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cumans

n. (plural of Cuman English)

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Cumans

The Cumans ( Turkish and Azeri: Kuman, plural: Kumanlar; ; ; Kazakh: Қыпшақтар, Qıpşaqtar, قىپشاقتار; , Қипчоқлар; , Kăpçaksem; , Qomannar/Qıpçaqlar; , Qıpsaqtar/qomandar; , , , , Polovtsy; , Polovtsi; , Poławcy/kypčaki/kumany; Bulgarian and Macedonian: Кумани, Kumani; Czech: Plavci; , Qivçaqi, Qipçaḡi; German: Falones, Phalagi, Valvi, Valewen, Valani) were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman- Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many sought asylum in Hungary, as many Cumans had settled in Hungary and Bulgaria before the invasion.

Related to the Pecheneg, they inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea and along the Volga River known as Cumania, where the Cuman-Kipchaks meddled in the politics of the Caucasus and the Khwarezm Empire.

Many eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Kievan Rus', the Galicia–Volhynia Principality, the Golden Horde Khanate, the Second Bulgarian Empire, Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Moldavia, the Kingdom of Georgia, the Byzantine Empire, the Empire of Nicaea, the Latin Empire and Wallachia.

The Cumans also had a pre-eminent role in the Fourth Crusade and in the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Cuman and Kipchak tribes joined politically to create the Cuman-Kipchak confederation.

The Cuman language is attested in some medieval documents and is the best-known of the early Turkic languages. The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual that was written to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cuman people.

The Cumans were fierce and formidable nomadic warriors of the Eurasian steppe who exerted an enduring impact on the medieval Balkans. They were numerous, culturally sophisticated and militarily powerful.

The basic instrument of Cuman political success was military force, which dominated each of the warring Balkan factions. Groups of the Cumans settled and mingled with the local population in regions of the Balkans, and Cuman settlers founded three successive Bulgarian dynasties ( Asenids, Terterids, and Shishmanids) and the Wallachian dynasty ( Basarabids); however, in the cases of the Basarab and Asenid dynasties, medieval documents refer to them as Vlach ( Romanian) dynasties.

They played an active role in the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Second Bulgarian Empire and Kingdom of Serbia, with Cuman immigrants being integrated into each country's elite.

Usage examples of "cumans".

The Petchenegs, sometimes called Cumans, had swept across the trade route to Baghdad, and they had almost cut Kiev off from Constantinople by driving their hordes into the lands north of the Black Sea.

The Bisseni and Cumans, a mixed multitude of Patzinacites, Uzi, Chazars, &c.