[7] Boniak's exact position cannot be determined, but his career shows that he must have been the head of powerful Cuman tribal federation, tribe, or clan.
[9] Along with Tugorkan, Boniak, or Maniak, was one of the Cumans' "outstanding leaders",[10] named by Anna Komnene, who came to assist the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos against the Pechenegs.
[24] Kovács writes that Boniak's action preceded the campaign that Sviatopolk II and Vladimir Monomach launched against Oleg I of Chernigov.
[25] According to Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard, Boniak invaded only after Sviatopolk and his army left Kiev for a campaign against Chernigov (Chernihiv in Ukraine).
[29] According to the Russian Primary Chronicle, these events occurred in 1097, but many historians (including Kovács and Martin Dimnik) say that the fights took place two years later.
[37] According to the Hypatian version of the Russian Primary Chronicle, Boniak made an incursion into the region of Zarub in the Principality of Pereyaslavl, fighting with the Torks and Berendei in the winter of 1105 and 1106.
[37] During the summer, he returned accompanied by Sharukan and other Cuman chieftains and laid siege to Lubno on the Sula River.
[40] Their unified armies unexpectedly crossed the Sula, forcing the terrified Cumans to lift the siege and leave their camp on 12 August.
[44] Monomach wrote that he "advanced to meet them as far as"[46] Romny with his sons and Oleg Sviatoslavich, forcing the Cumans to flee.