Könchek (Cuman)
Könchek (also spelled Konchak, Könchek, Končak, in Russian / Ukrainian: Кончак; died in 1187 [1]) was a Cuman khan of 12th century.
Biography
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Respectively the son and grandson of the khans Otrok and Sharukan, he unified the Kipchak and Cuman tribes of the east in the second half of the 12th century, and in the years 1170 and 1180, waged war against the Russian princes; taking advantage of their dissensions, he attacked the principalities of Kiev, Pereïaslavl and Chernigov. His raids were particularly destructive along the Sula River.
In 1171, Könchek allied with the prince of Novhorod-Siverskyi Oleg II Svyatoslavich, in his conflicts against the other Russian princes, but in 1184, during an attack led against the principality of Kiev, his army was defeated near the Khorol River by the prince Sviatoslav III. The following year, Könchek defeated the prince Igor Svyatoslavich who was taken prisoner near the Kaiala River (possibly modern Kalmiius River [2]). This unfortunate campaign of Prince Igor against Könchek became the subject of an epic poem, The Tale of Igor's Campaign .
Könchek died in 1187. His daughter Svoboda ("Liberty" in Russian) married in 1188 Vladimir III Igorevich, son of Prince Igor. In 1203, his son Yuri took Kiev as an ally of the prince Rurik Rostislavich who, chased from Kiev, recruited rival Cuman tribesmen to regain power. Könchek's second son, Kotyan, would famously lead a combined Rus-Cuman coalition in an attempt to resist the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.
References
- Paul R. Magocsi, "A History of Ukraine," University of Toronto Press, 1996, p. 82. ISBN 0802078206
- Volodymyr Kubijovyc, editor. Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Volume II: G-K University of Toronto Press, 758 pages, 1988 ISBN 1442651180, ISBN 9781442651180
Bibliography
- Martin Dimnik, The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146–1246 , Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Boris Grekov, Aleksandr Yakubovsky, The Golden Horde and Russia: Tatar rule in the XIII and XIV of the Yellow Sea to the Black Sea '. Translated from Russian by François Thuret, Payot, 1961.
- Novgorod First Chronicle
External links
- "Konchak", Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine , vol. 2, 1989.