cumans and caucasus

part 4 Kipchaks and Caucasus

now about about Cumans ans Caucasus
there relationship with georgian was installed in the reign of Emperor of Georgia
David IV the Restorer 1089-1125 (after 1104 he is named as an emperor)
aftre david untill queen Rusudan(1223-1245) georgian Emperors beared not only the title of rulers of all Georgia, Armenia, Aran(caucasian albania, Azerbaijan) and Alania but even title of lord of Kipchaks and Rus (principality of Taman). all emperors were named as rulers of Kipchaks and many Khans and nobles of eastern horde were under were service among them were Khan Syrchan son of Sharagas,Khan Atraqa son of Sharagas and brother of Syrcha,n un. sons of Atraqa from eastern horde
and Khan Konchegh his brother Khan Sauvlat (or Savalat)
and even Khan Kotian in the begining of his career untill mongols forsed him to flee in Hungary .
general info see here

Their relations with Georgia seem to have been generally peaceful. Moreover, the Georgian politicians of that time saw the Kipchaks as their potential allies against the Seljuk conquests. According to Georgian chronicles, Georgians knew about the "Kipchaks' good fighting skills, their bravery, and the enormous human resources that they had.

The architect of the Georgian-Kipchak alliance was the Georgian emperor David IV “the Builder” (1189-1125), who employed tens (or even hundreds) of thousands Kipchak soldiers and settled them, in 1118, in his state. This measure, one of the central parts of David’s military reforms amid his struggle against the Seljuk invaders, had been preceded by the visit of the high-ranking Georgian delegation, including the emperor himself and his chief adviser and tutor George of Chkondidi, to the Kipchak headquarters. To secure the alliance with these nomads, David married a Kipchak princess Gurandukht, daughter of Khan Otrak (Atraqa, son of Sharaghan, of the Georgian chronicles), and invited his new in-laws to settle in Georgia. David mediated a peace between the Kipchaks and Alans, and probably had some consultations also with the Velikiy Kniaz of Kievan Rus', Vladimir Monomakh, to secure a free passage for the Kipchak tribesmen to the Georgian soil.(but this is aconfirmed and wrong information there was no negotiation with Rus at this time)

a result of this diplomacy, 40,000 Kipchak families under Otrak moved to settle in Georgia. According to the agreement, each Kipchak family was to contribute a full-armed soldier to the Georgian army. They were given land, rearmed and became a perfect regular force under the immediate control of the king. The selected 5,000 men were enrolled in the royal guards. The remaining Kipchak settlers were posted chiefly to frontier regions confronting the Seljuk Turks. They practiced a semi-nomadic way of life, wintering in the Kartlian lowlands in central Georgia, and carrying their summertime duties along the foothills of the Caucasus.

The medieval compendium of the East Slavic chronicles known as Hypatian Codex relates that after the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, Khan Syrchan of the Don Kipchaks, Otrak’s brother, sent a singer Or’ to Otrak and asked him to return home. Legend has it that when Otrak heard Or’ singing an old Kipchak song and smelled steppe grass, he fell in nostalgia with the steppe life and finally left Georgia. but in real story is different Atraqa and his son were force to left in deshti- kipchaks becouse they supported Vaxtang the young brother of emperor Demetre in 1130. Vaxtang was son of Guranduxt and she was the daughter of Atraqa son of sharagan that is why demetre disliked them and sent a part of Cumans back and rebelion was supressed . even after this heave insident cumans remained to be loyal to the emperors of Georgia as they wanted to live and trade in caucasus and military service was the major source for their salvation and revenue , that is why they alwey took part in every military campan held by ruler of caucasus from 1118 to 1243.
Yet a number of the Kipchak mercenaries settled permanently within Georgia, converted to Orthodox Christianity, and blended subsequently with the local population.

The Christianized (and already Georgianized) Kipchak officers, known to the Georgians as naqivchaqari (i.e., "de-Kipchakized"), played a crucial role in suppressing the noble revolts of that time. Through their loyal service to the Georgian crown, they grew in influence and prestige, and emerged during the reign of George III (1156-1184) as a new military aristocracy in sharp contrast to old and frequently self-minded Georgian feudal lords. Not surprisingly, this caused a great discontent in the aristocratic opposition which would force George’s successor Queen Thamar (1184-1213) to retire virtually all high-ranking assimilated Kipchaks, particularly Qubasar who was comander in chief of georgian/caucasian army .
wiki says that Afridon and Qutlu Arslan also were cumans but this is not truth
see the wiki here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipchaks_in_Georgia

Yet Thamar and her successor, George IV Lasha (1213-1223), continued to employ new Kipchak mercenaries, perhaps in tens of thousands. They were referred by the Georgians as qivchaqni akhalni, i.e., "new Kipchaks". One part of them, however, was refused to be enrolled in the royal army, and they moved on to Ganja, Arran, in what is now Azerbaijan. The Georgians subsequently defeated these marauding bands and scattered them. Although the Kipchaks continued to serve in the Georgian ranks, a number of the Kipchak units joined the Khwarezmian prince Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu in his expedition against Georgia in 1225, guarantying thereby his victory. The Kipchaks remained on both sides of the divide during the Mongol campaigns in Georgia in the late 1230s, but most of them subsequently intermingled with the Mongol hordes.

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