The history of Ancient Rus keeps a lot of mysteries. One of them is the information that has come down to our time about the black hoods - a mysterious ethnic formation that played a significant role in the XII-XIII centuries.
Modern historians call the tribal union of the Turkic-speaking peoples (Torks, Berendey, Kovuy, part of the Pechenegs and others) black hoods, who served the Russian princes in the XII-XIII centuries and guarded the southern borders of the Russian lands. Fold-ups, dressed in swinging fitted clothes, warriors sharply differed from the Russian peasants. But only their headdress - black felt hats - entered Russian history as a distinctive sign of the steppe warrior.
Faithful torques
Russia could not alone withstand the numerous and impetuous cavalry of the nomadic peoples who constantly disturbed its borders. Therefore, it is natural that in the middle of the 10th century she had a reliable ally who knew all the wisdom of the steppe war - torques. Having settled on the Zasechnaya line, they eventually mixed with other peoples, passing on their martial art to them.
In 965, Prince Svyatoslav, with the help of the allied torcs and Pechenegs, defeated the Khazars. After his death in 972, on the Dnieper rapids, they garrisoned in the steppe fortresses on the border of Rus. Towards the end of the 10th century, it is already known about the serving warriors-torques in Russia itself. In 985, they took part in the successful campaign of Prince Vladimir the Holy to the Volga Bulgaria and Khazaria. Finally, in 993, the Pechenegs suffered a crushing defeat on the left bank of the Dnieper. Once again, the Tork cavalry was at the forefront of the blow.
In the XI century, the resettlement of the Polovtsian tribes began, which was accompanied by the seizure of foreign nomads, the destruction and assimilation of neighboring tribes. The strongest blow was also struck at the Torks, which, fleeing from death, began to settle along the southern border of Russia. They settled along the borders of the Kiev, Pereyaslavl and Chernigov principalities. The size of the nomadic hordes usually ranged from 20 to 40 thousand. The horde consisted of five clans - family unions. The Pechenegs and Torks called them kurens. Kuren consisted of large families, or vezh, 35-40 people each.
Over time, the number of steppe ethnic groups that were part of the Black Lobby Union increased. In addition to the Torks, Pechenegs and Berendeys, associations of kovuy, turpey, caspich and bastii are often mentioned in Russian chronicles. The Lay of Igor's Regiment lists the associations of Monguts, Tatrans, Shelbirs, Treadmills, Revugs and Olber.
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Although they gradually mixed with the Slavic population, their lifestyle did not change. All the homework was on the shoulders of the women. Their assistants were teenagers and old people. The men were in the saddle almost all the time: they guarded and grazed herds, went to steppe raids, and patrolled the borders.
Of course, the steppe population of Poros was also influenced by Christianity. However, the new faith was unable to defeat the age-old traditions of nomads. This is evidenced by the steadily pagan burial rite, which the Poros shepherds adhered to until the Mongol-Tatar invasion. But in the Chernigov and Pereyaslavl principalities, the newcomers disappeared into the Russian surrounding population much more. Apparently, the overwhelming majority of Torks and Kovuy still converted to Christianity.
Ruthless servants
The clever and far-sighted Russian prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh played an important role in the formation of the nomadic barrier. It is no coincidence that all the first mentions of these nomads are associated with his name.
According to Byzantine sources, in the south of Russia in the middle of the XI - the first half of the XII century, three tribal associations (hordes) settled, numbering from 60 to 100 thousand people. At the same time, they could field 12-20 thousand experienced soldiers. They stood as a solid border line on the southern Russian borders, creating a fairly reliable barrier, which the Polovtsians constantly tried to break through.
The stable position of Russia was hampered by the fierce bickering of the princes for power. After the death of Vladimir the Saint, they began to use the steppe inhabitants in incessant civil strife. The funds were not shy. So, in one of the chronicles it is reported about the cook of Prince Gleb under the "name of Torchin", who stabbed the young prince on the orders of the "accursed Goresar".
Similar "cases" were entrusted to the "youth" of Vladimir Monomakh named Baidyuk. In 1095 he invited the Polovtsian Khan Itlar to the bathhouse, where he was killed. Also known is the "torchin by the name of Berendi", which gouged out the eyes of Prince Vasilko in 1097. This happened because the black hoods did not swear allegiance to the principality in general, but to a specific prince, whom they never betrayed.
The black hoods were famous for their equipment. Most of the helmets with masks found in the excavations are attributed to them. They also used chain mail. In battle, their legs, like those of the Polovtsians, were protected by high leather boots, reinforced inside with steel plates. The main polearm was a pike with a pointed metal flow. It existed practically unchanged until the end of the cavalry era.
Black hoods did not use swords, preferring sabers, which they wielded masterly. In battle, battle axes with weighted backs were also used. They were of two types: an embossing with a narrow blade slightly curved towards the handle and a kelep (pick) with a beak-shaped faceted blade. This weapon was used to pierce heavy armor and helmets.
In only one case, a mace was found during excavations. She was in the burial of the leader and, most likely, was not a military weapon, but a symbol of power. The black hoods also perfectly wielded powerful steppe bows, which struck the enemy at a great distance. It is believed that they had lightweight shields of leather-covered cane without any metal parts. But such items could not survive in burials.
Thanks to the traditional division of the steppe dwellers into hordes, kurenya and vezha, it was easy to create a line of military settlements from black hoods. However, she was unable to defend Russia when a terrible threat arose from the east.
Fatal warning
In 1223, in the Polovtsian steppes, there suddenly appeared strong horsemen on small hardy horses. These were the Mongols, sent by Genghis Khan on a reconnaissance campaign under the command of his two loyal generals - Subadei and Jebe. The Don and Dnieper Polovtsians turned to the Russian princes for help. Their messengers literally said the following: "If you do not help us, they will destroy us this afternoon, and you - tomorrow morning." At the council in Kiev, it was decided to give battle to uninvited aliens.
In the spring of 1223 (according to other sources - 1224), the combined Russian-Polovtsian army crossed the Dnieper. The vanguard was led by the legendary Prince Mstislav Udaloy, Monomakh's great-great-grandson. Under his command were his own warriors, black hoods and allied Cumans. With a sudden blow, he defeated an advanced one thousand Mongols. The pursuit and skirmishes with the retreating enemies lasted nine days. The first collisions showed that the black hoods were as good at the bow as the Mongols.
Approaching the steppe river Kalka, Mstislav's cavalry knocked down the Mongol barrier and crossed the river. But here she faced the main forces of the enemy, and the vanguard began to slash. Soon the regiments of Oleg Kurskiy and Mstislav Mute entered the battle. Guarded by black hoods, Mstislav Udaloy courageously cut himself down …
When Mstislav Udaloy led the regiments to the main forces of the Mongols, an even more brutal slaughter began. But the comrades-in-arms did not come to the rescue of the advanced Russian detachment, and the steppe allies - the Polovtsy of Khan Kotyan - could not withstand the frontal felling and fled. Fenced off with carts, the princes took up a perimeter defense and for three days desperately fought off the Mongol cavalry. The tragedy ended when they believed false promises and surrendered. But almost all of the captives were brutally executed. Only the black hoods, together with the Kursk warriors, covering the wounded princes and suffering heavy losses, nevertheless broke through to the Dnieper.
Russia once again did not heed the terrible warning. Mstislav Udaloy retired from politics and settled in Porosye at the black hoods, where he died in 1228. And in 1236 the Mongols' campaign to Eastern Europe followed, as a result of which Eastern Russia became part of the Golden Horde. Information about black hoods disappears in the 13th century. It is believed that some of them were resettled by the Mongols to the Volga region and Moldavia, while the other part remained in Porosye and over time was assimilated by the local Slavic population.
Evgeny YAROVOY