Том 13, № 3 (2025)

Research objectives: To study the use of the word “Tatar”/“Tatars” in Russian written sources of the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Research materials: This work is based on an analysis of embassy books, chronicles, church writings, and notes recorded by foreigners. The work also uses the observations of A.O. Amelkin and V.N. Rudakov on the strategies employed in describing the Mongol-Tatars by Russian scribes.

Results and scientific novelty: The study revealed several chronological layers in the use of the term “Tatars”. Its very appearance was caused by understanding the tragedy of the invasion of an unknown people and the defeat of the Russian principalities. These events were interpreted in an eschatological way, and the peoples themselves, who came with Batu and were called “Tatars”, were perceived as punishment for the local people’s sins. Then the eschatological tension surrounding the term “Tatars” gradually decreased, and after the adoption of Islam by the Horde, its population began to be defined as “Besermen” and “Hagarites”. The latter term had a pronounced negative connotation. The term “Tatars” acquired a more neutral meaning and continued to be used in clerical practice. After gaining full state sovereignty, Russia’s intellectuals and employees of the Grand Ducal chancellery began to use it more as a term to describe peoples who spoke closely related Turkic languages. As a result, the term “Tatars” became a way of classifying with a generalization. It is noteworthy that the Nogai initially somewhat discouraged the Moscow chancellery in its usage. They did not immediately find a place in this classification. This was probably caused by the fact that they were a new player on the political map of the world at that time. Later, having identified the features that brought "Nogai" closer to "Tatars," the officials began to extend the term “Tatars” to the “Nogai”. 

Objective: An attempt is made to explain the identity of “The Rus’ tribe’s ruler, Ye-lie-ban,” described in the Chinese-language primary sources from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Departing from past attempts to connect this figure to Yuri II of Vladimir or any individual at all, this article presents the argument that Ye-lie-ban originally referred to the city of Ryazan.
Research materials: Primary sources were used, foremost among them the biographies of Subutai in the Yuan Shi (chapters 121 and 122), other sections of the Yuan Shi, Su Tianjue’s Yuanchao mingchen shilüe, the Novgorod First and Galician-Volhynian Chronicles, the Secret History of the Mongols, and Rashid-al Din’s Compendium of Chronicles. Secondary literature by leading figures in the field of Mongol history and nineteenth and early twentieth-century Chinese and French literature were consulted.
Research results and novelty: It is argued here that Ye-lie-ban was an attempt to render the name of Ryazan in Mongolian, recorded by Rashid al-Din as “Irezan.” During the process of translation from Mongolian to Chinese or during copying that resulted in the creation of Sübe’etei’s biography in various recensions that have come down to our time, the East Asian author/scribe(s) were simply uncertain what the “Irezan” captured by Batu’s forces was. It appears that “Ye-lie-zan” (Irezan = Ryazan) was mistakenly altered to Ye-lie-ban at some early point in the creation of materials that resulted in Subutai’s biography, being described as an individual ruler rather than a city. Other unambiguous transcriptions of Ryazan in the Yuan Dynasty’s literature serve to corroborate this identification.

Research objectives: The aim of the article is to reveal the timeframes when the titles of tsar, tsarevich and knyaz for the Horde’s aristocracy were established in Rus’.

Research materials: The texts of Old Russian chronicles – Ipatian, Lavrentian, Novgorod First and others, Vitas of Alexander Nevskiy, Mikhail Chernigovskiy and tsarevich Pyotr, and legal agreements.

Results and novelty of the research: The historiography has come to the conclusion that supreme ruler of the Horde – khan – was designated in Rus’ by the title tsesar/tsar, members of khan’s kin by tsarevich, and emirs (beks) by knyaz. But the question of overlapping time in this terminological picture was not raised. After the invasion of Batu, for some time the title of supreme ruler of Mongol empire was reproduced in Rus’ without translation as khan. Then, the title tsesar/tsar, which in previous epoch was used only for emperors of Byzantium and Holy Roman Empire, started to be used for ruler of the Mongol empire and the khan of Jochi’s ulus. There were cases in the second half of 13th century when this title was designated to members of the Jochid dynasty who were not khans. In the 14th century, such cases were not fixed. As for the title tsarevich, there are not cases of using it in the 13th century (except retrospectively in later sources). This term was securely fixed for members of khan’s kin only from the second half of the 14th century. The cases of using of term knyaz for Horde’s aristocrats in the 13th century also cannot detected. The earliest point for it becoming a fixed term is in the Vita of Mikhail of Tver’ (1319–1320); in other sources – only from 1350s. So, the “triad” tsesar/tsar – tsarevich – kniaz for members of the Horde’s aristocracy formed completely only in the 14th century. At the beginning of its usage, the tradition was established only for using the title tsesar/tsar for the ruling khan of the Horde. In the first half of the 14th century, the Horde’s emirs began to be designated as “knyasya”. The practice to designate Jochids, who were not khans, as “tsarevichi” was established only in the second half of the 14th century.

Research objectives: The purpose of this research is to study genealogical data of one of the supporters of the Golden Horde khan, Uzbek. This was Nangudai who played an important role in promotion of Central Asian dynasties ruling in Khorezm and Khiva khanate of the 18th – early 20th centuries.
Research materials: The main sources for research were Turkic-language work by Firdaus al-Iqbal, other Persian sources (Jami at-Tawarikh, Mujmal-i Fasihi, Muizz al-Ansab, etc.), Kazakh shezhire, and historiography data.
Results and scientific novelty: All known sources on the genealogy of the Golden Horde emir, Nangudai, the prominent political figure of the era of Uzbek Khan, have been analyzed. The research reveals some details that prove the existence of another person with the same name who was the authentic ancestor of Nangudai. The Kazakh shezhire is singled out separately, within the framework of which there are four versions of its origin. Besides, the names from the shezhire, Nogai and Senke-biy, coincide with the names of his real ancestors or relatives from “Firdaus al Iqbal”. That there are six versions of Nangudai’s genealogy in historiography has been revealed. In addition, this research proves the reliability of genealogy from “Firdaus al Iqbal” with the correction that the Nogai mentioned in it was not identical to the Golden Horde’s Nogai, but was his namesake and contemporary. All sources and publications concerning the genealogy of Kutluk-Timur, a contemporary of Nangudai and Emir Khan Uzbek, are considered. It is revealed that there are five versions of Kutluk-Timur’s origin.

Research objectives: To explore the traditions of Turkic medicine as reflected in the medieval medical works Asrār al-atibbā’ and Dastūr al-‘ilāj, which were originally written in Turkic and later translated into Persian, surviving to the present day.
Research materials: The primary materials for this study are the medical works Asrār al-atibbā’ and Dastūr al-‘ilāj, as well as research dedicated to the history of Turkic medicine. These two works were created in the region of Desht-i Qipchaq, yet their study remains insufficient. While some scholars have mentioned these texts, no specialized textual studies have been conducted. Within the framework of this article, textual, descriptive, historical-comparative, and general scientific methods are applied to the study of historical medical texts.
Results and novelty of the research: The anonymous work Asrār al-atibbā’ and the medical treatise Dastūr al-‘ilāj, authored by Sulṭān ‘Alī al-Khorasānī, who served as a court physician for 20 years under the Shaybanid Kuchkūndjī Khān (1512–1530), contain extensive information about the medical methods widely practiced among Turkic peoples. The analysis of these works provides an overview of the history of medical traditions that developed in Desht-i Qipchaq during the medieval period. Although Iranian researchers traditionally view these works as part of Persian medical heritage, the question of their original language remains insufficiently explored. Evidence suggests that these works were originally written in Turkic and only later translated into Persian. This article presents evidence supporting the Turkic origins of these works and examines aspects of medical practices characteristic of the Turkic peoples, as reflected in the texts through the framework of Islamic medical concepts. These aspects, until now, have remained outside the scope of scholarly attention. Additionally, the article attempts to classify the healing traditions specific to Turkic culture.

Research objectives: This article analyzes sections of books by French historians Joseph de Guignes (1721–1800) and Pierre-Charles Levesque (1736–1812) devoted to the Golden Horde.

Research materials: The books “Histoire générale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mogols et des autres Tartares occidentaux...” (1757) by Joseph de Guignes and the “Histoire de Russie” (1812) by Pierre-Charles Levesque.

Results and scientific novelty: In the 18th century, two major works were published in France that described the history of the Golden Horde. These were the “Histoire générale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mogols et des autres Tartares occidentaux...” by the orientalist Joseph de Guignes and the “Histoire de Russie” by Pierre-Charles Levesque. For the first time, they introduced into scientific circulation some information about the history of the Golden Horde and other “Tatar” states of Eastern Europe of the 13th–15th centuries. Unfortunately, the scientific legacy of both de Guignes and Leveque has been forgotten in the West, and only recently has interest in it begun to return. De Guignes used sources in Oriental languages, whilel Leveque used materials mainly in Russian. This influenced the specifics of their description of the Mongol invasion of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Eastern sources did not allow de Guigne to give a detailed and accurate chronology of the Mongol conquests, the history of the Golden Horde, and its successors. On the contrary, Leveque was the first in Western historiography to draw on a wide range of documents in Russian, which he learned during his stay in Russia. The history of the Golden Horde and subsequent “Tatar” states is described by Leveque in sufficient detail and accurately enough for his time. In addition, Leveque consulted with Russian historians. It is important to note that this scholar tried to use factual material on the history of Russian-Mongolian relations to clarify and supplement the concepts of inter-civilizational dialogue that existed in his time.

This study aims to identify and analyze elements of artistic and calligraphic design in epigraphic monuments of the Golden Horde Crimea that reflect the influence of Seljuk lapidary traditions from Asia Minor and Persia.

The research is based on a corpus of lapidary monuments discovered in the historic city of Solkhat (Kyrym) – a key administrative and cultural center of the Golden Horde in Crimea – as well as at the Qirq-Azizler necropolis near the village of Eski-Yurt in western Crimea. The Golden Horde period in Crimean history is notable for a significant number of monuments adorned with Arabic-script epigraphy, whose decorative features were strongly influenced by Seljuk lapidary traditions. The source base is supplemented by data from medieval written records, works by Russian scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and materials from archaeological expeditions of the 1920s that specifically studied Golden Horde antiquities on the peninsula.

The study’s novelty and results lie in the first-time identification and systematization of the main types of ornamental and calligraphic borrowings of Seljuk origin within the Crimean lapidary tradition. Semantic parallels in calligraphic compositions have been revealed, including quotations from Quranic verses and Sufi interpretations of symbols in decorative elements, providing new insights into the symbolism and cultural context of the examined monuments.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the modern image of the Golden Horde in Russian-language media and journalism in the Russian-speaking post-Soviet space, to identify key discursive frames and their influence on the construction of identities and cultural processes. In Russia today, many actors are challenge this narrative, highlighting cultural hybridity and the Horde’s administrative sophistication. In Central Asian republics like Kazakhstan, the Golden Horde is increasingly reclaimed as a source of pride and state legitimacy.
Research materials: The research materials are articles, books and films about the Golden Horde, which were produced in the post-Soviet space (primarily in Russia and Kazakhstan). The article traces representations of the Horde in contemporary media, literature, and the performing arts, revealing a spectrum from exoticized enemy to civilizational partner.
Results and scientific novelty: Through discourse analysis, the study highlights how the memory of the Golden Horde functions as a contested space for negotiating historical trauma, cultural legacy, and aspirations for pluralistic identity. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that the Golden Horde remains a powerful cultural metaphor – serving simultaneously as a mirror of modern anxieties and a resource for alternative historical imaginaries.
The novelty of the study is that in this article we show for the first time how the image of the Horde is reflected in modern culture not only as a space of competition, but also as a space of interaction and positive rethinking. The relevance of this study lies in the enduring role of historical memory and representations of the past in shaping contemporary cultural processes, as well as in the need for a nuanced understanding of identity formation within the multiethnic and multireligious landscape of post-Soviet Eurasia.

This article is devoted to an overview of the activities of the Moscow Discussion Club of the International Public Organization “Association of Golden Horde Researchers” in 2023–2025 and contains an analysis of its activities. Not only the topics of the speeches are considered, but also a summary is provided of the reports and presentations that took place under the auspices of the Moscow discussion club in face-to-face and remote format. The continuation of the work of the Moscow discussion club is important for exchanging opinions, testing new discoveries among specialists, activating joint cooperation in popularizing the study of the history of the Golden Horde and its heritage, as well as for building contacts between scientists for future joint scientific events.

Research Objective: The article provides a concise overview of the life and scholarly achievements of the Kazan historians Rafael Mirgasimovich and Ramil Mirgasimovich Valeevs. It proposes a periodization of their academic careers and identifies the main directions of their research interests.

Research results: After graduating from Kazan State University, Rafael and Ramil Valeevs each pursued their own paths of professional development and defined the boundaries of their scholarly activities. Rafael Mirgasimovich specialized in the history of medieval Russia, as well as in the study, preservation, restoration, and conservation of cultural heritage monuments, their popularization, and management. Ramil Mirgasimovich focused on the history of Russian university and academic Oriental studies up to the 1920s, with particular attention to the scholars of Kazan University as a key to understanding this phenomenon.