Mechanisms of assimilation of the Kipchaks in Hungary in the 13th-18th centuries

Research Article

Abstract

This article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the mechanisms of assimilation of the Kipchaks (Cumans) in medieval Hungary in the period from the 13th to the 18th century. The author's research demonstrates that the integration process was not straightforward and could only be reduced to the formal adoption of Christianity: even after Christianization in the 13th–14th centuries, the Kipchaks retained their ethnocultural identity for a long time. The key thesis of the study is that Christianization did not automatically lead to complete assimilation. Many Kipchaks accepted baptism formally, continuing to adhere to traditional customs. They retained characteristic funeral practices, including orienting graves to the east and placing amulets, food for the dead, animal bones in burials, and eggs and mirrors in women's burials. In addition, the Kipchaks wore ethnic clothes and specific hairstyles (a shaved crown, one or three braids), which the Hungarians associated with paganism, and also supported the clan-tribal social organization that served as the basis of their identity. The Catholic Church purposefully fought against these "structures of everyday life", demanding from the Kipchaks not only baptism, but also a complete rejection of traditional forms of life. The turning point came in the 15th century, when fundamental changes took place. The traditional clan-tribal organization collapsed, depriving the Kipchaks of the institutional basis for preserving their identity. The Kipchak aristocracy began to actively integrate into the Hungarian nobility, receiving royal awards and accepting the social norms of the ruling stratum. The transition from a nomadic lifestyle to sedentary agriculture accelerated, and nomadic camps (szállása) gradually transformed into stationary settlements. An active transition to the Hungarian language began, accompanied by the loss of Kipchak. It was in the 15th century that the status of a Christian actually became synonymous with belonging to Hungarian society: religious integration finally led to complete cultural assimilation. An important mechanism of assimilation was the inclusion of the Kipchak nobility in the power structures of Hungary. If in the 13th–14th centuries the Kipchaks served in the army in separate clan detachments, which strengthened their isolation, then later they joined the general Hungarian military formations. This contributed to their social integration, but only after the destruction of the clan-tribal system. By the 18th century, the process of assimilation had ended: the Kipchak language had practically disappeared, and the descendants of the Kipchaks had completely merged with the Hungarian ethnic group. At the same time, there was a brief renaissance of Cuman identity associated with the struggle for the rights of the inhabitants of Nagykunshaga and Kiskunshaga, but it was no longer based on real Kipchak traditions. Despite complete assimilation, the Kipchak heritage has been preserved in Hungarian toponymy, in individual linguistic borrowings and elements of folklore. Thus, the article shows that the assimilation of the Kipchaks in Hungary was a long and multifaceted process in which coercion and adaptation, resistance and the gradual adoption of Hungarian norms and practices were intertwined for five centuries. The decisive factors of integration were the destruction of the clan-tribal organization, the inclusion of the nobility in the Hungarian aristocracy, the transition to settlement and the loss of their native language.