Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review

424–436

Authors: Nikolov A.

Research objectives: The main goal of the report is to present the general trends of the Tatar topic in Bulgarian historiography, starting from its beginnings in the later part of the eighteenth century up to modern times. Another objective is to comment on the presentation of the topic about the Golden Horde and the so-called “Tatar hegemony” in modern history textbooks in Bulgaria. An additional issue is the context of the topic related to the theories of Bulgarian-Tatar real or alleged ethnic affiliations. Research materials: For the preparation of the article the author used variety of specific accounts on the topic, covering different periods of the development of Bulgarian historiography. Some of them are summaries of certain periods or issues, related to the Tatar topic, other are more general narratives on Bulgarian medieval history. There is special focus on several history textbooks that are illustrative on the presentation of the Tatar topic for a broader audience, especially students. There are also some comments on negative image of the Bulgarians, depicted as “Tatars”, that circulated in several Serbian and Greek nationalist circles in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and how this type of propaganda affected the debate on Bulgarian ethnogenesis and the origin of the Proto-Bulgarians. The novelty of the study emerges from the larger chronological frame, the broader type of historiographical works and history textbooks included and discussed, and this being the first general summary on the topic in English. Lastly, the topic of Bulgarian-Tatar relations in the Middle Ages is presented in a broader political and social context, related to the topic of the origin of modern and ancient Bulgarians, their link to the Volga Bulgars, and the possible common roots and heritage of Bulgarians, Tatars, and Chuvash people in modern times. Research results: The Tatar topic in Bulgarian historiography emerged almost exclusively in the context of the influence of Nogay at the end of the thirteenth century, presented as foreign negative impact on Bulgarian development. Another aspect was the possible “Tatar” roots of ancient and modern Bulgarians, viewed mostly negatively by Bulgarian nationalists embracing Pan-Slavist ideas. In the course of time, the “Tatar” topic has been better researched and more objectively presented. During recent decades, there is a new approach presenting the Tatar Golden Horde not only as negative factor, but also as possible ally and protector of medieval Bulgaria in the context of a rather moderate regime of vassalage. In the textbooks, however, because of the more conservative character of this type of educational materials, the older stereotypes are still presented to a certain extent. In general, a positive image of the Tatar Golden Horde is slowly emerging, especially in the context of the common Bulgar component in the ethnogenesis of modern Bulgarians, Tatars, and Chuvash people.

457–471

Authors: Abzalov L.F.

Research objectives: Based on information about the Urgench hospital, the author of this article analyzes the activities of hospitals in the Golden Horde in order to present a more complete picture of life in Golden Horde society. Research materials: Information from Arab authors, Shaikh al-Birzali and Ibn Battuta, about the bimaristan in Khwarazm (Urgench). The author of the article applied the use of analogy and comparison methods to reconstruct how the hospital plausibly functioned. Results and novelty of the research: The author identified the reasons for the construction of a bimaristan in the largest urban center of the Jochid state. The famous Arab merchant and traveler, Ibn Battuta, visited Urgench during its heyday. The most significant architectural monuments that have survived to this day (e.g. the Qutlugh Timur minaret and the Turabek Khanum mausoleum) were built at this time. Intermittent construction activity was a consequence of the social and economic development of the city and the presence or absence of political stability in the country. Muslim culture, Muslim piety, the gradual conversion to Islam of the Mongol-Tatar elite led to Urgench becoming one of the main cultural centers of the ulus of Jochi. All of the above factors predetermined the establishment of a bimaristan there. Obviously, the bimaristan of Urgench was developed by analogy with Muslim hospitals that first arose in the ninth century. Indirect information allowed the author to suggest the possible existence of bimaristans in other major urban centers of the Golden Horde. They could have separate buildings or could be part of complexes that included the so-called institutions of Muslim piety. The activity of hospitals could be carried out only with the presence of a professional doctor and an influential patron – the former organized the process of treating of patients while the latter created the material and financial basis for the function of a hospital.

504–514

Authors: Karpov S.P.

Research objectives: Primarily an investigation of the history of Italian trading stations in Tana (Azak) after their destruction by the troops of the Chaghatayid amir, Timur Aksak, in 1395 and the further renewal of trade between the West and the East through Tana at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. An evaluation of the commodity circulation of the Golden Horde territories with Venice is based on little-known and unpublished archival sources. Research materials: Documentary and legal sources in Latin and in the Venetian dialetto from the State Archives of Venice and the archives of the Datini merchant company in Prato, as well as narrative sources, other edited sources, and research publications. Novelty of the research: The study of this problem, based on the above-mentioned sources, is carried out for the first time. The author provides the first academic publication of a unique source – an inventory of goods brought by Venetian ships from Tana to Venice in 1402. The publication is accompanied by a scholarly commentary and identification of all categories of the listed goods. Research results: A reconstruction of the history of the renewal of trade between the Golden Horde and the West through the Venetian trading stations in Tana, along with an outline of the main stages of this process. As well, an approximate estimate of the commodity turnover is offered on the basis of new archival evidence. The author analyzes methods and principles used by the Venetian Republic in its relations with the Golden Horde after the defeat of Toqtamïsh in his confrontation with Timur.

533–551

Authors: Nagamine H.

Research objective: To analyze the importance of Sïghnaq both as the “port of Dasht-i Qïpchaq” and as a “mausolean city (where the tombs of rulers of nomadic regimes were placed for generations and many charitable facilities and shrines for saints were built)” for the Left Hand of the ulus of Jochi – a nomadic state of the Dasht-i Qïpchaq. Another aim is to reexamine the significance of the possession of Sïghnaq for the so-called “Qazaq/Kazakh Khanate” (the Urusids from the Jochid Left Hand) in their conflict for the Turkestan region with the Shaybānīds/Abū’l-Khayrids (the so-called “Uzbeks”) in the last third of the fifteenth century. Through these objectives, I would like to rethink the significance of cities for the nomadic regime. Research materials: The following materials were analyzed: Muʻīn al-Dīn Naṭanzī’s Muntakhab al-Tawārīkh-i Muʻīnī, and especially its jadwar (“table [of the dynasty]”) in the Paris manuscript of this work, which has not received sufficient attention; Kamāl al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Razzāq Samarqandī’s Maṭlaʻ-i Saʻdayn wa Majmaʻ-i Baḥrayn; Faḍl Allāh b. Rūzbihān Khunjī’s Mihmān-nāma-yi Bukhārā; Kamāl al-Dīn ʻAlī Binā’ī’s Shaybānī-nāma; Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥaydar Dughlāt’s Tārīkh-i Rashīdī; Ḥāfiẓ-i Tanīsh b. Mīr Muḥammad Bukhārī’s Sharaf-nāma-yi Shāhī; Qādir ‘Alī Beg’s historiography (Jāmi‘ al-Tavārīkh); and four additional documents from Sïghnaq. Results and novelty of the research: From the description of Muʻīn al-Dīn Naṭanzī’s Muntakhab al-Tawārīkh-i Muʻīnī, and especially from the jadwar in the Paris manuscript of this work, we can understand that cities under the rule of the Jochid Left Hand in the middle and lower Syr-Darya, especially Sïghnaq, began to take on the character not only of political, military, and economic centers and winter quarters, but also of “mausolean cities”, as early as the fourteenth century. Based on historical sources, Sïghnaq continued to possess the character of a “mausolean city” until the seventeenth century. In the conflict for the Turkestan region between the Qazaqs (the Urusids from Jochid Left Hand) and the Shaybānīds, the Qazaqs finally succeeded in their attempt to possess Suzaq and Sïghnaq, located in the northern part of the region. The Qazaqs attempted to possess Sïghnaq because among all the cities of the Turkestan region, it was the capital and a “mausolean city” for the Jochid Left Hand, especially the Urusids. In addition, it had acquired importance for the Qazaq nomadic state as “the port of Dasht-i Qïpchaq” located in the northern part of the Turkestan region.

563–577

Authors: Golovnev A.V.

In this review article, the author summarizes the views expressed in the collected papers of several authors and articulates his own vision on a specific topic. Seeing the authors’ focus on the borderland between the Cis-Urals and Siberia, the reviewer considers it necessary to expand the range of the overview by including into consideration the Ostyak taiga. The number of Bashkir examples cited in the book gives the impression that primarily the Bashkir ethnonymy holds the key to making sense of the Ishtyak phenomenon. In fact, Siberian materials about the “classical Ostyaks” – the taiga peoples of Western and Central Siberia (Khanty, Selkups, and Kets) – are no less important information for the meaning of this ethnonym and the phenomenon of the borderland between the steppe and the forest hidden behind it. If we put together the ethnonymic evidence of the Ishtyaks / Ostyaks from the Nogays to the Khakasses, then the “Ishtyak belt” will stretch “from the Volga to the Yenisei.” Over its supposedly long (pre)history, the word Ishtyak could survive and combine different meanings and shades: “forest people”, “savages”, “northern barbarians”, “foreigners”, “gentiles”, and “tax-payers”. Perhaps the term Ishtyak in the sense of “forest dweller” and “savage” contained implications of “idolatry” at all times. However, this meaning was especially strengthened in the fourteenth century when Northern Eurasia was swept by another wave of geopolitical competition between Christianity and Islam. At a time when theopolitics became the core of the ideology of states and peoples, the confessional aspect of the word Ishtyak became dominant.

613–623

Authors: Gabdrafikova L.R.

Research objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the image of Syuyumbike in the everyday culture of the Tatars of the early twentieth century. Research materials: This article is based on the archive’s documents, materials of the periodical press at the beginning of the twentieth century, museum exhibits, as well as academic publications on the subject. Results and novelty of the research: In the everyday culture of the early twentieth century, the name of artistic image and name of the queen, Suyumbike, were used in different variations. The Syuyumbike Tower in the Kazan Kremlin was very important for the Tatars, so Tatar entrepreneurs provided for its restoration. An analysis of the activities of Tatar merchants shows that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Syuyumbike brand was formed. The idea of national progress was the driving force of the bourgeois transformations of this period, and the image of Syuyumbike became one of the main symbols of the new culture. The interest in the historical figure of Syuyumbike in that era and the active use of her image in various spheres of life indicate the growth of the Tatar national identity, the idea of statehood, female emancipation, and the modernization of Tatars’ everyday life. The scholarly novelty of the article is that the image of Syuyumbike is first subjected to a comprehensive analysis for the first time and is considered in the context of the Tatar bourgeois culture of the early twentieth century and its everyday practices.