The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler),

Middle Turkic Middle Turkic (''Türki'' or ''Türkçe'') refers to a phase in the development of the Turkic language family, covering much of the Middle Ages (c. 900–1500 CE). In particular the term is used by linguists to refer to a group of Karluk and Og ...

: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პაჭანიკი, bg, печенеги, pechenegi, bg, печенези, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pečenezi, separator=/, Печенези, la, Pacinacae, Bisseni were a semi-nomadic Turkic ethnic people from

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

who spoke the Pecheneg language which belonged to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family.

Ethnonym

The Pechenegs were mentioned as ''Bjnak'', ''Bjanak'' or ''Bajanak'' in medieval Arabic and Persian texts, as ''Be-ča-nag'' in Classical Tibetan documents, and as ''Pačanak-i'' in works written in

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

. Anna Komnene and other Byzantine authors referred to them as ''Patzinakoi'' or ''Patzinakitai''. In medieval Latin texts, the Pechenegs were referred to as ''Pizenaci'', ''Bisseni'' or ''Bessi''. East Slavic peoples use the terms ''Pečenegi'' or ''Pečenezi'' (plural of ''Pečeneg''), while the

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

mention them as ''Pieczyngowie'' or ''Piecinigi''. The Hungarian word for Pecheneg is ''Besenyő''; the Romanian term is ''Pecenegi''. According to Max Vasmer and some other researchers the

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

may have derived from the Old Turkic word for "brother-in-law, relative” (''baja'', ''baja-naq'' or ''bajinaq;

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

baja
'' tk, baja and tr, bacanak), implying that it initially referred to an "in-law related clan or tribe". 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 The Oghuz or Ghuzz Turks (Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: ٱغُز, ''Oγuz'', ota, اوغوز, Oġuz) were a western Turkic people that spoke the Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, Turkic language family. In th ...

"; 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 Oghuzes by 14th-century statesman and historian of Ilkhanate-ruled Iran Rashid-al-Din Hamadani in his work

Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh The ''Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh'' (Persian/Arabic: , ) is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate. Written by Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318 AD) at the start of the 14th century, the breadth of coverage of the work h ...

("Compendium of Chronicles") with the meaning of the ethnonym as "the one who shows eagerness". The 17th-century

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 ...

of the

Khanate of Khiva The Khanate of Khiva ( chg, ''Khivâ Khânligi'', fa, ''Khânât-e Khiveh'', uz, Xiva xonligi, tk, Hywa hanlygy) was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm in Central Asia from 1511 to 1920, except fo ...

and historian

Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur ( uz, Abulgʻozi Bahodirxon, Abulgazi, Ebulgazi, Abu-l-Ghazi, August 24, 1603 – 1663) was Khan of Khiva from 1643 to 1663. He spent ten years in Persia before becoming khan, and was very well educated, writing two historical ...

mentions the Pechenegs as ''bechene'' among 24 ancient tribes of Turkmens (or Oghuzes) in his book ''

Shajara-i Tarākima ''Shajara-i Tarākima'' () is a Chagatai-language historical work completed in 1659 by Khan of Khiva and historian Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur. ''Shajara-i Tarākima'' is one of the two works composed by Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur that have great importance ...

'' (“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 Kangars. According to

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Kar ...

, 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". Because no Turkic word with a similar meaning is known, Ármin Vámbéry connected the ethnonym to the Kirghiz 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. 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 The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian diale ...

and Bulgaric Turkic 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 Spinei concedes that Pechenegs were of "a predominantly Turkic character... beyond any doubt". This may be mirrored in the Old Rus translation of

Josephus Flavius Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

(ed. Meshcherskiy, 454) which adds "the

Yas Yaser Bakhtiari ( fa, ياسر بختیاری, born 1982 in Rezvanshahr, Gilan province, Iran) better known by his stage name Yas (), is an Iranian rapper. He wears a Faravahar pendant, a symbol of Iranian nationalism and Zoroastrianism. On ...

, as is known, descended from the Pecheneg tribe." On the basis of their fragmentary linguistic remains, scholars view them as

Common Turkic Common Turkic, or Shaz Turkic, is a taxon in some classifications of the Turkic languages that includes all of them except the Oghuric languages. Classification Lars Johanson, Lars Johanson's proposal contains the following subgroups: * Oghuz ...

-speakers, most probably Kipchak (

Németh Németh is a Hungarian surname. In Hungarian, ''német'' means "German" (the word has Slavic origin, literally meaning "he does not speak", since German is not a Slavic language); the ''h'' is a remnant of obsolete Hungarian spelling, as frequen ...

, followed by Ligeti) or Oguz ( Baskakov).

Hammer-Purgstall Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (9 June 1774 – 23 November 1856) was an Austrian orientalist and historian. He is considered one of the most accomplished Orientalists of his time. He was critical of the trend of ascribing classical or a ...

classifies the Chinese

Kangju Kangju (; Eastern Han Chinese: ''kʰɑŋ-kɨɑ'' < *''khâŋ-ka'' (c. 140 BCE)) was the Chinese name of a kingdom in

Central Asia< ...

and Byzantine Kangar as purely Turkic name variants of the

Kangly The Kangly (康曷利; pinyin: Kānghélì; Middle Chinese ( ZS): /kʰɑŋ-ɦɑt̚-liɪH/ or 康里 pinyin: ''Kānglĭ'' < MC-ZS: /kʰɑŋ-lɨ^X/;

Wang Pu's institutional historical work Tang Huiyao apparently distinguishes the ''Kang(ju)'' from the ''Kangheli'' (aka ''Kangly''). Menges saw in ''Kang-ar-as'' the plural-suffix ''-as'', and Klyashtorny the Turkic numerus collectivus ''-ar-'', ''-er-''.

Language

Mahmud al-Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari, ''Maḥmūd ibnu 'l-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Kāšġarī'', , tr, Kaşgarlı Mahmûd, ug, مەھمۇد قەشقىرى, ''Mehmud Qeshqiri'' / Мәһмуд Қәшқири uz, Mahmud Qashg'ariy / М ...

, an 11th-century man of letters who specialized in Turkic dialects argued that the language spoken by the Pechenegs was a variant of the Cuman and Oghuz idioms. He suggested that foreign influences on the Pechenegs gave rise to phonetical differences between their tongue and the idiom spoken by other Turkic peoples. Anna Komnene likewise stated that the Pechenegs and the Cumans shared a common language. Although the Pecheneg language itself died out centuries ago, the names of the Pecheneg "provinces" recorded by Constantine Porphyrogenitus prove that the Pechenegs spoke a Turkic language. The Pechenegs are thought to have belonged to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic family, but their language is poorly documented and therefore difficult to further classify.

Composition

Byzantine emperor

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Kar ...

Porphyrogennetos lists eight Pecheneg tribal groupings, four on each side of the Dnieper river, reflecting the bipartite left-right Turkic organization. These eight tribes were in turn divided into 40 sub-tribes, probably clans. Constantine VII also records the names of eight former tribal leaders who had been leading the Pechenegs when they were expelled by the Khazars and Oghuzes.

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

, following

and Ligeti, proposes that each tribal name consists of two parts: the first part being an equine coat color, the other the tribal ruler's title. The Erdim, Čur, and Yula tribes formed the Qangar/Kenger ( Greek: Καγγαρ) and were deemed "more valiant and noble than the rest".

Notes

History

Origins and area

According to Omeljan Pritsak, the Pechenegs are descendants from the ancient Kangars who originate from Tashkent. The

Orkhon inscriptions The Orkhon inscriptions (also known as the Orhon inscriptions, Orhun inscriptions, Khöshöö Tsaidam monuments (also spelled ''Khoshoo Tsaidam'', ''Koshu-Tsaidam'' or ''Höshöö Caidam''), or Kul Tigin steles ( zh, t=闕特勤碑, s=阙特勤� ...

listed the Kangars among the subject peoples of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Pritsak says that the Pechenegs' homeland was located between the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...

and the middle course of the Syr Darya, along the important trade routes connecting Central Asia with Eastern Europe, and associates them with Kangars. According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, writing in c. 950, Patzinakia, the Pecheneg realm, stretched west as far as the Siret River (or even the Eastern

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

), and was four days distant from "Tourkias" (i.e. Hungary). Khazarfall1

Paul Pelliot originated the proposal that the '' Book of Sui''a 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 Uighur envoy's report, which survives in Tibetan translation, contains the first certain reference to the Pechenegs. The report recorded an armed conflict between the ''Be-ča-nag'' and the ''Hor'' ( Uyghurs or

) peoples in the region of the river

Syr Darya The Syr Darya (, ),, , ; rus, Сырдарья́, Syrdarjja, p=sɨrdɐˈrʲja; fa, سيردريا, Sirdaryâ; tg, Сирдарё, Sirdaryo; tr, Seyhun, Siri Derya; ar, سيحون, Seyḥūn; uz, Sirdaryo, script-Latn/. historically known ...

. Ibn Khordadbeh (c. 820 – 912 CE),

(11th century), Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100–1165), and many other

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

scholars agree that the Pechenegs belonged to the Turkic peoples. The '' Russian Primary Chronicle'' stated that the " Torkmens, Pechenegs, Torks, and

Polovci The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sough ...

ans" descended from "the godless sons of

Ishmael Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

, who had been sent as a chastisement to the Christians".

Westward migration

The Turkic Khaganate collapsed in 744 which gave rise to a series of intertribal confrontations in the

Eurasian steppes The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistria ...

. The Karluks attacked the

, forcing them to launch a westward migration towards the Pechenegs' lands. The Uighur envoy's report testifies that the Oghuz and Pecheneg waged war against each other already in the 8th century, most probably for the control of the trade routes. The Oghuz made an alliance with the Karluks and

Kimaks The Yemek were a Turkic tribe constituting the Kimek-Kipchak confederation, whose other six constituent tribes, according to Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061), were the Imur (or Imi), Tatars, Bayandur, Kipchaks, Lanikaz, and Ajlad. Ethnonym Mino ...

and defeated the Pechenegs and their allies in a battle near the Lake Aral before 850, according to the 10th-century scholar, Al-Masudi. Most Pechenegs launched a new migration towards the Volga River, but some groups were forced to join the Oghuz. The latter formed the 19th tribe of the Oghuz tribal federation in the 11th century. The Pechenegs who left their homeland settled between the Ural 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

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

The same sources also narrate that the Pechenegs made regular raids against their neighbors, in particular against the Khazars and the latter's vassals, the Burtas, and sold their captives. The Khazars made an alliance with the Ouzes 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 The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets, is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv, Don ...

. 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 occur before the 850s. The Pechenegs settled along the rivers

and

Kuban Kuban (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Кубань; ady, Пшызэ) is a historical and geographical region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Pontic–Caspian steppe, ...

. 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-'Alam''a 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 Porphyrogenitus 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.

Alliance with Byzantium

In the 9th century, the Byzantines became allied with the Pechenegs, using them to fend off other, more dangerous tribes such as Kievan Rus' and the

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...

(Hungarians). The Uzes, another

Turkic Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

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,

Kimeks The Yemek were a Turkic tribe constituting the Kimek-Kipchak confederation, whose other six constituent tribes, according to Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061), were the Imur (or Imi), Tatars, Bayandur, Kipchaks, Lanikaz, and Ajlad. Ethnonym Mino ...

, and Karluks was also pressing the Pechenegs, but another group, the

Samanid The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...

s, defeated that alliance. Driven further west by the Khazars and Cumans by 889, the Pechenegs in turn drove the Magyars west of the Dnieper River by 892.

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

Tsar Simeon I Tsar Simeon (also Symeon) I the Great ( cu, цѣсар҄ь Сѷмеѡ́нъ А҃ Вели́къ, cěsarĭ Sỳmeonŭ prĭvŭ Velikŭ bg, цар Симеон I Велики, Simeon I Veliki el, Συμεών Αʹ ὁ Μέγας, Sumeṓn prôto ...

employed the Pechenegs to help fend off the Magyars. The Pechenegs were so successful that they drove out the Magyars remaining in

Etelköz Hungarian prehistory ( hu, magyar őstörténet) spans the period of history of the Hungarian people, or Magyars, which started with the separation of the Hungarian language from other Finno-Ugric or Ugric languages around , and ended with the ...

and the Pontic steppes, forcing them westward towards the Pannonian plain, where they later founded the Hungarian state.

Late history and decline

By the 9th and 10th centuries, Pechenegs controlled much of the steppes of southeast Europe and the Crimean Peninsula. Although an important factor in the region at the time, like most nomadic tribes their concept of statecraft failed to go beyond random attacks on neighbours and spells as mercenaries for other powers. 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 ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...

''). 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. Rus'/Pecheneg temporary military alliances also occurred however, as during the Byzantine campaign in 943 led by Igor.

Ibn Haukal Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronicler who travelled during the y ...

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 ; (943 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire. H ...

, 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

Kurya made a chalice from Sviatoslav's skull, in accordance with the custom of

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, ...

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 word for "retake", by the fact that Vladimir "retook" the 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 Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to: The Black Sea Places * The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores * Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores * The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from nor ...

: the Cumans 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. MadridSkylitzesFol173ra

Pecheneg mercenaries served under the Byzantines at the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and th ...

. 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 The Battle of Levounion was the first decisive Byzantine victory of the Komnenian restoration. On April 29, 1091, an invading force of Pechenegs was crushed by the combined forces of the Byzantine Empire under Alexios I Komnenos and his Cuman a ...

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 Almopia ( el, Αλμωπία), or Enotia, also known in the Middle Ages as Moglena (Greek: Μογλενά, Macedonian and Bulgarian: Меглен or Мъглен), is a municipality and a former province (επαρχία) of the Pella regional uni ...

(today in

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

) 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 The Battle of Beroia (modern Stara Zagora) was fought in 1122 between the Pechenegs and the Byzantine Empire under Emperor John II Komnenos (r. 1118–1143) in what is now Bulgaria. The Byzantine army won the battle, resulting in the disappearan ...

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 the 12th century, according to Byzantine historian John Kinnamos, the Pechenegs fought as

mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

for the Byzantine Emperor

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Romanization of Greek, Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; "born in the purple"), w ...

southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

against the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

king of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occ ...

, William the Bad. A group of Pechenegs was present at the battle of

Andria Andria (; Barese: ) is a city and ''comune'' in Apulia ( southern Italy). It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds. It is the fourth-largest municipality in the Apulia region (behind Bari, Taranto, and Fogg ...

in 1155. The Pechenegs as a group were last mentioned in 1168 as members of Turkic tribes known in the chronicles as the "

Chorni Klobuky Chorni Klobuky or Chornye Klobuki, meaning "black hats" (from russian: Чёрные клобуки, Chërnyye klobuki and uk, Чорні клобуки, Chorni klobuky) was a generic name Mongol invasion of Hungary Mongol invasion of Hungary may refer to: * First Mongol invasion of Hungary, 1241–1242 ** Battle of Mohi * Second Mongol invasion of Hungary, 1285–1286 {{Disambig ...

, 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 Tolna ( hu, Tolna megye, ; german: Komitat Tolnau) is an administrative county ( comitatus or megye) in present Hungary as it was of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It lies in central Hungary, on the west bank of the river Danube. It shares border ...

. One of the earliest introductions of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

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 Abu Hamid al-Gharnati (full name: Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman ibn Rabi al-Māzinī al-Qaysi; c. 1080 – 1170) was an Andalusian traveller from Granada who travelled around eastern and central Europe, and wrote about his trave ...

referred to Hungarian Pechenegs – probably Muslims – living disguised as Christians. In the southeast of Serbia, there is a village called

Pečenjevce Pečenjevce () is a settlement in south-east Serbia (Jablanica District), located at municipality Leskovac. The settlement is a native place of a famous Serbian folk singer Toma Zdravković. The origin of the town name is reported to be from Turk ...

founded by Pechenegs. After war with Byzantium, the remnants of the tribes found refuge in the area, where they established their settlement.

Settlements bearing the name Pecheneg

Besenyszög Besenyszög is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, wheth ...

, Hungary *

Besenyőd Besenyőd is a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, ...

, Hungary *

Besenyőtelek Besenyőtelek is a village in Heves County, Northern Hungary Region, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine ...

, Hungary *

Besnyő Besnyő is a village in Dunaújváros District of Fejér County in Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the ...

, Hungary *

Bešenovački Prnjavor Bešenovački Prnjavor () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Sremska Mitrovica municipality, in the Syrmia District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and it is the smallest village in the municipality - its pop ...

, Serbia *

Bešeňov Bešeňov ( hu, Zsitvabesenyő) is a municipality and village in the Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of south-west Slovakia. History In the 9th century, the territory of Bešeňov became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In historical re ...

, Slovakia *

Bešeňová Bešeňová ( hu, Besenyőfalu) is a village and municipality in Ružomberok District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. It is famous for a hot spring water park attracting thousands of visitors all year round. History In historical reco ...

, Slovakia *

Bešenovo Bešenovo (, ) is a village in Serbia. It is located in the Sremska Mitrovica municipality, in the Syrmia District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and the population numbers 965 people (2002 census). Near the villag ...

, Serbia * Beščeně, a part of

Kunovice Kunovice (, german: Kunowitz) is a town in the Uherské Hradiště District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,500 inhabitants. Geography Kunovice forms a conurbation with neighbouring Uherské Hradiště. It lies on the bo ...

, Czech Republic *

Biçənək Biçənək, anglicized as Bichanak and Bichenek, is a village and municipality in the Shahbuz District of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. It is located in the near of the Yevlakh-Lachin-Nakhchivan highway, 24 km in the north-east from the district c ...

, Azerbaijan *

Ládbesenyő Ládbesenyő is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County in northeastern Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukra ...

, Hungary * Máriabesnyő a part of

Gödöllő Gödöllő (; german: Getterle; sk, Jedľovo) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary, about northeast from the outskirts of Budapest. Its population is 34,396 according to the 2010 census and is growing rapidly. It can ...

, Hungary * Pechenihy, Ukraine *

Pecineaga Pecineaga is a commune in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. To the southeast of the commune lies the city of Mangalia. Administration The commune includes two villages: *Pecineaga ( tr, Pecenek, old names: ''Gherengic'' until 1923, ...

, Romania * Pecinișca, Romania * Peçenek, Turkey *

Pečenice Pečenice ( hu, Hontbesenyőd, previously ) is a village and municipality in the Levice District in the Nitra Region of Slovakia, on the edge of the Štiavnica Mountains. It is noted for its vineyards and viticulture. Geography The village lies a ...

, Slovakia *

, Serbia * Pečeneg Ilova, Bosnia and Herzegovina *

Pečeňady Pečeňady ( hu, Besenyőpetőfalva, until 1899 ) is a village and municipality in Piešťany District in the Trnava Region of western Slovakia. History In history, historical records the village was first mentioned in 1113. Famous people * An ...

, Slovakia *

Pöttsching Pöttsching ( hu, Pecsenyéd, hr, Pečva) is a town in the district of Mattersburg in the Austrian state of Burgenland. The origin of the Hungarian name ''Pecsenyéd'' is reported to be from Pecheneg The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçen ...

, Austria *

Szirmabesenyő Szirmabesenyő ( sk, Bešeňovo) is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slov ...

, Hungary

Leaders

* Kurya c. 970sWhile his rule's exact end cannot be dated, Kurya was no longer khan by 988. *

Metiga Metiga was a Pecheneg ruler who allied himself with Vladimir I of Kiev around the year 988 CE. Metiga assisted with the capture of Cherson by Vladimir, who converted to Christianity shortly after the town's fall to his forces. He was preceded as ...

c. 980s *

Kuchug Kuchug was a Pecheneg khan who ruled during the 990s CE. The '' Nikol'sk Chronicle'' relates that Kuchug converted to Christianity around the year 990 (most likely as a result of Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I S ...

c. 990s *

Kızıl Beg Kizil may refer to: People * Bahar Kizil (born 1988), German singer-songwriter Places * Kizil Caves, Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil Township * Kızıl Kule, main tourist attraction in the Turkish city of Alanya * Kızılırmak River, ...

Western Anatolia c. 1184-(????)s

Notes

Footnotes

References

Primary sources

*''Anna Comnena: The Alexiad'' (Translated by E. R. A. Sewter) (1969). Penguin Books. . *Constantine Porphyrogenitus: ''De Administrando Imperio'' (Greek text edited by Gyula Moravcsik, English translation b Romillyi J. H. Jenkins) (1967). Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. .

Secondary sources

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

www.patzinakia.roThe Primary Chronicle
{{Authority control Turkic peoples of Europe 10th century in Kievan Rus' Medieval Kingdom of Hungary Ethnic groups in Hungary Islam in Hungary Pastoralists Nomadic groups in Eurasia Moldova in the Early Middle Ages Romania in the Early Middle Ages Late Byzantine-era tribes in the Balkans 11th century in Kievan Rus' History of the western steppe Extinct Turkic peoples

Ethnonym

Language

Composition

Notes

History

Origins and area

Westward migration

Alliance with Byzantium

Late history and decline

Settlements bearing the name Pecheneg

Leaders

See also

Notes

Footnotes

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Further reading

External links