The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450

565 Pages·2009·5.76 MB·English

by  Victor Spinei

The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads
North of the Danube Delta
from the Tenth to the
Mid-Thirteenth Century
East Central and Eastern
Europe in the Middle Ages,
450–1450
General Editor
Florin Curta
VOLUME 6
The Romanians and the Turkic
Nomads North of the Danube Delta
from the Tenth to the
Mid-Thirteenth Century
By
Victor Spinei
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
Cover illustration front: Cuman warriors attacking a Russian town, as presented in an
illumination in the Radziwiłł Chronicle (after Rauchspur der Tauben. Radziwiłł Chronik,
Leipzig–Weimar, 1986, p. 222).
Cover illustration back: The eastern Black Sea on a map drawn by Diego Homem of
Portugal in the latter half of the sixteenth century (after I. Dumitriu-Snagov, Monumenta
Romaniae Vaticana, Manoscritti—Documenti—Carte/Manuscripts—Documents—Maps. Catalogo
della mostra Salone Sistino, Vatican, 1996, p. 224, pl. 119 B).
Translation: Florin Curta, Maria Mihailescu-Bîrliba and Adrian Poruciuc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spinei, Victor, 1943–
The Romanians and the Turkic nomads north of the Danube Delta from the tenth
to the mid-thirteenth century / by Victor Spinei.
p. cm. — (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 ; v. 6)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-90-04-17536-5 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. Danube River Delta (Romania and Ukraine)—Ethnic relations.
2. Moldavia—Ethnic relations. 3. Carpathian Mountains Region—Ethnic relations.
4. Romanians—Danube River Delta (Romania and Ukraine)—History—To 1500.
5. Turkic peoples—Danube River Delta (Romania and Ukraine)—History—To
1500. 6. Nomads—Danube River Delta (Romania and Ukraine)—History—To
1500. 7. Human geography—Danube River Delta (Romania and Ukraine)
8. Danube River Delta (Romania and Ukraine)—Social life and customs.
9. Moldavia—Social life and customs. 10. Carpathian Mountains Region—Ethnic
relations—Social life and customs. I. Title. II. Series.
DR281.D25S65 2009
949.8’3013—dc22
2009010061
ISSN 1872-8103
ISBN 978 90 04 17536 5
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ...................................................................... vii
Abbreviations .............................................................................. xi
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
I. The Environment and its Relation to the Anthropic
Element .............................................................................. 7
II. The Political History of the Carpathian-Dniester Region
and of the Neighbouring Territories ................................ 47
Tenth Century ............................................................... 47
Eleventh Century ........................................................... 102
Twelfth Century ............................................................ 123
First Half of the Thirteenth Century .......................... 141
III. Contrasting Ways of Life: Romanian Agriculturists and
Turkic Pastoralists .............................................................. 177
Linguistic and Ethnic Aspects ....................................... 177
Demographic Aspects .................................................... 188
Settlements and Life Style ............................................. 200
Dwellings and their Annexes ........................................ 213
Agriculture ..................................................................... 221
Animal Husbandry ........................................................ 228
Crafts ............................................................................. 235
Trade .............................................................................. 239
Social and Political Life ................................................. 247
Religious Life ................................................................. 268
Burial Assemblages ........................................................ 279
Art .................................................................................. 299
IV. Contacts and Interactions between Romanians and
Turkic Nomads .................................................................. 307
Selected Bibliography ................................................................. 361
Primary Sources ............................................................ 361
A. Written Sources .................................................... 361
B. Archaeological Sources ........................................ 383
vi contents
Secondary Literature ..................................................... 392
Sources of Illustrations ............................................................... 435
Illustrations .................................................................................. 439
Indices (by Cătălin Hriban)
General Index ......................................................................... 499
Author Index ........................................................................... 521
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1. A. Map of forest spreading in Europe in 1910, drawn up by
I. Riedel
Fig. 2. Map of discoveries of local population settlements in the cen-
tral and southern Moldavia of the ninth–eleventh centuries (Dridu
culture)
Fig. 3. Map of discoveries of local population settlements in the
central and southern Moldavia of the eleventh–twelfth centuries
(Răducăneni culture)
Fig. 4. Map of Turkic nomad-grave discoveries of the tenth–thirteenth
centuries in the outer-Carpathian Romanian regions
Fig. 5. Map of the main types of rural settlements of Romania
Fig. 6. Iron axes and arrowheads of the tenth–eleventh centuries
discovered at Fede(cid:145)ti, Jari(cid:145)tea, Câmpineanca, Hlincea-Ia(cid:145)i, Sili(cid:145)tea
Nouă and Bârlăle(cid:145)ti
Fig. 7. Iron and horn objects from the settlements of the tenth–eleventh
centuries discovered at Simila, Murgeni, Hlincea-Ia(cid:145)i, Gârbovă≥ and
Bârlăle(cid:145)ti
Fig. 8. Bronze, iron and horn objects of the ninth–twelfth centuries
discovered at Ciorte(cid:145)ti, Dăne(cid:145)ti, Băiceni, Umbrăre(cid:145)ti, Câmpineanca,
Cruci(cid:145)oara, Ro(cid:145)cani and Grumezoaia
Fig. 9. Silver and bronze brackets, bronze reliquary cross, stone spindle-
whorl, iron arrowheads, knife, snaffl e-bit and sword of the ninth–elev-
enth centuries discovered at Hansca, Bogatoe and Pa(cid:145)cani
Fig. 10. Adornment objects and other metal pieces discovered in
the tenth–twelfth centuries necropoleis at Arsura and Hansca-
“Căprăria”
Fig. 11. Potsherds discovered in the ninth–tenth centuries settlement
of Bârlad-“Prodana”
Fig. 12. Pottery of the tenth–eleventh centuries discovered in the settle-
ments of Calfa and Orhei-“Petruha”
Fig. 13. Pottery of the tenth–eleventh centuries discovered in the settle-
ment of Hansca
Fig. 14. Stamps on the bottom of the tenth–eleventh centuries pots
discovered in the settlement of Hansca
viii list of illustrations
Fig. 15. Potsherds of the tenth–eleventh centuries discovered in the
settlement of Bârlăle(cid:145)ti
Fig. 16. Pottery of the tenth–eleventh centuries and eleventh–twelfth cen-
turies discovered in the settlements of Bârlăle(cid:145)ti and Răducăneni
Fig. 17. Potsherds of the eleventh–twelfth centuries discovered in the
settlements of Dăne(cid:145)ti and Răducăneni
Fig. 18. Potsherds of the eleventh–twelfth centuries discovered in the
settlements of Pâhne(cid:145)ti and Răducăneni
Fig. 19. Potsherds of the twelfth–thirteenth centuries discovered in the
settlement of Ia(cid:145)i-“Nicolina”
Fig. 20. Iron arrowhead, glass bracelet and potsherds from the twelfth–
thirteenth centuries settlement of Ia(cid:145)i-“Nicolina”
Fig. 21. Byzantine and Russian bronze double reliquary crosses of the
tenth–eleventh and twelfth–thirteenth centuries from (cid:147)uletea and
from an unidentifi ed place in the Suceava area
Fig. 22. Ceramic decorated with zoomorphic motifs and human fi gures
beings carved in gritstone of the ninth–tenth centuries discovered at
Gara Banca and Dele(cid:145)ti
Fig. 23. Plan of the Turkic nomads’ graves at Probota, Trapovca, Seli(cid:145)te
and Zârne(cid:145)ti
Fig. 24. Iron objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic nomads’
graves at Balabanu
Fig. 25. Objects of horn, silver, gold, bronze, gilded and silvered iron
and iron from the inventory of the Turkic nomads’ graves at Bala-
banu
Fig. 26. Plan of a destroyed grave and the funerary inventory of the
Turkic nomads’ graves at Banca
Fig. 27. Plan of a Turkic nomads’ grave at Bădragii Vechi and silver,
gold, bone and iron objects from its funerary inventory
Fig. 28. Metal objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic
nomads’ graves at Bârlad-“Parc”, Pogone(cid:145)ti, Bere(cid:145)ti and Todireni
Fig. 29. Metal and horn objects and pieces of gold thread tissue from
the funerary inventory of the Turkic nomad’s grave at Fridensfeld
(= Mirnopole)
Fig. 30. Iron objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic nomad’s
grave of Groze(cid:145)ti
Fig. 31. Metal, horn and bone objects from the funerary inventory of
the Turkic nomads’ graves of Holboca and Pogone(cid:145)ti
list of illustrations ix
Fig. 32. Iron objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic nomads’
graves at Mândre(cid:145)ti, Probota, Grivi≥a-Vaslui, Pogone(cid:145)ti and Bârlad-
“Moara lui Chico(cid:145)”
Fig. 33. Objects of metal, horn and glass paste from the funerary
inventory of a Turkic nomad’s grave at Pavlovca
Fig. 34. Metal objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic nomads’
graves at Pavlovca, (cid:147)abalat (= Sadovoe) and Gura Bâcului
Fig. 35. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Petre(cid:145)ti and Bădragii Vechi
Fig. 36. Metal objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic
nomads’ graves at Probota, Bârlad-“Moara lui Chico(cid:145)”, Umbrăre(cid:145)ti
and Moscu
Fig. 37. Objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic nomads’
graves at Seli(cid:145)te
Fig. 38. Byzantine coins, adornement objects and clay pot from
the funerary inventory of Turkic nomads’ graves at Suvorovo and
Tuzla
Fig. 39. Plan of a Turkic nomads’ grave at Chirileni, iron and bone
objects and clay pots from its funerary inventory
Fig. 40. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Ursoaia
Fig. 41. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Balabanu and Chircăie(cid:145)ti
Fig. 42. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Chircăie(cid:145)ti and Cârnă≥eni
Fig. 43. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves at Taraclia
Fig. 44. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Taraclia
Fig. 45. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory from Taraclia
Fig. 46. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Olăne(cid:145)ti, Chirileni, Divizia, Opaci, Ursoaia, Cazaclia
Fig. 47. Iron and bone objects from the funerary inventory of the
Turkic nomads’ graves at Ivanovca
Fig. 48. Iron and horn objects from the funerary inventory of the Turkic
nomads’ graves at Sevirova, Alexandrovca and Ivanovca
Fig. 49. Plan of some Turkic nomads’ graves and their funerary inven-
tory at Iablona, Plavni, Calanciac and Limanskoe-“Frică≥ei”