МИГРАЦИЯТА НА КУМАНИТЕ НА БАЛКАНИТЕ В КРАЯ НА 30-ТЕ И НАЧАЛОТО НА 40-ТЕ ГОДИНИ НА XIII В.
CUMAN MIGRATION TO THE BALKANS AT THE END OF 30’S AND BEGINNING OF 40’S OF XIII CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The Cuman tribal union, known in the Middle East as “Desht-I Kipchak”, had existed for nearly two centuries in the vast area between the Danube and the Altay Mountains before the clash with the spreading in the steppes Mongol Empire opened around 1216 AD. After prolonged struggle the Mongols finally inflicted a crushing defeat on the Cumans in 1237 AD, succeeding to penetrate even to the most western parts of their realm. The only hope left to many of the survivors (like some of their noblest families who had opposed the Mongols most vigorously) was flight and immigration. Many of the fugitives chose to proceed to the Balkan Peninsula. Vladislav Ivanov, collecting the sparse data in the sources, concludes for the first time that there were three completely separate migratory waves of fleeing Cumans towards the Balkans between the years 1238 AD and 1243 AD. Their fates were different: some became freelancers for the Byzantines, Latins and Bulgarians, while others were attacked, murdered and sold into slavery. The article is devoted to the clarification of the Cuman’s immigrants’ destiny.

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