Berendeys

Berendeys (берендеї; berendeі). Nomadic Turkic tribes. From 1097 to the end of the 12th century the Berendeys are mentioned in the chronicles as part of the Chorni Klobuky. By permission of the Kyivan princes the Berendeys settled in the southern parts of Kyiv principality and Pereiaslav principality mostly beyond the Ros River. In return the Berendeys promised to help the princes in their military campaigns. They furnished the princes with cavalry in the struggle against the Cumans. In the mid-13th century, after the Mongol invasion of Rus’, a part of the Berendeys migrated to Bulgaria and Hungary; the remainder was integrated into the Golden Horde.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]