Peaceful and hostile relations with the Muslim East. Who are the Pechenegs

Pechenegs(Old Slavic pєchenѣzi, other Greek Πατζινάκοι) - a union of Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes, presumably formed in the VIII-IX centuries. The Pecheneg language belonged to the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic language group.

They are mentioned in Byzantine, Arabic, Old Russian and Western European sources.

Exodus from Asia (Khazar period)

According to many scientists, the Pechenegs were part of the Kangly people. Part of the Pechenegs called themselves Kangars. At the end of the 9th century, those of them that were called "patzynak" (Pechenegs), as a result of climatic changes (drought) in steppe zone Eurasia, as well as under pressure from neighboring tribes Kimaks And Oghuz crossed the Volga and ended up in the Eastern European steppes, where they previously roamed ugry. Under them, this land was called Levedia, and under the Pechenegs, it received the name padzinakia(Greek Πατζινακία).

Around 882, the Pechenegs reached the Crimea. At the same time, the Pechenegs come into conflict with the princes of Kyiv Askold (875 - this clash is described in later chronicles and is disputed by historians), Igor (915, 920). After the collapse of the Khazar Khaganate (965), power over the steppes west of the Volga passed to the Pecheneg hordes. During this period, the Pechenegs occupied the territories between Kievan Rus, Hungary, Danube Bulgaria, Alania, the territory of modern Mordovia and the Oguzes inhabiting Western Kazakhstan. The hegemony of the Pechenegs led to the decline of the sedentary culture, since the agricultural settlements of the Transnistrian Slavs (Tivertsy: Ekimoutskoe settlement) and the Don Alans (Mayatskoe settlement) were devastated and destroyed.

The nature of the relationship between Russia and nomads

From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, there was an abyss of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by a warlike disposition. And if Rus' over time acquired the features of a real state that provides for itself, which means that it may not attack its neighbors for the purpose of profit, then its southern neighbors have remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.

Pechenegs are another wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. In the territory of Eastern Europe This scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first these were Huns who by their migration marked the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations. Arriving in Europe, they terrified the more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. On their way in the future went Slavs And Magyars. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and settle in a certain territory.

The Slavs, among other things, became a kind of "human shield" of Europe. It was they who constantly took the blow of new hordes. Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. In the future, the Polovtsy will come to their place, and in the XIII century - the Mongols.

Relations with the steppes were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push neighbors. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.

History of the Pechenegs associated with Russia

By the XI century, pressed by the Polovtsians, the Pechenegs roamed 13 tribes between the Danube and the Dnieper. Some of them professed the so-called Nestorianism. Bruno of Querfurt preached the Catholic faith among them with the help of Vladimir. Al-Bakri reports that around 1009 the Pechenegs converted to Islam.

Around 1010, a strife arose among the Pechenegs. The Pechenegs of Prince Tirakh converted to Islam, while the two western tribes of Prince Kegen (the Belemarnids and the Pahumanids, totaling 20,000 people) crossed the Danube into Byzantine territory under the scepter of Constantine Monomakh in Dobruja and adopted Byzantine-style Christianity.

The Byzantine emperor planned to make border guards out of them. However, in 1048, huge masses of Pechenegs (up to 80,000 people), led by Tirakh, crossed the Danube on ice and invaded the Balkan possessions of Byzantium.

The Pechenegs took part in the internecine war between Yaroslav the Wise and Svyatopolk the Accursed on the side of the latter. In 1016 they participated in the battle of Lyubech, in 1019 in the battle of Alta (both times unsuccessfully).

The last documented Russian-Pecheneg conflict is the siege of Kyiv in 1036, when the nomads besieging the city were finally defeated by the one who arrived in time with the army Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise. Yaroslav used a formation dissected along the front, placing Kyivans and Novgorodians on the flanks. After that, the Pechenegs ceased to play an independent role, but acted as a significant part of the new tribal union of the Berendeys, also called black hoods. The memory of the Pechenegs was still alive much later: for example, in a literary work, the Turkic hero Chelubey, who started the Battle of Kulikovo with a duel, is called a “Pecheneg”.

The battle near Kiev in 1036 was the final one in the history of the Russo-Pecheneg wars.

Subsequently, the main part of the Pechenegs went to the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea region, and in 1046–1047, under the leadership of Khan Tirakh, they crossed the Danube ice and fell on Bulgaria, which at that time was a Byzantine province. Byzantium periodically waged a fierce war with them, then showered them with gifts. Further, the Pechenegs, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Torks, Polovtsians and Guzes, as well as the war with Byzantium, partly entered the Byzantine service as federates, partly were accepted by the Hungarian king to carry border service, and for the same purpose were partly accepted by the Russian princes.

The other part, immediately after their defeat near Kiev, went to the southeast, where they assimilated among other nomadic peoples.

In 1048 the Western Pechenegs settled in Moesia. In 1071, the Pechenegs played an unclear role in the defeat of the Byzantine army near Manzikert. In 1091 the Byzantine-Polovtsian army inflicted crushing defeat Pechenegs at the walls of Constantinople.

The Arab-Sicilian geographer of the 12th century, Abu Hamid al Garnati, in his essay writes about a large number of Pechenegs south of Kyiv and in the city itself (“and there are thousands of Maghrebians in it”).

Descendants of the Pechenegs

In 1036, Prince Yaroslav the Wise (the son of the baptist of Rus', Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (from the Rurik family) and the Polotsk princess Rogneda Rogvolodovna) defeated the western unification of the Pechenegs. At the end of the 11th century, under pressure from the Polovtsy, they moved to the Balkan Peninsula or to Great Hungary. In accordance with the scientific hypothesis, one part of the Pechenegs formed the basis of the Gagauz and Karakalpak peoples. The other part joined the association of yurmata. The Kirghiz have a large clan Bechen (Bichine), genealogically descending from the Pechenegs.

Nevertheless, the memory of the steppes was alive among the people for a long time. So, already in 1380, in the battle on the Kulikovo field, the hero Chelubey, who began the battle with his own duel, was called the Pecheneg by the chronicler.

Foundations and occupations

The Pechenegs are a community of tribes, in the 10th century there were eight of them, in the 11th - thirteen. Each tribe had a khan, who was chosen, as a rule, from one clan. As a military force, the Pechenegs were a powerful formation. In battle formation, they used the same wedge, which consisted of separate detachments, carts were installed between the detachments, and a reserve stood behind the carts.

However, the researchers write that the main occupation for the Pechenegs was nomadic cattle breeding. They lived in tribal order. But they were not averse to making war as mercenaries.

Appearance

According to the evidence of available ancient sources, at the time of the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea region in their appearance dominated by European traits. They are characterized as dark-haired, who shaved their beards (according to the description in the travel notes of the Arab author Ahmad ibn Fadlan), had short stature, narrow faces, small eyes.

Lifestyle

The steppes, as one would expect, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and wandered along with their animals. Fortunately, there were all conditions for this, since the tribal union was located in a vast area. The internal structure was like this. There were two large groups. The first settled between the Dnieper and the Volga, while the second roamed between Russia and Bulgaria. In each of them there were forty genera. The approximate center of the possessions of the tribe was the Dnieper, which divided the steppes into western and eastern.

The head of the tribe was chosen at a general meeting. Despite the tradition of counting votes, fathers were mostly inherited by children.

Pechenegs in art

The siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs is reflected in the poem by A. S. Pushkin "Ruslan and Lyudmila":

In the distance, lifting black dust;

The marching carts are coming,

Bonfires are burning on the hills.

Trouble: the Pechenegs rebelled!

In Sergei Yesenin's poem "Walking Field" there are lines:

Am I sleeping and dreaming

What with spears from all sides,

Are we surrounded by Pechenegs?

The second place after the Byzantine trade was occupied by trade with the Muslim East, which was conducted through the two Volga peoples, the Khazars and the Kama Bolgars, the Russians went to these peoples from Sea of ​​Azov Don to the place where it approached the Volga and where the Khazar fortress Sarkel, built with the help of Byzantine architects, stood. Here Rus' was dragged from the Don to the Volga and then went either down this river to the capital of the Khazar kingdom Itil, or up to the city of Great Bolgars.

Itil lay on both banks of the Volga not far from its mouths. Here, on one of the islands, there was a palace of the Khazar Khagan, surrounded by walls. The Kagan, his court and some of the people professed the Jewish religion; the rest of the inhabitants of Khazaria were partly Muslims, partly Christians, most of all pagans. Only for the winter the inhabitants of Itil gathered in this city; and in summer most of them dispersed over the surrounding plains and lived in tents, engaged in cattle breeding, gardening and agriculture. Their main food was Saracen millet and fish. Merchants flocked to the Khazar capital even from distant countries of Europe and Asia. By the way, there was a part of the city occupied by Russians and Slavic merchants in general. Russian guests who came here usually paid a tithe, or a tenth of their goods, in favor of the kagan. Many of the Russ also served as mercenaries in his forces. Between Khazaria and Kama Bulgaria lay the country of Burtases, in which Russian traders bartered for furs of fur-bearing animals, especially marten furs.

Kama Bulgaria had as its center the city of Great Bolgars, which lay a little below the Kama mouth on the left side of the Volga, at some distance from the river itself. The Bulgarian king lived here, who adopted the Muslim faith with his people, and since then this region has entered into active trade relations with Muslim Asia.

Not only Arab merchants came here, but also various artisans, among other things, architects who helped the Bulgarians build stone mosques, royal palaces and city walls. The favorite food of the Bulgarians was horse meat and millet. The springs cast almost no ray of light on the origin of this kingdom. In all likelihood, it was founded by a small part of the great Slavic-Bulgarian tribe that moved here from the south. This handful of Slavs, followed popular movements completely cut off from their fellow tribesmen, little by little mixed with the native inhabitants of the Finnish and Turkish roots. But for a long time she enlivened this region with her enterprising, commercial character; and in the 10th century, apparently, it still partially retained its nationality; at least the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan sometimes calls the Kama Bolgars Slavs.

The Arabs who visited Itil and the Great Bolgars left us curious stories about the Russes they met there. Particularly interesting are the stories of Ibn Fadlan, who was among the ambassadors sent by the Caliph of Baghdad to Almas, the king of the Kama Bolgars, in the first quarter of the 10th century. He describes the Russes as tall, stately, fair-haired, with sharp eyes; they wore a short cloak thrown over one shoulder, an axe, a knife and a sword with a wide undulating blade of Frankish workmanship and were very prone to strong drinks. Their wives wore metal jewelry (sustugi?) on their chests with a ring on which a knife hung, and gold and silver chains made up of coins (mainly Arab) around their necks, the number of which was determined by the state of the husband; but they were especially fond of necklaces made of green beads (hitherto the favorite adornment of Great Russian women).

Having sailed to the Bulgarian capital, the Russes first of all went to their idols, which looked like pillars or blockheads with human heads; they approached the highest of them (of course, to Perun), fell on their faces, prayed to him for help in trade and placed their offerings in front of him, which consisted of food supplies, which are meat, bread, milk, onions, and, in addition, from hot drinks, i.e. honey or wine.

Then they built large wooden buildings for themselves on the banks of the Volga and settled in them for 10 or 20 people with their goods, which mainly consisted of furs and slaves. If the sale is slow, the merchant brings gifts to the main idol for the second and third time; in case of continued failure, he places offerings in front of lesser idols that depicted the wives and children of the chief god and asks their intercession. When the trade goes well, the Russian merchant kills several oxen and sheep, distributes part of the meat to the poor, and puts the rest in front of the idols as a token of his gratitude. At night dogs come and devour this sacrificial meat; and the pagan thinks that the gods themselves deigned to eat his offering.

The funeral customs of the Russes are remarkable, according to the description of the same Ibn Fadlan. They simply burned the poor dead in a small boat, and the rich - with different ceremonies. Fadlan managed to be present at the burial of one noble and wealthy Rusin. The deceased was first placed in a grave, where they left him for ten days, and meanwhile they were engaged in preparations for a solemn burial, or feast. To do this, his cash property was divided into three parts: one third was separated for the family, the other for funeral clothes, and the third for wine and, in general, for the funeral feast (from this third part it was called feast). Since every Rusin, and especially a rich one, had several wives or concubines, usually one of them volunteered to die with her master in order to go with him to paradise, which pagan Rus' imagined as a beautiful green garden. On the day appointed for the burial, the boat of the deceased was pulled out of the water and placed on four pillars; in the boat they arranged a bed with pillows, covered with carpets and Greek brocade. Then they took the dead man out of the grave; they put on him trousers, boots, a jacket and a caftan made of Greek brocade with gold buttons, and on his head a brocade hat with a sable band; they put him on a bed and propped him up with pillows. They put fragrant plants, fruits, wine, a dog cut into two parts, two horses and two bulls cut into pieces, as well as a slaughtered rooster and chicken into the boat; all his weapons were laid by the side of the dead man. When the day began to approach sunset, some old woman, called the "angel of death," brought into the boat a slave who volunteered to die with her master; with the help of several men, she began to strangle her with a rope and finished with a knife. At this time, other men, standing near the boat, struck their shields so that the girl's screams could not be heard. Then the closest relative of the deceased took a lighted torch, approached the boat with his back and lit the firewood stacked under it. Then others began to throw firewood and burning torches into the same place. Fire fanned strong wind, quickly engulfed the ship and turned it to ashes along with the corpses. In that place, the Russ poured a mound and placed a pillar on it, on which they inscribed the name of the deceased and the name of the Russian prince.

The Volga trade, testifying to the wealth and luxury of the Muslim countries, aroused enterprising, greedy Russes to sometimes try their luck on the shores of the Caspian Sea. According to the Arab writer Masudi, in 913, a Russian ship army gathered on the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, supposedly containing up to 500 boats and up to 50,000 people. By the Don River, the Russes climbed to the portage, near which there was a Khazar fortress (probably Sarkel), and sent to the Khazar Khagan to ask for a pass to the Caspian Sea, promising to give him half of all future production. Kagan agreed. Then Rus' moved to the Volga, descended into the sea and scattered along its southwestern shores, killing the inhabitants, robbing their property and taking women and children captive. The peoples who lived there were horrified; for a long time they had not happened to see enemies; only merchants and fishermen visited their shores. At last a large army gathered neighboring countries: it boarded boats and headed for the islands lying opposite the Oil Land (Baku region), on which Rus' had a gathering place and hid the loot. The Russians rushed to this militia and most of it was beaten or drowned. After that, for several months they freely disposed of on the Caspian shores, until such a life bored them. Then they sailed back to the Volga and sent the agreed part of the booty to the Khazar Khagan. The Khazar army consisted partly of Muslims. The latter became very angry with the Russes for the Muslim blood they had shed and asked the kagan for permission to avenge her, or maybe they wanted to take away another part of the booty. The enemies gathered in the number of 15,000, blocked the way for the Russes and forced them to go ashore. After a three-day battle, most of Rus' was beaten; only 5,000 went on ships up the Volga and there they were finally exterminated by the Burtases and Muslims from Kama Bulgaria.

This raid of Rus' on the Caspian shores was not the first; but by its devastation, it made her name formidable among the eastern peoples, and Arabic writers began to often mention her from that time; just as since the attack on Constantinople in 860, Byzantine writers started talking about Rus'.

Around the same era, precisely at the end of the 9th century, new nomadic hordes settled in the steppes of southern Russia, which began to disturb all neighboring peoples with their raids. It was the Turkish tribe of the Pechenegs, who had long lived in the country between the Urals and the Volga. In order to remove such restless neighbors from their borders, the Khazars entered into an alliance with their tribesmen Uzes, who roamed further to the east. The bonds pressed the Pechenegs and took their places; and the Pechenegs, in turn, moved west and attacked the Ugrians, who lived in the steppes of Azov and the Dnieper, the Ugrians could not withstand their pressure and crossed into the Danube Plain, or ancient Pannonia, where they, in alliance with the Germans, destroyed the Slavic-Moravian state and founded their own Kingdom of Hungary. And the Pechenegs, meanwhile, captured a huge space from the lower Danube to the banks of the Don. They were divided at that time into eight large hordes, which were under the control of tribal princes. Four hordes settled to the west of the Dnieper, and the remaining four - to the east. They also occupied the steppe part of the Tauride Peninsula and thus became neighbors of the Greek possessions on the northern shores of the Black Sea. To keep them from attacking these areas, the Byzantine government tried to be at peace with them and sent rich gifts to their elders. In addition, with the help of gold, it armed them against other neighboring peoples, when the latter threatened the northern limits of the empire, namely against the Ugrians, the Danube Bolgars, the Russ and the Khazars. IN Peaceful time The Pechenegs helped the trade relations of Rus' with the Korsun region, hiring to transport goods; abounding in cattle, they sold Rus' a large number of horses, bulls, sheep, etc. But in the case of hostile relations, the Pechenegs interfered a lot with the communications of Rus' with its possessions of Azov and Tauride-Taman, as well as trade relations with the Greeks. They especially used the Dnieper rapids to attack and rob Russian caravans. In addition, these predatory riders sometimes broke into the Kyiv region itself and devastated it. Kievan Rus usually could not undertake long-distance campaigns if she was at enmity with the Pechenegs. That's why Kyiv princes they had to either enter into a stubborn struggle with this people, or attract them to their alliance and, in the event of a war with their neighbors, hire auxiliary Pecheneg squads. Rus' also took advantage of the enmity that existed between the Pechenegs and their eastern neighbors, the Uzes: the latter, with their attacks on the Pechenegs, often diverted the forces of the latter in the other direction and thereby delivered Kievan Rus free way to the shores of the Black and Azov Seas.

The invasion of numerous Turkish nomads into southern Russia had important consequences for her. They especially pressed the dwellings of the Slavic-Bulgarian tribes, i.e. Uglich and Tivertsev. Some of these peoples were pushed back to the region of the upper Dnieper and Bug, where they joined their Carpathian, or Drevlyano-Volyn branch; and the other part, which remained in the Black Sea region and was cut off by the Pechenegs from the Dnieper Rus, little by little then disappears from history. Exterminating the Greek and Slavic settlements, destroying the fields, burning the remnants of the forests, the Pechenegs expanded the area of ​​​​the steppes and brought even more desolation to these regions.

Sources and manuals for the history of the Khazars: Frena - De Chasaris excerpta ex scriptoribus arabicis. Petropol. MDCCCXXII. Suma - About the Khazars (from the Danish translation of Sabinin in Reading. Ob. Ist. and Others 1846. No. 3). Stritter - Chasarica in Memor. Pep. vol. III. Dorn - Tabary "s Nachrichten liber die Chasaren in Memoires de l" Acad, des sciences. Vl-me serie. 1844. Grigorieva - about the Khazars in the journal "Son of the Fatherland and Severn. Archive" for 1835, vol. XLVIII and in Zhurn. M. N. Pr. 1834. part III. Lerberg - Research on the position of Sarkel. Yazykov "Experience in the history of the Khazars". Proceedings of the Russian Academy. Part I. 1840. Khvolson - News of the Khazars, Burtases, Bolgars, etc. Ibn Dast. SPb. 1869. Harkavi - Tales of Muslim writers about the Slavs and Russ. SPb. 1870. His own - Tales of Jewish writers about the Khazars and the Khazar kingdom (Proceedings of the Eastern Department. Archaeological Society. part XVII, 1874). My thoughts on the dual nationality of the Khazars in the study "Rus and Bolgar on the Sea of ​​Azov". For Chazdai's letter and Joseph's answer, see c. Thu. About. I. and Dr. 1847. VI and at the Belevsky Monumenta. I t.

From the history and antiquities of the Kama-Volga Bulgarians: Frena - Alteste Nachrichten iiber die Wolga Bulgaren in Mem. de l "Acad. Vl-me serie. Lepekhin about the Bulgarian ruins in his Journey. Part I ed. 2nd. St. Petersburg. 1795. 266 - 282. Keppen - about the Volga Bulgarians in Zhur. M. N. Pr. 1836 Part XII Erdman - Die Ruinen Bulgars in Beirage zur Kenntniss des Inneren van Russland vol. I. Grigoriev - The Volga Bulgars in the Library for Reading November 1836 (Works of the orientalist Grigoriev about the Khazars and Bulgars are reprinted in the Collection of his studies " Russia and Asia". St. Petersburg. 1876). Berezina - Bulgar on the Volga in Uchen. Proceedings of Kazan. Univers. 1853 n. Velyaminov-Zernov "Monument in Bashkiria" (works of the Eastern Department of the Archaeological Society. IV. St. Petersburg. 1859) Khvolson - News of Ibn Dast. Garkavi - Tales of Muslims, writer Saveliev - Muhammadan Numismatics in relation to Russian history. St. Petersburg 1846. Charmoy - Relation de Massoudy et d "auters auteurs in Mem. de l "Academie 1834. Nevostrueva - "On the ancient settlements of the ancient Volga-Bulgarian and Kazan kingdoms" and "Ananinsky burial ground". (Proceedings of the first Archaeological Congress. M. 1871). Regarding the public and private life of the Khazars and Kama Bolgars, although we have quite there is a lot of news, mostly Arabic, but they are so confused and contradictory that a more accurate depiction of these peoples is still awaiting researchers, and for the time being we limit ourselves to only the necessary indications. Besides Fadlan, Masudi (Garkavi in ​​Zhur. M.N. Project 1872. No. 4).

Fragments from the description of Ibn Fadlan have been preserved in the so-called. big Geographic Dictionary, which was compiled by the Arab geographer Yakut, who lived in the 13th century. See Frena - Ibn Foszlan "s und anderer Araber Berichte uber die Russen. St. P. 1823. It agrees with the story of the Arab writer in in general terms the news of our chronicle about the pagan burial among the Russian Slavs. "When someone died, she says, they made a feast over him; then they erected a large fire, burned the dead man on it; having collected the bones, they put them in a small vessel and placed it on a pillar by the road." The same custom of burning corpses among the Slavs is mentioned by other Arab writers of the 10th century, namely Masudi and Ibn Dasta. The latter says that at the same time the wives of the deceased cut their hands and faces with knives as a sign of sadness, and one of them voluntarily strangles herself and burns with him. The ashes are collected in a vessel and placed on a hill (probably in a barrow, which was poured in honor of the deceased). After a year, relatives gathered at this grave with jugs of honey and arranged a feast in memory of the deceased (U Khvolson 29). But actually about the Russ, Ibn Dasta says that when a noble person dies among them, they dig a large grave for him in the form of rest and put his clothes, golden hoops, food, vessels with drinks and coins there together with the deceased; his living and beloved wife is also placed there, and then the opening of the grave is laid (ibid. 40). This news indicates that at the same time as the burning, the Russ also had another custom of burial, i.e. digging into the ground. But, of course, the difference in customs and in their details belonged to different branches, to different places residence of the Russian tribe. Ibn Dasta, by all indications, here means that Rus' that lived on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus, i.e. in the Tmutarakan region, in the country of the Black Bolgars proper, and the mentioned custom applies as much to these latter as to the Russes of Bosporus. In this opinion, Masudi confirms us even more. He also speaks of the custom of Russian Slavs to burn the dead together with his wife, weapons, jewelry and some animals. And about the Bulgarians, he notes that, in addition to burning, they have a custom to imprison the dead in some kind of temple, along with his wife and several slaves. (Harkavi, 127). It is clear that here we are talking about the catacombs; and similar catacombs were found near Kerch, i.e. in the country of Black Bulgarians. By the way, the catacomb with frescoes, discovered in 1872, is curious in this respect. Archaeological Commissions. SPb. 1875 (For some comments on the same, see my "Investigations on the Beginning of Rus'"). The most detailed and critical consideration of all the news related to this is in the study of A.A. Kotlyarevsky "On the funeral customs of the pagan Slavs". M. 1868. Produced in 1872 - 73 by prof. Samokvasov in the Chernigov region, excavations of some mounds containing clay vessels with burnt bones, as well as burnt remains of metal jewelry and weapons, remarkably confirmed the authenticity of the Arab news and the evidence of our annals about the burial customs of the ancient Russ. He also found pagan graves with whole skeletons in the Dnieper region, indicating that, simultaneously with the burning of corpses, there was also a simple burial custom. The data derived from these excavations were reported by him at the Third Archaeological. congress in Kyiv, in 1874 and then in the collection Ancient and New Russia for 1876, Nos. 3 and 4.

Frena Ibn Foszlan "s, etc. p. 244. The most detailed information about the campaign of 913 is found in the Arab writer of the 10th century Masudi in his work "Golden Meadows". Since the Khazars did not have a fleet, according to the remark of Arab writers, we think that the enemies could block the road for Russ and force them to a field battle either when passing through the city of Itil, or when dragging from the Volga to the Don. Probably, the battle took place both there and here. Obviously, Russia was beaten off from the portage, and therefore forced to leave up the Volga.The campaign of 913 shows that the Russes were well aware of the ship route to southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and indeed, according to the newly discovered news from Eastern writers, the Russ even before that made two raids into the Caspian Sea: the first around 880 and the second in 909. See Caspian, or On the campaigns of the ancient Russians in Tabaristan - Academician Dorn . 1875. (Appendix to Volume XXVI of the Notes of Acad. Sciences).

As for trade and in general relations between the Russes and the Muslim East, a clear monument of these relations is the numerous treasures with the Arab, or so-called. kufic, coins. They embrace the time of the Arab caliphs from the 8th to the 11th centuries. These treasures were found in the space of almost the whole of Russia, as well as in Sweden and Pomerania. It is clear that from the 8th century the Russ served as active intermediaries in trade between the eastern Muslim peoples and the Baltic regions. Grigorieva - "On Kufic coins found in Russia and the Baltic countries" in Zap. Od. About. I. and Dr. Volume I. 1844 and in "Muhammad, numismatics" by Savelyev.

The main source for the history and ethnography of the Pechenegs is Konstantin Bagr. in his De administrando imperio. Then follow Lev Gramatik, Kedrin, Anna Komneno and some others. See Memor Streeter. Pop. vol. III. part 2. Suma - "About Patsinaki" in Chten. About. I. and D. 1846. book. 1st. Vasilevsky "Byzantium and the Pechenegs" in Zhurn.M.N. Etc. 1872 Nos. 11 and 12.

The Pechenegs were no more fortunate than other hybrid genera of the superethnos. They were recorded in the "Turkic tribes", without having the slightest reason for that. But at the same time, they immediately stipulated that these “Turks” included Sarmatians (“Iranians”), Finno-Ugric peoples and tribes of some Caucasian groups.
At the end of the ninth century they roamed between the Volga and the Aral Sea, fought with the Polovtsy, Oghuz and Khazars. Then they crossed the Volga, drove out the Ugrians who roamed between the Don and the Dnieper, captured the Northern Black Sea region up to the Danube.
The Pechenegs were engaged in cattle breeding and constantly raided Rus', Byzantium, Hungary and other neighboring countries. At the same time, for some reason, the Pechenegs constantly took part in the campaigns of the Rus (already the Russians of Kievan Rus and the principalities) as allies. And they negotiated very well with the princes of the Rus. The Grand Duke Svyatoslav, who used the Pecheneg cavalry to solve his strategic tasks, was no exception. It is very difficult to imagine that wild nomads could act as "regular cavalry" in the united army. And who would entrust them with flanks? However, the alliance of the Rus and the Pechenegs is a fact.
Svyatoslav refused the Pecheneg prince Kure the right to go with him to Bulgaria, and then to Byzantium. The Pechenegs were so impressed by the "disrespectful" attitude of the Russians towards them that, after the not entirely successful Bulgarian campaign, they attacked Svyatoslav's squad at the Dnieper rapids and killed the prince.
Why did the princes of Rus' not recognize the Pechenegs as equals? Because they were Rurikovich. And all the other rulers of the surrounding clans of the superethnos were not Rurikovich. But this does not mean at all that they were "Turks" or "Mongols". In the veins of the Pechenegs, some part of the Turkic blood could flow - acquired during the time of their "nomads" on the Volga and Southern Urals. But we have no right to consider them Turks, because they have never been Turks.
Yes, the Pechenegs led a way of life different from the way of life of the northern Rus and Slavs. But they preserved the traditions of the Rus of the Northern Black Sea region, the “Cossack way of life”- today you plow the land and raise cattle, and tomorrow you are already in the saddle, on a campaign, in a battle or a dashing raid.
We must remember that the Turkic tribes of nomads appear in the Black Sea region quite late. In the III-XIII centuries. they are not there. The northern Black Sea region is densely populated by Aryan Rus, which compete not only with each other. Any other, unrelated tribes are doomed to total destruction. The laws of that time were quite severe. And not a single Russian prince, under any circumstances, took with him on a long campaign alien to him and his squad "allies". The opposite does not happen even in fairy tales.
Yes, Yaroslav the Wise inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pechenegs near Kiev in 1036. But not because they were "Turks".
But because they made raids and did not want to completely submit to the Rurikovich. Part of the surviving Pecheneg families went to the Carpathians and the Danube. They were replaced by the Polovtsy in the southern Russian steppes. The same hybrid Russ as the Pechenegs.
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Yu. D. Petukhov.

The Pechenegs are tribes that lived in the 8th-9th centuries. in the Volga steppes. They occupied a particularly large territory in the 9th century between the Volga and Danube rivers, representing a serious enemy for Rus'.

Who are the Pechenegs, what kind of nomadic people are they? According to the chronicles and, above all, according to Nestor's Tale of Bygone Years, we learn that the Pechenegs were mainly engaged in cattle breeding, as they led a nomadic lifestyle. They lived in a tribal system, at the head of the clans were leaders who were chosen by the clan or tribe. At the head of all the tribes was a khan, or kagan. The power of the khans was not elective, but hereditary.

Rus' and the Pechenegs

The history of the Pechenegs is closely connected with Russia. The vast expanses of Rus' have always attracted these nomadic tribes. The Pechenegs were a serious danger to Rus' for almost 120 years - from 915, when they first invaded Rus', until 1068, when they were decisively rebuffed by Yaroslav the Wise.

Chronology of the struggle of Rus' with the Pechenegs

• 915 The first appearance of the Pechenegs on the territory of Rus' during the reign of Prince Igor. He managed to sign a peace treaty with them.
• 920 Igor's war with the Pechenegs, as the tribes became a danger to Rus'. A period of constant military clashes began, which was characterized by varying success on both sides.
• 968 In the reign of Princess Olga and Svyatoslav, they even reached the walls of Kyiv. Olga heroically led the defense of the city until Svyatoslav's squad arrived, which was at that time in the south of the country.
• 1036 Prince Yaroslav the Wise delivered a decisive blow to the Pechenegs. In honor of the victory, the famous St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv was erected. The victory over the Pechenegs glorified the name of the prince in history Ancient Rus'.

However, the history of the Pechenegs does not end there. For more than three centuries they have been used as military force. So, Yaroslav the Wise settled many of them in the south of the country, where they began to defend the borders of the state. The emperors of Byzantium made part of the Pechenegs their allies in the fight against Russia and Danube Bulgaria. And only in the 14th century the Pechenegs ceased to exist as a separate people, mixing with numerous peoples of different states: Rus'. Byzantium, Western countries.

Such a fatal joke was played with the Pechenegs by history, with the once formidable and strong nomadic people.

In the history of Ancient Rus', the nomadic tribes - the Pechenegs remained as cruel barbarians and destroyers. Consider a brief description of this people.

The Pecheneg tribe, formed in the 8th-9th centuries, was called a nomadic people. The title of the head of the Turkic-speaking tribes to which the Pechenegs belonged (as well as the Khazars, Avars, etc.) was - "Kagan". Their main occupation, like many at that time, was cattle breeding. Initially, the Pechenegs roamed Central Asia, then at the end of the 9th century, under pressure from neighboring tribes - the Oghuz and Khazars, headed towards Eastern Europe, drove out the Hungarians and occupied the territory from the Volga to the Danube.

By the 10th century, they were divided into eastern and western branches, consisting of 8 tribes. Around 882, the Pechenegs reached the Crimea. In 915 and 920 conflicts arose between the Pechenegs and Prince Igor of Kyiv. In 965, the Pechenegs took possession of the lands of the "Khazar Khaganate" after its collapse. Then, in 968, the Pechenegs laid siege to Kyiv, but failed. In 970, on the side of Prince Svyatoslav, they participated in the Russian-Byzantine battle near the fortress "Arkadiopol", but in connection with the conclusion of peace between Russia and Byzantium (971), they again became enemies of Rus'.

In 972, Prince Svyatoslav made a campaign against the Pechenegs and was killed by them at the Dnieper rapids. In the 990s, the struggle of Rus' with the Pechenegs continued again. Grand Duke Vladimir defeated the Pecheneg troops in 993, but in 996 he himself was defeated near the village of Vasiliev. Approximately in 1010, an internecine war arose among the Pechenegs: one of the tribes adopted a religion - Islam, and the other two, having moved to Byzantine territories - Christianity.

During the battle between Svyatopolk and his brother Yaroslav the Wise, the Pechenegs fought on the side of Svyatopolk. In 1036, they again raided Rus', but Prince Yaroslav the Wise won, finally defeating the Pechenegs near Kiev. By the 14th century, their tribes ceased to be a single people, merging with other tribes (Torks, Cumans, Hungarians, Russians and others).

Khazars and Khazar Khaganate

The Khazars are a Turkic-speaking nomadic tribe that lived on the territory of the Eastern Ciscaucasia (modern Dagestan) and founded their own empire - the Khazar Kaganate. Contemporaries Pechenegs and Polovtsy.

The Khazars became known around the 6th-7th century and were the descendants of the local Iranian-speaking population, mixed with other nomadic Turkic and Ugric tribes. It is not known exactly where this name of the tribe came from, scientists suggest that the Khazars could call themselves that, taking as a basis the word of the Turkic language "khaz", meaning nomadism, movement.

Until the 7th century, the Khazars were a rather small tribe and were part of various larger tribal empires, in particular, the Turkic Khaganate. However, after this kaganate collapsed, the Khazars created their own own state- The Khazar Khaganate, which already had a certain influence on the nearest territories and was quite large.

The culture and customs of this tribe have not been studied enough, but scientists tend to believe that the life and religious rituals of the Khazars differed little from similar other tribes living in the neighborhood. Before the founding of the state, they were nomads, and then they began to lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle, staying in cities for the winter.

In Russian history, they are known primarily due to the mention in the work of A.S. Pushkin “The Song of prophetic Oleg”, where the Khazars are mentioned as enemies of the Russian prince. The Khazar Khaganate is considered one of the first serious political and military opponents of Ancient Rus' ("How Prophetic Oleg is now going to take revenge on the unreasonable Khazars"). Before that, periodic raids of the Pechenegs, Polovtsy and other tribes were made on Russian territories, but they were nomads and did not have statehood.