Black Hoods

(Russian, Chernye Klobuki), members of a Turkic alliance that was formed circa the mid-12th century in the forest-steppe regions of Rus’ (primarily along the Ros’ River) from surviving groups of such peoples as the Pechenegs, Torks, and Berendei, who had settled there in the second half of the 11th century. As vassals of Rus’, the Black Hoods were required to guard the southern borders of the state and to take part in the campaigns of the Kievan princes. As they gradually turned from nomadic stock raising to land cultivation, feudal relations developed among them. In the 13th century, after the Mongol-Tatar invasion, some of the Black Hoods intermingled with the Russian population, and some left to roam the steppe.