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The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians ( Polovtsy) in Russian sources, were Turkic peoples and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe.
First mentioned in the eighth century as part of the Second Turkic Khaganate, they most likely inhabited the Altai Mountains region from where they expanded over the following centuries, first as part of the Kimek–Kipchak confederation and later as part of a confederation with the Cumans. There were groups of Kipchaks in the Pontic–Caspian steppe, China, Syr Darya, and Siberia. Cumania was conquered by the Mongol Empire in the early 13th century.
Chinese histories only mentioned the Kipchaks a few times: for example, Yuan dynasty Mongolian general 's origin from Kipchak tribe Ölberli,Toqto'a et al. Yuanshi, vol. 128 Tutuha or some information about the Kipchaks' homeland, horses, and the Kipchaks' physiognomy and psychology.Xu Qianxue, Zizhi Tongjian Houbian (17th century) Vol. 141–142. Zhejiang University Copy p. 42 of 124 "欽察部去中國三萬餘裏夏夜極短日蹔沒輙出土産良馬富者以萬計俗祍金革勇猛剛烈青目赤髪" en. "The Kipchak tribe is situated at a distance of over 30,000 li from China. In summer, the evening is extremely short; the sun temporarily sets then immediately rises. Their soil produces good horses, that the rich people count by ten thousands. They customarily sleep armed and armored; they are courageous, fierce, firm, and vehement; they blue/green-eyed and red-haired". Note: the expression "祍金革" lit. "to lie/to sleep with metal and leather > to sleep armed and armored" is not to be taken literally; it is a Chinese literary trope about the northerners' supposedly rugged and hardy nature; e.g. Liji "Zhong Yong" quote: "衽金革，死而不厭，北方之強也，而強者居之。", tr.: "To sleep armed and armored, to die undismayed; those are strengths in the north, the forceful dwell there."
The Kipchaks were first unambiguously mentioned in Persian geographer ibn Khordadbeh's Book of Roads and Kingdoms as a northernly Turkic tribe, after Toquz Oghuz, Karluks, Kimek tribe, Oghuz Turks, J.f.r (either corrupted from Chigils or representing Majfar for Hungarians), Pechenegs, Türgesh, Aðkiš, and before Yenisei Kirghiz. Kipchaks possibly appeared in the 8th-century Moyun Chur inscription as Türk-Qïbchaq, mentioned as having been part of the Turkic Khaganate for fifty years; even so, this attestation is uncertain as damages on the inscription leave only -čq (𐰲𐰴) (* -čaq or čiq) readable. Moyun Chur inscriptions "Note 207" at Türik Bitig It is unclear if the Kipchaks could be identified with, according to Klyashtorny, the Al tï Sir in the Orkhon inscriptions (薛延陀; pinyin: Xueyantuo), or with the Juéyuèshī (厥越失) in Chinese sources;Du You, Tongdian, vol. 199 ""自厥越失、拔悉彌、駮馬、結骨、火燖、觸木昆諸國皆臣之" tr. "Many states such as Jueyueshi, , Alat tribe, Yenisei Kyrgyz, , and Yueban, etc. all submitted themselves (to Duolu Qaghan)." however, Yury Zuev (2002) identified 厥越失 Juéyuèshī (< MC * kiwat-jiwat-siet) with toponym Kürüshi in the Ezhim river valley (Ch. Ayan < MCh. 阿豔 * a-iam < OTrk. Ayam) in Tuva Depression. Linguist Bernard Karlgren and some Soviet scholars (e.g. Lev GumilyovGumilev, L. N. (2006). "İklim Değişiklikleri ve Göçebe Göçleri". (A. Batur, trans.), Avrasyadan Makaleler I, (pp. 131–151). İstanbul: Selenge Yayınları. p. 140 of pp. 131–151) attempted to connect the Kipchaks to the Qūshé ~ Qūshí (屈射), a people once conquered by the Xiongnu; however, Golden deems this connection unlikely, considering 屈射's Old Chinese pronunciation * khut m-lak and Eastern Han Chinese * kʰut źa ~ kʰut jak/jɑk (as reconstructed by Schuessler, 2009:314,70). The relationship between the Kipchaks and Cumans is unclear.
While part of the Turkic Khaganate, they most likely inhabited the Altai Republic region. When the Khaganate collapsed, they became part of the Kimek confederation, with which they expanded to the Irtysh, Ishim and Tobol rivers. They then appeared in Islamic sources. In the 9th century Ibn Khordadbeh indicated that they held autonomy within the Kimek confederation. They entered the Kimek in the 8th- or beginning of 9th century, and were one of seven original tribes. In the 10th-century Hudud al-'Alam it is said that the Kimek appointed the Kipchak king. The Kimek confederation, probably spearheaded by the Kipchaks, moved into Oghuz lands, and Sighnaq in Syr Darya became the Kipchak urban centre. Kipchak remnants remained in Siberia, while others pushed westwards in the Qun migration. As a result, three Kipchak groups emerged:
The early 11th century saw a massive Turkic nomadic migration towards the Islamic world. The first waves were recorded in the Kara-Khanid Khanate in 1017–18. It is unknown whether the Cumans conquered the Kipchaks or were simply the leaders of the confederacy of the Kipchak–Turkic tribes. What is certain is that the two peoples gradually mingled politically and that, from the second half of the 12th century onwards, the names Cumans and Kipchaks became interchangeable to refer to the whole confederacy.
The Mongols defeated the Alans after convincing the Kipchaks to desert them through pointing at their likeness in language and culture. Nonetheless, the Kipchaks were defeated next. Under khan Köten, Kipchaks fled to the Principality of Kiev (the Ruthenians), where the Kipchaks had several marriage relations, one of which was Köten's son-in-law Mstislav Mstislavich of Galicia. The Ruthenians and Kipchaks forged an alliance against the Mongols, and met at the Dnieper to locate them. After an eight-day pursuit, they met at the Kalka River (1223). The Kipchaks, who were horse archers like the Mongols, served as the vanguard and scouts. The Mongols, who appeared to retreat, tricked the Ruthenian–Kipchak force into a trap after suddenly emerging behind the hills and surrounding them. The fleeing Kipchaks were closely pursued, and the Ruthenians camp was massacred.
The nomadic Kipchaks were the main targets of the Mongols when they crossed the Volga in 1236. The defeated Kipchaks mainly entered the Mongol ranks, while others fled westward. Köten led 40,000 families into Hungary, where King Bela IV granted them refuge in return for their Christianization. The refugee Kipchaks fled Hungary after Köten was murdered.
After their fall, Kipchaks and Cumans were known to have become mercenaries in Europe and taken as slave warriors. In Egypt, the Mamluks were in part drawn from Kipchaks and Cumans.
In 1239–1240, large groups of Kipchaks fleeing from the Mongol Empire crossed the Danube. These groups wandered for a long time to find a suitable place to settle in Thrace. In order to prevent the Kipchaks from plundering and to prevent the Seljuks, Mongol Empire and Latin Empire from occupying the lands of the Empire of Nicaea and to benefit from their military capabilities, Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes invited the Kipchaks from the Balkans to the service of the Empire of Nicaea. He settled some of them in Anatolia (what is now Turkey), to protect the Empire of Nicaea from foreign invasions.GOLUBOVSKİY, P.V., Peçenegi, Torki i Polovtsı Rus i Step Do Naşestviya Tatar, Veçe, Moskva, 2011.ÖZTÜRK, Meriç T., The Provıncıal Arıstocracy In Byzantine Asia Minor (1081–1261), Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, İstanbul, 2013.WOLF, Robert Lee, “The Latın Empire Of Constantinople 1204–1261”, A History Of The Crusaders, Volume II Later Crusades (1189–1311), General ed. Kenneth M. Setton, ed. By. Robert Lee Wolf and Harry W. Hazard, The Unıversıty Of Wısconsın Press, Madıson, Milwaukee and London, 1969, s. 187–233. These Kipchaks preserved their identity after the Ottoman Empire conquered the lands they lived in. DOI: English version The Kipchaks who settled in West Anatolia during the reign of Nicea Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes are the ancestors of a community called Manavs living in Northwest Anatolia today.
Another Kipchak migration in Anatolia dates back to the period of the Chobanids Beylik, which ruled around Kastamonu (a city in Anatolia). Hüsameddin Emir Çoban, one of the Seljuk emirs, crossed the Black Sea and made an expedition to the Cumania and returned with countless booty and slaves. As a result of the expedition, a few Kipchak families in Crimea were brought to Sinop by sea via Sudak and settled in the West Black Sea region. In addition, maritime trade intensified with the Crimea and Cumania in the Isfendiyarids Beylik.
When members of the Armenian diaspora moved from the Crimean peninsula to the Poland-Ukrainian borderland, at the end of the 13th century, they brought Kipchak, their adopted Turkic languages language, with them.An Armeno-Kipchak Chronicle on the Polish-Turkish Wars in 1620–1621, Robert Dankoff, p. 388 During the 16th and the 17th centuries, the Turkic language among the communities of the Kipchak people was Armeno-Kipchak. They were settled in the Lviv and Kamianets-Podilskyi areas of what is now Ukraine. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, p. 85, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
The literary form of the Cuman language became extinct in the 18th century in the region of Cumania in Hungary. Cuman in Crimea, however, became the ancestor of the central dialect of Crimean Tatar."Crimean Tatar proper, called the 'central dialect', belonged to the West Kipchak subbranch as a descendant of Kuman." (Lars Johanson, Turkic, Cambridge University Press, 2021, pg. 62)
Mongolian linguistic elements in the Kipchak–Kimek confederation remain "unproven"; though that confederation's constituent Tatar tribe possibly had been Mongolic speakers who later underwent Turkification.Peter B. Golden (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. O. Harrassowitz. pp. 184–185.
In the 9th century Ibn Khordadbeh indicated that they held autonomy within the Kimek confederation. They entered the Kimek in the 8th- or beginning of 9th century, and were one of the seven original tribes. In the 10th-century's Hudud al-'Alam it is said that the Kimek appointed the Kipchak king.
An early description of the physical appearance of Kipchaks comes from the Great Ming Code (大明律) Article 122, in which they were described as overall 'vile' and having blonde/red hair and blue/green eyes. Han Chinese were not required to marry with Kipchaks. Fair complexion, e.g. red hair and blue or green eyes, were already noted by the Chinese for some other ancient Turkic tribes, such as the Yenisei Kirghiz, while the Tiele people (to whom the Qun belonged) were not described as foreign looking, i.e. they were likely East Asian in appearance.Lee, J. Y., & Kuang, S. (2017). A comparative analysis of Chinese historical sources and Y-DNA studies with regard to the early and medieval turkic peoples. Inner Asia, 19(2), 197–239. It is noted that "Chinese histories also depict the Turkic-speaking peoples as typically possessing East/Inner Asian physiognomy, as well as occasionally having West Eurasian physiognomy." Lee and Kuang believe it is likely "early and medieval Turkic peoples themselves did not form a homogeneous entity and that some of them, non-Turkic by origin, had become Turkicised at some point in history." The Yenisei Kirghiz are among those suggested to be of turkicised or part non-Turkic origin. According to Lee & Kuang, who cite Chinese historical descriptions as well as genetic data, the turcophone "Qirghiz" may have been of non-Turkic origin, and were later Turkified through inter-tribal marriage. Gardizi believed the red hair and white skin of the Kipchaks was explained by mixing with the "Saqlabs" (Slavs), while Lee & Kuang note the non-Turkic components to be better explained by historical Iranian-speaking nomads.
A genetic study published in Nature in May 2018 examined the remains of two Kipchak males buried between c. 1000 AD and 1200 AD. One male was found to be a carrier of the paternal haplogroup C2 and the maternal haplogroup F1b1b, and displayed "increased East Asian ancestry". The other male was found to be a carrier of the maternal haplogroup D4 and displayed "pronounced European ancestry".
Vasily Radlov believed that among the current languages Cuman is closest to the Mishar dialect of the Tatar language. Especially the regional Mishar dialects of Sergachsky district have been named as "faithfully close to original Kipchak".Leitzinger, Antero: Mishäärit – Suomen vanha islamilainen yhteisö. Helsinki: Kirja-Leitzinger, 1996. . (p. 41)
Kipchak ancestry
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