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47-634: Köten, known as Kötöny in Hungarian and Kotjan (or Kotyan ) in Russian, had his name spelt variously as Kutan (in Arabic), Kuthen , Kuthens , Koteny and Kuethan . In the Russian annals, his name is rendered Котян Сутоевич (Kotyan Sutoevich, Kotjan Sutoevič). In a charter of Béla IV , a Cuman chieftain Zayhan or Seyhan is mentioned, assumed to have been Köten. Akhmetova et al. linked his personal name Köten to

94-535: A claimant to the throne of Halych since 1219. Mstislav married to one of Köten's daughters prior to 1223. Köten forged an alliance with the princes of Kievan Rus against the Mongols (also called Tatars) after a defeat in 1222. He gave "numerous presents: horses, camels, buffaloes and mistresses. And he presented these gifts to them, and said the following, 'Today the Mongols took away our land and tomorrow they will come and take away yours'." The Cumans were ignored for almost

141-672: A cruel fate. Following the death of Mstislav, Köten supported the claim of Michael of Chernigov against Daniel of Galicia . In 1229, he swore loyalty to Daniel. His Cumans and the Prince of Halych jointly fought against Hungary in that year (or in 1230), while the Hungarians commanded by Duke Béla was supported by the baptized chieftain Bortz . Köten and his Cumans were also involved in Daniel's campaign against Andrew of Hungary, Prince of Halych in 1233. In

188-529: A daughter of a Cuman chieftain. According to some opinions, Elizabeth's father was the late Köten. In this context, he was grandfather of King Ladislaus IV of Hungary (also "Ladislaus the Cuman"). However, a charter of her father-in-law, Béla IV, refers to one Seyhan, a Cuman chieftain as his kinsman, implying that Seyhan was Elizabeth's father. Seyhan was possibly the leader of the Cumans whom Béla had invited to settle in

235-508: A prince who hitherto was as equal to him [...]. After several exchanges of envoys from both parties, the aforesaid Kuten set out with his people to come to Hungary. After returning from Magna Hungaria in 1236, Friar Julian informed King Béla IV of Hungary of the Mongols, who had by that time reached the Volga River and were planning to invade Europe . In the subsequent years, the Mongols invaded Desht-i Qipchaq —the westernmost regions of

282-552: A year, however, as the Rus' had suffered from their raids for decades. The Cuman–Kipchak confederation under Köten and a Rus army of 80,000 men under his son-in-law Mstislav the Bold fought a battle at the Kalka River ( Kalchyk , near Mariupol ) against a Mongol contingent commanded by Jebe and Sübötäi . The Rus-Cuman army was routed and had to retreat on 31 May 1223. Köten narrowly escaped from

329-727: The Hypatian Codex (compiled c. 1425), but the full text of the vita is not found in these manuscripts. It is not until the Younger Recension of the Novgorod First Chronicle (compiled c. 1450) that an extensive narrative of his demise appears, stating that the bodies of Mikhail and Fedor were thrown to the dogs; but as a sign of divine favor, their bodies remained unmolested and pillars of fire hovered over them. The Nikon Chronicle (compiled c. 1550) added even more text to Mikhail's vita , including claims that

376-519: The Carpathian Mountains , after which he returned to Buda and called a council of war and ordered unity against the Mongols. The opposite happened, however, as many of the barons were hostile towards the Cumans. The Hungarian barons noted that there were Cumans in the Mongol armies, but they did not realize that this was because they were conscripted into it and had no say in the matter. In particular

423-692: The Diocese of Várad (today Oradea, Romania) in the kingdom, he was in the company of Cardinal Giacomo in Italy between 1236 and 1239. Rogerius quarter , a district in Oradea, Romania, is named after him. Master Roger was archdeacon of Várad when the town was captured by the Mongols, who had invaded the kingdom from the east. He fled from the town, "ran away into the forest and hid there as long as" he could. Next, Master Roger arrived in Csanád , but it had also been devastated by

470-531: The Dominican Order . The monarch only agreed to give them shelter after Köten promised to convert together with his people to Christianity, and to fight against the advancing Mongols. Köten accepted the conditions and Béla IV, who, with his entourage, went to the border to receive him, granted asylum to the Cuman refugees. This event most plausibly occurred at the Easter of 1239 (27 March), while Gyula Pauler considered

517-722: The Durut tribe of the Kipchaks. According to Pritsak, "Durut" was the Terter tribe of the Cumans. As Old Russian annals narrate, his brother was Somogur (Сомогоуръ), both belonged to the "Sutoevič" clan, according to the source. Soviet historian Svetlana Pletnyova considered this marked the name of their father. According to Timothy May, Köten was one of the khans of the Kipchaks . István Vásáry identified him as Cuman . Peter Benjamin Golden considered "Köten"

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564-512: The Eurasian Steppes —and routed the Cumans. Fleeing the Mongols, at least 40,000 Cumans under the leadership of Köten approached the eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary and demanded admission in 1239. Köten was willing to acknowledge the king's supremacy and submitted himself to him, although he was previously "equal to him", as Master Roger emphasizes. Béla sent his emissaries, some friars of

611-719: The Rhine valley and Hungary passed to Chernigov. He also negotiated commercial treaties and political alliances with the Poles and the Hungarians . He alleviated the tax burden of the Novgorodians and granted their boyars greater political freedom from the prince. During the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1237–1242), Mikhail was defeated and had to flee; in 1246, he was executed by Batu Khan . A hagiography vita of Michael of Chernigov

658-736: The Cumans left Hungary for the Second Bulgarian Empire . With the Cumans' departure Béla lost his most valuable allies. The Hungarian army was virtually annihilated in the Battle of Mohi on the Sajó River on 11 April 1241. The enraged Cuman-Kipchak masses began to plunder the countryside, and moved southwards in the country. They crossed the Danube and reached Syrmia (called Marchia by Roger). After causing much destruction and havoc in Hungary, they left

705-537: The Cumans, sent solemn envoys to the said king [Béla IV of Hungary] with the message that he had fought the Tatars [Mongols] for many years and twice defeated them, but the third time [...] they devastated most of his land by force and killed his people. Therefore, [...] he was ready to submit himself and his people [...] and follow him in the Catholic faith. Hearing this, the king was filled with exceeding great joy, partly because

752-497: The Hungarian elite. After that, they entered marriages with Hungarian noblewomen. However, the king's decision of granting asylum to the Cumans caused social, economic, and political tension, and the settlement of masses of nomadic Cumans in the plains along the river Tisza gave rise to many conflicts between them and the local villagers. Béla, who needed the Cumans' military support, rarely punished them for their robberies, rapes and other misdeeds. His Hungarian subjects thought that he

799-500: The Mongols already established a system of military governors and tax collectors in all cities of Kievan Rus' in 1237–1240, which is historically very unlikely. Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , an Italian papal legate who travelled through the lands of former Kievan Rus' in the late 1240s, wrote the following account of his death in the Ystoria Mongalorum : (…) when Michael, one of the princes of Russia, came to submit to Bati,

846-477: The Mongols. With the disintegration of the hierarchy of power, Köten became the supreme khan of the Cumans in 1239, according to historian György Györffy . Previously, Köten was second or third in rank among the major Cuman leaders after Yury Konchakovich (son of Könchek) and Danyiil Kobjakovic (son of Kobiak or Kobek). In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1242 [ sic ], it happened that Kuten [Köten], king [ khan ] of

893-489: The Tartars first tried to make him pass between two fires. After this they said that he should bow south to Chingis Khan, but he replied that he would gladly bow to Bati and his servants but not to the image of a dead man because this is improper for a Christian. When he was repeatedly told through his son Yaroslav that he must bow, and yet he refused, Bati ordered Prince Michael killed if he would not bow. Prince Michael of Chernigov

940-534: The Western Kipchak tribal name Kotan . Köten appears in various contemporary works and chronicles, including the Russian annals, Roger of Torre Maggiore 's Carmen miserabile , continuation of the Annals of Heiligenkreuz ( Continuatio Sancrucensis ), Alberic of Trois-Fontaines ' chronicle and various Muslim sources. An Arabic source – Al-Nuwayri – calls his people Kipchaks; Kutan is mentioned as belonging to

987-436: The arrival of the Cumans took place in the autumn of 1239. In contrast to the narration of Master Roger, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines' chronicle claims that Köten came to Hungary after being captured by Hungarians in battle, disguised as a Mongol. In accordance with his oath, Köten converted to Roman Catholicism , being baptized by the Hungarian monarch himself in 1239 as Jonas . Other Cuman chieftains were baptized by members of

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1034-576: The barons did not trust Köten, commemorating his former alliance with the "Russians" and his struggles against the Hungarians. They blamed the Cumans acted as "advance guard" of the Mongols, to get to know the conditions of the country, to learn their language, and when they are informed of their arrival, to start the fight against the Hungarians, so that they will be able to take possession of the Verecke Pass (or "Russian Gate", present-day Veretskyi Pass, Ukraine) more easily, according to Master Roger, despite

1081-520: The battlefield, while other Cuman chieftains were killed. Köten was deposed from power in that year, but he remained leader of the Terteroba clan. Following the battle, some historians – Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall , István Gyárfás, Josef Markwart – argue that Köten and his Cumans settled down along the southern Volga and lived there until their expulsion in the end of the 1230s. However, according to Old Russian sources, Köten and his people lived west of

1128-462: The cathedral chapter and the locals would have preferred a Dominican friar named John. Finally, King Béla IV of Hungary , the supreme lord of the town, approved the appointment of Roger, who arrived in his seat in February 1250. He passed through the region of Pannonia , entered Hungary, and then proceeded to the court of King Béla bearing a letter of recommendation from the pope. There he explained

1175-461: The country for Bulgaria. There is a hypothesis that the Terter dynasty , which eventually ruled Bulgaria, descended from Köten's clan. Following the Mongol invasion, Béla IV invited the Cumans, who had in 1241 left Hungary, to return and settle in the plains along the river Tisza. He even arranged the engagement of his firstborn son, Stephen , who was crowned king-junior in or before 1246, to Elizabeth ,

1222-460: The death of Cardinal Giacomo in 1244, Master Roger was employed by Cardinal John of Toledo . When he accompanied his new master to the First Council of Lyon in 1245, he was already a canon in the diocese of Zagreb . Master Roger was appointed archbishop of Split by Pope Innocent IV after the death of Archbishop Ugrin , who had died on April 30, 1249. It seems that both the canons of

1269-418: The details of the events through which he had been appointed to take charge of the church of Split. His Royal Majesty, in fact, was not all pleased with what had been decided regarding him, and he was quite angry that Roger had been appointed without his knowledge and consent. But he hid his indignation and let the archbishop proceed in peace to his see. During his more than fifteen years in the archbishopric, he

1316-593: The early spring of 1237, the Mongols attacked the Cuman-Kipchaks. Some of the Cuman-Kipchaks surrendered; it was this element that was later to form the ethnic and geographic basis of the Mongol khanate known to the former lords of the country as the "Kipchak khanate". Known also as the Golden Horde , the Kipchak khanate belonged to one of the branches of Jochi 's house - Genghis Khan 's eldest son. The Kipchak leader Bačman

1363-503: The fact that the Mongols had attacked Köten's people for nearly 20 years. This chaos pushed Béla IV into a corner; feeling he needed to show his strength and keep the rebellious barons on his side, he ordered Köten and his family, along with other chief men, to be placed under house arrest. The Mongols broke through the barricades erected in the Verecke Pass on 12 March 1241. Duke Frederick II of Austria , who arrived to assist Béla against

1410-720: The invaders, defeated a small Mongol troop near Pest . He seized prisoners, including Cumans from the Eurasian Steppes who had been forced to join the Mongols. When the citizens of Pest realized the presence of Cumans in the invading army, mass hysteria emerged. The townsfolk accused Köten and their Cumans of cooperating with the enemy. A riot broke out and the mob with the leadership of some barons massacred Köten and his retinue on 17 March 1241. The Continuatio Sancrucensis claims that Köten, for fear of lynching, murdered his family and committed suicide before their capture. The arriving Hungarians then cut off their heads and threw them onto

1457-466: The invaders. He was soon captured by the Mongols, but managed to escape as the invaders were withdrawing from Hungary in 1242. We climbed a tall tree and surveyed the land destroyed by the Tatars that they had not wasted when they first came. What pain! We began to walk across the waste and abandoned land that they had destroyed while retreating. Church towers were our way signs from one place to another and

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1504-400: The most senior tribal leader; he instead passed it on to his son Köten. Köten and his brother Somogur are first mentioned by Russian annals in 1202 (but in fact, it occurred in 1205), when supported Rurik Rostislavich in the war against Roman Mstislavich . During that time, they also had a confrontation with the Hungarian troops. Later, Köten appeared as an ally of Mstislav the Bold , who was

1551-716: The plains along the river Tisza around 1246. The video game Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition contains a five-chapter campaign titled "Kotyan Khan", starting with his rallying the remains of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation and concluding with the arrival of the Cumans in Bulgaria as well as their later return to Hungary. Roger of Torre Maggiore Roger of Torre Maggiore or Master Roger ( Hungarian : Rogerius mester ; 1205 in Torre Maggiore – April 14, 1266 in Split )

1598-459: The post of archdeacon of Sopron in the western part of the Kingdom of Hungary, Várad having been completely destroyed by the Mongols. He took over his new post in 1243, and set about recording his experiences during the Mongol invasion in a letter written to Cardinal Giacomo. His letter provides a "dramatic description of the events" ( Florin Curta ) leading to the destruction of the kingdom. Following

1645-431: The prince comforted one of his soldiers who stood near by him by saying: 'Be strong because your punishment will not last long and then at once eternal joy will follow.' After this his head was cut off quickly with a knife. The soldier, to tell the truth, also had his head cut off with a knife. Michael married once and had several children. The later Upper Oka Principalities of the 14th and 15th centuries were reigned by

1692-453: The river Dnieper . Pletnyova considered Köten and his Cumans lived in the area between the rivers Dnieper and Don prior to the Battle of the Kalka River. Köten continued to support Mstislav's campaigns until the latter's death in 1228. For instance, in 1226, a boyar named Žiroslav threatened those who disobeyed Mstislav that he would hand them over to his father-in-law Köten, who destined for them

1739-465: The road they marked for us was rough. The roads and paths had vanished; grass and thorn bushes had taken over. Leeks , purslane , onions and garlic, left in the gardens of the peasants, were, when they could be found, brought to me as the choicest delicacies; the others made do with mallow , houseleek and cowbane roots. We filled our hungry stomach with these and the spirit of life was revived in our drained bodies. He went to Rome , where he received

1786-469: The streets outside the house in an act of brutality that had dire consequences. On hearing about Köten's fate, his Cumans decided to leave Hungary and destroyed many villages on their way to the Balkans. A Hungarian army, led by Bishop Bulcsú Lád and Nicholas Szák , who intended to join the royal army in the campaign against the Mongols, came across the marauders in central Hungary, and was wiped out. Thereafter

1833-499: Was "from a town called Turris Cepia in the region of Benevento ", that has been identified with Torre Maggiore in Apulia in Italy . He arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary in the retinue of Cardinal Giacomo da Pecorara , a papal legate sent to King Andrew II of Hungary in 1232. Although he received the prebend of a chaplainship, and later of the archdeacon in the cathedral chapter of

1880-495: Was also Prince of Pereyaslavl (1206), Novgorod-Seversk (1219–1226), Chernigov (1223–1235; 1242–1246), Novgorod (1225–1226; 1229–1230), and Galicia (1235–1236). Archaeological evidence reveals that Chernigov towns enjoyed an unprecedented degree of prosperity during his period which suggests that promoting trade was a priority for him. Commercial interests, in part, also motivated him to seize control of Halych and Kiev because they were channels through which goods from

1927-650: Was also the name of the tribe. In either case, the two peoples were part of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation, known as Cumania in Latin, Desht-i Qipchaq in Islamic sources (from Turkic), and Polovtsy in East Slavic. Some sources regard Cumans and Kipchak as the western and eastern names for the same people. According to some arguments, his father was Könchek , who changed the old Cuman system of government whereby rulership went to

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1974-635: Was an Italian prelate active in the Kingdom of Hungary in the middle of the 13th century. He was archbishop of Split in Dalmatia from 1249 until his death. His Epistle to the Sorrowful Lament upon the Destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Tatars is a unique and important source of the Mongol invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1241 and 1242 . According to archdeacon Thomas of Split , Roger

2021-606: Was biased in the Cumans' favor, thus "enmity emerged between the people and the king", according to Master Roger. After a long siege and fierce fighting within the city, Kiev fell on 6 December 1240 and was largely destroyed. The advancing Mongols reached the Hungarian border soon thereafter. The Mongols gathered in the lands bordering Hungary and Poland under the command of Batu Khan in December 1240. They demanded Béla's submission to their Great Khan Ögödei , but Béla refused to yield. King Béla then installed front line defenses at

2068-820: Was captured in 1236–37 on the Volga banks by Möngke , and then executed. According to Rashid-al-Din Hamadani , Berke led a third campaign in the autumn of 1238 which inflicted final defeat on the Cumans-Kipchaks. Ukrainian sources claim that it was Batu Khan that defeated Köten on the Astrakhan steppes. Several Cumans swore loyalty to the Mongols, while others decided to flee towards the Balkan Peninsula . Köten refused to submit to Mongol rule too. Afterwards, Köten led 40,000 "huts" (families, around 70-80,000 people) to Hungary, fleeing

2115-474: Was involved from time to time in conflicts both with his flock and with the monarch. In his last years, Archbishop Roger suffered from gout that also paralyzed him. He was buried in the Cathedral of Saint Domnius . Michael of Chernigov Mikhail Vsevolodovich ( c.  1185 – 20 September 1246), known as Michael or Mikhail of Chernigov , was Grand Prince of Kiev (1236–1239; 1241–1243); he

2162-408: Was passed between fires in accordance with ancient Turco-Mongol tradition. Batu Khan sent to stab him to death for his refusal to do obeisance to Chingis Khaan's shrine in the pagan ritual imposed by the conqueror. The prince replied that he "preferred to die rather than do what was wrong". Bati sent Michael to one of his followers who trampled on his chest with his boots until the prince died. Meanwhile

2209-601: Was written some time after his death, describing his life in detail, and framing his execution as martyrdom . It is unclear when this account was written (at least after the Mongol census in Suzdalia and Novgorod in 1257–59 ), and how historically reliable it is. Mikhail's death is briefly mentioned in the Older Recension of Novgorod First Chronicle (compiled c. 1275), in the Laurentian Codex (compiled 1377), and in

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