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CHAP. V.

THE MEDIEVAL AGE.

THE WANDERING OF THE NATIONS. ALANS, GOTHS, AND HUNS. -THE TURK FAMILY.-THE KHAZARS.-KHAZARIAN EMPIRE. THE RUSSIANS IN

VLADIMIR 1. AT

THE SOUTH.

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CONQUESTS OF
SUBJECTS OF

BATOU KHAN. EMPIRE OF KIPTSHAK.
THE EMPIRE. -THE TATARS CHIEFLY TURKISH TRIBES.
-INTRODUCTION OF MOHAMMEDANISM. THE GRAND
KHANS BERKE AND MENGLI. FOUNDATION OF KAFFA.
-THE GENOESE, VENETIANS, AND PISANS. COMMERCE
BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA. COMMERCE OF THE
GENOESE. PROGRESS OF KAFFA. DISSENSIONS WITH
DISMEMBERMENT OF THE

THE TATARS.

KIPTSHAK.

TIMOUR.

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HADJI DEVLET GHERAI.

OTTOMAN CON

QUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE. — FALL OF KAFFA.

DURING the period of the great migration, or wandering of the nations, which broke up the Roman empire in the west, and shook it in the east, tribes of restless adventurers entered the peninsula -Alans, Goths, and Huns-off-streams of the grand current of population which rolled over Europe from the gloomy forests of its northern countries,

and the vast steppes on its eastern frontier. The Alans, a fair-haired nomadic people, spending their days on horseback, and their nights in covered cars, ready for war and eager for pillage, appeared about the middle of the first century of our epoch. In the second century, having located themselves in settlements, they were displaced by the Goths, and for the most part withdrew to the foot of the Caucasus, where they were found a thousand years later. Towards the close of the fourth century, the Huns broke in upon the Goths, and drove them from the plains to the mountains. The new marauders, however, did not attempt to retain permanent possession of the soil, but passed on to seek a wider field for the display of their adventurous passions, while a remnant of the Goths continued to hold the highland territory as an independent principality. They adopted a sedentary life and rural occupations, embraced the Christian faith, and received a bishop from the emperor Justinian; and Gothia or Gothland long denominated their mountain home. Meanwhile the dismayed Greek population on the coast held their settlements by an uncertain tenure, occasionally suffering devastation, purchasing immunity from attack, or obtaining aid from the Byzantine sovereigns. Justinian erected a line of forts on

commanding points of the shore for their protection, the remains of which are extant at Alushta, Koursuv, and the Great Lampas. But if these fortresses secured them from barbarian violence, they brought them into subjection to the Byzantine empire, to which the republic of Cherson became tributary.

During the reign of Justinian, Europe was first made acquainted with the name of Turk, the denomination of a great family of people, of which the Ottomans or Osmanlis are a modern divergent branch. Originally seated on the high plateau of Central Asia, or the country extending from the frontier of China Proper to the Altai mountains, they seem to have migrated westward long before the commencement of the Christian era, some tempted by the acquisition of better pasture grounds, and others led by warlike chiefs intent on spoil and empire. At the period mentioned, the middle of the fifth century, squadrons of cavalry, under the name of Turks, were heard of by the Byzantine court, encamped upon the shores of the Palus Mæotis, which they passed upon the ice, displacing the tribes upon its borders. But though the term was new to Europe, branches of the stock had long before crossed its frontier, and had probably been European

for centuries. There is strong reason to conclude, that the Scythians, who intruded into the Crimea before the time of Herodotus, the tribes known as Alans, Goths, and Huns, who did the same in the early part of our era, with the Khazars, Pichengues, and Comanes, who subsequently figure in its annals, are closely related nationalities, identical as to stock with the specifically called Turks, acquiring different names, historical importance, and an altered distribution under varying circumstances, and at diverse epochs. Hence the unmixed character of the majority of the population in the peninsula at present, exclusively Tatar in name, Turkish in reality.

The Khazars, a Turkish tribe, were first heard of on the northern shores of the Caspian, and then in the countries north of the Black Sea. They subjugated the plains of the Crimea at the commencement of the seventh century, and gave their name to the greater part of the peninsula. It was called Khazaria, while the south coast chain retained. the designation of Gothia. For three centuries afterwards, Khazar is the great name in eastern Europe. It denominated a people who founded a vast and powerful empire, extending from the Caspian on the east to the Dniester on the west,

from the Caucasus on the south to beyond Kasan on the north; thus including all the southern provinces of the present European Russia. The Khagans or Khans had their capital near the mouths of the Volga, probably on the site of Astrachan. The emperors of Constantinople cultivated friendly relations with them, and one wearer of the imperial purple contracted an alliance by marriage. Constantine Copronymus, who died in 775, married Irene, daughter of one of the Khans; and their son, the emperor Leo IV., was surnamed the Khazarian, on account of his maternal origin. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, while counselling amicable intercourse, severely reprehends the conduct of his predecessor, for "the Khazars," he remarks, "so far from being orthodox Christians, are no Christians at all, but impious heathens." But though Christianity was never adopted by the majority of the people, they were only partly heathens, and tolerant to all other professions. The Khans were Jews, as were also many of the great families; the law of Moses having been propagated by Jews expelled from the Byzantine empire. According to Ibn Haukal, the princes were obliged to be Jews; but the nine ministers of the Khan might be Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan. Singular as

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