A litmus test by which one can determine the origin of a people is language. The Pecheneg language belongs to the Turkic family, which includes many speakers from Turkey to Siberia and Central Asia. There are small subgroups throughout this large community. In the case of the Pechenegs, these are Oguz languages, to which he is ranked. Knowing this, we can find out their next of kin.
The origin of the Pechenegs
Relatives of the Pechenegs are the Oghuz - another nomad who took an active part in the education of the peoples of Central Asia. The Pechenegs are their closest neighbors who decided to move west from the Volga steppes. There are several reasons. Perhaps this was a tribal feud, as well as serious climatic changes in the habitat, including drought, which meant a decrease in vital resources.
One way or another, but the tribal union moved west. This happened at the end of the 9th century, exactly at the time of the emergence of a centralized East Slavic state. For this reason, the aliens did not go north, but continued their journey to the west right up to the borders with Bulgaria and Byzantium. New neighbors settled in the Black Sea steppes, on the territory of modern Ukraine.
Despite their Turkic roots, nomads eventually acquired some Caucasoid features. So, contemporaries claimed that the inhabitants of the steppes are black-haired and shave their beards, and a Kiev citizen when meeting with them can easily get lost in the crowd. Such words seem somewhat contradictory, but it was also possible, especially when you consider that the steppe inhabitants, after successful raids, took local residents into concubines.
The nature of the relationship between Russia and nomads
From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Russia became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, between them there was a chasm of religious differences. In addition, both of them were distinguished by a warlike disposition. And if over time Russia acquired the features of a real state, which provides for itself, which means it may not attack its neighbors for the purpose of profit, then its southern neighbors have remained nomadic by nature, leading a semi-wild way of life.
The Pechenegs are the next wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. In Eastern Europe, this scenario has been played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first it was the Huns, who, with their migration, laid the foundation for the Great Migration of Peoples. Arriving in Europe, they terrified the more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. In the future, the Slavs and Magyars went along their path. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and inhabit a certain territory.
The Slavs, among other things, have become a kind of "human shield" of Europe. It was they who constantly took upon themselves the blow of new hordes. Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. Subsequently, the Polovtsy will come in their place, and in the 13th 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.
The first clashes between nomads and Slavs
Pechenegs and Russia first encountered in battle when the nomads attacked the Kiev ruler Askold. These data are disputed by some historians, but no one denies the fact of a military confrontation between aliens from the steppes and Prince Igor in 915 and 920. By this time, the power of Rurikovich had already extended to Novgorod, where he himself came from.
With such large resources and the number of people, Russia was able to restrain the onslaught of nomads from the south. Under Igor's son, Svyatoslav, the horde periodically fights on his side as mercenaries, for example, against Byzantium. However, the union was never strong. All the same Svyatoslav Igorevich died from the Pecheneg ambush on the Dnieper rapids, after John Tzimiskes offered the khan a lot of gold.
The heyday of the steppes
In those years, the nomadic union reaches its peak of development. Thanks to the campaigns of the Slavs, Khazaria fell. Now the lower reaches of the Volga were empty, and therefore, they were immediately occupied by a horde. The raid of the Pechenegs could not survive the few colonies of the Slavs in the interfluve of the Dniester and the Prut, in the territory of modern Moldova. Not only immediate neighbors, but also Catholic monarchies in the west, as well as Arab travelers, have heard about a quasi-state on the outskirts of Europe.
Under Vladimir the Red Sun, the confrontation between the two forces came with varying success. In particular, at the Trubezh in 993, the prince won, while in 996, near Vasilyev, the Slavs were defeated. Vladimir not only sent troops to the border regions. He was the first to use the practice of building fortresses on the border with the steppe, with the help of signal lights on which Kiev could quickly be notified of an impending danger. In addition, shafts were created that prevented the steppes from grazing the herd, and thus forced them to go south.
Participation in feuds in Russia
After the death of the baptist of Rus, a feud between his sons began in the principality. Nomads as mercenaries acted in this conflict on the side of Svyatopolk the Accursed, who did not shy away from the most dirty methods, including the insidious murder of brothers. Like the name of the fanatic, the word "Pechenegs" is still found as a synonym for barbaric behavior.
Svyatopolk was defeated. Yaroslav the Wise came to power . With him, the Pechenegs bothered Russia for the last time. In 1036 they tried to besiege unarmed Kiev, but were defeated by the army of the Grand Duke.
Polovtsian threat
After several defeats from the Slavs, the situation of the Pechenegs became threatening. In the XI century in Russia, the era of the formation of the specific principalities began, and the fragmentation of the princes was on the nomads hand. However, at this time a new horde appeared in the east. These were the Polovtsy (in different sources also the Kumans or Kipchaks). It was they who expelled the former owners of the Black Sea steppe from their places. It is also important that the new nomads brought the old their faith - Islam. Some khans accepted him, some, on the contrary, refused. Such feuds could not benefit the union.
Polovtsy and Pechenegs were ethnically close. Both of them belonged to the Turkic peoples. However, this did not prevent the enmity and defeat of one of the parties. The Polovtsy and the Pechenegs were unequal in strength, since on the side of the new horde there were fresh replenishment from Asia, while the old alliance suffered from constant wars with strong neighbors.
Further fate
The displaced nomads went to the Balkan Peninsula or to Hungary, where they assimilated with the local population and ceased to exist as a separate nation. However, this is only one point of view.
According to another theory, the Pechenegs are the ancestors of the present Gagauz people living in Moldova and professing Orthodoxy. Throughout the 11th century, hordes were still found in some sources. For example, they participated in the Byzantine wars against the Seljuks. The last serious defeat was inflicted on the Turkic tribe in 1091, when the combined army of the emperor and Polovtsy defeated the aggressors near the walls of Constantinople. The defeat of the Pechenegs was complete and final. No one else heard anything about them.
Nevertheless, the memory of the steppes was alive among the people for a long time. So, already in 1380, in the Battle of Kulikovo Field, the hero Chelubey, who began the battle with his own duel, was called the chronicler “Pecheneg”.
Lifestyle
The steppe inhabitants, as one would expect, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and wandered along with their animals. The benefit for this was all the conditions, since the tribal union was located in a vast space. The internal arrangement was like that. There were two large groups. The first settled between the Dnieper and the Volga, while the second wandered between Russia and Bulgaria. In each of them there were forty genera. The approximate center of the tribal possessions 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 inherited mainly children.
Burial places
The Pecheneg archeological monuments are represented by small mounds. The dead are always turned head west. As a rule, a person was buried with a horse. Therefore, in the mounds, in addition to human bones, there are horse bones. A cult like this is the norm for nomadic communities .
All kinds of trophies were left in the grave either, either as a reward or as a booty (earrings, jewelry and coins of golden Byzantine coinage). Pechenegs are also the owners of an awesome arsenal. Therefore, along with the soldiers buried weapons. As a rule, this is a broadsword (saber).
The remains are found mainly in Ukraine. In Russia, Pecheneg mounds are most often found in the Volgograd region.