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The Polovtsians (Polovtsy) are a nomadic people who were once considered the most warlike and strong. The first time we hear about them is in history class at school. But the knowledge that a teacher can give within the framework of the program is not enough to understand who they are, these Polovtsians, where they came from and how they influenced the life of Ancient Russia. Meanwhile, for several centuries they haunted the Kievan princes.

The history of the people, how it arose

Polovtsy (Polovtsy, Kipchaks, Cumans) are nomadic tribes, the first mention of which dates back to 744. Then the Kipchaks were part of the Kimak Khaganate, an ancient nomadic state that formed on the territory of modern Kazakhstan. The main inhabitants here were the Kimaks, who occupied the eastern lands. The lands near the Urals were occupied by the Polovtsians, who were considered relatives of the Kimaks.

By the middle of the 9th century, the Kipchaks achieved superiority over the Kimaks, and by the middle of the 10th century they had swallowed them up. But the Polovtsy decided not to stop there, and by the beginning of the 11th century, thanks to their militancy, they had come close to the borders of Khorezm (the historical region of the Republic of Uzbekistan).

At that time, the Oguzes (medieval Turkic tribes) lived here, who, due to the invasion, had to move to Central Asia.

By the middle of the 11th century, almost the entire territory of Kazakhstan submitted to the Kipchaks. The western limits of their possessions reached the Volga. Thus, thanks to an active nomadic life, raids and a desire to conquer new lands, a once small group of people occupied vast territories and became one of the strong and wealthy among the tribes.

Lifestyle and social organization

Their socio-political organization was a typical military-democratic system. All the people were divided into clans, the names of which were given by the names of their elders. Each clan owned land plots and summer nomadic routes. The heads were khans, who were also the heads of certain kurens (small divisions of the clan).

The wealth obtained in the campaigns was divided among the representatives of the local elite participating in the campaign. Ordinary people, unable to feed themselves, fell into dependence on aristocrats. The poor men were engaged in cattle grazing, while the women served the local khans and their families.

There are still disputes about the appearance of the Polovtsy, and the study of the remains continues using modern capabilities. Today scientists have some portrait of these people. It is assumed that they did not belong to the Mongoloid race, but were more like Europeans. The most characteristic feature is blondness and reddishness. Scientists from many countries agree on this.

Independent Chinese experts also describe the Kipchaks as people with blue eyes and "red" hair. Among them, of course, were dark-haired representatives.

War with the Polovtsians

In the 9th century, the Cumans were allies of the Russian princes. But soon everything changed, at the beginning of the 11th century, the Polovtsian detachments began to regularly attack the southern regions of Kievan Rus. They ravaged houses, took away prisoners, who were then sold into slavery, and took away cattle. Their invasions were always sudden and brutal.

In the middle of the 11th century, the Kipchaks stopped fighting the Russians, as they were busy fighting with the steppe tribes. But then they took it up again:

• In 1061, Prince Vsevolod of Pereyaslav was defeated in a battle with them, and Pereyaslavl was completely ravaged by nomads;
• After that, wars with the Polovtsians became regular. In one of the battles in 1078, the Russian prince Izyaslav died;
• In 1093, an army assembled by three princes to fight the enemy was destroyed.

These were difficult times for Russia. Endless raids on the villages ruined the already simple economy of the peasants. Women were taken prisoner, and they became servants, children were sold into slavery.

In order to somehow protect the southern borders, the inhabitants began to build fortifications and settle there the Turks, who were the military force of the princes.

Campaign of the Seversky prince Igor

Sometimes the princes of Kyiv went with an offensive war against the enemy. Such events usually ended in victory and inflicted great damage on the Kipchaks, cooling their ardor for a while and enabling the border villages to restore their strength and way of life.

But there were also unsuccessful campaigns. An example of this is the campaign of Igor Svyatoslavovich in 1185.

Then he, united with other princes, went out with an army to the right tributary of the Don. Here they encountered the main forces of the Polovtsy, a battle ensued. But the numerical superiority of the enemy was so palpable that the Russians were immediately surrounded. Retreating in this position, they came to the lake. From there, Igor rode to the aid of Prince Vsevolod, but could not carry out his plan, as he was captured, and many soldiers died.

It all ended with the fact that the Polovtsy were able to destroy the city of Rimov, one of the major ancient cities of the Kursk region, and defeat the Russian army. Prince Igor managed to escape from captivity and returned home.

His son remained in captivity, who returned later, but in order to gain freedom, he had to marry the daughter of a Polovtsian khan.

Polovtsy: who are they now?

At the moment, there is no unequivocal data on the genetic similarity of the Kipchaks with some peoples living now.

There are small ethnic groups that are considered distant descendants of the Polovtsy. They are found among:

1. Crimean Tatars;
2. Bashkir;
3. Kazakhs;
4. Nogaytsev;
5. Balkars;
6. Altaians;
7. Hungarians;
8. Bulgarian;
9. Polyakov;
10. Ukrainians (according to L. Gumilyov).

Thus, it becomes clear that the blood of the Polovtsy flows today in many nations. The Russians were no exception, given the rich common history.

To tell about the life of the Kipchaks in more detail, it is necessary to write more than one book. We have touched on its brightest and most important pages. After reading them, you will better understand who they are - the Polovtsy, how they are known and where they came from.

Video about nomadic peoples

In this video, historian Andrey Prishvin will tell you how the Polovtsians arose on the territory of ancient Russia:

Polovtsian stone statue. Archaeological Museum-Reserve "Tanais", Myasnikovsky district, Nedvigovka farm. XI-XII centuries Alexander Polyakov / RIA Novosti

The formation of the Polovtsian ethnos took place according to the same patterns for all the peoples of the Middle Ages and antiquity. One of them is that the people that gave the name to the entire conglomerate are far from always the most numerous in it - due to objective or subjective factors, it is promoted to the leading place in the emerging ethnic array, becomes its core. Polovtsy did not come to an empty place. The first component that joined the new ethnic community here was the population that had previously been part of the Khazar Khaganate - the Bulgarians and Alans. The remnants of the Pecheneg and Guz hordes played a more significant role. This is confirmed by the fact that, firstly, according to anthropology, outwardly nomads of the 10th-13th centuries almost did not differ from the inhabitants of the steppes of the 8th - early 10th centuries, and secondly, an unusual variety of funeral rites is recorded in this territory. . A custom that came exclusively with the Polovtsy was the erection of sanctuaries dedicated to the cult of male or female ancestors. Thus, from the end of the 10th century, a mixture of three kindred peoples took place in this region, a single Turkic-speaking community was formed, but the process was interrupted by the Mongol invasion.

Polovtsy - nomads

The Polovtsians were a classic nomadic pastoral people. The herds included cattle, sheep, and even camels, but the main wealth of the nomad was the horse. Initially, they led a year-round so-called camp nomadism: finding a place rich in food for livestock, they located their dwellings there, but when the food was depleted, they set off in search of a new territory. At first, the steppe could painlessly provide for everyone. However, as a result of demographic growth, the transition to a more rational management of the economy - seasonal nomadism - has become an urgent task. It implies a clear division of pastures into winter and summer, folding territories and routes assigned to each group.

Polovtsian silver bowl with one handle. Kyiv, X-XIII centuries Dea / A. Dagli Orti / Getty Images

Dynastic marriages

Dynastic marriages have always been a tool of diplomacy. The Polovtsians were no exception here. However, relations were not based on parity - the Russian princes willingly married the daughters of the Polovtsian princes, but did not send their relatives in marriage. An unwritten medieval law worked here: representatives of the ruling dynasty could only be married to an equal. It is characteristic that the same Svyatopolk married the daughter of Tugorkan, having suffered a crushing defeat from him, that is, being in a deliberately weaker position. However, he did not give his daughter or sister, but he took the girl from the steppe. Thus, the Polovtsians were recognized as an influential, but not equal force.

But if the baptism of the future wife seemed to be even pleasing to God, then the “betrayal” of their faith was not possible, which is why the Polovtsian rulers failed to get the daughters of Russian princes to marry. Only one case is known when a Russian princess (the widowed mother of Svyatoslav Vladimirovich) married a Polovtsian prince - however, for this she had to run away from home.

Be that as it may, by the time of the Mongol invasion, the Russian and Polovtsian aristocracies were closely intertwined with family ties, the cultures of both peoples were mutually enriched.

The Polovtsians were a tool in internecine strife

The Polovtsians were not the first dangerous neighbor of Russia - the threat from the steppe has always accompanied the life of the country. But unlike the Pechenegs, these nomads met not with a single state, but with a group of principalities at war with each other. At first, the Polovtsian hordes did not seek to conquer Russia, being satisfied with small raids. Only when in 1068 the combined forces of the three princes were defeated on the Lta (Alta) river, did the power of the new nomadic neighbor become apparent. But the danger was not realized by the rulers - the Polovtsy, always ready for war and robbery, began to be used in the fight against each other. Oleg Svyatoslavich was the first to do this in 1078, bringing the "nasty" to fight Vsevolod Yaroslavich. In the future, he repeatedly repeated this "reception" in the internecine struggle, for which he was named the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" Oleg Gorislavich.

But the contradictions between the Russian and Polovtsian princes did not always allow them to unite. Vladimir Monomakh fought especially actively with the established tradition. In 1103, the Dolobsky Congress took place, at which Vladimir managed to organize the first expedition to the territory of the enemy. The result was the defeat of the Polovtsian army, which lost not only ordinary soldiers, but also twenty representatives of the highest nobility. The continuation of this policy led to the fact that the Polovtsians were forced to migrate away from the borders of Russia.

The soldiers of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich capture the Polovtsian towers. Miniature
from the Radziwill Chronicle. 15th century vk.com

After the death of Vladimir Monomakh, the princes again began to bring the Polovtsians to fight each other, weakening the military and economic potential of the country. In the second half of the century, there was another surge of active confrontation, which was led by Prince Konchak in the steppe. It was to him that Igor Svyatoslavich was captured in 1185, as described in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. In the 1190s, raids became less and less, and at the beginning of the 13th century, the military activity of the steppe neighbors also subsided.

Further development of relations was interrupted by the Mongols who came. The southern regions of Russia were endlessly subjected not only to raids, but also to the "drives" of the Polovtsy, which devastated these lands. After all, even just the movement of the army of nomads (and there were cases when they went here with the whole economy) destroyed crops, the military threat forced merchants to choose other paths. Thus, this people contributed a lot to the shift of the center of the country's historical development.

Polovtsian anthropomorphic statue from the collection of the Dnepropetrovsk Historical Museum A female stele holds a vessel. Drawing by S. A. Pletneva "Polovtsian stone statues", 1974

The Polovtsy were friends not only with the Russians, but also with the Georgians

The Polovtsians were noted for their active participation in history not only in Russia. Expelled by Vladimir Monomakh from the Seversky Donets, they partially migrated to Ciscaucasia under the leadership of Prince Atrak. Here, Georgia turned to them for help, constantly being raided from the mountainous regions of the Caucasus. Atrak willingly entered the service of King David and even intermarried with him, giving his daughter in marriage. He brought with him not the entire horde, but only part of it, which then remained in Georgia.

From the beginning of the XII century, the Polovtsy actively penetrated the territory of Bulgaria, which was then under the rule of Byzantium. Here they were engaged in cattle breeding or tried to enter the service of the empire. Apparently, they include Peter and Ivan Aseni, who raised an uprising against Constantinople. With the tangible support of the Cuman detachments, they managed to defeat Byzantium, in 1187 the Second Bulgarian Kingdom was founded, headed by Peter.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the influx of Polovtsy into the country intensified, and the eastern branch of the ethnic group already participated in it, bringing with it the tradition of stone sculptures. Here, however, they quickly became Christianized, and then disappeared among the local population. For Bulgaria, this was not the first experience of "digesting" the Turkic people. The Mongol invasion "pushed" the Polovtsians to the west, gradually, from 1228, they moved to Hungary. In 1237, the recently powerful prince Kotyan turned to the Hungarian king Bela IV. The Hungarian leadership agreed to provide the eastern outskirts of the state, knowing about the strength of the impending army of Batu.

The Polovtsy wandered in the territories allotted to them, causing discontent among the neighboring principalities, which were subjected to periodic robberies. Bela's heir, Stefan, married one of Kotyan's daughters, but then, under the pretext of treason, executed his father-in-law. This led to the first uprising of freedom-loving settlers. The next rebellion of the Polovtsians was caused by an attempt to force them to Christianize. Only in the 14th century did they completely settle down, became Catholics and began to dissolve, although they still retained their military specificity and even in the 19th century they still remembered the prayer “Our Father” in their native language.

We do not know anything about whether the Polovtsy had a written language

Our knowledge of the Polovtsy is rather limited due to the fact that this people has not created their own written sources. We can see a huge number of stone sculptures, but we will not find any inscriptions there. We draw information about this people from its neighbors. Standing apart is the 164-page notebook of a missionary-translator of the late 13th - early 14th century Alfabetum Persicum, Comanicum et Latinum Anonymi..., better known as the Codex Cumanicus. The time of the appearance of the monument is determined by the period from 1303 to 1362, the place of writing is the Crimean city of Kafu (Feodosia). By origin, content, graphic and linguistic features, the dictionary is divided into two parts, Italian and German. The first is written in three columns: Latin words, their translation into Persian and Polovtsian. The German part contains dictionaries, grammar notes, Polovtsian riddles and Christian texts. The Italian component is more significant for historians, since it reflected the economic needs of communication with the Polovtsy. In it we find such words as "bazaar", "merchant", "changer", "price", "coin", listing goods and crafts. In addition, it contains words that characterize a person, city, nature. The list of Polovtsian titles is of great importance.

Although, apparently, the manuscript was partially rewritten from an earlier original, was not created at once, which is why it is not a “cut” of reality, but still allows us to understand what the Polovtsy were doing, what goods they were interested in, we can see their borrowing of Old Russian words and, most importantly, to reconstruct the hierarchy of their society.

Polovtsian women

A specific feature of the Polovtsian culture was the stone statues of ancestors, which are called stone or Polovtsian women. This name appeared because of the underlined chest, always hanging on the stomach, which obviously carried a symbolic meaning - feeding the family. Moreover, a rather significant percentage of male statues was recorded, in which a mustache or even a beard is depicted, and at the same time there is a chest identical to that of a woman.

The 12th century is the period of the heyday of the Polovtsian culture and the mass production of stone statues, there are also faces in which there is a noticeable desire for portrait resemblance. The manufacture of idols from stone was expensive, and less wealthy representatives of society could only afford wooden figures, which, unfortunately, have not come down to us. They placed statues on the tops of mounds or hills in square or rectangular shrines made of flagstone. Most often they placed male and female statues - the ancestors of the kosh - facing east, but there were also sanctuaries with a cluster of figures. At their foot, archaeologists found the bones of rams, once they discovered the remains of a child. Obviously, the cult of ancestors played a significant role in the life of the Polovtsians. For us, the importance of this feature of their culture is that it allows us to clearly determine where the people roamed.

Earrings of the Polovtsian type. Yasinovataya, Donetsk region. Second half of the 12th - 13th century From the article by O. Ya. Privalova “Rich nomadic burials from the Donbass”. "Archaeological Almanac". No. 7, 1988

Attitude towards women

In Polovtsian society, women enjoyed considerable freedom, although they had a significant part of the household duties. There is a clear gender division of activities both in the craft and in cattle breeding: women were in charge of goats, sheep and cows, men were in charge of horses and camels. During military campaigns, all the worries for the defense and economic activities of nomads were thrown onto the shoulders of the weaker sex. Perhaps sometimes they had to become the head of the kosh. At least two female burials were found with wands made of precious metals, which were symbols of the leader of a larger or smaller association. At the same time, women did not remain aloof from military affairs. In the era of military democracy, girls took part in general campaigns, the defense of the nomad camp during the absence of her husband also assumed the presence of military skills. A stone statue of a heroic girl has come down to us. The size of the statue is one and a half to two times the common one, the chest is “tightened”, unlike the traditional image, it is covered with elements of armor. She is armed with a saber, a dagger, and a quiver for arrows; nevertheless, her headdress is undoubtedly feminine. This type of female warriors is reflected in Russian epics under the name of Polanits.

Where did the Polovtsy go?

No nation disappears without a trace. History knows no cases of complete physical extermination of the population by alien invaders. The Polovtsians have not gone anywhere either. Partly they went to the Danube and even ended up in Egypt, but the bulk of them remained in their native steppes. For at least a hundred years they retained their customs, albeit in a modified form. Apparently, the Mongols forbade the creation of new sanctuaries dedicated to the Polovtsian warriors, which led to the appearance of "pit" places of worship. In a hill or mound, recesses were dug, not visible from afar, inside which the pattern of placement of statues, traditional for the previous period, was repeated.

But even with the cessation of the existence of this custom, the Polovtsy did not disappear. The Mongols came to the Russian steppes with their families, and did not move as a whole tribe. And the same process took place with them as with the Polovtsians centuries earlier: after giving a name to the new people, they themselves dissolved in it, having adopted its language and culture. Thus, the Mongols became a bridge from the modern peoples of Russia to the Polovtsians of the summer.

The Polovtsy remained in the history of Russia as the worst enemies of Vladimir Monomakh and cruel mercenaries from the times of internecine wars. The tribes that worshiped the sky terrorized the Old Russian state for almost two centuries.

Who are the Polovtsy?

In 1055, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich of Pereyaslavl, returning from a campaign against the Torques, met a detachment of new nomads, previously unknown in Russia, led by Khan Bolush. The meeting was peaceful, the new "acquaintances" received the Russian name "Polovtsy" and the future neighbors dispersed. Since 1064, in Byzantine and since 1068 in Hungarian sources, Cumans and Kuns are mentioned, also previously unknown in Europe. They were to play a significant role in the history of Eastern Europe, turning into formidable enemies and insidious allies of the ancient Russian princes, becoming mercenaries in a fratricidal civil strife. The presence of the Polovtsians, Kumans, Kuns, who appeared and disappeared at the same time, did not go unnoticed, and the questions of who they were and where they came from still worry historians.

According to the traditional version, all four of the above-mentioned peoples were a single Turkic-speaking people, which was called differently in different parts of the world. Their ancestors, the Sars, lived on the territory of Altai and the eastern Tien Shan, but the state they formed was defeated by the Chinese in 630. The rest went to the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan, where they got their new name "Kipchaks", which, according to legend, means "ill-fated". Under this name, they are mentioned in many medieval Arab-Persian sources. However, both in Russian and in Byzantine sources, the Kipchaks are not found at all, and a people similar in description is called "Kumans", "Kuns" or "Polovtsy". Moreover, the etymology of the latter remains unclear. Perhaps the word comes from the old Russian “polov”, which means “yellow”. According to scientists, this may indicate that this people had light hair color and belonged to the western branch of the Kipchaks - “Sary-Kipchaks” (Kuns and Cumans belonged to the eastern and had a Mongoloid appearance). According to another version, the term "Polovtsy" could come from the familiar word "field", and designate all the inhabitants of the fields, regardless of their tribal affiliation.

The official version has many weaknesses. Firstly, if all the above-mentioned peoples initially represented a single people - the Kipchaks, then in this case, how to explain that neither Byzantium, nor Russia, nor Europe, this toponym was unknown. In the countries of Islam, where the Kipchaks were known firsthand, on the contrary, they did not hear about the Polovtsians or Cumans at all. Archeology comes to the aid of the unofficial version, according to which, the main archaeological finds of the Polovtsian culture - stone women erected on mounds in honor of the soldiers who fell in battle, were characteristic only of the Polovtsy and Kipchaks. The Cumans, despite their worship of the sky and the cult of the mother goddess, did not leave such monuments.

All these arguments "against" allow many modern researchers to move away from the canon of studying the Polovtsians, Cumans and Kuns as one and the same tribe. According to the candidate of sciences, Evstigneev, the Polovtsy-Sars are the Turgesh, who for some reason fled from their territories to Semirechie.

Weapons of civil strife

The Polovtsians had no intention of remaining a "good neighbor" of Kievan Rus. As befits nomads, they soon mastered the tactics of sudden raids: they set up ambushes, attacked by surprise, swept away an unprepared enemy in their path. Armed with bows and arrows, sabers and short spears, the Polovtsian warriors rushed into battle, at a gallop bombarding the enemy with a bunch of arrows. They went "raid" through the cities, robbing and killing people, driving them into captivity.

In addition to the shock cavalry, their strength also lay in the developed strategy, as well as in new technologies for that time, such as heavy crossbows and "liquid fire", which they borrowed, obviously, from China since the days of living in Altai.

However, as long as centralized power was maintained in Russia, thanks to the order of succession to the throne established under Yaroslav the Wise, their raids remained only a seasonal disaster, and certain diplomatic relations even began between Russia and the nomads. A lively trade was carried on, the population communicated widely in the border regions Among the Russian princes, dynastic marriages with the daughters of the Polovtsian khans became popular. The two cultures coexisted in a fragile neutrality that could not last long.

In 1073, the triumvirate of the three sons of Yaroslav the Wise: Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod, to whom he bequeathed Kievan Rus, fell apart. Svyatoslav and Vsevolod accused their older brother of conspiring against them and striving to become "autocratic", like his father. This was the birth of a great and long turmoil in Russia, which the Polovtsy took advantage of. Without taking sides to the end, they willingly took the side of the man who promised them big "profits". So, the first prince who resorted to their help, Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, whom his uncles disinherited, allowed them to rob and burn Russian cities, for which he was nicknamed Oleg Gorislavich.

Subsequently, the call of the Cumans as allies in the internecine struggle became a common practice. In alliance with the nomads, Yaroslav's grandson Oleg Gorislavich expelled Vladimir Monomakh from Chernigov, he also got Murom, driving out Vladimir's son Izyaslav. As a result, the warring princes faced a real danger of losing their own territories. In 1097, on the initiative of Vladimir Monomakh, then Prince of Pereslavl, the Lubech Congress was convened, which was supposed to end the internecine war. The princes agreed that from now on everyone had to own his "fatherland". Even the prince of Kyiv, who formally remained the head of state, could not violate the borders. Thus, fragmentation was officially fixed in Russia with good intentions. The only thing that even then united the Russian lands was a common fear of the Polovtsian invasions.

Monomakh's War

The most ardent enemy of the Polovtsians among the Russian princes was Vladimir Monomakh, during whose great reign the practice of using Polovtsian troops for the purpose of fratricide was temporarily stopped. Chronicles, which, however, actively corresponded with him, tell about him as the most influential prince in Russia, who was known as a patriot who spared neither strength nor life for the defense of Russian lands. Having suffered defeats from the Polovtsians, in alliance with whom stood his brother and his worst enemy - Oleg Svyatoslavich, he developed a completely new strategy in the fight against the nomads - to fight on their own territory. Unlike the Polovtsian detachments, which were strong in sudden raids, the Russian squads gained an advantage in open battle. The Polovtsian "lava" broke on the long spears and shields of Russian foot soldiers, and the Russian cavalry, surrounding the steppes, did not allow them to run away on their famous light-winged horses. Even the time of the campaign was thought out: until early spring, when the Russian horses, which were fed with hay and grain, were stronger than the Polovtsian horses that were emaciated on pasture.

Monomakh's favorite tactics also gave an advantage: he provided the enemy with the opportunity to attack first, preferring defense at the expense of footmen, since by attacking the enemy exhausted himself much more than the defending Russian warrior. During one of these attacks, when the infantry took the main blow, the Russian cavalry went around from the flanks and hit the rear. This decided the outcome of the battle. Vladimir Monomakh needed just a few trips to the Polovtsian lands to rid Russia of the Polovtsian threat for a long time. In the last years of his life, Monomakh sent his son Yaropolk with an army beyond the Don, on a campaign against the nomads, but he did not find them there. The Polovtsy migrated away from the borders of Russia, to the Caucasian foothills.

"Polovtsian women", like other stone women - not necessarily the image of a woman, among them there are many male faces. Even the very etymology of the word “woman” comes from the Turkic “balbal”, which means “ancestor”, “grandfather-father”, and is associated with the cult of veneration of ancestors, and not at all with female beings. Although, according to another version, stone women are traces of a past matriarchy, as well as a cult of veneration of the mother goddess, among the Polovtsy - Umai, who personified the earthly principle. The only obligatory attribute is the hands folded on the stomach, holding the bowl for sacrifices, and the chest, which is also found in men, and is obviously associated with the feeding of the clan.

According to the beliefs of the Polovtsy, who professed shamanism and tengrism (worship of the sky), the dead were endowed with a special power that allowed them to help their descendants. Therefore, a Polovtsian passing by had to make a sacrifice to the statue (judging by the finds, these were usually rams) in order to enlist its support. Here is how the 12th-century Azerbaijani poet Nizami, whose wife was a Polovtsy, describes this ceremony:
“And before the idol the Kipchak back bends...
The rider hesitates before him, and, holding his horse,
He stoops an arrow, bending down, among the grasses,
Every shepherd who drives the flock knows
Why leave a sheep in front of an idol?

Many historians studying the history of Russia often write about the internecine wars of the princes and their relations with the Polovtsy, a people with many ethnonyms: Kipchaks, Kypchaks, Polovtsy, Cumans. More often they talk about the cruelty of that time, but very rarely touch on the question of the origin of the Polovtsy.

It would be very interesting to know and answer such questions as: where did they come from?; how did they interact with other tribes?; what kind of life did they lead?; what was the reason for their resettlement to the West and was it connected with natural conditions?; how did they coexist with the Russian princes?; why have historians written so negatively about them?; how did they disperse?; Are there any descendants of this interesting people among us? These questions should certainly be answered by the works of orientalists, Russian historians, ethnographers, on which we will rely.

In the 8th century, almost during the existence of the Great Turkic Khaganate (Great El), a new ethnic group, the Kypchaks, was formed in the Central and Eastern parts of modern Kazakhstan. The Kipchaks, who came from the homeland of all the Turks - from the western slopes of the Altai - united the Karluks, Kyrgyz, Kimaks under their rule. All of them received the ethnonym of their new owners. In the 11th century, the Kypchaks gradually move towards the Syr Darya, where the Oghuz roam. Fleeing from the warlike Kipchaks, they move to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. Almost the entire territory of modern Kazakhstan becomes the domain of the Kipchaks, which is called the Kypchak Steppe (Dasht-i-Kipchak).

The Kypchaks began to move to the West, practically for the same reason as once the Huns, who began to suffer defeats from the Chinese and Xianbeis only because a terrible drought began in the eastern steppe, which disrupted the favorable development of the Xiongnu state, created by the great Shanyu Mode . Relocation to the western steppes was not so easy, as there were constant clashes with the Oguzes and Pechenegs (Kangls). However, the resettlement of the Kipchaks was favorably influenced by the fact that the Khazar Khaganate, as such, no longer existed, because before that, the rise in the level of the Caspian flooded many settlements of the Khazars who settled on the shores of the Caspian Sea, which clearly battered their economy. The end of this state was the defeat of the cavalry Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. The Kypchaks crossed the Volga and advanced to the mouth of the Danube. It was at this time that the Kypchaks appeared such ethnonyms as Cumans and Polovtsy. The Byzantines called them Cumans. And the Polovtsy, the Kypchaks began to be called in Russia.

Let's look at the ethnonym "Polovtsy", because it is around this name of the ethnic group (ethnonym) that there is so much controversy, since there are a lot of versions. We highlight the main ones:

So, the first version. The ethnonym "Polovtsy", according to nomads, came from "polov", that is, it is straw. Modern historians judge by this name that the Kipchaks were fair-haired, and maybe even blue-eyed. Probably, the Polovtsy were Caucasoid, and it was not for nothing that our Russian princes, who came to the Polovtsian kurens, often admired the beauty of the Polovtsian girls, calling them "Polovtsian red girls." But there is one more statement, according to which we can say that the Kypchaks were a Caucasoid ethnic group. I turn to Lev Gumilyov: “Our ancestors were friends with the Polovtsian khans, married “red Polovtsian girls, (there are suggestions that Alexander Nevskiy was the son of a Polovtsy), they accepted the baptized Polovtsy into their environment, and the descendants of the latter became Zaporizhzhya and Sloboda Cossacks, replacing the traditional Slavic suffix "ov" (Ivanov) with the Turkic "enko" (Ivanenko).

The next version is somewhat similar to the version above. The Kypchaks were the descendants of the Sary-Kypchaks, that is, those same Kypchaks that formed in Altai. And "sary" is translated from ancient Turkic as "yellow". In Old Russian, “polov” means “yellow”. It may be from the horse's suit. The Polovtsy could be called that because they rode sex horses. Versions, as you can see, diverge.

The first mention of the Polovtsy in Russian chronicles comes down to 1055. Historians such as N. M. Karmzin, S. M. Solovyov, V. O. Klyuchevsky, N. I. Kostomarov they considered the Kypchaks to be terrible terrible barbarians, who badly battered Russia. But as Gumilyov said about Kostomarov, that: “it’s more pleasant to blame your neighbor for your own troubles than yourself”.

Russian princes often fought among themselves with such cruelty that one could mistake them for yard dogs who did not share a piece of meat. Moreover, these bloody civil strife occurred very often and they were more terrible than some small attacks of nomads, for example, on the Principality of Pereyaslavl. And here everything is not as simple as it seems. After all, the princes used the Polovtsians as mercenaries in wars among themselves. Then our historians began to talk about the fact that Russia allegedly endured the struggle with the Polovtsian hordes and defended Europe, like a shield from a formidable saber. In short, our compatriots had plenty of fantasies, but they never came to the point.

It is interesting that Russia defended the Europeans from the "evil barbarian nomads", and after that Lithuania, Poland, Swabian Germany, Hungary began to move to the East, that is, to Russia, to their "defenders". It was painfully necessary for us to protect the Europeans, and there was no protection at all. Russia, despite its fragmentation, was much stronger than the Polovtsy, and those opinions of the historians listed above are unfounded. So we did not protect anyone from the nomads and have never been a “shield of Europe”, but rather were even a “shield from Europe”.

Let us return to the relations of Russia with the Polovtsians. We know that the two dynasties, the Olgovichi and the Monomashichi, became irreconcilable enemies, and the chroniclers, in particular, lean towards the side of the Monomashichi, as heroes of the struggle against the steppes. However, let's look at this problem objectively. As we know, Vladimir Monomakh concluded “19 worlds” with the Polovtsy, although you can’t call him a “peacemaker prince”. In 1095, he treacherously killed the Polovtsian khans, who agreed to end the war - Itlar and Kitana. Then the prince of Kyiv demanded that the prince of Chernigov Oleg Svyatoslavich either he gave his son Itlar, or he himself would have killed him. But Oleg, a future good friend of the Polovtsy, refused Vladimir.

Of course, Oleg had enough sins, but still, what could be more disgusting than betrayal? It was from that moment that the confrontation between these two dynasties began - the Olgovichi and the Monomashichi.

Vladimir Monomakh was able to make a number of campaigns against the Polovtsian nomad camps and forced out part of the Kypchaks beyond the Don. This part began to serve the Georgian king. The Kypchaks did not lose their Turkic prowess. They stopped the onslaught of the Seljuk Turks on Kavakaz. By the way, when the Seljuks captured the Polovtsian kurens, they took physically developed boys and then sold them to the Egyptian sultan, who raised them as elite fighters of the caliphate - the Mamluks. In addition to the descendants of the Kipchaks, the descendants of the Circassians, who were also Mamluks, served the Sultan in the Egyptian Caliphate. However, they were completely different units. The Polovtsian Mamluks were called al-Bahr or Bahrits, and Circassian Mamluks al-Burj. Later, these Mamluks, namely the Bahrits (descendants of the Cumans) seized power in Egypt under the leadership of Baibars and Kutuza, and then they will be able to repel the attacks of the Mongols of Kitbugi-noyon (the state of the Khulaguids)

We return to those Polovtsians who nevertheless managed to stay in the North Caucasian steppes, in the northern Black Sea region. In the 1190s, the Polovtsian nobility partly accepted Christianity. In 1223, the commanders of the Mongol army in two tumens (20 thousand people), Jebe and subday, made a sudden raid in the rear of the Polovtsy, bypassing the Caucasus Range. In this regard, the Polovtsy asked for help in Russia, and the princes decided to help them. It is interesting that, according to many historians who had a negative attitude towards the steppes, if the Polovtsy are the eternal enemies of Russia, then how will they explain such a quick, almost allied, help from the Russian princes? However, as you know, the joint troops of the Russians and the Polovtsians were defeated, and not because of, for example, the superiority of the enemy, which was not there, but because of their disorganization (there were 80 thousand Russians with the Polovtsy, and only 20 thousand Mongols. pers.). Then followed the complete defeat of the Polovtsy from the temnik Batu. After that, the Kipchaks dispersed and practically ceased to be considered an ethnic group. Some of them dissolved in the Golden Horde, some converted to Christianity and later entered the Moscow principality, some, as we said, began to rule in Mamluk Egypt, and some went to Europe (Hungary, Bulgaria, Byzantium). This is where the story of the Kipchaks ends. It remains only to describe the social structure and culture of this ethnic group.

The Polovtsians had a military-democratic system, practically, like many other nomadic peoples. Their only problem was that they never submitted to a central authority. Their kurens were separate, so if they gathered a common army, then this rarely happened. Often several kurens united in a small horde, the leader of which was the khan. When some khans united, the kagan was at the head.

Khan occupied the highest position in the horde, and the word "kan" was traditionally added to the names of the Polovtsians holding this position. After him came the aristocrats, who disposed of the community members. Then the heads who led the rank and file soldiers. The lowest social position was occupied by women - servants and convicts - prisoners of war who performed the functions of slaves. As it was written above, the horde included a certain number of kurens, which consisted of aul families. A koshevoi was appointed to own a kuren (Turkic “kosh”, “koshu” - nomadic, nomadic).

“The main occupation of the Polovtsy was cattle breeding. The main food of ordinary nomads was meat, milk and millet, and koumiss was their favorite drink. The Polovtsy sewed clothes according to their own steppe patterns. Shirts, caftans and leather pants served as everyday clothes for the Polovtsy. Housework reportedly Plano Carpini and Rubruk usually done by women. The position of women among the Polovtsy was quite high. The norms of behavior of the Polovtsians were regulated by "customary law". An important place in the system of customs of the Polovtsians was occupied by blood feud.

In the majority, if we exclude the aristocracy, which began to accept Christianity, then the Polovtsy professed tengrism . Just like the Turks, the Polovtsy revered wolf . Of course, shamans called “bashams” also served in their society, who communicated with spirits and treated the sick. In principle, they did not differ in anything from the shamans of other nomadic peoples. The Polovtsians developed a funeral cult, as well as the cult of ancestors, which gradually grew into the cult of "hero-leaders". Over the ashes of their dead, they poured mounds and placed the famous Kipchak balbals (“stone women”), erected, as in the Turkic Khaganate, in honor of the soldiers who fell in the struggle for their land. These are wonderful monuments of material culture, reflecting the rich spiritual world of their creators.

The Polovtsians often fought, and their military affairs were in the first place. In addition to excellent bows and sabers, they also had javelins and spears. Most of the troops were light cavalry, consisting of mounted archers. Also, the army had heavily armed cavalry, whose warriors wore lamellar shells, plate shells, chain mail, and helmets. In their free time, the warriors were engaged in hunting to hone their skills.

Again, stepophobic historians claimed that the Polovtsy did not build cities, however, the cities of Sharukan, Sugrov, Cheshuev, founded by the Polovtsy, are mentioned in their lands. In addition, Sharukan (now the city of Kharkov) was the capital of the Western Cumans. According to the travel historian Rubruk, for a long time the Polovtsy owned Tmutarakan (according to another version, at that time it belonged to Byzantium). Probably, the Greek Crimean colonies paid tribute to them.

Our story about the Polovtsy ends, however, despite the fact that this article has insufficient data on this interesting ethnic group and therefore needs to be supplemented.

Alexander Belyaev, MGIMO Eurasian Integration Club (U).

Bibliography:

1. 1. Gumilyov L. N. "Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe." Moscow. 2010
2. 2. Gumilyov L. N. "A millennium around the Caspian". Moscow. 2009
3. 3. Karamzin N. M. "History of the Russian State." St. Petersburg. 2008
4. 4. Popov A.I. "Kypchaks and Russia". Leningrad. 1949
5. 5. Grushevsky M. S. “Essay on the history of the Kyiv land from the death of Yaroslav toXIVcentury." Kyiv. 1891
6. 6. Pletneva S. A. "Polovtsi". Moscow. 1990
7. 7. Golubovsky P.V. « Pechenegs, Torks and Polovtsy before the invasion of the Tatars. Kyiv. 1884
8. 8. Plano Carpini J. "History of the Mongols, whom we call Tatars." 2009 //
9. 9. Rubruk G. "Journey to Eastern Countries". 2011 //

The struggle of Russia with the Polovtsy. Civil strife.

By the middle of the XI century. the Kipchak tribes, coming from Central Asia, conquered all the steppe spaces from the Yaik (Ural River) to the Danube, including the north of Crimea and the North Caucasus.

Separate clans, or “tribes”, of the Kipchaks united into powerful tribal unions, the centers of which were primitive winter quarters. The khans who led such associations could raise tens of thousands of warriors, soldered by tribal discipline and posing a terrible threat to neighboring agricultural peoples, on a campaign. The Russian name of the Kipchaks - "Polovtsy" - came, as they say, from the Old Russian word "polova" - straw, because the hair of these nomads was light, straw-colored.

The first appearance of the Polovtsy in Russia

In 1061, the Polovtsy first attacked Russian lands and defeated the army of the Pereyaslav prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich. Since that time, for more than a century and a half, they have continuously threatened the borders of Russia. This struggle, unprecedented in its scale, duration and bitterness, occupied a whole period of Russian history. It unfolded along the entire border of the forest and the steppe - from Ryazan to the foothills of the Carpathians. After spending the winter near the sea coasts (in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov), the Polovtsians in the spring began to roam to the north and appeared in the forest-steppe regions in May. They attacked more often in the fall to profit from the fruits of the harvest, but the leaders of the Polovtsy, trying to take the farmers by surprise, constantly changed tactics, and an attack could be expected at any time of the year, in any principality of the steppe borderlands. It was very difficult to repel the attacks of their flying detachments: they appeared and disappeared suddenly, before the princely squads or militias of the nearest cities were in place. Usually the Polovtsians did not besiege fortresses and preferred to ravage villages, but even the troops of an entire principality often turned out to be powerless before the large hordes of these nomads.

Until the 90s. 11th century the annals report almost nothing about the Polovtsians. However, judging by the memoirs of Vladimir Monomakh about his youth, given in his Teaching, then during all the 70s and 80s. 11th century on the border, the “small war” continued: endless raids, chases and skirmishes, sometimes with very large forces of nomads.

Cuman offensive

In the early 90s. 11th century Polovtsy, who roamed along both banks of the Dnieper, united for a new onslaught on Russia. In 1092, "the army was great from the Polovtsians and from everywhere." The nomads captured three cities - Pesochen, Perevoloka and Priluk, destroyed many villages on both banks of the Dnieper. The chronicler is eloquently silent about whether any rebuff was given to the steppe dwellers.

The following year, the new Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich recklessly ordered the arrest of the Polovtsian ambassadors, which gave rise to a new invasion. The Russian army, which came out to meet the Polovtsy, was defeated at Trepol. During the retreat, crossing in a hurry across the river Stugna flooded with rain, many Russian soldiers drowned, including the Pereyaslav prince Rostislav Vsevolodovich. Svyatopolk fled to Kyiv, and the huge forces of the Polovtsy besieged the city of Torks, who had settled since the 50s. 11th century along the river Ros, - Torchesk. The Kyiv prince, having gathered a new army, tried to help the Torques, but was again defeated, having suffered even greater losses. Torchesk defended heroically, but in the end the water supply ran out in the city, it was taken by the steppes and burned. Its entire population was driven into slavery. The Polovtsy again ravaged the outskirts of Kyiv, capturing thousands of prisoners, but they, apparently, failed to rob the left bank of the Dnieper; he was defended by Vladimir Monomakh, who reigned in Chernigov.

In 1094, Svyatopolk, not having the strength to fight the enemy and hoping to get at least a temporary respite, tried to make peace with the Polovtsy by marrying the daughter of Khan Tugorkan - the one whose name the creators of epics over the centuries have changed into "Tugarin's Snake" or "Tugarin Zmeevich" . In the same year, Oleg Svyatoslavich from the family of Chernigov princes, with the help of the Polovtsy, drove Monomakh from Chernigov to Pereyaslavl, giving the surroundings of his native city to the allies for plunder.

In the winter of 1095, near Pereyaslavl, Vladimir Monomakh's combatants destroyed the detachments of two Polovtsian khans, and in February the troops of the Pereyaslav and Kyiv princes, who have since become permanent allies, made their first campaign in the steppe. Prince Oleg of Chernigov evaded joint actions and preferred to make peace with the enemies of Russia.

In the summer the war resumed. The Polovtsy besieged the town of Yuryev for a long time on the Ros River and forced the inhabitants to flee from it. The city was burned down. Monomakh on the east coast successfully defended himself, having won several victories, but he clearly lacked strength. The Polovtsians struck in the most unexpected places, and the Chernigov prince established very special relations with them, hoping to strengthen his own independence and protect his subjects by ruining his neighbors.

In 1096, Svyatopolk and Vladimir, completely enraged by Oleg’s treacherous behavior and his “stately” (i.e., proud) answers, drove him out of Chernigov and besieged him in Starodub, but at that time large forces of the steppe people launched an offensive along both banks of the Dnieper and immediately broke through to the capitals of the principalities. Khan Bonyak, who led the Azov Polovtsy, flew into Kyiv, and Kurya and Tugorkan laid siege to Pereyaslavl. The troops of the allied princes, having nevertheless forced Oleg to ask for mercy, set off on an accelerated march towards Kyiv, but, not finding Bonyak there, who left, avoiding a collision, crossed the Dnieper at Zarub and on July 19, unexpectedly for the Polovtsy, appeared near Pereyaslavl. Not giving the enemy the opportunity to line up for battle, the Russian soldiers, having forded the Trubezh River, hit the Polovtsians. Those, without waiting for the fight, ran, dying under the swords of their pursuers. The destruction was complete. Among those killed was Svyatopolk's father-in-law, Tugorkan.

But on the same days, the Polovtsians almost captured Kyiv: Bonyak, making sure that the troops of the Russian princes had gone to the left bank of the Dnieper, approached Kyiv a second time and at dawn tried to suddenly break into the city. For a long time afterwards, the Polovtsy recalled how an annoyed khan with a saber cut the gate leaves that slammed shut in front of his very nose. This time, the Polovtsy burned the princely country residence and ruined the Caves Monastery, the most important cultural center of the country. Urgently returning to the right bank, Svyatopolk and Vladimir pursued Bonyak beyond the Ros, to the very Southern Bug.

The nomads felt the strength of the Russians. Since that time, Torks and other tribes, as well as individual Polovtsian clans, began to come to Monomakh from the steppe to serve. In such a situation, it was necessary to quickly unite the efforts of all Russian lands in the fight against the steppe nomads, as was the case under Vladimir Svyatoslavich and Yaroslav the Wise, but other times came - the era of inter-princely wars and political fragmentation. The Lyubech congress of princes in 1097 did not lead to an agreement; the Polovtsy also took part in the strife that began after him.

Unification of Russian princes to repulse the Polovtsy

Only in 1101 did the princes of the southern Russian lands reconcile with each other, and the very next year, “intentioning to dare on the Polovtsy and go to their lands.” In the spring of 1103, Vladimir Monomakh came to Svyatopolk in Dolobsk and convinced him to set out on a campaign before the start of field work, when the Polovtsian horses after wintering had not yet had time to gain strength and were not able to escape from the chase.

The united army of seven Russian princes in boats and horses along the banks of the Dnieper moved to the rapids, from where it turned deep into the steppe. Having learned about the movement of the enemy, the Polovtsy sent a patrol - “watchman”, but Russian intelligence “guarded” and destroyed it, which allowed the Russian commanders to make full use of surprise. Not ready for battle, the Polovtsy, at the sight of the Russians, fled, despite their huge numerical superiority. Twenty khans died during the pursuit under Russian swords. Huge booty fell into the hands of the winners: captives, herds, wagons, weapons. Many Russian prisoners were released. One of the two main Polovtsian groups was dealt a heavy blow.

But in 1107, Bonyak, who retained his strength, laid siege to Luben. The troops of other khans also came here. The Russian army, which this time included the Chernigovites, again managed to catch the enemy by surprise. On August 12, suddenly appearing in front of the Polovtsian camp, the Russians rushed to the attack with a battle cry. Not trying to resist, the Polovtsy fled.

After such a defeat, the war moved to the territory of the enemy - to the steppe, but first a split was introduced into its ranks. In winter, Vladimir Monomakh and Oleg Svyatoslavich went to Khan Aepa and, having made peace with him, became related, marrying their sons Yuri and Svyatoslav to his daughters. At the beginning of the winter of 1109, the governor of Monomakh, Dmitry Ivorovich, reached the Don and there he captured "a thousand vezh" - Polovtsian wagons, which upset the military plans of the Polovtsians for the summer.

The second big campaign against the Polovtsians, the soul and organizer of which again became Vladimir Monomakh, was undertaken in the spring of 1111. The warriors set out even in the snow. The infantry rode in sledges to the Khorol River. Then they went to the southeast, "bypassing many rivers." Four weeks later, the Russian army went to the Donets, dressed in armor and served a prayer service, after which they headed for the capital of the Polovtsians - Sharukan. The inhabitants of the city did not dare to resist and came out with gifts. The Russian captives who were here were released. A day later, the Polovtsian city of Sugrov was burned, after which the Russian army moved back, surrounded on all sides by the growing Polovtsian detachments. On March 24, the Polovtsy blocked the path of the Russians, but were driven back. The decisive battle took place in March on the banks of the small river Salnitsa. In a difficult battle, Monomakh's regiments broke through the Polovtsian encirclement, enabling the Russian army to leave safely. The prisoners were taken. The Cumans did not pursue the Russians, admitting their failure. To participate in this campaign, the most significant of all committed by him, Vladimir Vsevolodovich attracted many clergy, giving it the character of a cross, and achieved his goal. The fame of Monomakh's victory reached "even as far as Rome."

However, the forces of the Polovtsy were still far from being broken. In 1113, having learned about the death of Svyatopolk, Ayepa and Bonyak immediately tried to test the strength of the Russian border by besieging the fortress of Vyr, but, having received information about the approach of the Pereyaslav army, they immediately fled - the psychological turning point in the war, achieved during the campaign of 1111, had an effect.

In 1113-1125, when Vladimir Monomakh reigned in Kyiv, the fight against the Polovtsy took place exclusively on their territory. The victorious campaigns that followed one after another finally broke the resistance of the nomads. In 1116, the army under the command of Yaropolk Vladimirovich - a permanent participant in his father's campaigns and a recognized military leader - defeated the nomad camps of the Don Polovtsy, taking three of their cities and bringing many captives.

The Polovtsian rule in the steppes collapsed. The uprising of the tribes subject to the Kipchaks began. For two days and two nights, Torks and Pechenegs brutally fought with them at the Don, after which, having fought back, they retreated. In 1120, Yaropolk went with his army far beyond the Don, but did not meet anyone. The steppes were empty. The Polovtsy migrated to the North Caucasus, to Abkhazia, to the Caspian Sea.

The Russian plowman lived quietly in those years. The Russian border moved south. Therefore, the chronicler of one of the main merits of Vladimir Monomakh considered that he was "most fearless of the filthy" - he was more than any of the Russian princes afraid of the pagan Polovtsy.

Resumption of Polovtsian raids

With the death of Monomakh, the Polovtsy perked up and immediately tried to capture the Torks and rob the Russian border lands, but were defeated by Yaropolk. However, after the death of Yaropolk, the Monomashichs (descendants of Vladimir Monomakh) were removed from power by Vsevolod Olgovich, a friend of the Polovtsy who knew how to hold them in his hands. Peace was concluded, and news of the Polovtsian raids disappeared from the pages of chronicles for some time. Now the Polovtsy appeared as allies of Vsevolod. Ruining everything in their path, they went with him on campaigns against the Galician prince and even against the Poles.

After Vsevolod, the Kyiv table (reigning) went to Izyaslav Mstislavich, the grandson of Monomakh, but now his uncle, Yuri Dolgoruky, began to actively play the "Polovtsian card". Deciding to get Kyiv at any cost, this prince, son-in-law of Khan Aepa, five times led the Polovtsy to Kyiv, plundering even the surroundings of his native Pereyaslavl. In this he was actively helped by his son Gleb and brother-in-law Svyatoslav Olgovich, the second son-in-law of Aepa. In the end, Yuri Vladimirovich established himself in Kyiv, but he did not have to reign for a long time. Less than three years later, the people of Kiev poisoned him.

The conclusion of an alliance with some tribes of the Polovtsy did not at all mean an end to the raids of their brethren. Of course, the scale of these raids could not be compared with the attacks of the second half of the 11th century, but the Russian princes, more and more occupied with strife, could not organize a reliable unified defense of their steppe borders. In such a situation, the Torks and other small nomadic tribes settled along the Ros River, who were dependent on Kyiv and bore the common name “black hoods” (that is, hats), turned out to be indispensable. With their help, the militant Polovtsy were defeated in 1159 and 1160, and in 1162, when the “Polovtsy many”, having swooped down on Yuryev, captured many Tork wagons there, the Torks themselves, without waiting for the Russian squads, began to pursue the raiders and, having caught up, recaptured the prisoners and even captured more than 500 Polovtsy.

Constant strife practically nullified the results of the victorious campaigns of Vladimir Monomakh. The power of the nomadic hordes weakened, but the Russian military force was also split up - this equalized both sides. However, the cessation of offensive operations against the Kipchaks allowed them to again accumulate forces for an onslaught on Russia. By the 70s. 12th century in the Don steppe, a large state formation was again formed, headed by Khan Konchak. Emboldened, the Polovtsy began to rob merchants on the steppe paths (paths) and along the Dnieper. The activity of the Polovtsians also increased at the borders. One of their troops was defeated by the Novgorod-Seversky prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, but near Pereyaslavl they defeated the detachment of the governor Shvarn.

In 1166, the Kyiv prince Rostislav sent a detachment of the governor Volodyslav Lyakh to escort merchant caravans. Soon Rostislav mobilized the forces of ten princes to protect the trade routes.

After the death of Rostislav, Mstislav Izyaslavich became the prince of Kyiv, and already under his leadership in 1168 a new large campaign to the steppe was organized. In early spring, 12 influential princes, including the Olgovichi (descendants of Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich), who temporarily quarreled with their steppe relatives, responded to Mstislav’s call to “search for their fathers and grandfathers for their ways and their honor.” The Polovtsy were warned by a defector slave, nicknamed Koschey, and they fled, leaving their “veshes” with their families. Upon learning of this, the Russian princes rushed in pursuit and captured the camps at the mouth of the Orel River and along the Samara River, and the Polovtsy themselves, having caught up with the Black Forest, pressed against it and killed, almost without suffering losses.

In 1169, two hordes of Polovtsians simultaneously along both banks of the Dnieper approached Korsun on the Ros River and Pesochen near Pereyaslavl, and each demanded a Kyiv prince to conclude a peace treaty. Without thinking twice, Prince Gleb Yurievich rushed to Pereyaslavl, where his 12-year-old son then ruled. The Azov Polovtsians of Khan Togly, who were standing near Korsun, barely learned that Gleb had crossed to the left bank of the Dnieper, immediately rushed into the raid. Bypassing the fortified line on the Ros rivers, they devastated the surroundings of the towns of Polonny, Semych and Tithe in the upper reaches of the Sluch, where the population felt safe. The steppe dwellers, who fell like snow on their heads, plundered the villages and drove the captives into the steppe.

Having made peace at Pesochen, Gleb learned on the way to Korsun that no one was there. There were few troops with him, and even part of the soldiers had to be sent to intercept the treacherous nomads. Gleb sent his younger brother Mikhalko and the governor Volodislav to beat off the captives with one and a half thousand Berendey nomads and a hundred Pereyaslavtsy.

Having found a trace of the Polovtsian raid, Mikhalko and Volodyslav, having shown amazing military skills, in three consecutive battles not only recaptured the captives, but also defeated the enemy, who outnumbered them at least ten times. Success was also ensured by the skillful actions of the intelligence of the Berendeys, who famously destroyed the Polovtsian patrol. As a result, a horde of more than 15 thousand horsemen was defeated. One and a half thousand Polovtsians were taken prisoner.

Two years later, Mikhalko and Volodyslav, acting in similar conditions according to the same scheme, again defeated the Polovtsy and saved 400 captives from captivity, but these lessons did not go to the Polovtsy for the future: new ones appeared to replace the dead seekers of easy prey from the steppe. A rare year passed without a major raid, noted by the annals.

In 1174, the young Novgorod-Seversky prince Igor Svyatoslavich distinguished himself for the first time. He managed to intercept the khans Konchak and Kobyak returning from the raid at the crossing over the Vorskla. Attacking from an ambush, he defeated their horde, repelling the captives.

In 1179, the Polovtsians, who were brought by Konchak - the "evil boss" - ravaged the environs of Pereyaslavl. The chronicle noted that especially many children died during this raid. However, the enemy was able to escape with impunity. And the next year, on the orders of his relative, the new Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, Igor himself led the Polovtsy Konchak and Kobyak on a campaign against Polotsk. Even earlier, Svyatoslav used the Polovtsy in a short war with the Suzdal prince Vsevolod. With their help, he also hoped to knock out Rurik Rostislavich, his co-ruler and rival, from Kyiv, but he suffered a severe defeat, and Igor and Konchak fled from the battlefield along the river in the same boat.

In 1184, the Polovtsy attacked Kyiv at an unusual time - at the end of winter. In pursuit of them, the Kyiv co-rulers sent their vassals. Svyatoslav sent Prince Igor Svyatoslavich of Novgorod-Seversky, and Rurik sent Prince Vladimir Glebovich of Pereyaslavl. Torkov was led by their leaders - Kuntuvdy and Kuldur. The thaw confused the plans of the Polovtsians. The overflowing river Khiriya cut off the nomads from the steppe. Here Igor overtook them, who on the eve refused the help of the Kyiv princes so as not to share the booty, and, as a senior, forced Vladimir to turn home. The Polovtsy were defeated, and many of them drowned, trying to cross the raging river.

In the summer of the same year, the Kyiv co-rulers organized a large campaign in the steppe, gathering ten princes under their banners, but no one from the Olgovichi joined them. Only Igor hunted somewhere on his own with his brother and nephew. The senior princes descended with the main army along the Dnieper in nasads (courts), and a detachment of squads of six young princes under the command of Prince Vladimir of Pereyaslav, reinforced by two thousand Berendeys, moved along the left bank. Kobyak, mistaking this vanguard for the entire Russian army, attacked him and found himself in a trap. On July 30, he was surrounded, captured and later executed in Kyiv for his many perjuries. The execution of a noble captive was unheard of. This aggravated relations between Russia and the nomads. The Khans swore revenge.

In February of the following year, 1185, Konchak approached the borders of Russia. The seriousness of the Khan's intentions was evidenced by the presence in his army of a powerful throwing machine for the assault on large cities. Khan hoped to use the split among the Russian princes and entered into negotiations with the Chernigov prince Yaroslav, but at that time he was discovered by Pereyaslav intelligence. Quickly gathering their rati, Svyatoslav and Rurik suddenly attacked Konchak's camp and scattered his army, capturing the stone-thrower that the Polovtsy had, but Konchak managed to escape.

Svyatoslav was not satisfied with the results of the victory. The main goal was not achieved: Konchak survived and continued to hatch plans for revenge at large. The Grand Duke decided to go to the Don in the summer, and therefore, as soon as the roads dried up, he went to collect troops in Korachev, and to the steppe - for cover or reconnaissance - he sent a detachment under the command of the governor Roman Nezdilovich, who was supposed to divert the attention of the Polovtsy and thereby help Svyatoslav to win time. After the defeat of Kobyak, it was extremely important to consolidate last year's success. There was an opportunity for a long time, as under Monomakh, to secure the southern border, inflicting a defeat on the second, main grouping of the Polovtsians (the first was led by Kobyak), but these plans were violated by an impatient relative.

Igor, having learned about the spring campaign, expressed an ardent desire to take part in it, but was unable to do so because of the heavy mud. Last year, he, his brother, nephew and eldest son went to the steppe at the same time as the Kyiv princes and, taking advantage of the fact that the Polovtsian forces were diverted to the Dnieper, captured some booty. Now he could not reconcile himself to the fact that the main events would take place without him, and, knowing about the raid of the Kyiv governor, he hoped to repeat last year's experience. But it turned out differently.

The army of the Novgorod-Seversky princes, who intervened in matters of grand strategy, turned out to be one on one with all the forces of the Steppe, where, no worse than the Russians, they understood the importance of the coming moment. It was prudently lured into a trap by the Polovtsians, surrounded, and after heroic resistance on the third day of the battle, it was almost completely destroyed. All the princes survived, but were captured, and the Polovtsy expected to receive a large ransom for them.

The Polovtsians were not slow to use their success. Khan Gza (Gzak) attacked the cities located along the banks of the Seim; he managed to break through the outer fortifications of Putivl. Konchak, wanting to avenge Kobyak, went west and laid siege to Pereyaslavl, which found itself in a very difficult situation. The city was saved by Kyiv aid. Konchak released the prey, but, retreating, captured the town of Rimov. Khan Gza was defeated by Svyatoslav's son Oleg.

The Polovtsian raids, mainly on Porosie (a region along the banks of the Ros River), alternated with Russian campaigns, but due to heavy snows and frosts, the winter campaign of 1187 failed. Only in March, voivode Roman Nezdilovich with "black hoods" made a successful raid beyond the Lower Dnieper and captured the "vezh" at a time when the Polovtsians went on a raid on the Danube.

The fading of the Polovtsian power

By the beginning of the last decade of the XII century. the war between the Polovtsians and the Russians began to subside. Only the merchant Khan Kuntuvdy, offended by Svyatoslav, having defected to the Polovtsy, was able to cause several small raids. In response to this, Rostislav Rurikovich, who ruled in Torchesk, twice made, although successful, but unauthorized campaigns against the Polovtsy, which violated the barely established and still fragile peace. The elderly Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich had to correct the situation and “close the gates” again. Thanks to this, the Polovtsian revenge failed.

And after the death of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav, which followed in 1194, the Polovtsians were drawn into a new series of Russian strife. They participated in the war for the Vladimir inheritance after the death of Andrei Bogolyubsky and robbed the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl; repeatedly attacked the Ryazan lands, although they were often beaten by the Ryazan prince Gleb and his sons. In 1199, for the first and last time, the Vladimir-Suzdal prince Vsevolod Yuryevich Big Nest took part in the war with the Polovtsy, who went with the army to the upper reaches of the Don. However, his campaign was more like a demonstration of Vladimir's strength to the obstinate people of Ryazan.

At the beginning of the XIII century. Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich, the grandson of Izyaslav Mstislavich, distinguished himself in actions against the Polovtsy. In 1202, he overthrew his father-in-law, Rurik Rostislavich, and, as soon as he became the Grand Duke, he organized a successful winter campaign in the steppe, freeing many Russian captives captured earlier during the strife.

In April 1206, a successful raid against the Polovtsy was made by the Ryazan prince Roman "with his brethren." He captured large herds and freed hundreds of captives. This was the last campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians. In 1210, they again robbed the surroundings of Pereyaslavl, taking "a lot of full", but also for the last time.

The most high-profile event of that time on the southern border was the capture by the Polovtsy of Pereyaslavl Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich, who had previously reigned in Moscow. Having learned about the approach of the Polovtsian army to the city, Vladimir came out to meet him and was defeated in a stubborn and hard battle, but still prevented the raid. More chronicles do not mention any hostilities between the Russians and the Polovtsians, except for the continued participation of the latter in Russian strife.

The value of the struggle of Russia with the Polovtsy

As a result of a century and a half of armed confrontation between Russia and the Kipchaks, the Russian defense ground the military resources of this nomadic people, who were in the middle of the 11th century. no less dangerous than the Huns, Avars or Hungarians. This made it impossible for the Polovtsians to invade the Balkans, Central Europe or the Byzantine Empire.

At the beginning of the XX century. Ukrainian historian V.G. Lyaskoronsky wrote: “Russian campaigns in the steppe were carried out mainly due to the long-standing, through long experience of the conscious need for active actions against the steppe dwellers.” He also noted the differences in the campaigns of Monomashich and Olgovichi. If the princes of Kyiv and Pereyaslavl acted in the interests of all Russia, then the campaigns of the Chernigov-Seversky princes were carried out only for the sake of profit and fleeting glory. The Olgovichi had their own, special relationship with the Donetsk Polovtsians, and they even preferred to fight with them "in their own way", so as not to fall under Kiev influence in anything.

Of great importance was the fact that small tribes and individual clans of nomads were involved in the Russian service. They received the common name "black hoods" and usually faithfully served Russia, guarding its borders from their warlike relatives. According to some historians, their service was also reflected in some later epics, and the fighting techniques of these nomads enriched Russian military art.

The fight against the Polovtsy cost Russia many victims. Huge expanses of fertile forest-steppe outskirts were depopulated from constant raids. In some places, even in the cities, only the same service nomads remained - “houndsmen and Polovtsy”. According to historian P.V. Golubovsky, from 1061 to 1210, the Kipchaks made 46 significant trips to Russia, 19 of them - to the Principality of Pereyaslav, 12 - to Porosie, 7 - to the Seversk land, 4 each - to Kyiv and Ryazan. The number of small attacks cannot be counted. The Polovtsy seriously undermined Russian trade with Byzantium and the countries of the East. However, without creating a real state, they were not able to conquer Russia and only robbed it.

The struggle against these nomads, which lasted for a century and a half, had a significant impact on the history of medieval Russia. The well-known modern historian V.V. Kargalov believes that many phenomena and periods of the Russian Middle Ages cannot be considered without taking into account the “Polovtsian factor”. The mass exodus of the population from the Dnieper region and all of Southern Russia to the north largely predetermined the future division of the ancient Russian people into Russians and Ukrainians.

The struggle against the nomads for a long time preserved the unity of the Kievan state, "reviving" it under Monomakh. Even the course of the isolation of the Russian lands largely depended on how protected they were from the threat from the south.

The fate of the Polovtsy, who from the XIII century. began to lead a settled way of life and adopt Christianity, similar to the fate of other nomads who invaded the Black Sea steppes. A new wave of conquerors - the Mongol-Tatars - swallowed them up. They tried to resist the common enemy along with the Russians, but were defeated. The surviving Polovtsians became part of the Mongol-Tatar hordes, while all those who resisted were exterminated.

Internecine wars of Russian princes of the XI-XIII centuries

Russia was great and powerful in the time of St. Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise, but the inner world, which was established under Vladimir and not without difficulty saved by his successor, was, alas, not for long. Prince Yaroslav gained his father's throne in a fierce internecine struggle. With this in mind, he prudently drew up a will, in which he clearly and clearly defined the inheritance rights of his sons, so that the troubled times of the first years of his reign would not be repeated in the future. The Grand Duke gave the entire Russian land to his five sons, dividing it into “destinies” and determining which of the brothers to reign in which. The eldest son Izyaslav received the Kyiv and Novgorod lands with both capitals of Russia. The next in seniority, Svyatoslav, reigned in the lands of Chernigov and Murom, which stretched from the Dnieper to the Volga along the Desna and Oka; he also got distant Tmutarakan, which had long been associated with Chernigov. Vsevolod Yaroslavich inherited the Pereyaslav land bordering the steppe - the "golden mantle of Kyiv", as well as the distant Rostov-Suzdal land. Vyacheslav Yaroslavich was content with a modest throne in Smolensk. Igor began to rule in Volhynia and in Carpathian Rus. In the Polotsk land, as during the life of Yaroslav, the cousin of the Yaroslavichs, Vseslav Bryachislavich, remained to reign.

As conceived by Yaroslav the Wise, this division did not at all mean the disintegration of Russia into separate possessions. The brothers received their reigns rather as governorships, for a while, and had to honor their elder brother Izyaslav, who inherited the great reign, "in his father's place." Nevertheless, the brothers together had to observe the unity of the Russian land, protect it from alien enemies and stop attempts at internecine strife. Russia was then conceived by the Rurikoviches as their common patrimonial possession, where the eldest in the family, being the Grand Duke, acted as the supreme manager.

To their credit, the Yaroslavichi brothers lived for almost two decades, guided by their father's will, preserving the unity of the Russian land and protecting its borders. In 1072, the Yaroslavichi continued the legislative activities of their father. A number of laws under the general title "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" supplemented and developed the articles of "Russian Truth" by Yaroslav the Wise. Blood feud was forbidden; the death penalty was sentenced only for especially serious crimes.

The Russian laws of that time did not know any corporal punishment or torture, which favorably differed from the orders in other countries of the Christian world. However, joint lawmaking turned out to be the last common cause of the three Yaroslavichs. A year later, Svyatoslav, weighed down by his position as the ruler of the inheritance, albeit not a small one, and having lost respect for his elder brother, by force took away the great reign from Izyaslav. The ill-fated Izyaslav left Russia and embarked on joyless wanderings around Europe in a futile search for support. He asked for help from both the German emperor and the Pope, lost his treasury in the lands of the Polish king, and only after the death of Svyatoslav in 1076 was he able to return to Russia. The soft-hearted Vsevolod Yaroslavich generously returned to his elder brother his rightful great reign, making amends for his former guilt before him: after all, he did not prevent Svyatoslav from trampling on his father's will. But for a short time Izyaslav Yaroslavich gained a great reign. There was no former calm in the Russian land: the nephews, princes Oleg Svyatoslavich and Boris Vyacheslavich, raised the sword against their uncle and the Grand Duke. In 1078, in the battle on Nezhatina Niva near Chernigov, Izyaslav defeated the rebels, but he himself fell in battle. Vsevolod became the Grand Duke, but all 15 years of his reign (1078-1093) passed in incessant internecine strife, the main culprit of which was the energetic and cruel Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, who received the nickname Gorislavich.

But is it really only the evil will of the son of Svyatoslav and similar seditious people that caused bloody unrest in Russia? Of course not. The trouble was nesting in the very Yaroslavl specific system, which could no longer satisfy the overgrown family of Rurikovich. There was no clear, precise order either in the distribution of inheritances or in their inheritance. Each branch of the family - the Izyaslavichi, Svyatoslavichi, Igorevichi, etc. - could consider themselves disadvantaged and demand a redistribution of principalities in their favor. No less confusing was the inheritance law. According to the old custom, the eldest in the family was supposed to inherit the reign, but along with Christianity, Byzantine law also comes to Russia, recognizing the inheritance of power only for direct offspring: the son must inherit the father, bypassing other relatives, even older ones. The inconsistency of hereditary rights, the uncertainty and confusion of destinies - this is the natural breeding ground that brought up Oleg Gorislavich and many others like him.

The bloody misfortunes of the Russian land, which originated from civil strife, were aggravated by the incessant raids of the Polovtsy, who skillfully used the strife of the Russian princes to their advantage. Other princes themselves, taking the Polovtsy as allies, brought them to Russia.

Gradually, many princes changed their minds and began to look for a way to end the strife. A particularly prominent role in this belonged to the son of Vsevolod Yaroslavich, Vladimir Monomakh. At his suggestion, in 1097 the princes gathered in Lyubech for the first princely congress. This congress was considered by Monomakh and other princes as a means that would allow reaching a common agreement and finding a way to prevent further civil strife. At it, the most important decision was made, which read: "Let everyone keep his fatherland." These simple words carried great meaning. "Fatherland" is a hereditary possession passed from father to son. Thus, each prince turned from a governor, always ready to leave his inheritance for the sake of a more honorable reign, into its permanent and hereditary owner. The consolidation of appanages as immediate fathers was intended to satisfy all the warring branches of the vast family of Rurikovich, to bring proper order into the appanage system. Being now confident in their rights to hereditary possessions, the princes should have stopped their former enmity. The organizers of the Lyubech princely congress were counting on this.

It really became a turning point in Russian history, for it marked a turning point in the distribution of land ownership in Russia. If earlier the Russian land was a common tribal possession of all the Ruriks, which was controlled by the Grand Duke, now Russia was turning into a collection of hereditary princely possessions. Since that time, the princes in their principalities are no longer governors by the will of the Grand Duke, as has been customary since the time of St. Vladimir, but full-fledged masters-rulers. The power of the Kyiv prince, who thus lost his former right to distribute destinies-governors throughout the Russian land, inevitably lost its all-Russian significance. Thus, Russia entered a historical period, the most important feature of which was political fragmentation. Many countries of Europe and Asia went through this period to one degree or another.

But Russia did not find itself in a state of fragmentation immediately after the Lyubech Congress. The need to unite all forces against the Polovtsian danger and the mighty will of Vladimir Monomakh postponed the inevitable for a while. In the first decades of the XII century. Russia goes on the offensive against the Polovtsy, inflicting crushing defeats on them. During the reign in Kyiv of Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125) and his son Mstislav the Great (1125-1132), it seemed that the times of St. Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise returned. Again, united and mighty Russia victoriously crushes its enemies, and the Grand Duke from Kyiv vigilantly keeps order in the Russian land, mercilessly punishing the rebellious princes ... But Monomakh died, Mstislav passed away, and from 1132, as it is said in the chronicle, the whole Russian land. The former appanages, having become hereditary "fatherlands", gradually turn into independent principalities, almost independent states, the rulers of which, in order to elevate themselves on a par with the princes of Kyiv, also begin to be called "great princes".

In the middle of the XII century. civil strife reached an unprecedented severity, and the number of their participants increased many times due to the fragmentation of princely possessions. At that time in Russia there were 15 principalities and separate lands; in the next century, on the eve of the Batu invasion, there were already 50, and during the reign of Ivan Kalita, the number of principalities of various ranks exceeded two and a half hundred. Over time, they became smaller, split up among the heirs and weakened. No wonder it was said that "in the Rostov land, seven princes have one warrior, and in every village - a prince." The growing male generation demanded separate possessions from their fathers and grandfathers. And the smaller the principalities became, the more ambition and claims appeared among the owners of new destinies: every "ruling" prince sought to seize a "piece" fatter, presenting all conceivable and inconceivable rights to the lands of his neighbors. As a rule, civil strife went for a larger territory or, in extreme cases, a more “prestigious” principality. A burning desire to exalt and pride, which comes from the consciousness of their own political independence, pushed the princes to a fratricidal struggle, during which continuous hostilities divided and devastated the Russian lands.

after the death of Mstislav the Great, one principality after another falls away from Kyiv. In 1135, many years of strife began in Southern Russia: then from the distant Rostov-Suzdal land will appear

Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky and capture the Principality of Pereyaslavl, then the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Olgovich will appear with the Polovtsy dear to him, "villages and cities are fighting ... and people are cutting."

The year 1136 was marked by a real political upheaval in Novgorod the Great: Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich was accused by the "men of Novgorod" of cowardice, a negligent attitude towards the defense of the city, and also that a year earlier he wanted to change Novgorod to the more honorable Pereyaslavl. For two months, the prince, his children, wife and mother-in-law were in custody, after which they were expelled. Since that time, the Novgorod boyars themselves began to invite princes to themselves and finally freed themselves from the power of Kyiv.

The main opponent of the Rostov-Suzdal prince at that time, Volyn prince Izyaslav Mstislavich, in one of his letters to the Hungarian king gave a vivid political description of Dolgoruky: “Prince Yuri is strong, and Davydovichi and Olgovichi (strong princely branches of the house of Rurikovich. - Note. ed.) the essence is with him, and the wild Polovtsians are with him, and he brings those with gold. Beginning in 1149, Dolgoruky occupied the throne of Kyiv three times. In turn, Prince Izyaslav, who was in alliance with the Smolensk princes and often resorted to the help of mercenaries from Poland and Hungary, sought to expel Yuri from Kyiv with no less persistence. The devastating war went on with varying success, Kyiv and Kursk, Pereyaslavl and Turov, Dorogobuzh, Pinsk and other cities passed from hand to hand. The Kievans, like the Novgorodians, tried to play on the contradictions between the princes, trying to preserve the rights of self-government and the independence of their city. However, they did not always succeed.

The denouement of a long-term drama came in 1154, when, one after another, another co-rulers of Kyiv and the Kyiv land, Izyaslav Mstislavich and his uncle Vyacheslav, went into the world. The following year, Yuri Dolgoruky turned to Izyaslav Davydovich, who reigned in Kyiv, with the words: “Kyiv is my fatherland, not you.” According to the chronicle, Izyaslav prudently answered the formidable opponent, "begging him and bowing": "Do not harm me, but here is Kyiv for you." Dolgoruky occupied the city. Finally, he ended up on the coveted "table of his fathers and grandfathers, and the whole Russian land accepted him with joy," the chronicler claimed. By the way the people of Kiev reacted to the unexpected death of Yuri after the feast at the Kyiv boyar Petrila (the townspeople did not leave stone unturned from the country and city estates of the prince), we can safely conclude that the chronicler was cunning, convincing the reader that Yuri was met "with joy great and honoured."

Yuri's son and successor Andrei Bogolyubsky moved his capital to Vladimir-on-Klyazma and changed his political orientation. Civil strife flared up with renewed vigor, but the main thing for the strongest Russian prince was not the possession of Kyiv, but the strengthening of his own principality; South Russian interests fade into the background for him, which turned out to be disastrous for Kyiv politically.

In 1167-1169. Volyn Prince Mstislav Izyaslavich reigned in Kyiv. Andrei Bogolyubsky started a war with him and at the head of eleven princes approached the city. Mstislav Izyaslavich fled to Volhynia, to Vladimir, and the victors robbed Kyiv for two days - “Podolia and Gora, and monasteries, and Sofia, and the Tithe Mother of God (i.e., districts and the main shrines of the city. - Note. ed.). And there was no mercy for anyone and nowhere. Churches were on fire, Christians were killed and others were bound, women were led into captivity, separated by force from their husbands, babies wept, looking at their mothers. And they seized a lot of property, and in churches they robbed icons, and books, and robes, and bells. And there were in Kyiv among all the people groaning and hardship, and inconsolable grief, and incessant tears. The ancient capital, "the mother of hail (cities. - Note. ed.) Russian”, finally lost its former greatness and power. In the coming years, Kyiv was ravaged twice more: first by the Chernigovites, and then by the Volyn princes.

In the 80s. restless XII century, the strife between the Russian princes subsided somewhat. It’s not that the rulers of Russia changed their minds, they were just busy in a continuous struggle with the Polovtsians. However, already at the very beginning of the new, XIII century, a great atrocity again happened in Russia. Prince Rurik Rostislavich, together with his Polovtsy allies, captured Kyiv and carried out a horrific rout there. The strife in Russia continued until the Batyev attack. Many princes and their deputies changed in Kyiv, much blood was shed in internecine strife. So, in fratricidal wars, busy with princely intrigues and strife, Russia did not notice the danger of a terrible foreign force that rolled in from the East, when the tornado of Batu's invasion almost wiped Russian statehood from the face of the earth.