 The western bulk of "Circassia", they belonged to any of about ten tribes, living in communities headed by chieftains.In the east of "Circassia" were two feudal polities, Greater Kabardá and Lesser Kabardá.In the late 1550s, the ruler of one of the Kabardás, Temryuk (or Temriuk), struck a politico-military alliance with Tsar Ivan IV of Russia ("Ivan the Terrible"), for mutual assistance against expansionist attacks by the Persian and Ottoman Empires.