An Analysis of Joči’s Debated Paternity and His Role in the Altan Uruġ Royal Lineage of Činggis Khan

Research objectives: This article discusses Joči’s military-political role and status in the Mongol Empire (Yeke Mongol Ulus), beginning in the early thirteenth century and within the intra-dynastic relations of Činggis Khan’s chief sons. In particular, the article seeks to answer questions about Joči’s birth. Discrepancies between the Secret History of the Mongols and other written sources cast doubt on whether Joči was even a legitimate son of Činggis Khan, let alone his eldest one. In addition, this article includes an analysis of Joči’s place within the family and the traditional legal system of the medieval Mongols based on the principles of majorat succession outlined in the Mongol Empire. It establishes evidence of his legitimacy within the Činggisid dynasty’s imperial lineage (altan uruġ) – a point of view supported by his military-political career, his pivotal role in the western campaigns, his leadership at the siege of Khwārazm, and the process of division of the ulus of Činggis Khan. Research materials: This article makes use of Russian, English, and Turkic (Kazakh, Tatar, etc.) translations of key primary sources including the Secret History of the Mongols and works of authors from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, including Al-Nasawī, Shіhāb al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī, ‘Alā’ al-Dīn ’Aṭā-Malik Juvāynī, Minhāj al-Dīn Jūzjānī, Zhao Hong, Peng Daya, John of Plano Carpini, William of Rubruck, Jamāl al-Qarshī, Rashīd al-Dīn, Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-ʿUmarī, Uluġbeg, Ötämiš Hājī, Lubsan Danzan, Abu’l-Ghāzī, and Saγang Sečen. New secondary works regarding Joči published by modern Kazakh, Russian, Tatar, American, French, Chinese, Korean and other scholars were also consulted. Results and novelty of the research: Taking into consideration certain economic and legal traits of the medieval Mongols, their traditional practices, military-political events, and longterm developments in the Mongol Empire’s history, descriptions of Joči being no more than a “Merkit bastard” are clearly not consistent. The persisting claims can be traced to doubts about Joči’s birth included in the Secret History of the Mongols, the first extensive written record of the medieval Mongols which had a great impact on the work of later historians, including modern scholars. Some researchers suspect this allegation may have been an indirect result of Möngke Khan inserting it into the Secret History. This article argues that the main motivation was Batu’s high military-political position and prestige in the Yeke Mongol Ulus. After Ögödei Khan’s death, sons and grandsons of Ögödei and Ča’adai made various attempts to erode Batu’s significant position in the altan uruġ by raising questions regarding his genealogical origin. This explains why doubts about Joči’s status in the imperial lineage appeared so widely following his death in an intra-dynastic propaganda struggle waged between the houses of Joči and Тolui and the opposing houses of Ča’adai and Ögödei’s sons. This conflict over the narrative was engendered by the struggle for supreme power in the Mongol Empire and the distribution of conquered lands and property.

Prokhor Kolomiatin’s Turkic Dictio­nary among the Narrative Monuments from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries Related to Crimea

Research objectives: To analyze the genre-typological and stylistic peculiarities of the narrative parts that accompany the actual dictionary entries of the Turkic-Russian dictionary, and thus to add a new source to the group of narrative monuments from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries centuries which pertain to Crimea. Research materials: The Turkic-Russian dictionary (“Kniga Elihv”) included in the manuscript miscellany (“Tsvetnik”) that was compiled by the hieromonk, Prokhor Kolomiatin, in 1668. The manuscript is kept in the collection of the State Historical Museum (Muzeyskoe sobr., No. 2803). Results and novelty of the research: The Turkic-Russian dictionary included in Prokhor Kolomiatin’s miscellany is one of the earliest examples of a Turkic lexicography in the Cyrillic tradition. Along with the records of lexemes and word collocations, it contains lengthy narratives concerning religion, geography, and ethnography of Crimea. The nature of the information provided suggests that the author of the dictionary was living in Crimea for some time, most likely as a prisoner, although having a certain privileged status. Having little opportunity to travel outside the peninsula, he received knowledge, including information about other countries, from verbal communication with the local inhabitants made up of different national and social groups. Analysis of the content of the narrative material allows us to state that the text has its own degree of originality, although it naturally finds thematic and genre parallels with the well-known medieval narratives concerning Crimea.

“The Development of the Ideas of Scholars of Previous Generations Will Be the Best Monument for Them”: In Memory of Leonid Teodorovich Yablonsky (1950–2016)

Research objectives: To consider the creative path and main views of L.T. Yablonsky, as well as his influence on ideas about the ethnic history of the Golden Horde population and theoretical problems of ethnogenesis. Research materials: The authors of the article were based on numerous publications by L.T. Yablonsky, as well as personal impressions from meetings with the researcher on expeditions and at academic conferences. Results and novelty of the research: The authors consider the formation of L.T. Yablonsky as a unique specialist who combined archaeological training and professional study of physical anthropology. This allowed him to draw important conclusions about the formation of the Golden Horde population. Later, he resorted to this method to study the early nomads of the Aral Sea region and the South Urals. His works became an event in the research field, since they positively differed from others not only by an interdisciplinary approach to the problem under study – at the junction of archaeology and ethnogenetics – but also by the wide use of anthropological materials. Prior to these works, all information about the population of the Jochid ulus was fragmentary and unsystematic, and he was the very researcher who first connected the data of paleoanthropology and the analysis of the burial rite in medieval burial grounds. He proved the fact that the Golden Horde population consisted of mixed population groups, and identified those population groups that, in his opinion, came from Central Asia. L.T. Yablonsky attached great importance to the methodology of research on ethnogenesis and ethnic history. He advocated an integrated scientific approach to their study and emphasized the huge role of paleoanthropology and archaeology in solving ethnogenetic problems. In his opinion, the rapid divergence of various scientific disciplines – ethnology, archaeology, physical anthropology, and genetics – was the main problem that hindered the development of scientific ethnogenetic research. L.T. Yablonsky, therefore, believed that expanding comprehensive research would help solve this problem.

“Hand Drawn Portolan of the Caspian Sea of 1519” by Vesconte Maggiolo: A Source of Historical Geography for the Caspian Region

Research objectives: To conduct a detailed comparative analysis of the toponymic source known as “Hand Drawn Portolan of the Caspian Sea (1519)” by Vesconte Maggiolo, and ascertain the range and chronology of its sources. Research materials: At the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there were a few navigational maps – portolan charts – created in Italy which contained rather precise outlines of the coastline of the Caspian Sea. The present Portolan excels all earlier items in terms of precision of the depicted topographical realities of the region. The quality of the map we are examining was surpassed only in the seventeenth century after Peter I’s hydrographic expeditions. The high level of shoreline’s precision also strongly suggests that the map was based on authentic topographic input. Maggiolo’s map contains 136 geographical names. Results and novelty of the research: For the first time ever in domestic scholarship, we conducted a comparative historical analysis of the hand drawn portolan chart of the Caspian Sea. We also proved the correlation of some toponyms of the West Caspian region with the Timurid and local sources that covered the military campaigns of Amir Timur in the region. In our view, the “Hand Drawn Portolan Chart of the Caspian Sea (1519)” created by Vesconte Maggiolo is one of the most notable among similar works. It finds many common features with the portolan from the island of Lesina, but also contains some common elements with the Mallorca cartographic school and Fra Mauro, Egerton MS 73, and Egerton MS 2083. This research allows us to extend and systematize our understanding of Italian cartography in relation to the Caspian region. It also details or adds some facts about the presence of Europeans in this region during the Golden Horde era. Based on this topographic and toponymic analysis, we furthermore come to a conclusion that the portolan in question is derived from a protograph created in the first half of fifteenth century, reflecting the realities of the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Problems of Studying the Siberian Statehood of the Shibanids (according to Materials of the Fourth All-Russian Research Conference: “The History, Economy, and Culture of the Medieval Turkic-Tatar States of Western Siberia”)

The article summarizes the results of the Fourth All-Russian (national) research conference “History, Economy, and Culture of the Medieval Turkic-Tatar States of Western Siberia”. It took place in the city of Kurgan on October 30, 2020. The conference was held on the Zoom platform due to the current epidemic situation. From various regions of Russia and the Republic of Kazakhstan, 34 researchers took part in it. The reports were chronologically and thematically divided into the following areas: the issues of the historiography and source studies of the political and ethnic history of the Siberian states; the Tyumen Khanate and its heritage, the Siberian Khanate and its neighbors; and Western Siberia from the end of the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries: politics, population, and culture. The speakers summed up and set new prospects for research on the problems of archaeological and historical source studies related to Siberian statehood, the ethno-social and political history of the Tyumen and Siberian yurts, and issues of political relations of late medieval Siberian states with their neighbors including the Muscovite state and the Bukhara Khanate. In the latter case, it was proposed to consider these relations in the context of larger geopolitical realities in Eurasia in the sixteenth century. Special attention was paid to the discussion of Tatar-Ugric relations which continue to be a promising research area. The problems and chronology of the entry of the Turkic-Tatar and Ugric peoples of Western Siberia into the Russian state were discussed as well. Further ways of studying the problems of the history, economy, and culture of the medieval Turkic-Tatar states of Western Siberia were considered for the preparation of the next conference in Kurgan in 2023. Using the possibilities of interdisciplinary research by specialists in the field of history, archaeology, ethnology, numismatics, and genetics is of great importance in determining the prospects for further research. Taking into account the limited written base of sources on the history of Western Siberia of the late Middle Ages and early modern period, interdisciplinarity and a combined approach can solve some controversial issues and problems, as well as provide us with new potential opportunities to study the history of the Tyumen and Siberian Khanate.

Tracing the Sources of V.G. Tiesen­hausen in the Arabic Volume on the History of the Golden Horde

Research objective and materials: This article is devoted to the analysis of the results of the work carried out on the sources used by Vladimir Tiesenhausen in the compiling the Arabic volume of the “Collection of Materials Relating to the History of the Golden Horde”. Results and novelty of the research: A comparative study of texts extracted by Vladimir G. Tiesenhausen in 1884, with their new editions, presented the following picture: one group of publications represents academic editions with quality translations, accompanied by professionally executed commentaries. Another part of the sources was published based on one part of existing copies. As practice shows, sometimes the older and complete copies of published works remained out of coverage in such publications; their existing editions are not taken into account. The third group of sources is composed of works that remain in manuscript form to the present day. One such work – “al-‘Aylam al-zakhir fi akhbar al-awa’il wa-l-awakhir” by Mustafa ibn Hasan al-Janabi – exists in numerous copies. Searches and the discovery of its copies in Turkish funds show such source studies’ problems as incomplete cataloging of manuscript collections, unprofessional descriptions by compilers of some catalogues, inconsistency in the provided titles of the works and the names of their authors. The autograph (Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Yeni Cami, no. 831) and two full texts (Köprülü Kütüphanesi, Fazıl Ahmet Paşa, nos. 1031, 1032) are of great value in the publication of “al-‘Aylam al-zakhir”. The result is the formation of a creative portrait for the author of a published work and the creation of a complete image for his work on the basis of its copies. This may ensure against potential errors.

The Crimea Question in “Western” Projects, Political Treatises, and Correspondence from the mid-sixteenth century to 1783

Research objective: This paper aims at the revealing and analysing various documents, created in different countries of Europe prior to 1783, which suggested the change of the Crimea’s status and its accession to Russia, and the determination of interactions of these sources and general trends and principles behind discussions of the “Crimea question” in Russian and foreign public opinion. Research materials: This research addresses a large body of sources, created in Russia and the West from the sixteenth to eighteenth century, discussing the future of the Crimea – political treatises, memoranda, historical works, and correspondence. Research novelty and results: For the first time in the scholarship, the whole array of available sources on the planned accession of the Crimea to Russia has been analysed. It has been discovered that there were periods when the “Crimea question” was disputed in the West far more widely than in Russia. This “discussion” continued with the participation of very different authors, including the leading minds of the public discourse such as Voltaire or Francesco Algarotti. The attempts of the western intellectuals to influence the Russian government’s decisions have been demonstrated. Therefore, the accession of the Crimea is a product of not only “Russian imperialism”, as it is often suggested, but to a certain extent also of the Western Europe’s public mindset. Obviously, such a development was considered quite admissible in the West, and many authors viewed it positively both for international relations and for the internal perspectives of the region. The given article has exposed the dynamics in these arguments, with initial counter-Muslim rhetoric underlining the existential opposition of Christianity and Islam and the need for “returning” lands which had formerly belonged to Europe. When the Enlightenment era started, the further reason of Europe’s civilizing mission appeared. This mission was thought to be impeded in the Black Sea by the “backward” Islamic society. In Russia, the discussion of the future of the Crimea became topical in the second and third quarter of the eighteenth century, probably when the elite realized that the conquest of the peninsula had now become a reality.

Mosques with Flat Beam Ceiling of the Crimean Kha­nate Period

Research objectives: To study a group of mosques of Crimean Khanate’s period, namely, buildings with a flat beamed ceiling. To highlight various options for planning buildings and to search for their analogies. Research materials: Buildings of Crimean mosques from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, preserved to this day and known from archival materials. All Crimean mosques can be divided into two groups: domed buildings and buildings with flat beamed ceilings and a four-pitched roof. The second grouping is considered in this work. Research results: The consideration of a group of mosques with a flat rafter overlap allows us to divide them into two subgroups: basilicas and halls. The basilica constructions are rectangular buildings divided into naves by rows of columns or abutments supporting the beams. Buildings whose ceiling beams rest directly on the external walls can be attributed to hall mosques. Hall mosques, in turn, can be divided into square and rectangular in plan. Basilica mosques have been known in Crimea since the Golden Horde period. They have numerous analogies in the territory of Asia Minor where similar buildings appeared already in the twelfth century. In the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, a model of the official Seljuk mosque appeared on their basis. In the Ottoman period, the mosques of Asia Minor became mainly domed. In Crimea, along with the perception of the new fashion, the old Seljuk traditions were preserved. Rectangular hall constructions are simplified versions of basilicas, while square ones comprise the domed mosques. Novelty of the research: For the first time ever, an analysis of the complex of mosque buildings with flat beamed ceilings is carried out and various layout options are highlighted. In addition, a comparison is made with similar mosques both in Crimea of the Mongol period and Asia Minor of the Seljuk period.

A Modern Domestic View of the “Black Death” and Major Epidemic Outbreaks of the Plague in the Historical Past

Research objectives: To analyze the main research trends of the last thirty years in the national historiography on the topic of the Black Death and major epidemic outbreaks of plague in the historical past. Research materials: The historiographic analysis was conducted based on both original domestic studies of the topic and those written in co-authorship with Western colleagues. To outline the main theoretical base of the topic, the author used major works on the historical theory, demography, climatology, paleogenetics, and phylogenetics of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis. Results and novelty of the research: The analysis showed that until the 1980s, the views of Russian historians on the epidemics of the historical past were based on the study of a major German epidemiologist in the second half of nineteenth century, H. Häser. At the same time, the main directions in the research of domestic historians on the topic were developed within the framework of an order from domestic biologists and epidemiologists. This situation began to change when, in the 1980s, Russian historical research took a course towards geographical determinism. From the second half of the 1990s to the 2000s, in connection with the publications of the American Turkologist U. Schamiloglu and French historians, new topics in the field of anthropology, cultural studies, and historical demography began to be addressed in the research of domestic authors. At the same time, all theoretical considerations continued to be formed within the framework of the Marxist theory of the “crisis of the Middle Ages”. Therefore, the “Black Death” was considered exclusively as a concomitant theme attached to the main events. Only in the 2010s, in the light of the growth of joint research with Western specialists in the field of archaeology, paleogenetics, and climatology was it possible to start moving towards the development of a new theoretical and methodological basis for research on the topic in Russian historiography. The result of this process was the publication of new studies which are likely to determine the predominant course of scientific research in the field of historical epidemiology in Russia in the coming years.

On the Question of Islamization of Ugrian Population in Western Siberia from the sixteenth to early eighteenth centuries and Some Aspects of Study of This Process

Research objectives: The reconstruction of the features of Islamization of the Ugrian population in Western Siberia from the sixteenth to early eighteenth centuries and some controversial points in the research of this process. Research materials: The present study was based on the analysis of published sources: chronicles, memoirs, and archaeological as well as historiographical data. Results and novelty of the research: The penetration of world religions, including Islam, into the taiga and tundra zone of Western Siberia in the late Middle Ages and Early Modern period is a relevant though insufficiently studied line of research. It is directly related to the issues of including these territories into the Russian state. However, in most cases the limited written and archaeological sources, characterizing the process of adoption of Islam by the local population, have led to the discussion adopting the same stereotyped plotlines. Most often, research has looked to characterize various possible factors possibly influencing the process of Islamization led by the representatives of Sufi tariqas, acting in the territory of the Shibanids within the ulus of Jochi, the Tyumen and Siberian Khanate in particular. A significant strengthening of the Muslims’ influence and their activity’s expansion is only revealed in the case of the last one. This process is automatically related to the Ugrian principalities connected with the Khanate, most often not in critical terms. At the same time, the analysis of chronicles mostly shows very limited possibilities of Islamic preaching outside the territory of various groups of Siberian Tatars. In such cases, prea­ching influenced either the representatives of the Ugrian elite alone, or reflected the domestic partnership of the Ugrians with Tatars. Under these conditions, the emergence of new approaches, which O.N. Naumenko and E.A. Naumenko claim in their works, force us to carefully analyze the proposed methods, sources, and results of the study of Islam among the West Siberian Ugrians. The work done in this regard shows that during the period under consideration, the adoption of Islam among the representatives of any groups of the Ob Ugrians would have been isolated incidents. As a rule, such episodes were connected with the elite of this society that was in close cooperation with the aristocracies of the Siberian Khanate. Dwelling in an interconnected way with the Turkic-Tatar population played a great role in this as well. Moreover, after the entry of Western Siberia into the Russian state, the number of such cases did not increase. On the contrary, sources define the Ostyaks and the Voguls as pagans. It is in this context that Orthodox preaching began among them.