Kuthen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kuthen (variously Kuthens, Kotyan, Koteny, Kötöny, Zayhan, or Jonas) was the Khan of Cumania from about 1192 to 1223. He was deposed from power in that year, but he remained leader of the clan of Kun (or Kuni).
At the start of his reign, the Cumans (or Kipchaks), a Turkish people, followed a shamanist religion, but, in 1238, Kuthen led his tribes into Hungary in flight from the advancing Mongol hordes. In return for their alliance and conversion to Christianity, Bela IV of Hungary granted them asylum. Kuthen was baptised and his daughter Elisabeth married Bela's son, the future Stephen V of Hungary. The Hungarian nobles, however, distrusted the Cumans and just prior to the disastrous Mongol invasion which led to the route of Mohi, they had Kuthen assassinated in Pest.
Kuthen left another daughter who married Narjot III de Toucy.
