Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review

6-21

Authors: Khakimov R.S.

Historical studies are based on the assumption that there is a reference-starting point of the space-time – the Zero point of coordinate system. Due to the bifurcation in the Zero Point, the course of social processes changes sharply and the probabilistic causality replaces the deterministic one. For this reason, changes occur in the structure of social relations and statehood form as well as in the course of the ethnic processes. In such a way emerges a new discourse of the national behavior. With regard to the history of the Tatars and Tatarstan, such bifurcation points occurred in the periods of the formation: 1) of the Turkic Khaganate, which began to exist from the 6th century onward and became a qualitatively new State system that reformatted old elements in the new matrix introducing a new discourse of behavior; 2) of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, where the rivers (Kama, Volga, Vyatka) became the most important trade routes determining the singularity of this State. Here the nomadic culture was connected with the settled one and Islam became the official religion in 922; 3) and of the Golden Hordе, a powerful State with a remarkable system of communication, migration of huge human resources for thousands of kilometers, and extensive trade, that caused severe “mutations” in the ethnic terms and a huge mixing of ethnic groups. Given the dwelling space of Tatar population and its evolution within Russia, it can be argued that the Zero point of Tatar history, which conveyed the cultural invariants until today, begins in the Golden Horde. Neither in the Turkic khaganate nor in the Bulgar State, but namely in the Golden Horde. Despite the radical changes, the Russian Empire failed to transform the Tatars in the Russians. Therefore, contemporary Tatars preserved the Golden Horde tradition as a cultural invariant.

31-48

Authors: Hautala R.

The present article contains the Latin text, Russian translation, and commentary to the yarlyk of Uzbek khan (1312/13–1341). Uzbek khan granted this yarlyk to the Franciscans of the Golden Horde 20th March, 1314. Apparently, the original text of yarlyk was written in the Khwarezmian idiom of the Kipchak language. However, the original text of yarlyk has not been preserved as well as a number of other yarlyks of the Golden Horde khans, which survived only in the late Russian translation. Fortunately, this yarlyk was translated into Latin and, subsequently, this translation was rewritten by anonymous British copyist in the first half of the 14th century. Arthur Christopher Moule discovered this medieval copy of yarlyk along with several other Franciscan documents in one of the codices (D. Ii. 3.7.) stored in the Cambridge University Library. In 1924, Moule published the first and only edition of the yarlyk’s copy together with other Franciscan sources, provided with a thorough preface of Michael Bihl. The text of this Uzbek’s yarlyk have never been translated into modern languages. For this reason, the content of yarlyk has been known only to a narrow circle of specialists studying the Catholic missionary activity in the Mongol Empire. In turn, the scholars of the Golden Horde history, including researchers of the Jochid official documentation, have been unaware of this important legal document up to the present time. The content of Uzbek khan’s yarlyk points out that this document was based on the previous yarlyks of khan Mengu-Timur (1267–1282) and khan Tokhta (1291–1312). Thus, the content of yarlyk allows us to define the time of an emergence and future activities of the Franciscans in the territory of the Golden Horde. Furthermore, this information provide further evidence on the religious tolerance practice of the Jochid khans. In this context, the most significant is an indication of the Uzbek khan’s tolerant attitude toward Christians, despite the fact of his conversion to Islam.

80-102

Authors: Pilipchuk Ya.V.

This article considers the relationship between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Khanate of Kazan. The aim of this study is to analyze the dynamics and characteristics of the relations of the Kazan Khanate with Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Jagiellonian eastern policy is rightfully considered as one of the most important policy directions of the Polish Kings and Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the 16th century. Researchers have traditionally paid much more attention to the history of relations of the Crimean Khanate with Lithuania and Poland. Relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Kazan Khanate have been considered in the source study articles by D. Mustafina and B. Trepavlov analyzing the content of documents preserved in the Lithuanian State Archives (Lithuanian Methric). The main theme of this article is the military and political history of Eastern Europe in the first half of the 16th century. The author aims to clarify to what extent the European policy of the Kazan Khanate depended on the personalities of Sahib Giray and Safa Giray and their personal relations with Sigismund I the Old. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the author is the first to present to the researchers’ attention a complete picture of the Kazan-Lithuanian relations rather than focusing on particular issues of relations between the individual Grand Dukes and khans. The article examines the history of the interaction of the Kazan Tatars with Lithuanians and Poles in the context of relations of Lithuania with the Russian State and Crimean Khanate. Attempts to establish an anti-Russian alliance were undertaken during the first half of the 16th century. Mohammed Amin, from the dynasty of Ulugh Muhammad, expressed interest in the establishment of the union in 1506 only by the fact that it was profitable for him. In 1516–1518, the proposals of Sigismund I the Old to make an alliance did not meet the response in Kazan. In general, the dynasty of Ulugh Muhammad was not a supporter of rapprochement with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The real union between the Kazan Tatars and Lithuanians became possible only during the second rule of Safa Giray in Kazan. Only once and namely in 1535–1537, the Lithuanians supported Kazan in the war against the Russians. The continuous contact between the Kazan Khanate and Grand Duchy of Lithuania was only possible when the alliance was supported by the Crimean Khanate. Mutual raids of the Cossacks of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and troops of the Tatar frontier beys were one of the main destabilizing factors in the relationship between the Jagiellonians and Girays. The Kazan embassy to the Lithuanians and Poles in 1551 found no response from Sigismund II Augustus. The Jagiellonians were not interested in an alliance with the Kazan Tatars. Only the Crimean Girays and eastern Nogays were the staunch allies of Kazan.

121-138

Authors: Maslyuzhenko D.N.

The author of this article identifies the daily and political traditions in the Khanate of Abu al-Khair, which researchers traditionally call the “State of nomadic Uzbeks”. This State was created in the south of Western Siberia in the 1430’s and annexed by military means to the land of Shiban’s (the younger brother of Batu) descendants. The overwhelming majority of researchers consider it as a Muslim State since its very foundation, substantiating their allegations by indication both on the reading of khutba in honor of Khan after he took the “throne of Sain Khan” and on the presence of the sheikhs and Sufis in his entourage. At the same time, the authority of Abu al-Khair had the strong support of nomadic elite of more than twenty tribes. Precisely this elite, its inquiries and interests, which were advocated on the nobility councils, formed the existing political and daily traditions. These traditions reflect the preservation of Turko-Mongol customs among nomadic populations. We can find analogies of these practices in the earlier customs among the precursors of post-Golden Horde State, i.e., in the Mongol Empire and the ulus of Jochi. Traditions of the Abu al-Khair’s Khanate represented a phenomenon of cultural inertia, which were restored in the conditions of Islamization and could become the adats. This effect is particularly significant in view of the specific attitude of Sufi tariqats to the phenomena of social life. In political terms, of particular importance among these was the restoration of the Toy and the related kurultay that could take place in accordance with the existing steppe (animals) calendar. The khans restored the ritual of robes and belts’ distribution as the main mechanism for redeployment of posts and responsibilities among the steppe aristocracy. Military tradition was also focused on samples of the previous time, which was particularly manifested in the selection of wings and avant-garde. In the course of military operations, there was the prevalent practice of magical rites known since the early Middle Ages and aimed at influencing the weather by means of the magic stone “yada” and Yadachi-sorcerers.

153-174

Authors: Schamiloglu U.

This paper presents in summary form results of the author’s study of the Turkic-Muslim sources. A number of Turkic narrative sources are preserved to us from the post-Golden Horde time, i.e. period of the successor States of the Golden Horde of the 15th–18th centuries. These narrative sources (mainly chronicles) are of fundamental importance for the study of the Eurasian history in the 13th–18th centuries. Since most of these works are available only in the original Turkish, they remain inaccessible and sometimes even unknown to the main part of modern scholars. Therefore, the author provides an overview of these historical writings, together with a more detailed study of one particular work, “Umdet ul-Ahbar / Umdetul-ahbar”. He expresses the hope that this review will contribute to the integration of the Turkic sources in the study of the western Eurasian history. This article contains several examples showing how useful can be this later source for understanding the history of the ulus of Jochi in the 13th century. The author pays special attention to this source’s information both about the existence of “ruling clans (tribes)” and on the role of the Karachi beys and kurultay in the government of the ulus of Jochi and post-Golden Horde States. The author emphasizes the role of Shiban and his descendants in determination of the Jochid foreign policy, in the implementation of their conquests in the West and distribution of the uluses in Eastern Europe and, in particular, in the Crimea. Although the later Turkic-Muslim sources require a more detailed analysis, this article represents the first pioneering step in this direction.

191-206

Authors: Korpela J.

The east European trade of slaves was big business. It had long roots at least from the age of Vikings and thousands of prisoners were transported yearly from Crimea and Kazan’ – Astrakhan to the markets of Central Asia, Asia Minor and Mediterranean area and finally even to India. The wars of the 15th and 16th centuries may have increased the number of northern slaves in the Muscovite – Volga markets. The slaves of the trade were divided into two main categories. First there were ordinary cheap manpower and secondly extraordinary cases which were bought for the harems for noble families and as luxury. The point of this article is to illuminate the difference between baptized and unbaptized persons in the connection of the slave trade. It is namely curious that this religious aspect was stressed so seriously, and therefore it requests for an explanation. This phenomenon belongs only to the late 16th century. The state formation had created the Baptism as a criterium for the subject of ruler and this as a side product the protection against slave trade. From the author’s point of view one should pay attention to: 1) The slave trade of blond (nemci) girls must have been a big issue already early, because the administration building did not of course form the request. 2) Earlier the religion of the trading objects was a concern of the Church but not of the ruler. When the new economic thinking created an idea of realm economy, the people living in the realm became to means of production and tax payers. This required to limit their kidnapping away. 3) Because the religion became to be a criterium in state formation it became accidentally also a qualification of slave trade. 4) The traders did not take otherwise care of religious issues in this connection, and therefore the illegal trade may have continued also with baptized persons.

215-227

Authors: Sabitov Zh.M.

The author of this review examines four main types of errors contained in the B.A. Muratov’s book “Ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs: Historiography and Contemporary Research”. Factual errors. The author often makes factual errors by inventing some facts or ideas, which he attributes to certain researchers. Methodological errors. An improper use of the population genetics methods has led the author of this monograph to incorrect conclusions. The author does not use at all such methods as multidimensional scaling, calculation of genetic distances, AMOVA, cluster analysis, etc. In turn, the author incorrectly uses such methods as the construction of phylogenetic networks and the allocation of close haplotypes based on networks of clusters. The author has not made a selection of modal haplotype (haplotype of the founder). He made a lot of mistakes in calculating TMRCA (the lifetime of the first common ancestor) based on genealogical and evolutionary rates of mutations. One of the main error is the small sample size for the study of Bashkir clans (n=45). Therefore, the conclusions drawn from such a small sample, are poorly reasoned. Historical fantasy. For example, B.A. Muratov quite unreasonably hypothesizes about the genetic connection of the Bashkir tribe Burzyan with the Mongol tribe Kiyat-Bordjigin. He also put forward unsubstantiated hypotheses about the genetic connection of the same Bashkir tribe Burzyan with Kurds, Ossetians-Digorians, Berendeys. At the same time. Muratov, naturally, did not provide any genetic evidence (belonging to a common terminal SNP-marker). Grammatical mistakes. The main thesis of the B.A. Muratov’s book sounds like: the Bashkirs are (certain) “Turanians”. The main mistake here is the identification of SNP-marker Z2123 with the ethno-religious category of “Turan”. This identification is not methodologically correct as social constructs and genetic markers are different in nature of their appearance, functioning and development. Thus, the mixing of genetic markers and ethno-religious is not methodologically correct when reconstructing history

237-243

Authors: Maslyuzhenko D.N., Tataurov S.F.

The article summarizes the results of the Second National Research Conference “History, Economics and Culture of the Medieval Turko-Tatar States of Western Siberia”, which was held in Kurgan on 17th–18th April 2014. 38 researchers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine participated at the Conference. The Conference was focused on several topics. On the first day, the Conference started with the issues of the Shiban’s ulus history and a role of the Shibanids in the history of the Golden Horde, including the issue of the borders of these lands, the ulus of Jochi’s place in its administrative structure, the participation of representatives of the dynasty in the events of the Great Zamyatnya (i.e, the Great Distemper) and strives of the 1420’s. There were also discussed the ethnic and political processes in the Tyumen and Siberian Yurt. Considerable attention was paid to the Turkization of the Western Siberian population and formation of various groups of the Siberian Tatars. Researchers have noted the limitations of the source base of the late-medieval history of the region and the need for a comprehensive approach to the research involving experts in the fields of history, archaeology, ethnography, anthropology, linguistics. A separate debate was held on the role of the Nogai and Bukhara factor in the history of the Kuchum Siberian khanate. On the second day, there were discussed various aspects of the Turkic-Tatar peoples’ occurrence from the Ural-Irtysh interfluve to the Russian State. There were presented reports both on the policy and destiny of the Kuchum descendants and legal and military aspects of the Tatar yurtes’ subordination. There was held a discussion about two versions of the Ichkinski Tatar ethnogenesis as a special group of the Tatar population of the region. Thereupon, the conference participants called for a cautious stance on the use of ethnic reconstructions in Turkic history and their use in the construction of modern inter-ethnic relations in Russia. There were also presentations on issues of spiritual and material culture of the Tatar peoples of Western Siberia. Considerable attention was paid to the Islamization of the Turkish-Tatar groups in Western Siberia and the existence of Islamic institutions in the region by under Russian power.