Circassian Princes in Poland: The Five Princes

[This article was received by mail. It was edited by Amjad Jaimoukha. The information in square brackets are the editor's notes and additions The "Five Princes" came to Poland from the North Caucasian lands, between the rivers Terek and Kuban. That place was called "Piatyhorje" (five mountains in Russian).

[In Circassian it was called Bgiytxw, literally: five mountains]. In Tatar it was called "Beschtan", in reference to the Beschtan mountain, which has five tops. The lands, from this mountain to the west and to the east, were called Kabarda. It was the homeland of the Kabarday [and the closely related Bes(la)nay], tribes. In the 15th and 16th centuries these tribes formed an independent country called "Cherkassy" in Russian and "Petyhorcy" in Poland-Lithuania. From one side their border reached the Krym Tatars and from the other side the Temruk tribes. Although Kabarda was independent, it had close ties with the Crimean Tatars, who often used Kabardian warriors in wars against their neighbours. In the years 1555-1560 Kabarda came under Russian rule. ©www.heku.ru By Marcin Kruszynski