Golden horde review

Research objectives: This essay analyzes and critiques recent research on the genealogy of the expression “Tatar Yoke” (Tatarskoe igo), the standard term for the period of Mongol rule of Rus’, in both Slavic and Latin.

Research materials: This essay is based upon publications from 1984 to the present by Halperin, Ostrowski, Keenan, Rudakov, and Seleznev.

Results and novelty of research: In 1984, Halperin identified the discovery of the earliest appearance of Tatarskoe igo in Slavic dated to the second half of the seventeenth century, made by Lev Dmitriev who did not appreciate its significance. Therefore the term was an anachronism if projected onto thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Rus’. This conclusion remained unchallenged until now. At that time, Halperin did not address the genealogy of the expression in Latin. Ostrowski and Keenan found theoretically the earliest Latin usages (jugum tartarico) in foreign texts from 1521 and 1575. Apparently Ostrowski’s and Keenan’s contributions to the topic escaped the attention of historians in Russia. Rudakov himself found Keenan’s source but failed to notice that it referred not just to the “yoke” but the “Tatar Yoke.” Seleznev has discovered two Latin references from the thirteenth century, one supposedly a translation from a no longer extant Slavic text. Seleznev concludes that the expression “Tatar Yoke” was therefore known at the time and is not an anachronism. The present essay reinterprets the significance of Seleznev’s findings for our understanding of the Latin genealogy of “Tatar Yoke.” The existence of the term in Slavic is suspect, but in Latin clearly it is as old as Tatar rule. However, the significance of both Rudakov’s and Seleznev’s brilliant depiction of how writers both Catholic and Orthodox interpreted the Tatar conquest of Rus’ via analogy with Old Testament narrations of the enslavement of the Hebrews by the Egyptians and the Babylonian Captivity of the Hebrews lies elsewhere. This essay argues that we have to consider that any author familiar with Scripture could easily independently have made the leap from “Yoke” to “Tatar Yoke,” which renders a genealogy of the evolution of the term moot. Historians still need to address how Catholic writers in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries made that conceptual link, but no Rus’/Russian author did so until the second half of the seventeenth century.

Целью исследования является изучение отношения итальянских морских республик и их факторий в Причерноморье на фоне их связей с Золотой Ордой. Материалами исследования являются неопубликованные документы из Венецианского и Генуэзского архивов Италии, а также исследования этой темы. Использовались постановления Венецианского Сената, относящиеся к навигации, фонды Судей по петициям и Адвокатов Коммуны содержащие материалы исков по торговым делам, счетные книги (массарии) генуэзской Каффы (Феодосии), а также акты нотариев. Результатами исследования являются выводы о влиянии торговых запретов навигации в Тану (Азов), введенных Генуей по отношению к Венеции в XIII–XIV вв. на состояние торговли в регионе, а также о том, как постепенно снятие запретов трансформировалось в торговое партнерство купечества морских республик, осложненное конкуренцией двух главных форпостов черноморской торговли – Каффы и Таны – между собой. Отношения Каффы и Таны рассматриваются на фоне внутренней борьбы в Золотой Орде, где отношения факторий с Идигу и его политическими противниками играли важнейшую роль. Стремление генуэзской администрации Каффы расширить поле своего влияния в регионе, особенно в акватории Азовского моря, проявлялось в том, что власти Каффы держали свои гарнизоны в Воспоро (Керчи), Матреге (на Тамани) и Мапе (Анапе) для контроля за навигацией венецианских судов, и прежде всего для препятствования их прохода через Керченский пролив. С целью контроля над проливами магистраты факторий одаривали эмиров Копы (в устье Кубани), Матреги, ханских посланников, беглербея Идигу и других. Новым в историографии является показ того, как коммерческие связи и взаимные контакты жителей венецианской и генуэзской факторий факторий в Тане сочетались с политическим противостоянием между их властями, особенно, когда отношения метрополий – Венеции и Генуи зачастую были враждебными и смягчались только при угрозе внешних нападений на них.

The purpose of the article is to study the relations between the populations of the Iberian Peninsula and the Golden Horde.

Research materials: Written sources, archaeological data (ceramics, numismatics, etc.).

Novelty and results of the study: For the first time, the article specifically examines the little-studied connections during the 13th–15th centuries between the Iberian Peninsula and the Jochid Ulus. Information is collected from various written sources of the 13th–15th centuries, created in the territory of the Iberian Peninsula and reporting on the Golden Horde, as well as written sources related to the activities of immigrants from the Iberian Peninsula to the territory of the Jochi Ulus (engaged in diplomacy, trade, and missionary activity). Some of the sources (Catalan Atlas, "Book of acquaintance with all kingdoms") contain unique information related to the Golden Horde. Additional sources about the connections under consideration are information about slaves from Eastern Europe who came to Catalonia from the Northern Black Sea region as a result of trade. The data of numismatics (coins of Aragon from the territory of the Golden Horde), archaeological finds (Spanish ceramics from the Golden Horde cities of the Crimea, the Volga region, etc.), heraldry and epigraphy data from the Crimea include items that have become known only in recent years. Material sources document the existence of the considered connections. The article also considers the possibility of contacts between Spain and the Crimean Khanate in the 16th–17th centuries.

Objective: to study the nomenclature of geographical names from the territory of the Golden Horde, presented in medieval European, Arab and Persian narratives and on this basis to imagine how the medieval world saw the geography of this state in the 13th–14th centuries.

Research materials: European works – Plano Caprini, Willem Rubruk, Marco Polo, Johann Schiltberger, Josaphat Barbaro, Arab works – Ibn al-Zahir, Rukn ad-Din Baybars, Abu l-Fida, al-Nuweiri, al-Mufaddal, ad-Dzehebi, al-Omari, Ennasir, ibn-Battuta, al-Forat, ibn-Khaldun, al-Kashkandi, al-Makrizi, al-Asadi, al-Askalani, ibn-Arabshah, al-Aini) and Persian – Juzjani , Juvaini, Wassaf, Qazwini, Zein ad-Din, Sheikh Uwais, Nizam-ad-din-Shami, Natanzi, Sherif-ad-din Yazdi authors, available to us in translations into Russian and European languages.

Results and scientific novelty: the classification of names contained in narratives according to groups accepted in geography – horonyms, hydronyms and urbanonyms – shows that their number in groups is approximately the same: horonyms – 18 names, hydronyms – 15, urbanonyms – 16. The frequency of their mentions by medieval narrativist varies depending on how significant they were from the point of view of geographical knowledge of the Golden Horde by the medieval world. As for urbanonyms, how noticeable a particular city was from the point of view of international trade. Since the narrativist writers of the 13th-14th centuries, with rare exceptions, did not themselves visit the territory of the Golden Horde, their geographical nomenclature differs little over time. In this regard, the works of European authors who themselves visited the Golden Horde differ. But the list of hydronyms, horonyms and urbanonyms they provided was determined by the specific route of their passage through the territory of this state. Therefore, in the perception of the consumers of this information – contemporaries – the Golden Horde appeared as an endless plain inhabited by nomads, very poorly urbanized.

This paper is a source study review aimed at presenting the main information that details the history of the Alans’ service to the Mongols in Mongolia and China. The materials for the study were multilingual written sources covering the period from the mid-13th to the early 19th centuries. A tidy, single summarizing of information from sources on this issue, having such a wide chronological range, is the scientific novelty of the present study. The relevance of the study is determined by the absence of such a work in the existing scientific tradition. Based on the results of the review, a general conclusion was made that the Alans who served the Mongols in Mongolia and China took part in many significant foreign and domestic political events in Mongolian history that took place in the East Asia region from the mid-13th century onward, beginning with the conquest of Southern China which was complete in 1279 and ending with the internal political struggle in the Mongolian lands that followed the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1368. In addition, it is noted that one of the Alan leaders, Arugtai, was even able to unite the warring eastern Mongolian peoples for some time in the first quarter of the 15th century. At the same time, it is indicated that the Alans, who by the will of historical fate found themselves in Mongolia and China, could not avoid assimilation by the Mongols, having become part of this people, known as the Asuts. Nevertheless, it is argued that even after becoming part of the Mongolian people, the Alans continued to preserve such an important elements of their ethnic identity as their self-designation until the beginning of the 19th century.

Research objectives: To study the problem of comparing the level of organization of Nogai society at various levels up to the level of its elite.

Research materials: This work is based on the analysis of Russian embassy books and chronicles. It is also based on the theoretical ideas of V.V. Trepavlov and P. Turchin. The research uses the idea of "overproduction of the elite" as a theoretical framework.

Results and scientific novelty: In the narrow sense of the term, a limited number of top status positions in the Nogai Horde were suitable for the elite. Initially, these were the ulus bey and the Ulubi Horde. Naturally, with such a narrow base, fierce clashes for power were inevitable since overproduction of the elite occurred almost as soon as such a community appeared. Attempts to stabilize the system led to the emergence of a wing structure and an increase in high-status positions, but the number of applicants to these positions was constantly growing. As a result, the Nogai Horde fell into an "amplification effect" where the number of applicants for high-status positions was noticeably greater than the social organization of the Nogai Horde could satisfy. This "amplification effect" occurred in the middle of the 16th century. Due to the underdevelopment of the social structure of the Nogai confederation, it exploded from the inside.

To compare two sets of sources – ornithomorphic tamga marking coins issued in the Mamai Horde in the late 14th century, and variants of tamga-shaped figures on the seals of the Glinsky princes in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Research materials: Numismatic material of the Mamai Horde, seals of representatives of the princes Glinsky family, and genealogical books.

Results and novelty of the research: The paper compares, on the one hand, the numismatic material associated by researchers with the issue of mints controlled by Mamai, and on the other hand, a body of sphragistic, heraldic, and genealogical sources belonging to the family of the Glinsky princes who positioned themselves as direct descendants of this personage. The ornithomorphic tamga on Mamai’s coins has been interpreted as his personal and ancestral sign only on a presumptive basis until now. Nonetheless, the truthfulness of the genealogical legend of the Glinsky princes is detected in a series of other legends about descent from famous ancestors with some skepticism. A comparative analysis of sources of various types and kinds allows us to build a coherent picture of the history of the transformation of the personal and ancestral sign of Emir Mamai into a coat of arms figure, assimilated by his descendants – the Glinsky princes. Thus, both the hypothesis that the ornithomorphic tamga on coins from the late 14th century belonged to Mamai and the genealogical legend of the Glinsky princes are clearly confirmed.

The aim of the research was to analyze the level of Islamization and, at the same time, cultural and religious tolerance of the multiethnic and multi-confessional Turkic-Finno-Ugric population of the Kazan Khanate. Among the objectives of the research were: to review the degree of development of the state education and enlightenment system in the Khanate; to consider the role of this system in strengthening and improving public relations; and to assess the level of cultural maturity and the so-called "intercultural dialogue" in the country.

Research Materials: This included all the information available to the author today from written, archaeological, and folklore sources on the history of the Kazan Khanate, as well as the scientific works of the author himself on the ethnosocial history of the Kazan state published in the last 25 years.

Results and Novelty of the Research: The research is a continuation of the author's systematic research of intercultural tolerance and ethnocultural mixing of the multiethnic and multi-confessional Turkic-Finno-Ugric population of the Kazan Khanate. The article indicates that multilingualism and multiculturalism (introduced into educational and communication spaces at the present stage of social development in the 21st century, in the era of the so-called "post-literacy"), were long successfully implemented in different countries during the Middle Ages, for example in the 15th–16th centuries in the Kazan state. The massive multilingualism and multiculturalism of the khanate's population was particularly facilitated by the geographical proximity of the Tatar, Mordvin, Chuvash, Bashkir, Mari, and Udmurt’s ancestors living within a single polity, their multifaceted proximity for communication, as well as the rich tradition of Islamic enlightenment and general enlightenment – the presence of a large stratum of educated people, etc. The article concludes that Islam, which penetrated into all spheres of life of the population of the Kazan Khanate, has had a purely positive impact on the development of the country and the people, strengthening intercultural dialogue.

The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources” was held in Istanbul on March 11, 2025, organized by the History Department of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Marmara University and the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan, Russian Federation). Scientists from Türkiye, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and the USA attended the symposium. The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources”, which brought together essential scientists from around the world, once again revealed the importance of Ottoman sources, which have not been researched much until now, regarding Genghisid history. In the presented papers, the scientists, on the one hand, discussed the most important works published on the subject to date. On the other hand, they stated that these works contain essential information, especially about the campaigns of Genghis Khan and his children, the arrival of the Mongols in Anatolia, the acceptance of Islam by the Genghisids, the wars between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, the attempted alliance against Emir Timur, the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde, and the Tartar migrations. In this context, works written in the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, such as Ahmedi’s Iskandername, Anonymous Tevarih-i Ali Osman, Şükrullah Efendi’s Behcetü’t-Tevarih, Evliya Çelebi’s travelogue, Muhammed Şeybani’s Tevarih-i Güzide, Abdulgaffar Kırımi’s Umdetü’l-Ahbar, Kadir Ali Bey’s Camiü’t-Tevarih, Katib Çelebi’s Fadhlakat Aqwal al-Akhyar fi’Ilm at-Ta’rikh wa-l-Akhbar, Seyyid Muhammed Rıza’s es-Sebü’s-Seyâr fî Ahbâr-ı Mülûki’t-Tatar, and the yarlyk (order) of the Crimean khans were discussed. During the symposium, experts on the history of the Genghisids also exchanged ideas on the lastest studies on the subject in different countries. The symposium will contribute to the realisation of joint projects for the future research of Ottoman sources on the Genghisids. This symposium, jointly organized by two critical scientific institutions of Türkiye and Tatarstan (Russian Federation), will undoubtedly contribute significantly to the development of scientific and cultural relations between Türkiye and Tatarstan and, more generally, between Türkiye and Russia.