Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review

6–17

Authors: Pochekaev R.Yu.

Research objectives: Analyzing characteristics of the legal status of Prince Godan, son of Ögedei Khan, who was often mentioned in different imperial, Tibetan, and late medieval Mongolian sources; clarifying the reasons why he was given the title of khan in some sources, though he never possessed this title. The author attempts to define the status, level of power, and real position of Godan among the Chinggisids and in the political structure of the Mongol Empire. Research materials: The basis for research comprises three groups of historical sources – Mongolian imperial historiography (works of Juwayni and Rashid al-Din, “Yuan shih”, etc.), Tibetan historical works (“The Blue Annals”, “Pagsam-jonsan”, “Debterchjamtso”), and late medieval Mongolian chronicles created under the influence of Tibetan Buddhist historiography (“Golden Tale”, “Crystal Mirror”, “Yellow History”, “White History”, “Jewel beads”, etc.). The author also used the works of specialists on Mongolian and Tibetan historiography (such as Sh. Bira, R.E. Pubaev, Yu.N. Rerikh, A.D. Tsendina) as well as the works of researchers of political and religious history of the Mongol Empire (such as V.L. Uspenskiy, H. Franke, C.P. Atwood, etc.). The novelty of the study: It offers a systematization of historical sources of different origins to clarify some aspects of the political biography of Prince Godan, identifying his legal status as a Chinggisid and the ruler of an ulus. At the same time, the author tries to not refute sources with contradicting statements but to clarify the reasons behind such contradictions and to find information which could clarify and complement the data of other sources. Research results: The author tries to systematize different sources on the status of Prince Godan as one of the key political figures in the history of the Mongol Empire from the 1240s to the beginning of the 1250s and the ruler of a large ulus with substantial level of power, which could be compared with that of rulers of the Golden Horde, the Chaghadaid Ulus, etc. Also, the reasons behind the brief existence of Godan’s ulus and loss of his status already by the time of his direct descendants are analyzed.

41–84

Authors: Favereau M.

Research objectives: To study some questions of form and protocol by which the Mamluks were guided in their “written relations” with the Chinggisids of the Golden Horde. To determine the degree of mutual influence between Turkic, Mongol and Arabic epistolary practices of this period. Research materials: Examples from the clerical manuals of the three major writers of the Mamluk sultanate: Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari (al-Ta‘rīf fī al-muṣṭalaḥ al-šarīf) (d. 749/1349), Ibn Nazir al-Jaysh (al-Taṯqīf fī al-taʿrīf) (d. 786/1384), and al-Qalqashandi (Ṣubḥ al-aʿšā fī ṣināʿat al-inšā’) (d. 821/1418). Research results and novelty: The author analyzed in detail the above sources, confirming the interaction between the two diwans al-insha’ as well as the circulation of Islamic chancellery knowledge and techniques between Egypt and Central Asia, starting from the second half of the 13th century and up to the first half of the 15th century. As a result, it has been revealed that administrative institutions functioned steadily despite the periodic discontinuity and chaos of dynastic inheritance. The statements that we distinguish through these epistolary exchanges also possess a certain continuity; the goal of most of these letters was to justify or ask a question about prolonged silences, the shortage of embassies, and the long absence of an exchange between the two states. Consequently, the diplomatic practices of the Mamluks and Golden Horde fit into the long favorable period of the general evolution of clerical regulations.

101–106

Authors: Nikitin A.P.

Objective: To examine written records mentioning the hegumens in the territory of Chervleny Yar during the Golden Horde period. Materials: The study is mainly based on the charters of Metropolitans Theognost and Alexei, concerning the dispute between the Orthodox dioceses of Saray and Ryazan in the 14th century. The results of archaeological research, references to plague outbreaks, and the reconstructed text of Taidula’s charter granted to Metropolitan Theognost provide indirect information for research. Results and novelty of the research: Based on the mention of hegumens in Chervleny Yar in the 14th century in the charters of the Metropolitans Theognost and Alexei, one can assert the existence of several Orthodox monasteries in the territory of this administrative unit of the Golden Horde. The plague, the fiscal policy of Janibek, and the spread of Islam in the Jochid ulus could have been the true reasons for the disappearance of monasteries in the 14th century. The plague epidemic could have completely destroyed the inhabitants of the monastery and the rural district of the cloister. Janibek’s decision to deprive the Orthodox Church of tax benefits could have led to the liquidation of the financial basis for monastic life in the interfluve of the Don and the Khoper after the disappearance of support for monasteries. In addition to all these, the wide proliferation of Islam among the population of Chervleny Yar eliminated the possibility of functioning Orthodox spiritual centers outside of the Russian principalities. The charter of Metropolitan Theognost can be dated between 1334 and 1346–1349. Archaeological search for Christian objects of the Golden Horde period in the interfluve of the Don and the Khoper can be considered as a task for the future.

123–133

Authors: Rustemov O.D.

Research objective: Linguistic analysis of the Crimean Tatar language in official documents against the backdrop of the literary and written traditions of the Golden Horde, a polity to which the Crimean ulus belonged for quite a long time. Research materials: The yarlik of the Crimean khan, Bora Gaza Girey, which we transliterated and translated into Russian, is used as an illustrative text. The language of this yarlik makes it possible to analyze the lexical and grammatical changes in the written language of the Golden Horde which occurred in Crimea under local and Ottoman dialectical influences. Being subjected to changes of this kind, the Golden Horde’s Türki can already be defined as having shifted to the Crimean mixed-Türki of the stated period. The study of the language of the Crimean khans’ yarliks and the parallel study of the language of other Crimean official documents provide an accurate picture of the language processes in the Crimea during the period of the Crimean Khanate, not only at the level of written language, but also at the level of the spoken one. Results and novelty of the research: The efforts of the author on the analysis of the Crimean variant of the Türki language were undertaken for the first time in Turkic studies. As a result, the author revealed not only the substrata of the Ottoman, but also the local Oghuz-Kypchak dialect, recorded in the Codex Cumanicus.

145–158

Authors: Petrov P.N., Kravtsov K.V., Gumayunov S.V.

After having long scrutinized the finds of 19 unusual, anonymous Juchid dirhams discovered in the vicinity of Saratov, the authors of this article are finally able to attribute these coins. One specimen bears the year of minting 663 AH/1264–1265 AD, i.e. the year when Berke reigned in the Juchid ulus. Another coin, connected with the issues of the same typological series, has the mint name of Saray, but lacks any tamgha. While tamghas are also absent on all the other dirhams, judging by their weights, the 19 coins represent three different denominations. The authors have no information regarding the finds of such coins in other regions of the Juchid ulus. The coins’ legends contain the issuer’s laqab – al-da‘i ila’l-huda nusrat al-dunya wa’l-din, which unequivocally confirms that this is a laqab of a ruler who converted to Islam. An analysis of these Saray dirhams from the vicinity of Saratov, struck during the reign of Berke, as well as the fact that the monetary circulation in the Juchid ulus in the thirteenth century was predominantly local, raised important questions not only concerning the location of Batu’s Saray and Berke’s Saray respectively, but also regarding how we should understand the toponym “Saray” in the second third of the thirteenth century. In this connection, it is not improbable that our current understanding of Saray as a particular city is incorrect or at least not uncontroversial. At the moment, in light of current research, it is clear that the mint of Saray was operating already in the 650s AH / 1250s AD.

168–180

Authors: Khamidova Ch.I.

Research objectives and materials: The article presents a section of the translation from Persian of the 2nd chapter of the manuscript. This part contains a genealogical tree of Kubilai, Timur Khan, Arik Buka, Hulagu, Ahmad Khan, containing also those of their descendants who were known to Rashid al-Din. Research results and novelty: The results of translation and analyses of the manuscript text could serve in various purposes: the study of Rashid al-Din’s heritage, Golden Horde history, the genealogical history of the Chinggisid rulers and their descendants, etc. The translation of the manuscript has heretofore never been published in part or fully.

199–211

Authors: Gulevich V.P., Hautala R.

This article contains the text of a letter from the Hungarian and German king, Sigismund of Luxemburg, to the commune of Caffa, a Genoese colony in Crimea. In his struggle against Venice, the king hoped for the help of Genoa, which competed with the Republic of Venice in the Levantine trade. To undermine Venetian trade routes, Sigismund hoped to both establish contact with the Horde’s khan, Jalal ad-Din, with the mediation of Caffa’s administration, and to restore the transit trade of expensive Oriental goods from China to the Danube and further into Hungary and Germany. To this end, an official Hungarian embassy was sent to Caffa in 1412. The letter rather meagerly reflects the opinion of the king regarding the distant Horde and its rulers. However, the circumstances of the embassy make it possible to understand the broader European context of Sigismund’s eastern policy, which in one way or another affected Genoa, the Ottoman Empire, and the Polish Kingdom. The published source is of considerable interest to researchers of the history of the Horde, the Crimea, and the Genoese colony of Caffa, taking into account the fact that Sigismund tried to implement his anti-Venetian plan in 1418 and possibly once again between 1419 and 1428, and given the scarcity of information on the Hungarian-Tatar relations in the early fifteenth century. Thus, this article contains the Latin text of the letter and its Russian translation as well as an introduction which highlights the context of events both in Hungary and the distant Venetian colony of Tana (Tatar: Azaq), located at the mouth of the Don.