卷 13, 编号 2 (2025)
Publications
The Historical Meanings of the Term Tatar: a Critical and Comprehensive Examination
摘要
This article is a critical and comprehensive examination of the historical meanings and uses of the term Tatar, drawing on a broad range of primary sources. It focuses on identifying to whom and by whom the term was applied across different historical periods. In the pre-Mongol period, Tatar denoted a nomadic people of eastern Mongolia, as recorded in Türk, Uyghur, and Qirghiz inscriptions, Chinese histories, and works like Maḥmūd al-Kāshgharī’s Dīwān Luġāt al-Turk. On the eve of the Mongol conquests, the Tatars were destroyed as a collective entity by Chinggis Khan, who viewed them as his ancestral enemies. However, during the Mongol period, Tatar became a widespread exonym for the Mongols, used by Chinese, Western European, Rus’, and Muslim writers. During the post-Mongol period, this external use continued. Writers in Ming China, the Islamic world, and Russia, among others, used Tatar to refer to both Mongols and their descendants. However, the heirs of the Mongol empire, namely, the Timurids, Moghuls, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs rejected it as a self-name. The notable exception were the Crimean Tatars of the western Jochid realm, who had adopted Tatar as a self-designation by the late 15th century or earlier. In the Russian empire, Tatar was more broadly used to denote not only the Mongols and their descendants, but also various Turkic-speaking subjects of the expanding empire. Similarly, Western European writers applied Tartar to Inner Asians, including the Manchus. Today, Tatar remains a self-name among the Crimean and Kazan Tatars.
240-261
“Tatars” and the “State of the Tatars” in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
摘要
Research objective: The purpose of this study is to present the entire body of information about the Tatars and the Tatar State contained in Old Norse-Icelandic literature.Research materials: The materials are the works of Old Norse-Icelandic writing of various genres. These are Icelandic annals, geographical treatises, and sagas of several types: chi-valric sagas, bishops’ sagas, sagas of ancient times, and local, or original, chivalric sagas.Results and scientific novelty: An exhaustive selection of source material has been achieved for the first time in scholarly literature. The main conclusion of the study is that there is no single image of the Tatar State in the sources under discussion. The kings’ and bishops’ sagas record real historical events, although they describe them in the style of a saga narrative. The Icelandic annals also reflect actual events, information about which could have been obtained from the works of European chroniclers, gleaned from oral information circulated in Icelandic-Norwegian clerical circles, or even be the result of rumours brought from Europe to the Scandinavian North by pilgrims returning home. In contrast, the authors of the sagas of ancient times and local knights’ sagas create geographical descriptions as a background for their fictional narratives, built on the basis of the knowledge and ideas that the authors themselves possessed and that their Icelandic audience must have had by the mid-13th century. All sources clearly maintain the assignment of the Tatar State to the Eastern quarter of the ecumene within which (like everything little known and dangerous) it was shifted towards the north. In addition, its connection with the Old Russian state, recorded by the sources, can be traced. Despite the fantastic character of the mental map reflected in the later sagas, they have preserved valuable indirect information, namely on the knowledge of the fact that Rus’ happened to be under the rule of the Golden Horde, and the idea of the real geographical position of the Tatar State in the distant parts of the Eastern quarter of the world.
262-276
Information about the Qara-Tatars in Muslim sources of the 13th century
摘要
Research objectives: This article is devoted to the analysis of references by Muslim historians to the ethnonym "Qara-Tatars". Most often, researchers turned to this problem in relation to the events of the late 14th – early 15th centuries, as V.V. Bartold already did, mentioning the "Qara-Tatars" whom Timur resettled from the borders of Asia Minor to Transoxiana. However, we would like to draw attention to the fact that Muslim historians of the 13th century also reported about the "Qara-Tatars" and these descriptions have not yet been the object of special study in Russian research. In this article, we will not only try to analyze these data, but also correlate them with the stories about the nomadic Turkic tribes of the Dasht-i Qipchaq whose names also contain the color marker "qara"/"black" in even earlier Muslim texts. Such a study should be useful not only to specialists in the history of the nomadic Turkic tribes of the Dasht-i Qipchaq, but also to those whose interests are related to the analysis of the evolution of Muslim historiography of the 11th – 13th centuries, as well as to researchers of the semantics of color in the names of Turkic tribal associations.
Research materials: The main materials on which this article is based are both Muslim historical and geographical works written in the 13th century, as well as a number of earlier texts to which later authors referred or from which they borrowed information. In addition, we will take into account the sources of the Armenian historical tradition which contain information about the "Qara-Tatars" and the Mongol conquests of the first half of the 13th century.
Research results and novelty: In this article, among the Muslim writings of the 13th century, the mention of the "Qara-Tatars" in the list of Turkic tribes was noted, cited by Fakhr-e Modabber in his essay "Shajara-ye ansab-e mobarakshah-i", as well as a lengthy description of this tribal association in the work, "Sharh nahj al-balaga", by Ibn Abu al-Hadid al-Mada'ini. The first example highlights the fact that pre-Mongol authors were already familiar with this tribal association, and the second example clearly demonstrates the influence of much earlier Muslim historians and geographers on the authors of the 13th century.
277-294
Ethno-Historical Perceptions of the Tatars in Medieval Armenian Sources: Contexts and Interpretations
摘要
Research objectives: This article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of the term "Tatars" and its perception in the medieval Armenian ethnopolitical milieu. Within the framework of this objective, a vast variety of issues arise which have to be investigated using different methods of historical research. Particularly, the following questions are under consideration: the perception of the term "Tatar" itself; the first acquaintance with the Tatars; the perceptions regarding their genealogical origins; the problem of identification and differentiation of Tatars; manifestations of the Tatar phenomenon in the adaptation of everyday life of late medieval realities.
Research materials: These issues have been examined based on medieval Armenian sources – historical works and chronicles of Armenian authors of the 13th–15th centuries, who were the contemporaries of the events described. The information of Armenian sources has been compared or contrasted with existing works on the subject.
Research results and novelty: Such a comprehensive study of the Tatar phenomenon in Armenian medieval sources has not been conducted prior to the present study. Therefore, this research is the first attempt at it which highlights the novelty of the research. The work has historical and practical significance. It clearly shows the reasons for the confusion in the historical perception of Tatars with other nations and ethnic groups that were actually different from each other.
295-312
Information about the “Tatars” in medieval Chinese, Mongolian and ancient Turkish sources (5th–14th centuries)
摘要
The article studies the ethnonym "Tatar" in the dynastic histories "Wei shu", "Song shu", "Sui shu", "Jiu Tang shu", "Xin Tang shu", "Jiu Wu dai shi", "Xin Wu dai shi", "Liao shi", "Song shi", "Letters to the Uyghurs" by Li Deyu, "History of the Khitan State" by Ye Longli, "Various Official and Unofficial Records of the [Events] of the Reign of Jianyang" by Li Xinchuan, the dynastic histories "Yuan shi", "Xin Yuan shi" and "Ming shi", the works "Hei da shi lue", "Meng da bei lu", and the only Mongolian (Tatar) source "Yuan chao bi shi". Materials from the ancient Turkic Orkhon monuments of the 8th century are also used. The study establishes that the term "Tatar" first appeared in the dynastic chronicle "Wei Shu" among the Rouran tribe as the proper name of Khagan Mouhanheshengai (414–429). Later, the term "Tatar" in Chinese sources denoted the tribes living in the territory of eastern Mongolia and northeastern China. The hieroglyphic designation of the ethnonym "Tatar" changed repeatedly during the 5th – early 14th centuries, more than 10 hieroglyphic records of "Tatar" have been established. With the formation of the Mongol Empire, along with the ethnonym "Tatar", the names "Mongol-Tatars" and "Mongols" appear in the sources, although in the dynastic chronicle "Ming Shi", they are recognized as identical. Dynastic histories contain the official point of view of Chinese chroniclers on the Mongol period. The use of the terms "Tatars" and "Mongols" in them may reflect both real ethnic differences and the political situation. The account of the origin of "Tatars" from the Shatuo Turks, indicated in "Meng da bei lu", contradicts earlier historical information. It has also been established that in the original version of the work, "Yuan chao bi shi", the narration is on behalf of the "Mongols", but in the Chinese translation "Tatars" are indicated. The issue of using the name "Mongol" instead of "Tatars" is a subject to debate in domestic and foreign historiography. Chinese scholars cite the derogatory connotation of the term "Tatar" (barbarian) as the reason for its use, while the authors of "Hei da shi lue" offer an alternative version.
313-345
The Tatar World’s peoples catalog by Iohannes of Sulthanyeh in the early 15th century
摘要
The purpose of this article is to study the Tatar World’s Peoples Catalog in the Manuscript Versions of “Libellus de notitia orbis” by Iohannes of Sulthanyeh in the early 15th century.
Research materials: The “Libellus de notitia orbis” by Iohannes of Sulthanyeh in 1404, preserved in manuscripts of the Austrian National Library in Vienna (ÖNB Cod. Ser. n. 39086), the University Library of Basel (BUB EIII17; BUB AV25), the University Library of Graz (GUB Ms. 1221), the Monastery Library of Klostenburg (KSB Cod. 1099), the University Library of Leipzig (LUB Ms. 1225), and the Diocesan Library of St. Pölten (SPDB Hs. 63). For a critical understanding of the historical and geographical context of the “Book”, as well as for the identification of its sources, the works of biblical, patristic, and medieval chronicle traditions were used, along with the research capabilities of the Patrologia Latina database.
Results and novelty of the research: In “Libellus de notitia orbis” by the Dominican monk, Johannes, from the 1404, he laid out the Tatar World’s Peoples Catalog, which included fifteen demonyms into three continents of the Old World, and was divided into two groups – the ancient Biblical and new peoples. Among the ancient Biblical peoples, the Persians and Arabs stood out for their dominance across the three continents. The Persians held this position in Antiquity, while the Arabs rose to prominence a millennium later. In the modern era – as seen by Iohannes of Sulthaniyeh – their place was taken by the Tatars. If the Persians achieved the Unity of the World by the a despotic organization of power, and the Arabs sought the same by adoption of Islam, the Tatars provided a link between scattered parts of the vast Tatars World through a universal language; it was the Tatars’ language that would be used the population of all countries which had been conquered by them. The Tatar Language was indispensable for Europeans, if they were going to do big international trade on the Great Silk Road. In addition to known Western sources of the “Libellus”, namely the “Etimologiae” by Issidorus Hispalensis (died 636), “De imago mundi” by Honorius Augustodunensis (died 1156), “Historia scholastica” by Petrus Comestor (died 1178), “La flor de estoires de la Terre d’Orient” by Haiton (died 1310), and “Epistola Samuelis marroccani” by Alfonsus Bonihomini (died 1353) are demonstrably used in the address of Iohannes of Sulthanyeh to “Ta’rikh-i Sistan” from the 11th century with an addition up to 1325, to the “Chronicle” by Michael the Syrian (died 1199), to “Historia Tartarorum” by De Bridia from 1245, and to “Le Devisement dou monde” by Marco Polo from 1284. Some of the first information about the Khorezmians, Kurds, Turkmens, Chagatais in Western sources were based on the archbishop of Suthanyeh’s own observations, and this expanded data on Tats – not only Iranian ones, but also Caucasian and Crimean.
346-366
The Concept behind the Term “Tatars” in Medieval Arabic Writings of the 13th–15th centuries
摘要
Objective: To study the features of the display, application, and meaning of variations of the term “Tatar” found in medieval Arabic writings of the 13th–15th centuries.Research materials: The main sources of this study are the works of Arabic-languageauthors of the 13th to 15th centuries: Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Abi Hadid, Ibn Abd az-Zahir, an-Nuwayri, Rukn ad-Din Baybars, Ibn Khaldun, al-Maqrizi, etc. Results and novelty of the study: The term “Tatar” was widely used in many medieval sources, as well as in medieval Arabic literature. However, no comprehensive study of the visualization of this term in medieval Arabic sources of the 13th-15th centuries has been conducted. Analysis of the works of Arab scholars of the 13th-15th centuries revealed that, when presenting the history of the Chingizids, the authors who wrote about them at the beginning of the 13th century, not being direct witnesses, let alone eyewitnesses of those events, almost entirely based their concepts on the material of the History of Ibn al-Athir. In the works of Ibn Abi Hadid and Abu Shama al-Maqdisi, the term “Tatar” was used consistently. Later authors, continuing the traditions of their predecessors, relied on their material and borrowed this term, subsequently using it in presenting the entire history of the Chingizids. Along with this, they (An-Nuwayri, Al-Omari, Ibn Khaldun) tried to determine the origin of the medieval Tatars. Beginning from the middle of the 13th century, Arab authors, focusing on the historical realities of their time, used the marker “Mongol” along with “Tatar” in their writings, mainly in relation to the Hulaguids and Jochids. However, the term “Tatar” was used quite widely until the 15th century.
367-374
The image of the “Tatars” in the written sources of Old Russia and the States of the “Christian world”
摘要
Research objectives: To identify the main features of the image of the “Tatars” reflected in the narrative sources of Old Russia and other Christian states.
Research materials: A body of Russian chronicle sources, historical and literary works of Old Russia (“The Teaching of St. Serapion”, “Zadonshchina”), “The Story of Mikhail and Andronik Palaiologos” by George Pachymeres, the Georgian chronograph “Zhamta agmtsereli”, “The History of the Nation of Archers” by the monk, Magakia, “The History of Armenia” by Kirakos Gandzaketsi, “Epistle to the Sorrowful Lament about the Destruction of the Hungarian Kingdom by the Tatars” by Master Roger, and “The Great Chronicle” (Chronica Maiora) by Matthew Paris.
Results and novelty of the research: Based on the comparative use of Russian, Caucasian, and European sources, the authors come to the conclusion that the image of the “Tatars” presented in Russian written sources combines both the characteristics of the Eastern conquerors common to the Christian cultural and historical narrative, and a number of differences. The general features include the correlation of the “Tatars”, at the initial stages of their military expansion, with the peoples of the “End Times” or the idea of them as a “scourge of God” sent as punishment for the sins of Christians. A specific feature of the image of the “Tatars” contained in Russian chronicles is the almost complete lack of information about their appearance, everyday culture, and military skills.
375-391
The meaning of the concept “Tatars” in the Moscow Kingdom documents on the Trans-Urals during the late 16th – 18th centuries
摘要
We habitually perceive the designations “Tatars”, “Bashkirs”, “Voguls”, etc. used in Russian documents of the late 16th – 18th centuries as ethnonyms. Usually, reconstruction of the establishment of certain linguistic/”ethnic” groups is based on the use of these notions in the sources. However, the case with the name “Tatars” is more complicated, as this word often acted as a unifying designation for different groups of communities with similar languages or a similar type of economy. However, this publication focuses on another, somewhat unexpected aspect. The analysis of sources relating to the local population of the Trans-Ural uezds during the late 16th – early 17th centuries showed that, at the early stage of the incorporation of these territories into the Moscow kingdom, the word “Tatars” often did not carry any specific linguistic or cultural load at all. It was used, along with the terms “Voguls” and “Ostyaks”, to denominate any yasak population of the forest and forest-steppe Trans-Ural uezds. Moreover, these three concepts were interchangeable – the same population groups could, in documents, be called Tatars, Voguls, or Ostyaks. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries there was a distribution of designations of the yasak and servant population by districts. The autochthonous population of the Tara, Tobolsk, Turinsk and Tyumen uezds began to be unambiguously called “Tatars”. This situation undoubtedly influenced the formation of the Siberian-Tatar identity since the use of the name “Tatars” in relation to the local population for three centuries could not pass without a trace.But there was another aspect; the concept of “Tatars” in the documents concerning the Trans-Urals in the 17th century was also used as a general designation of Turkic-speaking or “steppe” peoples. Tatars could also be referred to as Tartars of the Tumen, Tobolsk, etc. districts, and Bashkirs, natives of the Volga region, Kalmyks, and Kazakhs. Consequently, the name “Tatar” in the sources of the late 16th – 17th centuries appears either as a situational designation for the yasak and servant class of certain uezds, or as a generalised concept that includes groups different in identity (Bashkirs and Kazakhs) or language (Kazakhs and Kalmyks). Thus, it is necessary to rely on the use of the word “Tatars” in this group of sources to reconstruct the history of the current Tatar population in the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia only with great caution.
392-399
“Those Whom We Call Tartars”, or the Tatar Trace on European Medieval Maps
摘要
The purpose of this work is to study the appearance and “existence” of the ethnotoponym “Tartary” (Tatars) on the iconic maps of the leading cartographic schools of Europe from the 13th–17th centuries. The study pays special attention to the place of the ethnonym “Tartary” on the “maps for kings” – royal orders, for which the most reliable and often secret information was used because maps have always been a most important strategic tool. Medieval scribes derived the name “Tartar” and “Tartary”, which are present on European maps, from “Tartarus”, the ancient Greek underworld. Chthonic and eschatological motifs were very popular in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, and the appearance of Mongolian tumens from the depths of Asia was perceived as a sign of the approaching end of the world. Later, when the missionary monks brought real information about the “Tartars” to the European political elite, the West immediately turned to its holy of holies – commerce. Trade relations with the newly discovered East undoubtedly played a positive role – “Scythia” began to acquire more specific features. The cartographic conservatism of the cartographers began to gradually lose ground due to the pressure arising from more reliable information about countries and peoples that antiquity did not know. Thus, up to the Modern era, classical, traditional information was being mixed with new realities on the map. A more or less realistic depiction of the territory of “Tartary” can be spoken of only from the 16th century when there were accounts by European travelers, merchants, and envoys of Western states who personally visited these harsh lands.
The study of the appearance of the ethnotoponym “Tartary” on medieval European maps and its existence in various “guises” until the end of the 17th century provides a vivid picture of how the cartographic mirror reflected the political situation in Eurasia. According to graphic sources, one can trace the gradual fading of interest in “Tartars”, starting from the second half of the 16th century, when the “Turkish march” was detected more and more loudly in Europe. The innovation of the work is that the appearance and evolution of the ethnotoponym “Tartary” on medieval European maps has been traced back for almost five centuries.
400-440
“Tatar” in the Turco-Mongol Tradition of the Later Jochid Historical Sources
摘要
Obejectives: This paper focuses on “Tatar Khan” (brother of Moghol Khan) inserted into the genealogy of Turco-Mongol tradition (history of the Turco-Mongol tribes) in Yazdī’s Ẓafar-nāma (Muqaddima). This paper is a modest attempt to provide new material on the question of how the genealogy of Tatar Khan was narrated in the Turco-Mongol tradition of the later Jochid sources, a question that has not received much attention so far.
Research materials: Yazdī’s Ẓafar-nāma (Muqaddima) and historical sources written in the Later Jochid states: Oghuz (va) Alan Qoa va Shaybānī-nāma, Anonymous Shaybānī-nāma, Zubdat al-Āthār, Sharaf-nāma-yi Shāhī, Baḥr al-Asrār, Shajara-yi Turk, Es-seb‘ü’s-seyyâr, and ‘Umdet ül-Ahbār.
Results and novelty of the research: In general, there is a tendency to gradually weaken and simplify the history of Tatar Khan and his descendants in the Later Jochid sources. This may be due to the importance of the genealogy of Moghol Khan’s descendants related to the Chinggisids/Jochids. Among these sources, the Shajara-yi Turk is characteristic; in it, the history of Tatar Khan and his descendants is adapted into a more ‘pro-Mongol’ one. On the other hand, the historiography of the Crimean Khanate, which identified itself as both ‘Mongols’ and ‘Tatars’, presented a stark contrast. There, the story of the branching and conflicting descendants of the brothers Tatar Khan and Moghol Khan is either not told (Es-seb‘ü’s-seyyâr) or it describes and emphasizes their unification (‘Umdet ül-Ahbār). Such different ways of narrating the genealogy of Tatar Khan could reflect the political and ethnic situation in which the Later Jochid states found themselves.
441-459
Ethnonyms designating Tatars in Jewish sources of the 13th–19th centuries and their meanings in the cultural and historical context
摘要
Research Objectives: The aim of this article is to analyze the ethnonyms used in Jewish texts in relation to Tartars and some other groups of the Muslim population. The article intends to present the differences in the use of these terms, as well as the factors behind their emergence and their evolution. These ethnonyms will be considered both in their linguistic and cultural-historical contexts, as these dimensions add frequently specific connotations to some of these terms.
Research Materials: This study is based on specific examples of the use of terms in Jewish sources, written in Hebrew, from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century. These include texts on Jewish religious law and Kabbalah, as well as travelogues and historical chronicles written in the Crimean Khanate between the 17th and 19th centuries. Chronographic texts reflect everyday contacts and relations between Jews and Tatars, and therefore contain rich material for the study of ethnonyms.
Results and Novelty of the Research: The ethnonyms used in Jewish texts in relation to the Tartars have never been studied, except regarding an explanation of the meaning of individual terms. The present research is not only about a selection of words and their etymology. The ethnonyms found in Jewish sources, related to Tartars and some other groups of the Crimean Muslim population, reveal a broader picture. They reflect some cultural and religious concepts and stereotypes towards the Tartars, as well as a view on the interethnic relations as perceived by the authors of these texts and their immediate environment.
460-474
Chronicle
VIII International Golden Horde Forum, Bolghar–Kazan, June 9–11, 2025
摘要
The VIII International Golden Horde Forum "Pax Tatarica: Medieval Sources and Historical Context" emerged as a landmark academic event in 2025, bringing together 151 researchers from 16 countries. The Forum served as a platform for in-depth discussions on current issues in the study of the Golden Horde, its role within the Eurasian historical landscape, military affairs, socio-political problems, and new approaches to analyzing written, archaeological, and numismatic sources.
A notable extension of the Forum was the I International Summer School on the Golden Horde History, which provided a dynamic space for communication and education. This project successfully connected experienced scholars and early-career researchers in Turkic studies, medieval history, and source criticism, fostering a productive environment for scholarly exchange and collaboration.
A significant politico-academic event held in parallel was the session of the Joint Working Group of Historians of Russia and Kazakhstan, which included participants from universities and research institutions, as well as representatives of executive and legislative authorities and diplomatic services.
The newly presented research materials at the Forum offer promising prospects for a comprehensive study of various facets of the Golden Horde and Tatar khanates – from political and social developments to cultural and religious traditions.
The Forum reaffirmed that the Golden Horde legacy remains a fertile ground for new discoveries, interdisciplinary research, and academic dialogue, both in the Russian Federation and near abroad.
475-479