Otrok (also Atrak) was an early twelfth-century

Cuman The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...

- Kipchak chieftain (''

khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

'') who was involved in the wars with

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

, and later served under the

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...

. He was a member of the Sharukanids, one the ruling houses of the Kipchak tribal confederation known to the Rus' as "Wild Cumans".Anatoly Michailovich Khazanov, André Wink (2001), ''Nomads in the Sedentary World'', pp. 46-8.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, . Otrok, known in Georgia as Atraka, son of Sharagan (i.e., Sharukan), after the victories of the Rus'

Grand Prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king or ...

Vladimir II Monomakh Vladimir II Monomakh (Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Мономахъ, ''Volodiměrŭ Monomakhŭ''; uk, Володимир Мономах, translit=Volodymyr Monomakh; russian: Владимир Мономах; Christian name: ''Vasiliy'' ...

in 1109, fled to Georgia with some 40,000 followers, received baptism and entered the service of the Georgian king

David IV David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king of United Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to be ...

(c. 1118). The Georgian-Kipchak alliance was facilitated by David's earlier marriage to the ''khan''s daughter who received the name Gurandukht (her original Turkic name is unknown). Otrok's Kipchaks helped David against the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

and contributed to the Georgian victory at Didgori in 1121. Otrok's 40,000 Cumans helped make Georgia the most powerful kingdom in the region.Denis Sinor (1990), ''The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia'', pp. 181,280.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, . A passage in the East Slavic chronicle ''

Hypatian Codex The Hypatian Codex (also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis; be, Іпацьеўскі летапіс; russian: Ипатьевская летопись; uk, Іпатіївський літопис) is a ''svod'' (compendium) of three ''l ...

'' relates that after the death of Vladimir Monomakh (1125), an envoy, the bard named Ör, arrived from Otrok's brother Sırchan, who lived near the

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

, urging him to return. Ör's urges and songs were without effect until he produced some ''yawshan'', the grass of his native

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

. With this, Otrok tearfully decided to give up the security and fame he had won in "a foreign land", and returned to the steppe where he fathered

Könchek Könchek (died 1308) was Khan of the Chagatai Khanate (1307–1308). He was the son of Duwa. He converted to Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion cen ...

, eventually one of the most famous foes of the princes of Kiev (not to be confused with the 14th-century Chagatai ''khan''

).Gerard Chaliand (2003), ''Nomadic Empires: From Mongolia to the Danube'', p. 52.

Transaction Publishers Transaction Publishers was a New Jersey-based publishing house that specialized in social science books and journals. It was located on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. Transaction was sold to Taylor & Francis in 2016 and merged with ...

, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otrok 11th-century Kipchacks 12th-century people from Georgia (country) Turkic rulers