial, the boat of the deceased was pulled out of the water and placed on four pillars; in the boat they arranged a bed with pillows, covered with carpets and Greek brocade. Then they took the dead man out of the grave; they put on him trousers, boots, a jacket and a caftan made of Greek brocade with gold buttons, and on his head a brocade hat with a sable band; they put him on a bed and propped him up with pillows. Incense plants, fruits, wine, a dog, cut into two parts, two horses and two bulls, cut into pieces, as well as a slaughtered rooster and chicken, were placed in the boat; all his weapons were laid by the side of the dead man. When the day began to approach sunset, some old woman, called the "angel of death," brought into the boat a slave who volunteered to die with her master; with the help of several men, she began to strangle her with a rope and finished with a knife. At this time, other men, standing near the boat, struck their shields so that the girl's screams could not be heard. Then the closest relative of the deceased took a lighted torch, approached the boat with his back and lit the firewood stacked under it. Then others began to throw firewood and burning torches into the same place. The fire, fanned by a strong wind, quickly engulfed the ship and reduced it to ashes along with the corpses. In that place, the Russ poured a mound and placed a pillar on it, on which they inscribed the name of the deceased and the name of the Russian prince.
The Volga trade, testifying to the wealth and luxury of the Muslim countries, aroused enterprising, greedy Russes to sometimes try their luck on the shores of the Caspian Sea. According to the Arab writer Masudi, in 913, a Russian ship army gathered on the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, supposedly containing up to 500 boats and up to 50,000 people. By the Don River, the Russ climbed to the portage, near which there was a Khazar fortress (probably Sarkel), and sent to the Khazar Khagan to ask for a pass to the Caspian Sea, promising to give him half of all future production. Kagan agreed. Then Russia moved to the Volga, descended into the sea and scattered along its southwestern shores, killing the inhabitants, robbing their property and taking women and children captive. The peoples who lived there were horrified; for a long time they had not happened to see enemies; only merchants and fishermen visited their shores. Finally, a large militia from neighboring countries gathered: they boarded boats and headed for the islands that lay opposite the Oil Land (Baku region), on which Russia had a gathering place and hid the loot. The Russians rushed to this militia and most of it was beaten or drowned. After that, for several months they freely disposed of on the Caspian shores, until such a life bored them. Then they sailed back to the Volga and sent the agreed part of the booty to the Khazar Khagan. The Khazar army consisted partly of Muslims. The latter became very angry with the Russ for the Muslim blood they had shed and asked the kagan for permission to avenge her, or maybe they wanted to take away another part of the booty. The enemies gathered in the number of 15,000, blocked the way for the Russes and forced them to go ashore. After a three-day battle, most of Russia was beaten; only 5,000 went on ships up the Volga and there they were finally exterminated by the Burtases and Muslims from Kama Bulgaria.
This raid of Russia on the Caspian shores was not the first; but by its devastation, it made her name formidable among the eastern peoples, and Arabic writers began to often mention her from that time; just as since the attack on Constantinople in 860, Byzantine writers started talking about Russia.
Around the same era, precisely at the end of the 9th century, new nomadic hordes settled in the steppes of southern Russia, which began to disturb all neighboring peoples with their raids. It was the Turkish tribe of the Pechenegs, who had long lived in the country between the Urals and the Volga. In order to remove such restless neighbors from their borders, the Khazars entered into an alliance with their tribesmen Uzes, who roamed further to the east. The bonds pressed the Pechenegs and took their places; and the Pechenegs, in turn, moved west and attacked the Ugrians, who lived in the steppes of Azov and the Dnieper, the Ugrians could not withstand their pressure and crossed into the Danube Plain, or ancient Pannonia, where they, in alliance with the Germans, destroyed the Slavic-Moravian state and founded their own Kingdom of Hungary. And the Pechenegs, meanwhile, captured a huge space from the lower Danube to the banks of the Don. They were divided at that time into eight large hordes, which were under the control of tribal princes. Four hordes settled to the west of the Dnieper, and the remaining four - to the east. They also occupied the steppe part of the Tauride Peninsula and thus became neighbors of the Greek possessions on the northern shores of the Black Sea. To keep them from attacking these areas, the Byzantine government tried to be at peace with them and sent rich gifts to their elders. In addition, with the help of gold, it armed them against other neighboring peoples, when the latter threatened the northern limits of the empire, namely against the Ugrians, the Danube Bolgars, the Russ and the Khazars. In peacetime, the Pechenegs helped the trade relations of Russia with the Korsun region, hiring to transport goods; abounding in cattle, they sold to Russia a large number of horses, bulls, sheep, etc. But in the event of hostile relations, the Pechenegs interfered a lot with communications between Russia and its possessions of Azov and Tauride-Taman, as well as trade relations with the Greeks. They especially used the Dnieper rapids to attack and rob Russian caravans. In addition, these predatory riders sometimes broke into the Kyiv region itself and devastated it. Kievan Rus usually could not undertake long-distance campaigns if she was at enmity with the Pechenegs. Therefore, the princes of Kyiv had to either enter into a stubborn struggle with these people, or draw them into their alliance and, in the event of a war with their neighbors, hire auxiliary Pecheneg squads. Russia also took advantage of the enmity that existed between the Pechenegs and their eastern neighbors, the Uzes: the latter, with their attacks on the Pechenegs, often diverted the forces of the latter to the other side and thereby delivered Kievan Rus a free path to the shores of the Black and Azov Seas.
The invasion of numerous Turkish nomads into southern Russia had important consequences for her. They especially pressed the dwellings of the Slavic-Bulgarian tribes, i.e. Uglich and Tivertsev. Some of these peoples were pushed back to the region of the upper Dnieper and Bug, where they joined their Carpathian, or Drevlyano-Volyn branch; and the other part, which remained in the Black Sea region and was cut off by the Pechenegs from the Dnieper Rus, little by little then disappears from history. Exterminating the Greek and Slavic settlements, destroying the fields, burning the remnants of the forests, the Pechenegs expanded the area of the steppes and brought even more desolation to these regions.
Sources and manuals for the history of the Khazars: Frena - De Chasaris excerpta ex scriptoribus arabicis. Petropol. MDCCCXXII. Suma - About the Khazars (from the Danish translation of Sabinin in Reading. Ob. Ist. and Others 1846. No. 3). Stritter - Chasarica in Memor. Pep. vol. III. Dorn - Tabary "s Nachrichten liber die Chasaren in Memoires de l" Acad, des sciences. Vl-me serie. 1844. Grigorieva - about the Khazars in the journal "Son of the Fatherland and Severn. Archive" for 1835, vol. XLVIII and in Zhurn. M. N. Pr. 1834. part III. Lerberg - Research on the position of Sarkel. Yazykov "Experience in the history of the Khazars". Proceedings of the Russian Academy. Part I. 1840. Khvolson - News of the Khazars, Burtases, Bolgars, etc. Ibn Dast. SPb. 1869. Harkavi - Tales of Muslim writers about the Slavs and Russ. SPb. 1870. His own - Tales of Jewish writers about the Khazars and the Khazar kingdom (Proceedings of the Eastern Department. Archaeological Society. part XVII, 1874). My thoughts on the dual nationality of the Khazars in the study "Rus and Bolgar on the Sea of Azov". For Chazdai's letter and Joseph's answer, see c. Thu. About. I. and Dr. 1847. VI and at the Belevsky Monumenta. I t.
From the history and antiquities of the Kama-Volga Bulgarians: Frena - Alteste Nachrichten iiber die Wolga Bulgaren in Mem. de l "Acad. Vl-me serie. Lepekhin about the Bulgarian ruins in his Journey. Part I ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg. 1795. 266 - 282. Keppen - about the Volga Bulgarians in Zhur. M. N. Pr. 1836 Part XII Erdman - Die Ruinen Bulgars in Beirage zur Kenntniss des Inneren van Russland vol. I. Grigoriev - The Volga Bulgars in the Library for Reading November 1836 Russia and Asia". St. Petersburg. 1876). Berezina - Bulgar on the Volga in Uchen. Proceedings of Kazan. Univers. 1853 n. Velyaminov-Zernov "Monument in Bashkiria" (works of the Eastern Department of the Archaeological Society. IV. St. Petersburg. 1859) Khvolson - News of Ibn Dast. Garkavi - Tales of Muslims, writer Saveliev - Muhammadan Numismatics in relation to Russian history. St. Petersburg 1846. Charmoy - Relation de Massoudy et d "auters auteurs in Mem. de l "Academie 1834. Nevostrueva - "On the ancient settlements of the ancient Volga-Bulgarian and Kazan kingdoms" and "Ananinsky burial ground". (Proceedings of the first Archaeological Congress. M. 1871). Regarding the public and private life of the Khazars and Kama Bolgars, although we have quite there is a lot of news, mostly Arabic, but they are so confused and contradictory that a more accurate depiction of these peoples is still awaiting researchers, and for the time being we limit ourselves to only the necessary indications. Besides Fadlan, Masudi (Garkavi in Zhur. M.N. Project 1872. No. 4).
Fragments from the description of Ibn Fadlan have been preserved in the so-called. The Great Geographical Dictionary, which was compiled by the Arab geographer Yakut, who lived in the 13th century. See Frena - Ibn Foszlan "s und anderer Araber Berichte uber die Russen. St. P. 1823. The news of our annals about the pagan burial among the Russian Slavs is in general agreement with the story of the Arab writer. "When someone died, she says, then over they made a feast for him; then they erected a large fire, burned a dead man on it; having collected the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed it on a pillar by the road. "Other Arab writers of the 10th century, namely Masudi and Ibn Dasta, mention the same custom of burning corpses among the Slavs. The latter says that at the same time the wives of the deceased cut themselves with knives hands and faces as a sign of sadness, and one of them voluntarily suffocates herself and burns with him.The ashes are collected in a vessel and placed on a hill (probably in a mound, which was poured in honor of the deceased).After a year, relatives gathered on this grave with jugs of honey and arranged a feast in memory of the deceased (At Khvolson 29.) But actually about the Russes, Ibn Dasta says that when a noble person dies among them, they dig a large grave for him in the form of peace and put his clothes and golden hoops there together with the deceased , food supplies, vessels with drinks and coins, where they put his living and beloved wife, and then the opening of the grave is laid (ibid. 40). c and another custom of burial, i.e. digging into the ground. But, of course, the difference in customs and in their details related to different branches, to different places of residence of the Russian tribe. Ibn Dasta, by all indications, here means that Russia that lived on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus, i.e. in the Tmutarakan region, in the country of the Black Bolgars proper, and the mentioned custom applies as much to these latter as to the Russes of Bosporus. In this opinion, Masudi confirms us even more. He also speaks of the custom of Russian Slavs to burn the dead together with his wife, weapons, jewelry and some animals. And about the Bulgarians, he notes that, in addition to burning, they have a custom to imprison the dead in some kind of temple, along with his wife and several slaves. (Harkavi, 127). It is clear that here we are talking about the catacombs; and similar catacombs were found near Kerch, i.e. in the country of Black Bulgarians. By the way, the catacomb with frescoes, discovered in 1872, is curious in this respect. Copies from the frescoes and explanations for them by Mr. Stasov, see the Report of the Imperial. Archaeological Commissions. SPb. 1875 (For some comments on the same, see my "Investigations on the Beginning of Russia"). The most detailed and critical consideration of all the news related to this is in the study of A.A. Kotlyarevsky "On the funeral customs of the pagan Slavs". M. 1868. Produced in 1872 - 73 by prof. Samokvasov in the Chernigov region, excavations of some mounds containing clay vessels with burnt bones, as well as burned-out remains of metal jewelry and weapons, remarkably confirmed the authenticity of the Arab news and the evidence of our annals about the burial customs of the ancient Russ. He also found pagan graves with whole skeletons in the Dnieper region, indicating that, simultaneously with the burning of corpses, there was also a simple burial custom. The data derived from these excavations were reported by him at the Third Archaeological. congress in Kyiv, in 1874 and then in the collection Ancient and New Russia for 1876, Nos. 3 and 4.
Frena Ibn Foszlan "s, etc. p. 244. The most detailed information about the campaign of 913 is found in the Arab writer of the 10th century Masudi in his work "Golden Meadows". Since the Khazars did not have a fleet, according to the remark of Arab writers, we think that the enemies could block the road for Russ and force them to a field battle either when passing through the city of Itil, or when dragging from the Volga to the Don. Probably, the battle took place both there and here. Obviously, Russia was beaten off from the portage, and therefore The campaign of 913 shows that the Russes were well aware of the shipping route to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and indeed, according to newly discovered news from Eastern writers, the Russes even before made two raids into the Caspian Sea: the first around 880 and the second in 909. See Caspian, or On the Campaigns of Ancient Russians in Tabaristan by Academician Dorn, 1875. (Appendix to Volume XXVI of the Notes of Academician Sciences).
As for trade and in general relations between the Russes and the Muslim East, a clear monument of these relations is the numerous treasures with the Arab, or so-called. kufic, coins. They embrace the time of the Arab caliphs from the 8th to the 11th centuries. These treasures were found in the space of almost the whole of Russia, as well as in Sweden and Pomerania. It is clear that from the 8th century the Russ served as active intermediaries in trade between the eastern Muslim peoples and the Baltic regions. Grigorieva - "On Kufic coins found in Russia and the Baltic countries" in Zap. Od. About. I. and Dr. Volume I. 1844 and in "Muhammad, numismatics" by Savelyev.
The main source for the history and ethnography of the Pechenegs is Konstantin Bagr. in his De administrando imperio. Then follow Lev Gramatik, Kedrin, Anna Komneno and some others. See Memor Streeter. Pop. vol. III. part 2. Suma - "About Patsinaki" in Chten. About. I. and D. 1846. book. 1st. Vasilevsky "Byzantium and the Pechenegs" in Zhurn.M.N. Etc. 1872 Nos. 11 and 12.
In Russian, Ukrainian legends and epics, the name Pechenegs is found, which is usually associated with stories of robbery, raids on peaceful settlements. Well, in short, the Pechenegs did not leave a good memory of themselves. But what were they really like, where did they come from and how did they disappear?
Who named from the Pechenegs?
The name "Pechenegs" in its sound is definitely of Slavic origin: something like basking on the stove. And here we must remember the Middle Ages, when there was a county of Pest in Hungary, between the Tisza and the Danube. The capital of Pest was the city of Buda Pest - a familiar name, isn't it. The name Pest itself is slightly distorted by German phonetics, but in general it is a Slavic "oven". This is evidenced by the German name of the city of Pest, Ofen, which also means "furnace".
The name Pest comes from the special tower-like structures used to smelt iron from ore. They are still called blast furnaces, but they are called so not because they look like houses, but because they smoke forever.
Nevertheless, it is believed that the Pechenegs are a mixture of European tribes and Turkic tribes that roamed the steppes of Central Asia. It was the nomads who laid the foundation. The language of the Pechenegs is also of Turkic origin.
Pecheneg migrations
It is not known exactly when the Pechenegs moved from Asia to Europe. In the VIII-IX centuries they inhabited the space between the Urals and the Volga, but left from there to the west under the pressure of the Oghuz, Kipchaks and Khazars. The Pechenegs defeated the Hungarians in the 9th century, who also roamed then in the Black Sea steppes and occupied a vast territory from the lower Volga to the mouth of the Danube.
Apparently they got to Pest. Whether at the same time they really borrowed their name from Pest, or whether it was the civilians of those areas where the Pechenegs appeared, they called them that, for example, because they loved to sleep on stoves, it is not known (at least to me).
Foundations and occupations
The Pechenegs are a community of tribes, in the 10th century there were eight of them, in the 11th - thirteen. Each tribe had a khan, who was chosen, as a rule, from one clan. As a military force, the Pechenegs were a powerful formation. In battle formation, they used the same wedge, which consisted of separate detachments, carts were installed between the detachments, and a reserve stood behind the carts.
However, the researchers write that the main occupation for the Pechenegs was nomadic cattle breeding. They lived in tribal order. But they were not averse to making war as mercenaries.
Kievan Rus was subjected to raids by the Pechenegs in 915, 920, 968. But already in 944 and 971, the Kyiv princes Igor and Svyatoslav Igorevich went to Byzantium with detachments of the Pechenegs. The Byzantines saved up some money and in 972 Pecheneg detachments, led by Khan Kurei, defeated the squad of Svyatoslav Igorevich at the rapids on the Dnieper.
Sunset
For the next 50 years, Russia constantly and incessantly fought the Pechenegs. Russia tried to protect itself from them, for which fortifications and cities were built. Prince Vladimir built a fortified line along the Stugna River, Yaroslav the Wise did the same along the Rosa River (to the south). And in 1036, Yaroslav the Wise defeated the Pechenegs near Kyiv and stopped the end of their raids on Russia.
On the other hand, the Pechenegs, sensing their weakening, moved the Torks, who displaced the Pechenegs to the West to the Danube, and further to the Balkan Peninsula. In the southern Russian steppes at that time, the Polovtsy were already in charge, displacing the Torks from there.
The history of the Pechenegs is invariably associated with military campaigns, or rather raids. It seems that they did not create a powerful state formation, did not go deep into morality and preferred to serve the interests of others. So in the XI-XII centuries, many Pechenegs were settled in the south of Kievan Rus to protect its borders. In the X-XI centuries, as it was written above, the Byzantine emperors used the Pechenegs as allies in the fight against Russia and Danube Bulgaria. In the X-XII centuries, the Pecheneg tribes penetrated Hungary, where local rulers settled them both along the borders and within their lands.
Pechenegs(Old Slavic pєchenѣzi, other Greek Πατζινάκοι) - a union of Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes, presumably formed in the VIII-IX centuries. The Pecheneg language belonged to the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic language group.
They are mentioned in Byzantine, Arabic, Old Russian and Western European sources.
Exodus from Asia (Khazar period)
According to many scientists, the Pechenegs were part of the Kangly people. Part of the Pechenegs called themselves Kangars. At the end of the 9th century, those who were called "pazzinak" (Pechenegs), as a result of climatic changes (drought) in the steppe zone of Eurasia, as well as under the pressure of neighboring tribes Kimaks and Oghuz crossed the Volga and ended up in the Eastern European steppes, where they previously roamed ugry. Under them, this land was called Levedia, and under the Pechenegs, it received the name padzinakia(Greek Πατζινακία).
Around 882, the Pechenegs reached the Crimea. At the same time, the Pechenegs come into conflict with the princes of Kyiv Askold (875 - this clash is described in later chronicles and is disputed by historians), Igor (915, 920). After the collapse of the Khazar Khaganate (965), power over the steppes west of the Volga passed to the Pecheneg hordes. During this period, the Pechenegs occupied the territories between Kievan Rus, Hungary, Danube Bulgaria, Alania, the territory of modern Mordovia and the Oguzes inhabiting Western Kazakhstan. The hegemony of the Pechenegs led to the decline of the sedentary culture, since the agricultural settlements of the Transnistrian Slavs (Tivertsy: Ekimoutskoe settlement) and the Don Alans (Mayatskoe settlement) were devastated and destroyed.
The nature of the relationship between Russia and nomads
From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, there was an abyss of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by a warlike disposition. And if Russia eventually acquired the features of a real state that provides for itself, which means that it may not attack its neighbors for the purpose of profit, then its southern neighbors have remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.
Pechenegs are another wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. On the territory of Eastern Europe, this scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first these were Huns who by their migration marked the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations. Arriving in Europe, they terrified the more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. On their way in the future went Slavs and Magyars. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and settle in a certain territory.
The Slavs, among other things, became a kind of "human shield" of Europe. It was they who constantly took the blow of new hordes. Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. In the future, the Polovtsy will come to their place, and in the XIII century - the Mongols.
Relations with the steppes were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push neighbors. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.
History of the Pechenegs associated with Russia
By the XI century, pressed by the Polovtsians, the Pechenegs roamed 13 tribes between the Danube and the Dnieper. Some of them professed the so-called Nestorianism. Bruno of Querfurt preached the Catholic faith among them with the help of Vladimir. Al-Bakri reports that around 1009 the Pechenegs converted to Islam.
Around 1010, a strife arose among the Pechenegs. The Pechenegs of Prince Tirakh converted to Islam, while the two western tribes of Prince Kegen (Belemarnids and Pahumanids, totaling 20,000 people) crossed the Danube into Byzantine territory under the scepter of Constantine Monomakh in Dobruja and adopted Byzantine-style Christianity.
The Byzantine emperor planned to make border guards out of them. However, in 1048, huge masses of Pechenegs (up to 80,000 people), led by Tirakh, crossed the Danube on ice and invaded the Balkan possessions of Byzantium.
The Pechenegs took part in the internecine war between Yaroslav the Wise and Svyatopolk the Accursed on the side of the latter. In 1016 they participated in the battle of Lyubech, in 1019 in the battle of Alta (both times unsuccessfully).
The last documented Russian-Pecheneg conflict is the siege of Kyiv in 1036, when the nomads besieging the city were finally defeated by Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, who arrived in time with the army. Yaroslav used a formation dissected along the front, placing Kyivans and Novgorodians on the flanks. After that, the Pechenegs ceased to play an independent role, but acted as a significant part of the new tribal union of the Berendeys, also called black hoods. The memory of the Pechenegs was also alive much later: for example, in a literary work, the Turkic hero Chelubey, who started the Battle of Kulikovo with a duel, is called a “Pecheneg”.
The battle near Kyiv in 1036 was the final one in the history of the Russo-Pecheneg wars.
Subsequently, the main part of the Pechenegs went to the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea region, and in 1046–1047, under the leadership of Khan Tirakh, they crossed the Danube ice and fell on Bulgaria, which at that time was a Byzantine province. Byzantium periodically waged a fierce war with them, then showered them with gifts. Further, the Pechenegs, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Torks, Polovtsy and Guzes, as well as the war with Byzantium, partly entered the Byzantine service as federates, partly were accepted by the Hungarian king to carry out border service, and for the same purpose were partly accepted by the Russian princes.
The other part, immediately after their defeat near Kyiv, went to the southeast, where they assimilated among other nomadic peoples.
In 1048 the Western Pechenegs settled in Moesia. In 1071, the Pechenegs played an unclear role in the defeat of the Byzantine army near Manzikert. In 1091, the Byzantine-Polovtsian army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pechenegs near the walls of Constantinople.
The Arab-Sicilian geographer of the 12th century, Abu Hamid al Garnati, writes in his essay about a large number of Pechenegs south of Kyiv and in the city itself (“and there are thousands of Maghrebians in it”).
Descendants of the Pechenegs
In 1036, Prince Yaroslav the Wise (the son of the Baptist of Russia, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (from the Rurik family) and the Polotsk princess Rogneda Rogvolodovna) defeated the western unification of the Pechenegs. At the end of the 11th century, under pressure from the Polovtsy, they moved to the Balkan Peninsula or to Great Hungary. In accordance with the scientific hypothesis, one part of the Pechenegs formed the basis of the Gagauz and Karakalpak peoples. The other part joined the association of yurmata. The Kirghiz have a large clan Bechen (Bichine), genealogically descending from the Pechenegs.
Nevertheless, the memory of the steppes was alive among the people for a long time. So, already in 1380, in the battle on the Kulikovo field, the hero Chelubey, who began the battle with his own duel, was called the Pecheneg by the chronicler.
Foundations and occupations
The Pechenegs are a community of tribes, in the 10th century there were eight of them, in the 11th - thirteen. Each tribe had a khan, who was chosen, as a rule, from one clan. As a military force, the Pechenegs were a powerful formation. In battle formation, they used the same wedge, which consisted of separate detachments, carts were installed between the detachments, and a reserve stood behind the carts.
However, the researchers write that the main occupation for the Pechenegs was nomadic cattle breeding. They lived in tribal order. But they were not averse to making war as mercenaries.
Appearance
According to available ancient sources, at the time of the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea region, Caucasoid features prevailed in their appearance. They are characterized as dark-haired, who shaved their beards (according to the description in the travel notes of the Arab author Ahmad ibn Fadlan), had short stature, narrow faces, small eyes.
Lifestyle
The steppes, as one would expect, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and wandered along with their animals. Fortunately, there were all conditions for this, since the tribal union was located in a vast area. The internal structure was like this. There were two big groups. The first settled between the Dnieper and the Volga, while the second roamed between Russia and Bulgaria. In each of them there were forty genera. The approximate center of the possessions of the tribe was the Dnieper, which divided the steppes into western and eastern.
The head of the tribe was chosen at a general meeting. Despite the tradition of counting votes, fathers were mostly inherited by children.
Pechenegs in art
The siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs is reflected in the poem by A. S. Pushkin "Ruslan and Lyudmila":
In the distance, lifting black dust;
The marching carts are coming,
Bonfires are burning on the hills.
Trouble: the Pechenegs rebelled!
In Sergei Yesenin's poem "Walking Field" there are lines:
Am I sleeping and dreaming
What with spears from all sides,
Are we surrounded by Pechenegs?
By which you can determine the origin of the people - language. The Pecheneg language belongs to the Turkic family, which includes many speakers from Turkey to Siberia and Central Asia. Within this large community, there are small subgroups. In the case of the Pechenegs, these are the Oguz languages, to which he is ranked. Knowing this, we can find out their closest relatives.
Origin of the Pechenegs
The relatives of the Pechenegs are the Oguzes - another nomad who took an active part in the education of the peoples of Central Asia. The Pechenegs are their closest neighbors, who decided to move west from the trans-Volga steppes. Several reasons are given. Perhaps it was a tribal feud, as well as serious climatic changes in the habitat, including drought, which meant a decrease in vital resources.
One way or another, but the union of tribes moved to the west. This happened at the end of the 9th century, exactly at the time of the emergence of a centralized East Slavic state. For this reason, the newcomers did not go north, but continued their journey to the west up to the borders with Bulgaria and Byzantium. New neighbors settled in the Black Sea steppes, on the territory of modern Ukraine.
Despite their Turkic roots, the nomads eventually acquired some Caucasoid features. So, contemporaries argued that the inhabitants of the steppes have black hair and shave their beards, and a person from Kiev, when meeting with them, can easily get lost in the crowd. Such words seem somewhat contradictory, but this was also possible, especially considering that after successful raids, the steppes took local residents as concubines.
The nature of the relationship between Russia and nomads
From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, there was an abyss of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by a warlike disposition. And if Russia eventually acquired the features of a real state that provides for itself, which means that it may not attack its neighbors for the purpose of profit, then its southern neighbors have remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.
The Pechenegs are another wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. On the territory of Eastern Europe, this scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first they were the Huns, who laid the foundation for their migration. Having come to Europe, they terrified the more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. In the future, the Slavs and Magyars followed their path. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and settle in a certain territory.
The Slavs, among other things, became a kind of "human shield" of Europe. It was they who constantly took the blow of new hordes. The Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. In the future, the Polovtsy will come to their place, and in the XIII century - the Mongols.
Relations with the steppes were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push neighbors. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.
The first clashes between nomads and Slavs
The Pechenegs and Russ first clashed in battle when the nomads attacked the Kievan ruler Askold. These data are disputed by some historians, but no one denies the fact of a military confrontation between the newcomers from the steppes in 915 and 920. By this time, the power of Rurikovich had already extended to Novgorod, from where he himself came.
With such large resources and the number of people, Russia was able to hold back the onslaught of nomads from the south. Under Igor's son - Svyatoslav - the horde periodically fights on his side as mercenaries, for example, against Byzantium. However, the union was never strong. All the same Svyatoslav Igorevich died from a Pecheneg ambush on the Dnieper rapids, after John Tzimiskes offered the Khan a lot of gold.
The heyday of the steppes
In those years, the nomadic union reaches the peak of its development. Thanks to the campaigns of the Slavs, Khazaria fell. Now the lower reaches of the Volga were empty, and consequently, they were immediately occupied by the horde. The raid of the Pechenegs could not survive the few colonies of the Slavs in the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut, on the territory of modern Moldova. About the quasi-state on the outskirts of Europe, not only the immediate neighbors, but also the Catholic monarchies in the west, as well as Arab travelers, heard a lot.
Also, all kinds of trophies were left in the grave, either as a reward or as booty (earrings, jewelry and coins of gold Byzantine coinage). The Pechenegs are also the owners of a frightening arsenal. Therefore, weapons were buried with the soldiers. As a rule, this
The remains are found mainly on the territory of Ukraine. In Russia, Pecheneg mounds are most often found in the Volgograd region.
Pechenegs(Old Slavic pєchenѣzi, other Greek Πατζινάκοι) - a union of Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes, presumably formed in the VIII-IX centuries. The Pecheneg language belonged to the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic language group.
They are mentioned in Byzantine, Arabic, Old Russian and Western European sources.
Exodus from Asia (Khazar period)
According to many scientists, the Pechenegs were part of the Kangly people. Part of the Pechenegs called themselves Kangars. At the end of the 9th century, those who were called "pazzinak" (Pechenegs), as a result of climatic changes (drought) in the steppe zone of Eurasia, as well as under the pressure of neighboring tribes Kimaks and Oghuz crossed the Volga and ended up in the Eastern European steppes, where they previously roamed ugry. Under them, this land was called Levedia, and under the Pechenegs, it received the name padzinakia(Greek Πατζινακία).
Around 882, the Pechenegs reached the Crimea. At the same time, the Pechenegs come into conflict with the princes of Kyiv Askold (875 - this clash is described in later chronicles and is disputed by historians), Igor (915, 920). After the collapse of the Khazar Khaganate (965), power over the steppes west of the Volga passed to the Pecheneg hordes. During this period, the Pechenegs occupied the territories between Kievan Rus, Hungary, Danube Bulgaria, Alania, the territory of modern Mordovia and the Oguzes inhabiting Western Kazakhstan. The hegemony of the Pechenegs led to the decline of the sedentary culture, since the agricultural settlements of the Transnistrian Slavs (Tivertsy: Ekimoutskoe settlement) and the Don Alans (Mayatskoe settlement) were devastated and destroyed.
The nature of the relationship between Russia and nomads
From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, there was an abyss of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by a warlike disposition. And if Russia eventually acquired the features of a real state that provides for itself, which means that it may not attack its neighbors for the purpose of profit, then its southern neighbors have remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.
Pechenegs are another wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. On the territory of Eastern Europe, this scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first these were Huns who by their migration marked the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations. Arriving in Europe, they terrified the more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. On their way in the future went Slavs and Magyars. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and settle in a certain territory.
The Slavs, among other things, became a kind of "human shield" of Europe. It was they who constantly took the blow of new hordes. Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. In the future, the Polovtsy will come to their place, and in the XIII century - the Mongols.
Relations with the steppes were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push neighbors. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.
History of the Pechenegs associated with Russia
By the XI century, pressed by the Polovtsians, the Pechenegs roamed 13 tribes between the Danube and the Dnieper. Some of them professed the so-called Nestorianism. Bruno of Querfurt preached the Catholic faith among them with the help of Vladimir. Al-Bakri reports that around 1009 the Pechenegs converted to Islam.
Around 1010, a strife arose among the Pechenegs. The Pechenegs of Prince Tirakh converted to Islam, while the two western tribes of Prince Kegen (Belemarnids and Pahumanids, totaling 20,000 people) crossed the Danube into Byzantine territory under the scepter of Constantine Monomakh in Dobruja and adopted Byzantine-style Christianity.
The Byzantine emperor planned to make border guards out of them. However, in 1048, huge masses of Pechenegs (up to 80,000 people), led by Tirakh, crossed the Danube on ice and invaded the Balkan possessions of Byzantium.
The Pechenegs took part in the internecine war between Yaroslav the Wise and Svyatopolk the Accursed on the side of the latter. In 1016 they participated in the battle of Lyubech, in 1019 in the battle of Alta (both times unsuccessfully).
The last documented Russian-Pecheneg conflict is the siege of Kyiv in 1036, when the nomads besieging the city were finally defeated by Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, who arrived in time with the army. Yaroslav used a formation dissected along the front, placing Kyivans and Novgorodians on the flanks. After that, the Pechenegs ceased to play an independent role, but acted as a significant part of the new tribal union of the Berendeys, also called black hoods. The memory of the Pechenegs was also alive much later: for example, in a literary work, the Turkic hero Chelubey, who started the Battle of Kulikovo with a duel, is called a “Pecheneg”.
The battle near Kyiv in 1036 was the final one in the history of the Russo-Pecheneg wars.
Subsequently, the main part of the Pechenegs went to the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea region, and in 1046–1047, under the leadership of Khan Tirakh, they crossed the Danube ice and fell on Bulgaria, which at that time was a Byzantine province. Byzantium periodically waged a fierce war with them, then showered them with gifts. Further, the Pechenegs, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Torks, Polovtsy and Guzes, as well as the war with Byzantium, partly entered the Byzantine service as federates, partly were accepted by the Hungarian king to carry out border service, and for the same purpose were partly accepted by the Russian princes.
The other part, immediately after their defeat near Kyiv, went to the southeast, where they assimilated among other nomadic peoples.
In 1048 the Western Pechenegs settled in Moesia. In 1071, the Pechenegs played an unclear role in the defeat of the Byzantine army near Manzikert. In 1091, the Byzantine-Polovtsian army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pechenegs near the walls of Constantinople.
The Arab-Sicilian geographer of the 12th century, Abu Hamid al Garnati, writes in his essay about a large number of Pechenegs south of Kyiv and in the city itself (“and there are thousands of Maghrebians in it”).
Descendants of the Pechenegs
In 1036, Prince Yaroslav the Wise (the son of the Baptist of Russia, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (from the Rurik family) and the Polotsk princess Rogneda Rogvolodovna) defeated the western unification of the Pechenegs. At the end of the 11th century, under pressure from the Polovtsy, they moved to the Balkan Peninsula or to Great Hungary. In accordance with the scientific hypothesis, one part of the Pechenegs formed the basis of the Gagauz and Karakalpak peoples. The other part joined the association of yurmata. The Kirghiz have a large clan Bechen (Bichine), genealogically descending from the Pechenegs.
Nevertheless, the memory of the steppes was alive among the people for a long time. So, already in 1380, in the battle on the Kulikovo field, the hero Chelubey, who began the battle with his own duel, was called the Pecheneg by the chronicler.
Foundations and occupations
The Pechenegs are a community of tribes, in the 10th century there were eight of them, in the 11th - thirteen. Each tribe had a khan, who was chosen, as a rule, from one clan. As a military force, the Pechenegs were a powerful formation. In battle formation, they used the same wedge, which consisted of separate detachments, carts were installed between the detachments, and a reserve stood behind the carts.
However, the researchers write that the main occupation for the Pechenegs was nomadic cattle breeding. They lived in tribal order. But they were not averse to making war as mercenaries.
Appearance
According to available ancient sources, at the time of the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea region, Caucasoid features prevailed in their appearance. They are characterized as dark-haired, who shaved their beards (according to the description in the travel notes of the Arab author Ahmad ibn Fadlan), had short stature, narrow faces, small eyes.
Lifestyle
The steppes, as one would expect, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and wandered along with their animals. Fortunately, there were all conditions for this, since the tribal union was located in a vast area. The internal structure was like this. There were two big groups. The first settled between the Dnieper and the Volga, while the second roamed between Russia and Bulgaria. In each of them there were forty genera. The approximate center of the possessions of the tribe was the Dnieper, which divided the steppes into western and eastern.
The head of the tribe was chosen at a general meeting. Despite the tradition of counting votes, fathers were mostly inherited by children.
Pechenegs in art
The siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs is reflected in the poem by A. S. Pushkin "Ruslan and Lyudmila":
In the distance, lifting black dust;
The marching carts are coming,
Bonfires are burning on the hills.
Trouble: the Pechenegs rebelled!
In Sergei Yesenin's poem "Walking Field" there are lines:
Am I sleeping and dreaming
What with spears from all sides,
Are we surrounded by Pechenegs?
