In Turkic, the name of this people sounded like bechenek; the Byzantines called them patsinaki/pachinakit, the Arabs called them bajnak. Some historians believe that the ethnonym Bechenek/Pechenegs comes from the name of the historical or legendary leader Beche. However, something else is more likely. The Pecheneg horde consisted of different tribes and ethnic groups. According to the testimony of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the self-name of its three “tribes” or “districts” (small hordes) was kangar - “as more courageous and noble than others, for this is what the nickname kangar means.” The Kangars, apparently, were Turkic people from the collapsed political union that bore their name (the Kangyuy/Kangar state association (2nd century BC - 4th century AD) included nomadic and sedentary tribes on the lands of Khorezm , in the area of ​​the middle and lower reaches of the Syrdarya). In their movement to the west, they joined the Ugric tribal groups of the Southern Urals, which were probably called the Pechenegs themselves, occupying a privileged position among them.

Until the beginning of the 9th century, the Pechenegs lived between the Lower Volga and the Aral Sea. Then, during the period of Khazar unrest, they broke into the Middle Don region. But they didn't stay here long. The Khazars set the Oghuz (Torks) against them, whose blow split the Pecheneg horde. The anonymous Persian author of the geographical treatise “Borders of the World” (late 10th century) already speaks of two branches of the Pechenegs: Turkic and Khazar. The latter roamed in the “Khazar” area - the steppe interfluve of the Lower Don and Lower Volga. This branch of the Pechenegs quickly declined and lost their ethnic independence.

The other, Turkic branch (so named because of the presence of Kangar Turks among them) rolled back to the west. Having fled from the Oguzes, says Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, the Pechenegs “began to wander around different countries, looking for a place to settle.” Archaeologists trace their path through the burnt-out settlements of the Middle and Lower Don region (Saltovo culture), the ruins of castles and cities on the Taman Peninsula. From the late 80s - early 90s. In the 9th century, Byzantine and Western European sources note the presence of the Pechenegs in the Lower Dnieper and Northern Black Sea regions.

The Black Sea Horde consisted of 40 clans, which were united into 8 tribes. The tribes were headed by khans, the clans were headed by elders, “archons of a lower rank,” according to the definition of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, or “the best men in the clans,” as our chronicle calls them. Khans enjoyed unlimited power only in war. The Byzantine emperor noted the ancient custom of succession to the throne in the tribes, according to which power over the horde was inherited not by the son or brother of the deceased khan, but by the cousin of the deceased or one of his sons, “so that dignity does not remain permanently in one branch of the family, but that honor is inherited and received as well.” and relatives on the lateral line.”

The Dnieper divided the Pecheneg horde in two. The nomadic camps of four tribes were located west of the Dnieper (to the Prut basin), the other four - to the east (to the Don steppes). According to Arab writers, the journey from end to end of the Pecheneg lands took a month of horse riding. In the summer, in search of pastures, the Pechenegs rushed to the Dniester steppes, to the shores of the Black Sea and to the plains of the Danube region, and with the onset of autumn they returned to the Dnieper region. The Pechenegs did not have permanent winter huts or cemeteries.

Map of the distribution of eight Pecheneg associations in the European steppes

Ibn Fadlan, who saw the Pechenegs with his own eyes, described their appearance as follows: “They are dark brunettes with completely shaved beards.”

Decades of nomadic life in the Dnieper-Dniester steppes and regular raids on their neighbors enriched the Pechenegs and made them, according to the 11th century Persian geographer Gardizi, owners of large herds of horses and sheep, gold and silver vessels, silver belts and good weapons. Among the characteristic Pecheneg products, among other things, pipes in the form of bull heads are mentioned, with the help of which the khans gave signals to their soldiers during battle. Some of these items are present in the Pecheneg burial mounds - set silver belts, middle bone plates for heavy bows, straight-edged sabers, quivers with arrows, clay vessels with “luxurious” ornaments, etc. Next to the rider, his horse was buried, laid on its belly, bridled and saddled. In the 10th century, such a funeral rite spread throughout the Great Steppe.

Contemporaries rated the combat effectiveness of the Pecheneg horde very highly. Archbishop Theophylact of Bulgaria (10th century) wrote that a Pecheneg raid is “a lightning strike, their retreat is hard and easy at the same time: hard because of the abundance of prey, easy because of the speed of flight. By attacking, they warn rumors, and by retreating, they do not give the pursuers the opportunity to hear about them. And most importantly, they devastate a foreign country, but do not have their own... A peaceful life is misfortune for them, the height of prosperity is when they have an opportunity for war or when they mock a peace treaty. The worst thing is that in their numbers they exceed the spring bees, and no one yet knew how many thousands or tens of thousands they were considered to be: their number is countless.”

The Byzantine historian of the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries, Nikita Choniates, believed that in the battles with the Romans the Pechenegs had a significant advantage, thanks to swift cavalry attacks, well-aimed archery fire and the terrifying effect of the deafening scream with which they carried out their raids.

However, neither human resources nor military organization allowed the Pechenegs to finish off the enemy with one blow, to undermine his power once and for all, as, for example, the Mongols managed; military pressure on their part was expressed in continuous raids. Therefore, the civilized neighbors of the Pechenegs quite often successfully opposed them. Thus, in one of the battles with the Byzantines, the Pechenegs fenced themselves in with carts, creating a semblance of a steppe fortress. This was an effective remedy against cavalry, with which the Pechenegs were primarily accustomed to dealing. But the foot Varangs-“axe-bearers” (immigrants from Britain) quickly destroyed the fortification and rushed inside, ensuring victory for the Romans.

According to Ibn Ruste and Gardizi, the Khazars annually made campaigns in the country of the Pechenegs (East Dnieper) and brought from there many prisoners. However, in order to expel the Pechenegs from the Northern Black Sea region, the Khazar Kaganate did not have enough strength.

Byzantium even more so sought to maintain peaceful relations with the Pechenegs. The Pecheneg trump card was very significant in the political game that the empire played on its northern borders. Summarizing the foreign policy experience of his predecessors, Konstantin Porphyrogenitus instructed his son: “[Know] that while the basileus of the Romans is at peace with the Pachinakites, neither the Dews nor the Turks [Hungarians] can attack the power of the Romans according to the law of war, and also cannot demand great and excessive money and things from the Romans for peace, fearing that the basileus will use the power of this people against them when they oppose the Romans. The Pachinakites, bound by friendship with the basileus and prompted by his letters and gifts, can easily attack the land of the Ros and Turks, take their wives and children into slavery and ruin their land.”

Between the northern line of the Pecheneg nomads and the southern Russian border there was a narrow neutral strip of “one day’s travel” (30-35 kilometers). For some time, it quite reliably ensured the peace of the Russian land. A rather lively Russian-Pecheneg trade even began on the Dnieper. Russian merchants bought cows, horses and sheep from the steppe inhabitants. Konstantin Porphyrogenitus believed that this allowed the Rus to “live easier and more satisfying.” As archaeological research shows, our own livestock farming actually satisfied only a little more than half of the meat needs of the inhabitants of the Kyiv land.

The report about the first skirmish is marked in the Nikon Chronicle in the year 875: “That same summer, Askold and Dir killed many Pechenegs.” However, this date does not fit well with archaeological information about the location of the Pechenegs in the second half of the 9th century. The message from the “Tale of Bygone Years” under 915 looks more plausible: “The Pechenegs came to the Russian land for the first time, and made peace with Igor...”. In 920, Igor himself went on a campaign: “Igor fought against the Pechenegs”; however, both the direction of the campaign and its outcome remain a mystery.

Still, there is reason to believe that the first Pecheneg raids on Rus' were, as a rule, successful. The Slavs who lived in the forest-steppe zone east of the Dnieper especially suffered from them. Archaeological excavations of the local settlements show that with the beginning of the 10th century, their desolation and a significant decline in the standard of living of the population began. Large craft centers disappear, jewelry made of precious metals is less common, and trade with the Muslim East ceases. In the middle of the century, Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus writes that the Pechenegs are capable of fighting the Hungarians, Bulgarians and Rus “and, having repeatedly attacked them, have now become terrible to [them].”

Obviously, it was very important for the Kyiv princely family and all the “Kyans” to pacify the Pechenegs and secure their friendship. After all, according to Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, “the dews cannot go against enemies remote from their borders at all, unless they are in peace with the pachinakites, since the pachinakites have the opportunity - at a time when the dews are moving away from their families - by attacking, they have everything destroy and ruin. Therefore, the Dews always take special care not to suffer harm from them, for this people is strong, to attract them to an alliance and receive help from them, so as to get rid of their enmity and use help.”

Apparently, in the 30s. In the 10th century, the Pecheneg onslaught on the Russian land weakened significantly. The next chronicle news about the Pechenegs in 944 speaks of them as Igor’s allies in the campaign against the Greeks. A peace agreement (or a series of peace agreements) between Kiev and the steppe is evidenced by the fact that the Pechenegs did not prevent the Rus from settling in the Lower Dnieper and Northern Black Sea region. However, the periods of friendship did not last long, ending with the completion of the joint campaign or when the gifts of the Kyiv prince ceased to satisfy the greed of the Pecheneg khans. And then, says Konstantin, “often, when they do not have peace with each other, they [the Pechenegs] rob Russia, cause significant harm and damage to it.” Perhaps it was then, under Igor, that the Russian land began to be surrounded by the first “Serpentine Ramparts” - earthen fortifications that made it difficult to approach Kyiv from the steppe.

In 968, while Prince Svyatoslav was fighting in Bulgaria, Kyiv was surrounded by the Pecheneg horde. Princess Olga secluded herself in the city with her grandchildren, the sons of Svyatoslav - Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir.
Some warriors from the other side of the Dnieper (that is, from the Dnieper left bank, perhaps Chernigovites) came to the aid of the Kievites, sailing to the city in boats. They were led by governor Pretich. But this flotilla timidly crowded around the opposite shore, not daring to cross to the other side. But Pretich did not have the opportunity to communicate with the besieged so that they would support the landing on the shore with a simultaneous sortie from the city - the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv so tightly.

Meanwhile, the people of Kiev began to suffer from hunger and thirst. Finally, when it became impossible to endure the turmoil any longer, the besieged gathered at a meeting and decided: if there is no daredevil among them who would undertake to cross to the other side of the Dnieper today and notify Pretich so that he would not hesitate to cross, then tomorrow morning the townspeople will open the gates Pechenegs. One youth volunteered to go. He left the city with a bridle in his hand and ran through the Pecheneg camp, asking the steppe inhabitants who came across his way if any of them had seen his horse. And since he spoke Pecheneg, his enemies took him for one of their own. Having reached the Dnieper, the boy took off his clothes and threw himself into the waves. Only then did the Pechenegs realize that it was a Kiev messenger and began to shoot at him with bows, but did not hit him. Pretich's people, observing the commotion in the Pecheneg camp, swam towards the swimmer and took him into the boat. Brought to the governor, the youth conveyed to him the decision of the Kievites. Pretich did not even think of fighting the entire horde to save Kyiv. But in order to avoid the wrath of Svyatoslav, he decided to break into the city in the morning, capture Olga and the princes and rush them off to the left bank.

Shortly before dawn, Pretich's squad got into the boats and blew a loud trumpet; The people of Kiev responded with a unanimous cry. And suddenly the Pechenegs rushed in all directions - it seemed to them that Svyatoslav’s army had arrived in time. The princely family was transported to the other side without interference. Meanwhile, the Pecheneg Khan, having come to his senses, drove up alone to the governor Pretich and asked who he was, whether he was a prince. Pretich replied that he was the prince’s “husband” and came with a guard detachment, and Svyatoslav was following with a countless army - he added this to intimidate the enemy. Khan asked for peace; Pretich generously extended his hand to him. They exchanged weapons as a sign of friendship, and the khan rode off. However, the Pechenegs did not go to the steppe - they settled not far from Kyiv, on the Lybid River. After some time, Svyatoslav arrived in time, and news of the threat to Kyiv and his family reached him, and finally drove the Pechenegs into the steppe.

Igor and Svyatoslav used the Pechenegs for their military operations against Byzantium, but these alliances were obviously based only on the division of military spoils. The fate of Prince Svyatoslav is a good example of how little the treaties with an ally that had lost force meant to the Pechenegs.

The first blow to Pecheneg power was dealt during the short reign of Prince Yaropolk Svyatoslavich. The details of his campaign against the Pechenegs are unknown. A short chronicle line only says that the steppe hordes were scattered by the Russian army: “Yaropolk defeated the Pechenegs and imposed tribute on them.”

It fell to Prince Vladimir to tame the Pecheneg danger. The long-term war of Rus' with the Pechenegs during his reign was characterized by the “Tale of Bygone Years” as one endless battle: “the army is great and endless.” However, we can distinguish two stages in this struggle that lasted almost a quarter of a century.

The first, purely defensive, lasted until about the end of the 90s. X century. It was marked by both brilliant victories of the Russian army and heavy defeats, when the life of Prince Vladimir himself was under threat: “... the Pechenegs came to Vasilev, and Vladimir went out against them with a small squad. And they came together, and Vladimir could not resist them, he ran and stood under the bridge, barely hiding from the enemies” (chronicle article dated 995). Archaeological evidence of the furious Pecheneg onslaught on Rus' includes devastated border towns, dismembered bodies of people in ancient Russian burials of this time, skeletons of men keeping traces of saber blows (cemeteries in Voin and Zhovnin). Kyiv was also in constant danger, as evidenced by the remains of the impressive rampart with which Vladimir surrounded the Starokievsky Hill. But the prince’s policy of strengthening the southern border bore fruit. Although the Pechenegs reached the Belgorod defensive line, they, apparently, still did not have the chance to pitch their tents under the walls of the “mother of Russian cities.” In 1018, the German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg, well informed about Russian affairs, wrote that Kiev was an “extremely fortified” city, and “until now it, like the rest of that region... managed to resist the very ruinous raids of the Pechenegs.”

With the beginning of the 11th century, the war entered its second stage. Rus' launched an offensive on the steppe. The greatest successes were achieved on the right bank of the Dnieper. In relation to this time, archeology records the expansion of the zone of Slavic colonization in the Middle Dnieper region to the Ros River basin, a steady increase in the number of border settlements (including trade ones) and an increase in the areas they occupied. The Right Bank Pecheneg horde was forced to migrate far into the steppe. If in the middle of the 10th century Konstantin Porphyrogenitus wrote that the Pecheneg nomads were separated from “Russia” by only “one day’s journey”, then the missionary bishop Bruno of Querfurt testified in 1008 that his journey from Kiev to the Russian-Pecheneg border had already lasted two days ( which corresponds to the distance from Kiev to the banks of Russia), and the location of the Pecheneg camp itself was discovered by him only on the fifth day of travel across the steppe. He also noted the deep fatigue of the nomads from the war and, most importantly, their conviction that long-term peace with Russia is possible only if “the sovereign of Rus' does not change the agreement.” In other words, by that time Vladimir had pressed the right-bank Pechenegs so tightly that the fate of war and peace was entirely in his hands. Through the efforts of Bruno, peace was then concluded, but it apparently did not last long, and in the last years of his life, Vladimir again had to fight the treacherous steppe inhabitants.

And yet, it was during the reign of Vladimir that the prerequisites were laid for the final victory over the Pechenegs and the expulsion of this horde from the “Russian” area of ​​the Great Steppe.

During the dynastic unrest of 1015-1019, the Pechenegs supported Prince Svyatopolk, but were defeated by Yaroslav the Wise.

The last and, apparently, decisive clash with the Pechenegs is dated by the chronicle in 1036. While Yaroslav was in Novgorod, news came to him that the Pechenegs had besieged Kyiv. Gathering a large army of Varangians and Slovenes, Yaroslav hurried to Kyiv. The Pechenegs were numerous, but Yaroslav gave them battle in the open field. The opponents clashed at the site where Hagia Sophia was later built. After a brutal battle, by the evening Yaroslav prevailed. The Pechenegs scattered, many of them drowned in Setomli and other rivers, and the rest of them, the chronicler adds, are running around somewhere to this day.

From Byzantine sources it follows that the Pechenegs fled to the Danube region, from where they began to harass Bulgaria and Byzantium with raids. “This event, left unattended in all new historical works,” writes V. G. Vasilievsky regarding the crossing of the Danube by the Pechenegs, “is of enormous importance in the history of mankind. In terms of its consequences, it is almost as important as the crossing of the Danube of the Western Goths, which began the so-called migration of peoples... The immediate cause of the great movement from West to East, that is, the First Crusade, insofar as this cause lay in the position of the Eastern Empire, were not so much the conquest of the Seljuks in Asia, but the formidable and terrible masses of the Pecheneg horde, which threatened Constantinople itself” (Vasilievsky V.G. Proceedings. St. Petersburg. T. I. 1908, pp. 7-8).

In 1091, the Polovtsian khans Bonyak and Tugorkan, who came to the Balkans at the invitation of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei I Komnenos, defeated the Danube Pechenegs in the valley of the Maritsa River. Pecheneg domination in the Balkans and Danube region was ended in one day. The scale of the military disaster that befell the Pechenegs amazed contemporaries. “On that day, something extraordinary happened: an entire people died, along with women and children, a people whose number was not ten thousand people, but was expressed in huge numbers,” wrote the daughter of Alexei Komnenos, Anna. “It was April 29, the third day of the week.”

Of course, Anna Komnin’s news about the death of the entire Pecheneg “people” should not be taken literally. Sources from the first half of the 12th century still mention the remains of the Danube Pechenegs. But as a subject of the historical process, the Pechenegs disappeared from the political scene forever.

Who are the Pechenegs?

PECHEN?EGI, an ethnically complex steppe people, which included both Turkic and, probably, Ugric tribes in the 8th-9th centuries.
The name “Pechenegs” is found in Russian chronicles; in the work of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus “On the Administration of the Empire” (10th century) they are called “patsinokitai”. The Pechenegs advanced into the Eastern European steppes from the Lower Volga region at the turn of the 8th-9th centuries. However, it is difficult to determine the exact date of this particular fragment of the book's text: most likely, somewhere around 950.
In the strategic structures of the rulers of Byzantium, this people, who occupied the steppe space from the Dnieper to the Danube, acquired great importance due to the fact that thanks to them the Empire could restrain the military activity of the Varangian-Rus and Slavs, who carried out frequent attacks on the outlying Byzantine lands, especially within the Balkan peninsula and Black Sea region.
In order to safely attack Byzantine cities, the Varangian and Old Russian princely troops usually had to agree with the Pechenegs on the right of passage through the territories occupied by them. Otherwise, there was always the danger of an attack from the rear on moving or fighting armies. So, in 972, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, whom the Pechenegs were waiting in ambush, died on the Dnieper rapids. The Pecheneg prince Kurya made a cup from Svyatoslav’s skull, from which he later drank at ceremonial feasts.
The Pecheneg nomadic environment has been poorly studied from the point of view of organization and power structure. The boundaries of tribal possessions often shifted depending on the nature of the relationship with neighboring states and tribes - Torks, Croats, Avars, etc. There were certain principles in the structure of the possessions. In particular, the division into four main territorial groups, each of which was further subdivided into two. Linguistically, the predominant dialect was definitely Turkic, in particular, in the names of tribes such a Turkic term as “irtim” is represented - half, but not all, of the terminology of self-names can be identified as Turkic. There is no doubt the presence of Ugric vocabulary. The military organization is associated with the widespread use of cavalry, but it is also obvious that some raids were carried out by water. Most likely, the use of transport river vessels for military operations was borrowed by the Pechenegs from their closest Slavic neighbors. Until the end of the 10th century. The Pechenegs were a significant force in the steppe and lowland Southeast Europe. In 1036 they suffered a significant defeat from Yaroslav the Wise. Then they, like the Avars, are washed away by the next wave of Turkic invasions. The remnants of the Pechenegs migrated to Hungary.

By which one can determine the origin of a people is language. Pecheneg language belongs to the Turkic family, which includes many speakers from Turkey to Siberia and Central Asia. Throughout this large community there are small subgroups. In the case of the Pechenegs, these are Oguz languages, to which it is classified. Knowing this, we can find out their next of kin.

Origin of the Pechenegs

Relatives of the Pechenegs are the Oguzes - another nomads 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 given. Perhaps this was tribal enmity, as well as serious climatic changes in the habitat, including drought, which meant a decrease in vital resources.

One way or another, the union of tribes moved to the west. This happened at the end of the 9th century, exactly during the emergence of a centralized East Slavic state. For this reason, the newcomers did not go north, but continued their journey west all the way 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, the nomads acquired some Caucasian features over time. Thus, contemporaries argued that the inhabitants of the steppes had black hair and shaved their beards, and a Kiev resident could easily get lost in the crowd when meeting them. Such words seem somewhat contradictory, but it was also possible, especially considering that the steppe people, after successful raids, took local women as concubines.

The nature of the relationship between Russia and the nomads

From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus' became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, and there was a gulf of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by their warlike disposition. And if Rus' over time 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 remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.

The Pechenegs are another wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. In Eastern Europe, this scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first it was the Huns, who with their migration marked the beginning. Arriving in Europe, they terrified more civilized peoples, but over time they disappeared. The Slavs and Magyars later followed their path. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and inhabit a certain territory.

The Slavs, among other things, became a kind of “human shield” of Europe. It was they who constantly took on the blows of new hordes. The Pechenegs in this sense are only one of many. Later they would be replaced by the Polovtsians, and in the 13th century by the Mongols.

Relations with the steppe inhabitants were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push their neighbors apart. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.

The first clashes between nomads and Slavs

The Pechenegs and Rus' first clashed in battle when the nomads attacked the Kyiv ruler Askold. These data are disputed by some historians, but no one denies the fact of military confrontation between newcomers from the steppes in 915 and 920. By this time, Rurikovich’s power had already extended to Novgorod, where he himself came from.

With such great resources and numbers of people, Rus' was able to hold back the onslaught of nomads from the south. Under Igor's son, Svyatoslav, the horde periodically fought on his side as mercenaries, for example, against Byzantium. However, the union was never strong. The same Svyatoslav Igorevich died from a Pecheneg ambush on the Dnieper rapids, after John Tzimiskes offered the khan a lot of gold.

The rise of the steppe people

In those years, the nomadic union reached the peak of its development. Thanks to the campaigns of the Slavs, Khazaria fell. Now the lower reaches of the Volga were empty, and therefore were immediately occupied by the horde. The few colonies of the Slavs in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers, on the territory of modern Moldova, could not survive the Pecheneg raid. Not only immediate neighbors, but also Catholic monarchies in the west, as well as Arab travelers, had heard about the quasi-state on the outskirts of Europe.

Also, all kinds of trophies were left in the grave, received either as a reward or as booty (earrings, jewelry and gold Byzantine coins). The Pechenegs are also the owners of a terrifying arsenal. Therefore, weapons were buried along with the soldiers. As a rule, this

The remains are found mainly in Ukraine. In Russia, Pecheneg mounds are most often found in the Volgograd region.

Pechenegs(Old Slavic peĔnezi, Old Greek Πατζινάκοι) - a union of Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes, which presumably formed in the 8th-9th centuries. The Pecheneg language belonged to the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic language group.

Mentioned in Byzantine, Arabic, Old Russian and Western European sources.

Exodus from Asia (Khazar period)

According to many scientists, the Pechenegs were part of Kangly people. Some of the Pechenegs called themselves Kangars. At the end of the 9th century, those of them who bore the name “patzynak” (Pechenegs), as a result of climatic changes (drought) in the steppe zone of Eurasia, as well as under pressure from neighboring tribes kimakov And Oghuz crossed the Volga and ended up in the Eastern European steppes, where they had previously roamed ugry. Under them, this land was called Levedia, and under the Pechenegs it received the name Padzinakia(Greek: Πατζινακία).

Around 882 the Pechenegs reached Crimea. At the same time, the Pechenegs came into conflict with the princes of Kyiv Askold (875 - this clash is described in later chronicles and disputed by historians), Igor (915, 920). After the collapse of the Khazar Khaganate (965), power over the steppes west of the Volga passed to the Pecheneg hordes. During this period, the Pechenegs occupied territories between Kievan Rus, Hungary, Danube Bulgaria, Alania, the territory of modern Mordovia and the Oguzes inhabiting Western Kazakhstan. The hegemony of the Pechenegs led to the decline of sedentary culture, since the agricultural settlements of the Transnistrian Slavs (Tivertsy: Ekimoutskoe fortified settlement) and the Don Alans (Mayatskoe fortified settlement) were devastated and destroyed.

The nature of the relationship between Russia and the nomads

From the very beginning, the Pechenegs and Rus' became rivals and enemies. They belonged to different civilizations, and there was a gulf of religious differences between them. In addition, both of them were distinguished by their warlike disposition. And if Rus' over time 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 remained nomads by nature, leading a semi-wild lifestyle.

The Pechenegs are another wave splashed out by the Asian steppes. In Eastern Europe, this scenario has played out cyclically for several hundred years. At first these were Huns, who with their migration marked the beginning of the Great Migration of Peoples. Arriving in Europe, they terrified more civilized peoples, but eventually disappeared. Later they followed their path Slavs And Magyars. However, they managed to survive, and even settle down and inhabit a certain territory.

The Slavs, among other things, became a kind of “human shield” of Europe. It was they who constantly took on the blows of new hordes. The Pechenegs in this sense are just one of many. Later they would be replaced by the Polovtsians, and in the 13th century by the Mongols.

Relations with the steppe inhabitants were determined not only by the two parties themselves, but also in Constantinople. Byzantine emperors sometimes tried to push their neighbors apart. Various methods were used: gold, threats, assurances of friendship.

History of the Pechenegs associated with Russia

By the 11th century, pressed by the Polovtsians, the Pechenegs roamed 13 tribes between the Danube and the Dnieper. Some of them professed the so-called Nestorianism. Bruno of Querfurt preached the Catholic faith among them with the help of Vladimir. Al-Bakri reports that around 1009 the Pechenegs converted to Islam.

Around 1010, discord arose among the Pechenegs. The Pechenegs of Prince Tirah converted to Islam, while the two western tribes of Prince Kegen (Belemarnids and Pahumanids, totaling 20,000 people) crossed the Danube into Byzantine territory under the scepter of Constantine Monomakh in Dobrudja and adopted Byzantine-style Christianity.

The Byzantine emperor planned to make them border guards. However, in 1048, huge masses of Pechenegs (up to 80,000 people) under the leadership of Tirah crossed the Danube on ice and invaded the Balkan possessions of Byzantium.

The Pechenegs took part in the internecine war between Yaroslav the Wise and Svyatopolk the Accursed on the side of the latter. In 1016 they took part in the battle of Lyubech, in 1019 in the battle of Alta (both times unsuccessfully).

The last documented Russian-Pecheneg conflict was the siege of Kyiv in 1036, when the nomads besieging the city were finally defeated by the Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise, who arrived in time with his army. Yaroslav used a dismembered formation along the front, placing the Kyivans and Novgorodians on the flanks. After this, the Pechenegs ceased to play an independent role, but acted as a significant part of the new tribal union of the Berendeys, also called the Black Klobuks. The memory of the Pechenegs was alive much later: for example, in a literary work, the Turkic hero Chelubey, who began the Battle of Kulikovo with a duel, is called a “Pecheneg.”

The Battle of Kiev in 1036 was the final one in the history of the Russian-Pecheneg wars.

Subsequently, the bulk of the Pechenegs went to the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea region, and in 1046-1047, under the leadership of Khan Tirah, they crossed the ice of the Danube and fell on Bulgaria, which was at that time a Byzantine province. Byzantium periodically waged a fierce war with them, then showered them with gifts. Further, the Pechenegs, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Torci, Cumans and Guzes, as well as the war with Byzantium, partly entered the Byzantine service as federates, partly were accepted by the Hungarian king to perform border service, and for the same purpose, partly were accepted by the Russian princes.

The other part, immediately after their defeat near Kiev, went to the southeast, where they assimilated among other nomadic peoples.

In 1048 the Western Pechenegs settled in Moesia. In 1071, the Pechenegs played an unclear role in the defeat of the Byzantine army near Manzikert. In 1091, the Byzantine-Polovtsian army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Pechenegs near the walls of Constantinople.

The Arab-Sicilian geographer of the 12th century Abu Hamid al Garnati in his work writes about a large number of Pechenegs south of Kyiv and in the city itself (“and there are thousands of Maghrebs in it”).

Descendants of the Pechenegs

In 1036, Prince Yaroslav the Wise (son of the baptist of Rus', Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich (from the Rurik family) and the Polotsk princess Rogneda Rogvolodovna) defeated the Western unification of the Pechenegs. At the end of the 11th century, under pressure from the Cumans, they moved to the Balkan Peninsula or Greater Hungary. In accordance with the scientific hypothesis, one part of the Pechenegs formed the basis of the Gagauz and Karakalpaks people. The other part joined the Yurmata association. The Kyrgyz have a large clan, Bechen (Bichine), which is genealogically descended from the Pechenegs.

Nevertheless, the memory of the steppe inhabitants was alive among the people for a long time. So, already in 1380, in the battle on the Kulikovo field, the hero Chelubey, who began the battle with his own duel, was called by the chronicler “Pecheneg”.

Foundations and activities

The Pechenegs are a community of tribes; in the 10th century there were eight of them, in the 11th century there were thirteen. Each tribe had a khan, usually chosen from one clan. As a military force, the Pechenegs were a powerful formation. In the battle formation, they used the same wedge, consisting of separate detachments, carts were installed between the detachments, and behind the carts there was a reserve.

However, researchers write that the main occupation for the Pechenegs was nomadic cattle breeding. They lived in a tribal system. But they were not averse to fighting as mercenaries.

Appearance

According to the evidence of available ancient sources, at the time of the appearance of the Pechenegs in the Black Sea region, their appearance was dominated by Caucasian features. They are characterized as brunettes who shaved their beards (according to the description in the travel notes of the Arab author Ahmad ibn Fadlan), had short stature, narrow faces, and small eyes.

Lifestyle

The steppe people, as one would expect, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and roamed with their animals. Fortunately, there were all the conditions for this, since the tribal union was located over a vast area. The internal structure was like this. 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 tribe's possessions was the Dnieper, which divided the steppe inhabitants into western and eastern.

The head of the tribe was elected at a general meeting. Despite the tradition of counting votes, it was mainly the children who succeeded the fathers.

Pechenegs in art

The siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs is reflected in A. S. Pushkin’s poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila”:

Black dust rises in the distance;

The marching carts are coming,

Bonfires are burning on the hills.

Trouble: the Pechenegs rebelled!

In Sergei Yesenin’s poem “Walk in the Field” there are the lines:

Am I sleeping and dreaming

What's with the spears on all sides,

Are we surrounded by Pechenegs?

The tactics of the Pechenegs are simple. They quickly attacked villages, created panic, killed the defenders, filled their bags with loot and disappeared. They never had the task of settling the occupied territories.

The Pechenegs first attacked Byzantium, and then crossed the Danube around the second half of the 11th century. This became the great transition of the Pecheneg Horde, which had a significant impact on the development of history.

The Pechenegs were pagans. Bon, a religion of Tibetan origin, was native to them. They did not like to wash. They did not cut their hair; they braided it in long black braids. A hat was placed on top of the head.

They are melted across rivers using specially made leather bags. All the necessary ammunition is placed inside, and then it is all sewn together so tightly that not a single drop of water can pass through. Their horses were famous for their speed. They covered large spaces with ease. Arrows soaked in snake venom led to inevitable death even with a slight scratch.

exotic food

The main food is millet and rice. Pechenegs boil cereals in milk. No salt. They milked the horses and drank mare's milk instead of water; they did not fry the raw meat, but put it under the saddle, so it warmed up. If hunger was completely unbearable, they did not disdain cats and steppe animals. They were treated with infusions of various steppe herbs. They knew what herbal infusion to drink to increase their range of vision. Many of them could shoot a bird on the fly the first time.

They swore an oath of allegiance to each other by piercing their finger and took turns drinking drops of blood.

The nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs lived in the Trans-Volga steppes, then began to inhabit the territory beyond the Volga and the Urals, from where they left to the west.

War with Russian princes

In the Nikon Chronicle you can find a story about the first summer clash between the troops of the Kyiv princes Askold and Dir with the Pechenegs in Transnistria.

Igor Rurikovich, who ascended the throne, was able to make peace with the Pechenegs, but they, despising such treaties, no longer carried out a short-term raid, but marched on a wide march through Rus'. Therefore, Igor Rurikovich again enters into battle with them. The Pechenegs go to the steppe.

Pecheneg reconnaissance worked well

They had well-equipped intelligence. When Svyatoslav Igorevich and his army set off on a campaign against Bulgaria, the Pecheneg hordes unexpectedly besieged Kyiv. Citizens defend their city with all their might in the absence of main combat units. A Russian intelligence officer, who knew the Pecheneg language well, was able to get through their cordons, swim across the Dnieper and call governor Pretich for help. He immediately hurried to the aid of the besieged - the Pechenegs thought that it was the main troops of Svyatoslav Igorevich coming and rushed to escape, but stopped near the Lybid River and sent envoys to the governor to find out if it was really Svyatoslav coming. The voivode answered them that it was his advanced units that were in front, and the main units behind them. The Pecheneg Khan immediately became a friend and offered a gift - a saber and a horse.

While negotiations were ongoing, Svyatoslav was able to direct his troops against the invaders and drive them far back.

Pechenezh Khan Kuryu was defeated by the son of Svyatoslav

The Pechenegs were able to defeat Svyatoslav only when he was returning from the Byzantine campaign. Near the Dnieper rapids, the Pechenegs organized several ambushes and killed all the Russians. The prince died too. The Pecheneg Khan Kurya made a golden cup from his skull and showed off this trophy to other Pechenegs.

Svyastoslav's eldest son, eleven-year-old Yaropolk, under the command of his regent Svenald, avenged his deceased father in 978 and imposed a large tribute on his enemies.

Russian "Snake Shafts"

Large fortifications, the “Snake Ramparts,” were built as protection against attacks by steppe nomads. The Russians organize round-the-clock watch not only on the ramparts, but also send reconnaissance detachments far into the depths.

In 988, Prince Vladimir tries to come to an agreement with the Pechenegs, attracting some princes to his side. But two years later, other Pecheneg princes again raided the territory of Rus', causing enormous harm. The response followed immediately - Vladimir and his army completely defeated the Pechenegs. But two years later the Pechenegs again gathered their army and stood near the Trubezh River. Russian troops, warned by intelligence, were already standing on the opposite side of the river. The Pechenezh fighter challenged the Russian hero Yan to a duel. The Russian won. Then the troops, inspired by this victory, attacked the Pechenegs and put them to flight.

The last raid on Rus' under Yaroslav the Wise

After the death of Vladimir, the Pechenegs supported Svyatopolk, and Yaroslav had to achieve victory on two fronts. In the battle near the city of Lyubech, the Pechenegs did not participate against Yaroslav; they were cut off by the lake and did not want to force it.

After coming to power, Yaroslav spent a lot of time and effort strengthening borders and cities.

Finally, in 1036, the last battle took place. When Yaroslav was in Novgorod, they besieged Kyiv. But the Russian prince was able to return to the battlefield and organize a defense. The Pechenegs attacked first along the entire front. The Russian counterattack came as a surprise to them. The battle lasted the whole day, but Yaroslav was able to win. True, as historians note, with great difficulty.

Where did the Pechenegs disappear?

The remnants of the Pechenegs went deep into the steppes and never again attempted attacks on Rus'. Their leader, Prince Tirah, attacked Bulgaria, then Byzantium, but was exhausted in continuous battles and gradually his army disintegrated. Some went to serve as mercenaries in the Byzantine, Hungarian and Russian troops. Other Pechenegs moved to the southeast, where they merged with other nationalities.

Modern descendants of the Pechenegs

They became the ancestors of the Karapalkaps, Bashkirs, Gagauzes (Turkic people living in Bessarabia, Odessa region of Ukraine, on the territory of Moldova as part of the autonomous territory of Gagauzia). The Kyrgyz large family Bechen trace their origins to the Pechenegs.