Some Perspectives in Historiography on the Existence of Kipchak Statehood
Authors
Natig Humbatov
Share
Annotation
The study presents a brief analysis of historiography devoted to the topic of the statehood of the Kipchaks, whom European peoples called Cumans or Comans, and Russians called Polovtsians. The approaches of some Western, Russian-Soviet and Kazakh scientists on the presence and nature of the Kipchak statehood are briefly described. The well-known American Turkologist Peter Golden, who accepted the Kimek Khanate (Kimek Confederation) as a form of nomadic statehood, adheres to the opinion about the absence of statehood in relation to the Kipchaks. He considered the Kipchak khans to be leaders and their state formations to be simply a confederation of tribes.
Most Russian-Soviet historians such as S. A. Pletneva, G. A. Fedorov-Davydov, Z.M.Sharapova and others defended the opinion that the economy, social structure and culture of the Kipchaks had not matured to the level of an early feudal state. Some of them, influenced by the works of V.V.Bartold, believe that the Kipchaks did not have a single state. However, their various ethnopolitical and territorial associations reached the level of state formations – Khanates.
The attitude of Kazakh scientists to this problem differs significantly from others. Orientalist B. E. Kumekov considers the Kipchaks to be the heirs of the traditions of the Kimek statehood. He is also supported by N. E. Kuzembayev, A. Sh. Kadyrbayev and others. Kazakh scientist S. M. Akhinzhanov has his own view to the problem. He adheres to the opinion of the absence of a single state of the Kipchaks. However, the scientist considers separate ethno-territorial associations - Eastern Desht-i Kipchak and Western Desht-i Kipchak to have reached the level of an early fedal state
Keywords
Authors
Natig Humbatov
Share
References:
Agajanov S. G. The States of the Oghuz, the Kimek and the Kïpchak. – History of civilizations of Central Asiac. Volume IV. The age of achievement: a.d. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century. Part one. The historical, social and economic setting. Editors: M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Paris, UNESCO, 1998 (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000112851?);
Akhinzhanov S. M. Kipchaks in the history of medieval Kazakhstan. Revised edition. Almaty: Gylym, 1995;
Alymkulova S. K., Choroev T. K., Butanaev V. Y. Kipchaks. - Chronicle of the Turkic civilization. V. 1. The Turkic world in the 6th-12th centuries. Collective monograph. Editors-in-chief. V. I. Molodin, S. V. Zemlyukov. Barnaul, Publishing House of Altai State University, 2023;
Bartold V. V. Twelve Lectures on the History of the Turkic Peoples of Central Asia. Works. Volume V. Moscow, Nauka Publishing House. Main Editorial Board of Eastern Literature, 1968;
Dzhichonaia I. R. “Kartlis Tskhovreba” on Georgian-North Caucasian political relations in the 7th-12th centuries. Tbilisi, Meridiani Publishing House, 2012;
Evstigneev Y. A. Kipchaks: an ethnos and its name. – Society. Environment. Development (Terra Humana). No. 3 (24), 2012;
Evstigneev Y. A. Kipchaks/Polovtsians/Cumans and their descendants: on the problem of ethnic continuity. 2nd edition, revised and supplemented. St. Petersburg, Asterion Publishing House, 2011, (https://russiahistory.ru/download/library/nauka/evstigneev-yu.-a.-kypchaki-polovcy-kumany-i-ih-potomki-k-probleme-etnicheskoj-preemstvennosti-.html);
Fedorov-Davydov G. A. Nomads of Eastern Europe under the Rule of the Golden Horde Khans. Archaeological Monuments. Moscow, Moscow University Publishing House, 1966;
Golden P. B. An introduction to the History of the Turkic peoples: ethnogenesis and state formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and Middle East. Wiespaden: Harrassowitz, 1992;
Golden P. B. The shaping of the cuman-qïpčaqs and their world. – In Book: Peter B. Golden. Studies on the Peoples and Cultures of the Eurasian Steppes. Bucharest, Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2011;
Golden P. Kipchaks of medieval Eurasia: an example of non-state adaptation in the Steppe. – The Mongol Empire and the nomadic world. Ulan-Ude, Publishing House of the Buryat Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2004;
Golden P. The Religion of the Kipchaks of Medieval Eurasia. – The Steppes of Europe in the Middle Ages. Vol. 6. The Golden Horde Time. Collection of Scientific Works. Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Ukraine. Donetsk National University. Donetsk, Donetsk National University, 2008;
Kadyrbaev A. Sh. Turks and Iranians in China and Central Asia XIII-XIV centuries. Alma-Ata, Publishing House "Gylym", 1990
Knyazky I. O. Russia and the Steppe. Russian Scientific Foundation. Moscow, 1996;
Konovalova I. G. Al-Idrisi on the Countries and Peoples of Eastern Europe: text, translation, commentary. Moscow, Publishing House “Eastern Literature” of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2006;
Konovalova I. G. Information about Cumania in the work of al-Idrisi. – The Steppes of Eastern Europe in the Relationship between East and West in the Middle Ages. International Scientific Seminar. Abstracts of Reports. Donetsk, 1992;
Kumekov B. E. Kimek Khanate. – History of Kazakhstan. From ancient times to the present day. In five volumes. Volume 1. Almaty: Atamura, 1996;
Kumekov B. E. Kimek Khanate. – Chronicle of the Turkic civilization. V. 1. The Turkic world in the 6th-12th centuries. Collective monograph. Editors-in-chief. V.I.Molodin, S.V.Zemlyukov. Barnaul, Publishing House of Altai State University, 2023, p. 300.
Kumekov B. E. On ancient Turkic state traditions in the Kimek Khanate and the Kipchak Khanate. – News of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan – No. 1 (239) January-February – Almaty, Gylym Publishing House, 2003;
Kumekov B. E. Towards Kipchak-Magyar connections. – Nomadic culture at the turn of the century (19th-20th, 20th-21th centuries): problems of genesis and transformation. Almaty, 1995;
Kuzembaev. N. E. Kimek and Kipchak statehood: historiography of the problem. - Bulletin of the Kazakh National Pedagogical University named after Abai. No. 2 (37), 2013. Series Historical and socio-political sciences, (https://bulletin-histsocpolit.kaznpu.kz/index.php/ped/issue/view/22/29).
Kychanov E. I. Nomadic States from the Huns to the Manchus. Moscow. Publishing House "Eastern Literature" of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1997;
Papaskiri Z. V. At the origins of Georgian-Russian political relations. Tbilisi, Publishing House of Tbilisi University, 1982;
Pilipchuk Y. V. Heroes of the Chronicles and “the Tale of Igor's Campaign”: the Sharukanids Dynasty. – Problems of Ancient and Medieval History of Chach. Issue 11. History. Archaeology. Numismatics. Editor-in-Chief Sh.S.Kamoliddin. Saarbrücken, Lambert Academic Publishing, 2024;
Pilipchuk Y. V. Social history of the Kipchak people in the 9th–13th centuries. Dissertation to achieve the scientific level of Doctor of Historical Sciences. National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Institute of Ukrainian Studies named after. I. Kripyakevich. Institute of Popular Studies. Lviv, 2019
Pletneva S. A. Polovtsian land. - Old Russian principalities of the 10th-13th centuries. Moscow, Nauka Publishing House, 1975
Pletneva S. A. Polovtsy. Moscow, Nauka Publishing House, 1990
Popov A.I. Kipchaks and Russians. - Scientific notes of Leningrad State University. Series of historical sciences, 1949, issue 14
Rasovsky D. A. Polovtsy. – In the book. D. A. Rasovsky. Polovtsy. Black Klobuks: Pechenegs, Torks and Berendeys in Russia and Hungary (works of different years). Historical and genealogical project "Suyunovs". Series "Materials and research". Vol. I. "Research on the history of nomads of the Eastern European steppes". Moscow: Tsivoi, 2012
Rybakov B. A. Russian lands according to the map of Idrisi of 1154. – Brief communications of the Institute of the History of Material Culture, issue XLIII. Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1952
Sharapova Z. M. Socio-economic and political system of the Polovtsians. – Scientific Notes of the Moscow Regional Pedagogical Institute, 1953. Issue 2
Stoyanov Valery. Dragons and elbirs in the Cuman-Kipchak world. Variations on the theme of structuring living space. – In the book. Valerie Stoyanov. VALERISTICA POLYHISTORICA SUPPLEMENTA. Selected contributions to border areas of history. 1. CUMANICA. Institute for Historical Research at the BAS. Sofia, 2021
Yakubovsky. Formation and development of the Golden Horde in the 13th-14th centuries. – In the book. B. D. Grekov, A. Yu. Yakubovsky. The Golden Horde and its fall. Moscow-Leningrad: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1950
Zelensky Y.V. On the question of the existence of a state among the Polovtsians. – Medieval Turkic-Tatar states. Collection of articles. Issue 4. Institute of History named after Sh. Marjani of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. Kazan, 2012
Other articles of the issue
