Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365 - Hardcover

Vásáry, István

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521837561 ISBN 13: 9780521837569

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

The Cumans and the Tatars were nomadic warriors of the Eurasian steppe who exerted an enduring impact on the medieval Balkans. With this work, István Vásáry presents an extensive examination of their history from 1185 to 1365. The basic instrument of Cuman and Tatar political success was their military force, over which none of the Balkan warring factions could claim victory. As a consequence, groups of the Cumans and the Tatars settled and mingled with the local population in various regions of the Balkans. The Cumans were the founders of three successive Bulgarian dynasties (Asenids, Terterids and Shishmanids) and the Wallachian dynasty (Basarabids). They also played an active role in Byzantium, Hungary and Serbia, with Cuman immigrants being integrated into each country's elite. This book also demonstrates how the prevailing political anarchy in the Balkans in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries made it ripe for the Ottoman conquest.

About this title

Book Description:

The Cumans and the Tatars were nomadic warriors of the Eurasian steppe who exerted an enduring impact on the medieval Balkans. With this work, István Vásáry presents an extensive examination of their history from 1185 to 1365.

About the Author:

István Vásáry is Professor of Turkish and Central Asian Studies at Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest. His previous publications (in Hungarian) include The Golden Horde (Kossuth, 1986), and History of Pre-Mongol Inner Asia (1993, 2ed.: Balassi, 2003). He served as Hungarian Ambassador to Turkey (1991-1995), and to Iran (1999-2003).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0521837561
• ISBN 13: 9780521837569
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248