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The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 through December 31, 1300 (MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar.
The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities including the largest such as Kiev and Chernigov. The Mongol siege and sack of Kiev in 1240 is generally held to mark the end of Kievan Rus' as a distinct, singular polity. Many other Rus' principalities and urban centres in the northwest and southwest escaped destruction or suffered little to no damage from the Mongol invasion, including Galicia-Volhynia, Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and probably Rostov and Uglich.
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of the Mongol Empire after 1259, it became a functionally separate khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate or as the Ulus of Jochi, and it replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus ruled over the Kievan Rus', Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, and the Caucasus for around 250 years.
Béla IV was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father's lifetime in 1214. His father, who strongly opposed Béla's coronation, refused to give him a province to rule until 1220. In this year, Béla was appointed Duke of Slavonia, also with jurisdiction in Croatia and Dalmatia. Around the same time, Béla married Maria, a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, Emperor of Nicaea. From 1226, he governed Transylvania as duke. He supported Christian missions among the pagan Cumans who dwelled in the plains to the east of his province. Some Cuman chieftains acknowledged his suzerainty and he adopted the title of King of Cumania in 1233. King Andrew died on 21 September 1235 and Béla succeeded him. He attempted to restore royal authority, which had diminished under his father. For this purpose, he revised his predecessors' land grants and reclaimed former royal estates, causing discontent among the noblemen and the prelates.
The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsy in Rus', Cumans in Western and Kipchaks in Eastern sources.
The name Cumania originated as the Latin exonym for the Cuman–Kipchak confederation, which was a tribal confederation in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe, between the 10th and 13th centuries. The confederation was dominated by two Turkic nomadic tribes: the Cumans and the Kipchaks. Cumania was known in Islamic sources as Dasht-i Qibchaq, which means "Steppe of the Kipchaks"; or "Kipchak Plains", in Persian and al-Qumāniyīn in Arabic. Russian sources have referred to Cumania as the "Polovtsian Steppe", or the "Polovtsian Plain".
From the 1220s into the 1240s, the Mongols conquered the Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania and Iranian state of Alania, and various principalities in Eastern Europe. Following this, they began their invasion into Central Europe by launching a two-pronged invasion of then-fragmented Poland, culminating in the Battle of Legnica, and the Kingdom of Hungary, culminating in the Battle of Mohi. Invasions were also launched into the Caucasus against the Kingdom of Georgia, the Chechens, the Ingush, and Circassia though they failed to fully subjugate the latter. More invasions were launched in Southeast Europe against Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Latin Empire. The operations were planned by General Subutai (1175–1248) and commanded by Batu Khan and Kadan, two grandsons of Genghis Khan. Their conquests integrated much of Eastern European territory into the empire of the Golden Horde. Warring European princes realized they had to cooperate in the face of a Mongol invasion, so local wars and conflicts were suspended in parts of central Europe, only to be resumed after the Mongols had withdrawn. After the initial invasions, subsequent raids and punitive expeditions continued into the late 13th century.
Kadan was the son of the second Great Khan of the Mongols Ögedei and a concubine. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan and the brother of Güyük Khan. During the Mongol invasion of Europe, Kadan, along with Baidar and Orda Khan, led the Mongol diversionary force that attacked Poland, while the main Mongol force struck the Kingdom of Hungary.
Köten was a Cuman–Kipchak chieftain (khan) and military commander active in the mid-13th century. He forged an important alliance with the Kievan Rus' against the Mongols but was ultimately defeated by them at the Kalka River in 1223. After the Mongol victory, Köten led 40,000 "huts" to Hungary, where he became an ally of the Hungarian king and accepted Catholicism, but was nonetheless assassinated by the Hungarian nobility.
Boroldai, also known as Burundai, was a notable Mongol general of the mid 13th century. He participated in the Mongol invasion of Russia and Europe in 1236-1242 and other Mongol raids to Europe until 1263.
Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II, was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I – one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empire – was killed in 1196. His supporters tried to secure the throne for him after his uncle, Kaloyan, was murdered in 1207, but Kaloyan's other nephew, Boril, overcame them. Ivan Asen fled from Bulgaria and settled in the Rus' principalities.
During the Mongol invasion of Europe, Mongol tumens led by Batu Khan and Kadan invaded Serbia and then Bulgaria in the spring of 1242 after defeating the Hungarians at the battle of Mohi and ravaging the Hungarian regions of Croatia, Dalmatia and Bosnia.
The Mongol (Tatar) clique of Nogai Khan, a part of the larger Golden Horde, was heavily involved in the Kingdom of Serbia in the 1280s and 1290s. A serious invasion was threatened in 1292 but was averted when Serbia accepted Mongol lordship. The Balkan push of Nogai's clique was broader than just Serbia. In 1292, it resulted in the deposition and exile of King George I of Bulgaria.
The first Mongol invasion of Hungary started in March 1241, and the Mongols started to withdraw in late March 1242.
In the summer of 1242, a Mongol force invaded the Latin Empire of Constantinople. This force, a detachment of the army under Qadan then devastating Bulgaria, entered the empire from the north. It was met by the Emperor Baldwin II, who was victorious in a first encounter but was subsequently defeated.
The Mongol invasions of Lithuania was an event where the Mongol armies invaded the territories of the Kingdom of Lithuania and later, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on several occasions in late 13th and early 14th century. The event is not very well documented. In due course, however, the Lithuanians were able to take control of a number of former Mongol territories, expand their influence in Eastern Europe, and contribute to the liberation of neighbouring peoples.
References
- ↑ Arhiđakon, Toma. "O prirodi Tatara". Historia Salonitana (in Croatian). Split: Književni krug.