Könchek (Cuman)

Könchek (also spelled Konchak, Könchek, Končak, in Russian / Ukrainian: Кончак; died in 1187[1]) was a Polovtsian khan of 12th century.

Not to be confused with Könchek.

Biography
Polovtses fighting Russian troops – illustration: Ivan Bilibin for The Tale of Igor's Campaign)

Respectively, son and grandson of the khans Otrok and Sharukan, he unifies in the second half of the 12th century the polovts tribes of the east and made in the years 1170 and 1180 the war against Russian princes; taking advantage of their dissensions, he attacked the principalities of Kiev, Pereïaslavl and Chernigov. His raids were particularly destructive along the Sula river.

In 1171, Könchek allies with the prince of Novhorod-Siverskyi Oleg II Svyatoslavich, in fight against the other Russian princes but in 1184, during an attack led against the principality of Kiev, his troops was beaten near the Khorol river by the prince Sviatoslav III. The following year, Könchek defeats the prince Igor Svyatoslavich who is taken prisoner near the Kaiala river (possibly modern Kalmius river[2]). This unfortunate campaign of Prince Igor against Könchek will become the subject of an epic poem, The Tale of Igor's Campaign.

Könchek died in 1187. His daughter Svoboda ("Liberty" in Russian) married in 1188 Vladimir III Igorevich, son of Prince Igor. In 1203, his son Yuri took Kiev as an ally of the prince Rurik Rostislavich who, chased from Kiev, recruited Polovtses to regain power.

References
  1. Paul R. Magocsi, "A History of Ukraine," University of Toronto Press, 1996, p.  82. ISBN 0802078206
  2. Volodymyr Kubijovyc, editor. Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Volume II: G-K University of Toronto Press, 758 pages, 1988 ISBN 1442651180, ISBN 9781442651180

Bibliography
  • Martin Dimnik, The Dynasty of Chernigov, 1146–1246, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
  • Boris Grekov, Aleksandr Yakubovsky, The Golden Horde and Russia: Tatar rule in the XIII and XIV of the Yellow Sea to the Black Sea'. Translated from Russian by François Thuret, Payot, 1961.
  • Novgorod First Chronicle
  • "Konchak", Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine , vol. 2, 1989.
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