PECHENEGS

Byzantine Patzinakoi, Latin Bisseni, Hungarian Besenyo nomadic Turkic people who occupied the steppes north of the Black Sea (6th12th century) and by the 10th century were in control of the lands between the Don and lower Danube rivers (after having driven the Hungarians out); they thus became a serious menace to Byzantium. Originally inhabiting the area between the Volga and Yaik (Ural) rivers, the Pechenegs were attacked by the Khazars and the Oghuz (c. 889). They moved westward (especially as the Khazar state declined and could no longer impede the migration), driving the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin and attacking Russian territory. Kept at bay by the Russians and the Hungarians, the Pechenegs repeatedly invaded Thrace (10th century); they increased the frequency and intensity of their raids (11th century) after Byzantium conquered Bulgaria (1018) and thereby became an immediate neighbour of the Pechenegs. In 109091 the Pechenegs advanced to the gates of Constantinople (now Istanbul), where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kumans annihilated their army and effectively destroyed Pecheneg power. Important Pecheneg settlements were later established in Hungary, probably after their defeat by Byzantium. The main source on Pecheneg history is the De administrando imperii of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.