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The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks, , Middle Turkic: بَجَنَكْ , , , , , , პაჭანიკი, , , ; Печенези, also known as Pecheneg Turks were a semi-nomadic Turkic peoples people from Central Asia who spoke the Pecheneg language. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Pechenegs controlled much of the of southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula. In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus', and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars.
According to Max Vasmer and some other researchers the ethnonym may have derived from the Old Turkic word for "brother-in-law, relative” ( baja, baja-naq or bajinaq; , Kyrgyz language : baja, and ), implying that it initially referred to an "in-law related clan or tribe". Peter Golden considers this derivation by no means certain.
In Mahmud Kashgari's 11th-century work Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, Pechenegs were described as "a Turkic nation living around the country of the Rum", where Rum was the Turkic word for the Eastern Roman Empire or Anatolia, and "a branch of Oghuz Turks"; he subsequently described the Oghuz as being formed of 22 branches, of which the Pecheneg were the 19th.
Pechenegs are mentioned as one of 24 ancient tribes of Oghuz Turks by 14th-century statesman and historian of Ilkhanate-ruled Iran Rashid-al-Din Hamadani in his work Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh ("Compendium of Chronicles") with the meaning of the ethnonym as "the one who shows eagerness". The 17th-century Khan of the Khanate of Khiva and historian Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur mentions the Pechenegs as bechene among 24 ancient tribes of Turkmens (or Oghuzes) in his book Shajara-i Tarākima (“Genealogy of the Turkmen") and provides for its meaning as "the one who makes".
Three of the eight Pecheneg "provinces" or clans were collectively known as Kangar union. According to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, the Kangars received this denomination because "they are more valiant and noble than the rest" of the people "and that is what the title Kangar signifies". Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (ch. 37), p. 171. Because no Turkic word with a similar meaning is known, Ármin Vámbéry connected the ethnonym to the Kyrgyz language words kangir ("agile"), kangirmak ("to go out riding") and kani-kara ("black-blooded"), while Carlile Aylmer Macartney associated it with the Chagatai word gang ("chariot"), semantically related to the Turkic Gaoche.Golden, Peter B., " Ethnogenesis in the Tribal Zone: The Shaping of the Türks". From: Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes, ed. C. Hriban, Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologicaeque Antiquitatis et Medii Aevi, IX (Bucharest-Brăla, 2011):17-63 / ISBN 978-973-27-2152-0
Omeljan Pritsak proposed that the name had initially been a composite term (Kängär As, mentioned in Old Turkic texts) deriving from the Tocharian word for stone (kank) and the ethnonym As, suggesting that they were Tocharian-speaking or at least formed a confederation consisting of Tocharian, Eastern Iranian and Bulgar language elements. Their connection with Eastern Iranian elements is hinted at in the remark of al-Biruni regarding a people that "are of the race of al-Lān and that of al-Ās and their language is a mixture of the languages of Khwarazmians and the Badjanak.".
If the latter assumption is valid, the Kangars' ethnonym suggests that (East) Iranian elements contributed to the formation of the Pecheneg people but Victor Spinei concedes that Pechenegs were of "a predominantly Turkic character... beyond any doubt".Victor Spinei, " Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century", / Brill 2009, p.181 This may be mirrored in the Old Rus translation of Josephus Flavius (ed. Meshcherskiy, 454) which adds "the Jasz people, as is known, descended from the Pecheneg tribe." On the basis of their fragmentary linguistic remains, scholars view them as Common Turkic-speakers, most probably Kipchak (Németh, followed by Lajos Ligeti)Németh, "Die Inschriften," 16, pp. 50-1; Ligeti, "A magyar nyelv," p.362, 506; and Györffy, "A Besenyők nyelve," p.170-91. Cited in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition), Vol.VIII, Leiden 1994, p.289 or Oghuz languages (Baskakov).Баскаков, Н. А. Тюркские языки, Москва 1960, с. 126-131. Hammer-Purgstall classifies the Chinese Kangju and Byzantine Kangar union as purely Turkic name variants of the Kangly;Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph, Freiherr von, Geschichte der Goldenen horde in Kiptschak, das ist: der Mongolen in Russland, 1840. digital page n70 or 6/mode/2up. however, Wang Pu's institutional historical work Tang Huiyao apparently distinguishes the Kang(ju) from the Kangheli (aka Kangly). Tang Huiyao, "Vol. 72" quote: " 康國馬。 康居國也。是大宛馬種。形容極大。武德中。康國獻四千匹。今時官馬。猶是其種。…… 康曷利馬。印宅。" rough translation: "Horses of the Kang nation, which is the Kangju nation. They are a stock of Ferghana horse. In the middle of the Wude era 622, the Kang nation tributed 4,000 horses. Nowadays, the officials' horses are probably of that stock. ... Kangheli's horses; tamga resembles character 宅" Menges saw in Kang-ar-as the plural-suffix -as, and Klyashtorny the Turkic numerus collectivus -ar-, -er-.K. H. Menges, Altaic elements, s. 101-104. ( cited PDF)S.G. Klyaštornij, Drevnetyurkskie Runiçeskie Pamyatniki Kak Istoçnik Po Istorii Sredney Azii, Moscow 1964, p.163-167 ( cited PDF)
The Erdim, Čur, and Yula tribes formed the Kangar union (Greek alphabet: Καγγαρ) and were deemed "more valiant and noble than the rest".
| +Tribal Compositions |
| *Bay-ča |
| *Küğel |
| *Qorqutai |
| *Ipa / *Iba (?), |
| *Qaydum |
| *Qosta |
| *Yazı |
| *Bata / *Bota |
According to Constantine VII writing in c. 950, the Pecheneg realm, or Patzinakia stretched west as far as the Siret River (or possibly the Eastern Carpathian Mountains), and was four days' journey from "Tourkias" (i.e. Hungary).
Paul Pelliot originated the proposal that the Book of Suia 7th-century Chinese workpreserved the earliest record on the Pechenegs. The book mentioned a people named Bĕirù, who had settled near the Ēnqū and Alan peoples (identified as Onogurs and Alans, respectively), to the east of Fulin (or the Eastern Roman Empire). Victor Spinei emphasizes that the Pechenegs' association with the Bĕirù is "uncertain". He proposes that an 8th-century Uyghurs envoy's report, which survives in Lhasa Tibetan translation, contains the first certain reference to the Pechenegs. The report recorded an armed conflict between the Be-ča-nag and the Hor (Uyghur Khaganate or Oghuz Turks) peoples in the region of the Syr Darya.
Ibn Khordadbeh (c. 820 – 912 CE), Mahmud al-Kashgari (11th century), Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100–1165), and many other Muslim scholars agree that the Pechenegs belonged to the Turkic peoples. The Russian Primary Chronicle stated that the "Turkmens, Pechenegs, Torks, and " descended from "the godless sons of Ishmael, who had been sent as a chastisement to the Christians". Russian Primary Chronicle (year 6604/1096), p. 184)
The Pechenegs who left their homeland settled between the Ural River and Volga rivers. According to Gardizi and other Muslim scholars who based their works on 9th-century sources, the Pechenegs' new territory was quite large, with a 30-day-walk extension, and were bordered by the Cumans, Khazars, Oghuz Turks and Slavic peoples. The same sources also narrate that the Pechenegs made regular raids against their neighbors, in particular against the Khazars and their vassals the Burtas, and sold their captives into slavery. The Khazars made an alliance with the Oghuz against the Pechenegs and attacked them from two directions. Outnumbered by the enemy, the Pechenegs were forced into a new westward migration. They marched across the Khazar Khaganate, invaded the dwelling places of the Hungarians, and expelled them from the lands along the Kuban River and the upper course of the river Donets. There is no consensual date for this second migration of the Pechenegs: Pritsak argues that it took place around 830, but Kristó suggests that it could hardly have occurred before the 850s.
The Pechenegs settled along the rivers Donets and Kuban River. It is plausible that the distinction between the "Turkic Pechenegs" and "Khazar Pechenegs" mentioned in the 10th-century Hudud al-'alam had its origin in this period. The Hudud al-'Alama late 10th-century Persian geographydistinguished two Pecheneg groups, referring to those who lived along the Donets as "Turkic Pechenegs", and to those along the Kuban as "Khazarian Pechenegs". Spinei proposes that the latter denomination most probably refers to Pecheneg groups accepting Khazar suzerainty, implies that some Pecheneg tribes had been forced to acknowledge the Khazars supremacy.
In addition to these two branches, a third group of Pechenegs existed in this period: Constantine VII and Ibn Fadlan mention that those who decided not to leave their homeland were incorporated into the Oghuz federation of Turkic tribes.
However, it is uncertain whether this group's formation is connected to the Pechenegs' first or second migration (as it is proposed by Pritsak and Golden, respectively). According to Mahmud al-Kashgari, one of the Üçok clans of the Oghuz Turks was still formed by Pechenegs in the 1060s.
The Uzes, another Turkic peoples steppe people, eventually expelled the Pechenegs from their homeland; in the process, they also seized most of their livestock and other goods. An alliance of Oghuz Turks, Kimeks, and Karluks was also pressing the Pechenegs, but another group, the , defeated that alliance. Driven further west by the Khazars and Cuman people by 889, the Pechenegs in turn drove the Magyars west of the Dnieper River by 892.
Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria employed the Pechenegs to help fend off the Magyars. The Pechenegs were so successful that they drove out the Magyars remaining in Etelköz and the Pontic steppes, forcing them westward in Battle of Southern Buh and making them leave Etelköz forever and settle in Pannonia where they later founded the Hungarian state.Zlatarski, Istorija na Pǎrvoto bǎlgarsko carstvo, p. 304.Bakalov, Istorija na Bǎlgarija, "Simeon I Veliki".Delev, Bǎlgarskata dǎržava pri car Simeon.
In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus'. For more than two centuries they had launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars (like the 920 war on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev, reported in the Primary Chronicle). The Pecheneg wars against Kievan Rus' caused the Slavs from Walachian territories to gradually migrate north of the Dniestr in the 10th and 11th centuries.V. Klyuchevsky, The course of the Russian history. v.1: "Myslʹ.1987, Rus'/Pecheneg temporary military alliances also occurred however, as during the Byzantine campaign in 943 led by Igor.Ibn Haukal describes the Pechenegs as the long-standing allies of the Rus', whom they invariably accompanied during the 10th century Caspian expeditions.
In 968 the Pechenegs attacked and besieged Kiev; some joined the Prince of Kiev, Sviatoslav I, in his Byzantine campaign of 970–971, though eventually they ambushed and killed the Kievan prince in 972. According to the Primary Chronicle, the Pecheneg Khan Kurya made a chalice from Sviatoslav's skull, in accordance with the custom of steppe nomads. The fortunes of the Rus'-Pecheneg confrontation swung during the reign of Vladimir I of Kiev (990–995), who founded the town of Pereyaslav upon the site of his victory over the Pechenegs,The chronicler explains the town's name, derived from the Slavic languages word for "retake", was inspired by Vladimir "retaking" military glory from the Pechenegs. followed by the defeat of the Pechenegs during the reign of Yaroslav I the Wise in 1036. Shortly thereafter, other nomadic peoples replaced the weakened Pechenegs in the Pontic steppe: the Cuman people and the Torks. According to Mykhailo Hrushevsky ( History of Ukraine-Ruthenia), after its defeat near Kiev the Pecheneg Horde moved towards the Danube, crossed the river, and disappeared out of the Pontic steppes.
Pecheneg mercenaries served under the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert. (2025). 9780244174873, Lulu.com. ISBN 9780244174873 After centuries of fighting involving all their neighbours—the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus', Khazaria, and the Magyars—the Pechenegs were annihilated as an independent force in 1091 at the Battle of Levounion by a combined Byzantine and Cuman army under Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Alexios I recruited the defeated Pechenegs, whom he settled in the district of Moglena (today in Macedonia) into a tagma "of the Moglena Pechenegs". Attacked again in 1094 by the Cumans, many Pechenegs were slain or absorbed. The Byzantines defeated the Pechenegs again at the Battle of Beroia in 1122, on the territory of modern-day Bulgaria. With time the Pechenegs south of the Danube lost their national identity and became fully assimilated, mostly with Romanians and Bulgarians. Significant communities settled in the Hungarian kingdom, around 150 villages.
In 1105 or 1106, Pecheneg troops were deployed to Italy in an unsuccessful effort to capture Otranto and prevent Bohemond's invasion of the Byzantine Balkans. Anna Komnene erroneously reports that Bohemond dragged Pecheneg prisoners in chains before Pope Paschal II to gain support for his invasion, although the respective itineraries of the two men clearly indicate that they did not meet on this occasion. According to the Byzantine historian John Kinnamos, the Pechenegs fought as mercenaries for the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in southern Italy against the Normans king of Sicily, William the Bad.Kinnamos, IV, 4, p. 143 A group of Pechenegs was present at the Battle of Andria in 1155.Chalandon 1907
The Pechenegs as a group were last mentioned in 1168 as members of Turkic tribes known in the chronicles as the "Chorni Klobuky (Black Hats)".Ivan Katchanovski, Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio, Myroslav Yurkevich, Historical Dictionary of Ukraine, Scarecrow Press, 2013, p. 439. It is likely that the Pecheneg population of Hungary was decimated by the Mongol invasion of Hungary, but names of Pecheneg origin continue to be reported in official documents. The title of "Comes Bissenorum" (Count of the Pechenegs) lasted for at least another 200 years.
In 15th-century Hungary, some people adopted the surname Besenyö (Hungarian for "Pecheneg"); they were most numerous in the county of Tolna. One of the earliest introductions of Islam into Eastern Europe came about through the work of an early 11th-century Muslim prisoner who was captured by the Byzantines. The Muslim prisoner was brought into the Besenyő territory of the Pechenegs, where he taught and converted individuals to Islam. In the late 12th century, Abu Hamid al-Gharnati referred to Hungarian Pechenegs – probably Muslims – living disguised as Christians. There is a village in southeast Serbia called Pečenjevce that was founded by Pechenegs. After war with Byzantium, the remnants of the tribes found refuge in the area and settled there. Studies on Pechenegs Dr. AKDES KURAT ATLAS NATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES ISSN 2602-4128 TWO FRIEND PEOPLE IN THE NORTH OF THE BLACK SEA: ON THE RELATIONS OF THE PECHENEKS AND THE KUMAN-KIPCHAKS T.R. FIRAT UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY THE RELATIONS OF PEÇENEK AND KIPÇAKS WITH THE BYZANTINE STATE MASTER'S THESIS
Public figure Olzhas Suleimenov suggested that the name "Pecheneg" derives from the word Pajanak ("in-law"), indicating kinship ties between Pecheneg khagans and Russian princes. This word has parallels in Turkic languages, including Karakalpak, where baja or boja also means "in-law."Olzhas Suleimenov. Az i Ya. — Almaty: Zhazushy, 1985.
The 14th-century Persian historian Rashid al-Din recorded that one of the Kipchak tribes was called "Kara-Borkli" ("Black Hats"), which may be linked to the ethnonym "Karakalpaks." Some scholars suggest that this tribe was among the remnants of the Pechenegs that assimilated into Kipchak and later Karakalpak groups.Rashid al-Din. Jami' al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles). — Moscow: Nauka, 1965.
Archaeological studies in the deltas of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers have uncovered traces of Saka-Massagetae tribes, which may have been the ancestors of the Karakalpaks. The consolidation of Pecheneg tribes in the southeastern Aral region in the 9th–11th centuries is believed to have played a role in Karakalpak ethnogenesis.A. Nurmukhamedov. Archaeological Findings in the Aral Region. — Nukus: Karakalpakstan, 2001.
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