Cumania

Cumania is the name of a region in Central Hungary divided into Great Cumania, east of the Theiss, and Little Cumania, between the Danube and the Theiss, now incorporated in the adjoining Hungarian provinces. The inhabitants, the Cumans, are the descendants of a race of nomad invaders of the Turkish stock, who forced their way into Hungary from beyond the Volga in the 11th century. They long held their own in alternate alliance and war with the surrounding states. They maintained their heathenism and their barbarous customs, till in 1278 a crusade was proclaimed against them by Pope Nicholas IV., and they were compelled to accept Christianity and adopt the ways of their Magyar neighbours. They are now wholly Magyarised.