CUMAN RAID, 12TH CENTURY
Known by a number of names -Quman, Qun, Polovsty, Qipchaq- the Cuman had an interesting relationship with the Russian principalities. Though often antagonistic and punctuated by raiding, the relationship was much more extensive than is generally suggested. For one, that raiding was often at the behest of a Rus prince, using the military ability of the Cumans against a rival Russian prince (not to mention, the Cuman raids were not all that much worse than what the Rus princes did in their own raids on each other). At others time, the Cumans were coming as allies to defend a Rus prince. To cement those alliances and connections, Rus' princes married Cuman wives, and a considerable amount of the Rus nobility would have had Cuman blood in them: Koten Khan, famous for his flight to Hungary from the Mongol advance in the 1230s, was a brother-in-law to Prince Mistislav of Galich. Further, many interactions were simply economic: the steppe horses of the Cumans were prized as mounts for warfare by the Rus, and the animals furs the Cuman controlled access too were valued highly by the Rus for warmth. Rus merchant travelling the steppe paid tax to friendly Cuman Khans for protection against other Cumans. This is not to say there was never warfare between the Rus and the Cuman, but it was a relationship much more complex than popular narratives may suggest. To learn more about the Cuman-Qipchaqs, see my video on their confederation: youtu.be/uHP0QZd1tAA