Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Cumans and the second Bulgarian empire; 3. Cumans in the Balkans before the Tatar conquest, 1241; 4. The first period of Tatar influence in the Balkans, 1242–82; 5. The heyday of Tatar influence in the Balkans, 1280–1301; 6. Cumans and Tatars on the Serbian scene; 7. Cumans in Byzantine service after the Tatar conquest, 1242–1333; 8. The Tatars fade away from Bulgaria and Byzantium, 1320–54; 9. The emergence of two Romanian principalities in Cumania, 1330, 1364; Conclusion; Appendices; List of abbreviations; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

An examination of the military force enacted by the Cumans and the Tatars to secure political success in the Balkans.

About the Author

Istvan Vasary is Professor of Turkish and Central Asian Studies at Lorand Eotvos 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).

Reviews

"Vasary's written English is impressive" - the International History Review Paul Stephenson, University of Wisconsin at Madison "Istvan Vasary's admirable book attempts to shed new light on the relatively neglected topic of the impact of the Eurasian nomadic tribes, the Cummans and the Tartars, on the Balkan region from the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries. The book's strength lies in its ambitious attempt to connect the histories of several Balkan lands to each other and link them to the activities of the invading steppe nomads in the area...an important contribution to the history of the medieval Balkans and should be welcomed by both specialists and non-specialists alike." Michael Pesenson, Slavic and East European Journal