When historians analyze the reasons for the success of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, they name the presence of a powerful khan in power among the most important and significant reasons. Often, the khan became the personification of strength and military power, and therefore he was feared by both the Russian princes and representatives of the yoke itself. What khans left their mark on history and were considered the most powerful rulers of their people.
The most powerful khans of the Mongol yoke
During the entire existence of the Mongol Empire and the Golden Horde, many khans have changed on the throne. Especially often the rulers changed during the great zamyatne, when the crisis forced the brother to go against the brother. Various internecine wars and regular military campaigns confused the family tree of the Mongol khans a lot, but the names of the most powerful rulers are still known. So, which khans of the Mongol Empire were considered the most powerful?
- Genghis Khan because of the mass of successful campaigns and the unification of lands into one state.
- Batu, who managed to completely subjugate Ancient Russia and form the Golden Horde.
- Khan Uzbek, under whom the Golden Horde reached its greatest power.
- Mamai, who managed to unite the troops during the great memorial.
- Khan Tokhtamysh, who made successful campaigns against Moscow, and returned Ancient Russia to the forced territories.
Each ruler deserves special attention, because his contribution to the history of the development of the Tatar-Mongol yoke is huge. However, it is much more interesting to tell about all the rulers of the yoke, trying to restore the family tree of the khans.
Tatar-Mongol khans and their role in the history of the yoke
The name and years of the reign of the Khan | His role in history |
Genghis Khan (1206-1227) | And before Genghis Khan, the Mongol yoke had its own rulers, but it was this khan who managed to unite all the lands and make surprisingly successful campaigns against China, North Asia and against the Tatars. |
Ogedei (1229-1241) | Genghis Khan tried to give all his sons the opportunity to rule, so he divided the empire between them, but it was Ogedei who was his main heir. The ruler continued his expansion into Central Asia and Northern China, strengthening his position in Europe as well. |
Batu (1227-1255) | Batu was only the ruler of the ulus of Jochi, which later received the name of the Golden Horde. However, a successful Western campaign, expansion Ancient Russia and Poland, made from Batu national hero. Soon he began to spread his sphere of influence over the entire territory of the Mongolian state, becoming an increasingly authoritative ruler. |
Berke (1257-1266) | It was during the reign of Berke that the Golden Horde almost completely separated from the Mongol Empire. The ruler focused on urban planning, improving the social status of citizens. |
Mengu-Timur (1266-1282), Tuda-Mengu (1282-1287), Tula-Bugi (1287-1291) | These rulers did not leave a big mark on history, but they were able to isolate the Golden Horde even more and defend its rights to freedom from the Mongol Empire. The basis of the economy of the Golden Horde was a tribute from the princes of Ancient Russia. |
Khan Uzbek (1312-1341) and Khan Janibek (1342-1357) | Under Khan Uzbek and his son Dzhanibek, the Golden Horde flourished. The offerings of the Russian princes were regularly increased, urban planning continued, and the inhabitants of Sarai-Batu adored their khan and literally worshiped him. |
Mamai (1359-1381) | Mamai had nothing to do with the legitimate rulers of the Golden Horde and had no connection with them. He seized power in the country by force, seeking new economic reforms and military victories. Despite the fact that Mamai's power was growing stronger every day, problems in the state were growing due to conflicts on the throne. As a result, in 1380 Mamai suffered a crushing defeat from the Russian troops on the Kulikovo field, and in 1381 he was overthrown by the legitimate ruler Tokhtamysh. |
Tokhtamysh (1380-1395) | Perhaps the last great khan of the Golden Horde. After the crushing defeat of Mamai, he managed to regain his status in Ancient Russia. After the march on Moscow in 1382, tribute payments resumed, and Tokhtamysh proved his superiority in power. |
Kadir Berdi (1419), Hadji-Muhammed (1420-1427), Ulu-Muhammed (1428-1432), Kichi-Muhammed (1432-1459) | All these rulers tried to establish their power during the period of the state collapse of the Golden Horde. After the beginning of the internal political crisis, many rulers changed, and this also affected the deterioration of the country's situation. As a result, in 1480 Ivan III managed to achieve the independence of Ancient Russia, throwing off the shackles of centuries of tribute. |
As often happens, a great state falls apart due to a dynastic crisis. A few decades after the liberation of Ancient Russia from the hegemony of the Mongol yoke, the Russian rulers also had to go through their dynastic crisis, but that's a completely different story.
Introduction
Chapter II. social order
Chapter III. Law of the Golden Horde
Conclusion
Introduction
At the beginning of 1243, a new state was formed in Central Eurasia - the Golden Horde - a power that was formed as a result of the collapse of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan, on the territory of medieval Kazakhstan, as well as Russia, Crimea, the Volga region, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, Khorezm. It was founded by Khan Batu (1208-1255), the grandson of Genghis Khan as a result of aggressive campaigns Mongols.
This is how it is called in Russian chronicles and chronicles, in some Tatar historical narratives, including Idegeya. "Golden Horde" ("Altyn Urda") meant a gilded headquarters, the residence of the ruler of the state: for the early period it was a "golden" tent, and for a developed, urban era - a khan's palace covered with gilding.
In the works of the Arab-Persian historical geography this state is mainly referred to as “Ulus Jochi”, “Mongolian state” (“Mogul ulus”) or “Great state” (“Ulug ulus”), some authors also have the word “Horde” in the concept of the headquarters of the khan, the center of the state. There was also the traditional name "Desht-i-Kipchak", because the central lands of this state belonged to the Kipchaks-Polovtsy.
The Golden Horde occupied a vast territory not only for those times, but also from a modern point of view: from the Irtysh River and the western foothills of Altai in the east to the lower reaches of the Danube River in the west, from the famous Bulgar in the north to the Caucasian Derbent Gorge in the south. This huge state itself was still divided into two parts: the main, western part, that is, the Golden Horde itself, was called "Altyn Urda, Ak Urda" (White) Horde, and the eastern, which included the western territories of modern Kazakhstan and Central Asia, - Kok (Blue) Horde. This division was based on the former ethnic border between the Kipchak and Oguz unions of tribes. The words "golden" and "white" were at the same time synonyms, complementing each other.
If the creators of the Golden Horde state were mainly the Mongolian elite of Chingizids, soon assimilated by the local population, then its ethnic basis was the Turkic-speaking tribes of Eastern Europe, Western Siberia and the Aral-Caspian region: Kipchaks, Oguzes, Volga Bulgars, Madjars, remnants of the Khazars, some other Turkic ethnic formations and, undoubtedly, the Turkic-speaking Tatars, who migrated from Central Asia to the west back in pre-Mongol times, and also came in the 20-40s of the XIII century as part of the armies of Genghis Khan and Batu Khan.
All this gigantic territory was quite homogeneous in terms of landscape - it was mostly steppe. Feudal law also acted in the steppe - all the land belonged to the feudal lord, to whom ordinary nomads obeyed.
The Mongolian period is one of the most significant eras in all of Russian history. The Mongols held sway over all of Russia for about a century, and even after the limitation of their power in Western Russia in the mid-fourteenth century, they continued to exercise control over Eastern Russia, albeit in a milder form, for another century.
It was a period of profound changes in the entire political and social structure of the country, especially in Eastern Russia. This period in the history of our country should be given as much attention as possible.
The main purpose of the course work is to study one of the greatest states of the 13th-15th centuries - the Golden Horde.
Chapter I Political system Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a feudal state of the developed Middle Ages. supreme power in the country belonged to the khan, and this title of head of state in the history of the entire Tatar people is associated mainly with the period of the Golden Horde. If the entire Mongol Empire was ruled by the dynasty of Genghis Khan (Genghisids), then the Golden Horde was ruled by the dynasty of his eldest son Jochi (Juchids). In the 60s of the XIII century, the empire was actually divided into independent states, but legally they were considered uluses of Genghis Khan.
Therefore, the system of government, laid down under him, practically remained until the end of the existence of these states. Moreover, this tradition continued in the political and socio-economic life of those Tatar khanates that formed after the fall of the Golden Horde. Naturally, some transformations, reforms were carried out, some new state and military posts appeared, but the entire state and social system as a whole remained stable.
Under the khan there was a divan - a state council, consisting of members of the royal dynasty (oglans-princes, brothers or other male relatives of the khan), large feudal princes, high clergy, and great military leaders.
Large feudal princes are noyons for the early Mongol period of the times of Batu and Berke, and for the Muslim, Tatar-Kipchak era of Uzbek and his successors - emirs and beks. Later, by the end of the 14th century, very influential and powerful beks with the name “Karacha-bi” appeared from the largest families Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak (these noble families were also the highest feudal-princely elite of almost all Tatar khanates that arose after the collapse Golden Horde).
The divan also had the position of bitikchi (scribe), who was in essence the secretary of state, who had considerable power in the country. Even large feudal lords and military leaders treated him with respect.
All this high elite of state administration is known from Eastern, Russian and Western European historical sources, as well as from the labels of the Golden Horde khans. Titles are recorded in these documents. a large number other officials, various states fief officials, medium or small feudal lords. The latter included, for example, tarkhans, who for one or another public service were exempted from taxes and taxes, receiving from the khan the so-called tarkhan labels.
A label is a khan's letter or decree giving the right to state administration in certain uluses of the Golden Horde or its subordinate states (for example, labels for reigning Russian princes), the right to conduct diplomatic missions, other responsible state affairs abroad and within the country and, of course , to the right of land ownership by feudal lords of various ranks. In the Golden Horde, and then in the Kazan, Crimean and other Tatar khanates, there was a system of soyurgals - a military fief right to own land. A person who received a soyurgal from the khan had the right to levy in his favor those taxes that used to go to the state treasury. According to Soyurgal, land was considered hereditary. Naturally, such great privileges were not given just like that. The feudal lord, who received the soyurgal right, had to provide in war time army with an appropriate amount of cavalry, weapons, horse-drawn vehicles, provisions, etc.
In addition to labels, there was a system for issuing so-called paizi. Paiza is a gold, silver, bronze, cast-iron, or even just a wooden tablet, also issued on behalf of the khan as a kind of mandate. A person who presented such a mandate on the ground was provided with the necessary services during his movements and trips - escorts, horses, carts, premises, food. It goes without saying that a golden paizu was received by a person who was higher in his position in society, a wooden one - by a simpler one. There is information about the presence of paizi in the Golden Horde in written sources, they are also known as archaeological finds according to the excavations of Saray-Berke - one of the capitals of the Golden Horde.
In the Ulus of Jochi there was a special position of a military bukaul, which was engaged in the distribution of troops, the dispatch of detachments; he was also responsible for military maintenance and allowances. Even ulus emirs obeyed Bukaulu - in wartime temniks. In addition to the main bukaul, there were bukauls of separate regions.
Priests and, in general, representatives of the clergy in the Golden Horde, according to the records of labels and Arab-Persian historical geography, were represented by such persons: mufti - head of the clergy; sheikh - spiritual leader and mentor, aksakal; sufi - a pious, pious, free from evil deeds person or ascetic; qadi - a judge who decides cases according to Sharia, that is, according to the code of Muslim laws.
The Baskaks and Darukhachs (darukhas) played an important role in the political and social life of the Golden Horde state. The first of them were military representatives of power, military guards, the second - civilians with the duties of a governor or manager, one of the main functions of which was to control the collection of tribute. The position of Baskak was abolished in early XIV century, and darukhas as governors of the central government or heads of administrations of the darug regions existed as early as the period of the Kazan Khanate.
Under the Baskak or under the Darukhach, there was the position of a tributary, that is, their assistant in collecting tribute - yasak. He was a kind of bitikchi (secretary) for yasak affairs. In general, the position of bitikchi in the Ulus of Jochi was quite common, it was considered responsible and respected. In addition to the main bitikchi under the khan's divan-council, there were bitikchi under the ulus divans, who enjoyed great power in the localities. They could, for example, be compared with the volost clerks of pre-revolutionary Russia, who performed almost all government work in the outback.
In the system of state officials there were a number of other officials who are known mainly by the khan's labels. These are: “ilche” (messenger), “tamgachy” (customs officer), “tartanakchy” (tax collector or weigher), “totkaul” (outpost), “guard” (watch), “yamchy” (postal), “koshchy” (falconer), "barschy" (barsnik), "kimeche" (rook or shipman), "bazaar da torganl[n]ar" (guardians of order in the bazaar). These positions are known from the labels of Tokhtamysh of 1391 and Timur-Kutluk of 1398.
Most of these civil servants also existed during the periods of the Kazan, Crimean and other Tatar khanates. It is also quite remarkable that the vast majority of these medieval terms and titles are literally understandable to anyone. modern man who speaks the Tatar language - they are written like this in documents of the 14th and 16th centuries, they sound like this at the present time.
The same can be said about the various types of duties that were levied on the nomadic and settled population, as well as about various border duties: “salyg” (poll tax), “kalan” (tire), “yasak” (tribute), “kharazh "("Kharaj" is an Arabic word meaning a 10% tax on Muslim peoples), "Burych" (debt, arrears), "Chygysh" (exit, expense), "yndyr khaki" (fee for the threshing floor), "the barn is small "(barn duty), "burla tamgasy" (wheat tamga), "yul khaky" (road fee), "karaullyk" (guard fee), "tartanak" (by weight, as well as tax on import and export), "tamga "(tam-govaya duty).
In the most general form, the administrative system of the Golden Horde was described as early as the 13th century. G. Rubruk, who traveled the entire state from west to east. His sketch of a traveler contains the basis of the administrative-territorial division of the Golden Horde, defined by the concept of "ulus system".
Its essence was the right of nomadic feudal lords to receive from the khan himself or another large steppe aristocrat a certain inheritance - an ulus. For this, the owner of the ulus was obliged to expose, if necessary, a certain number of fully armed soldiers (depending on the size of the ulus), as well as to perform various tax and economic duties.
This system was an exact copy of the structure of the Mongolian army: the entire state - the Great Ulus - was divided according to the rank of the owner (temnik, thousand's manager, centurion, ten's manager) - into destinies of certain size, and from each of them, in case of war, ten, one hundred , a thousand or ten thousand armed warriors. At the same time, uluses were not hereditary possessions that could be passed from father to son. Moreover, the khan could take away the ulus completely or replace it with another.
AT initial period The existence of the Golden Horde of large uluses was, apparently, no more than 15, and rivers most often served as the borders between them. This shows a certain primitiveness of the administrative division of the state, rooted in the old nomadic traditions.
Further development of statehood, the emergence of cities, the introduction of Islam, a closer acquaintance with the Arab and Persian traditions of government led to various complications in the possessions of the Jochids with the simultaneous death of Central Asian customs dating back to the time of Genghis Khan.
Instead of dividing the territory into two wings, four uluses appeared, headed by ulusbeks. One of the uluses was the personal domain of the khan. He occupied the steppes of the left bank of the Volga from its mouth to the Kama.
Each of these four uluses was divided into a certain number of "regions", which were the uluses of the feudal lords of the next rank.
In total, in the Golden Horde, the number of such "regions" in the XIV century. was about 70 in number of temniks. Simultaneously with the establishment of administrative-territorial division, the formation of the state administration apparatus took place.
Khan, who stood at the top of the pyramid of power, for most of the year was in a roaming headquarters surrounded by his wives and a huge number of courtiers. He spent only a short winter period in the capital. The moving khan's horde-headquarters, as it were, emphasized that the main power of the state continued to be based on a nomadic beginning. Naturally, it was quite difficult for the Khan, who was in constant motion, to manage the affairs of the state himself. This is also emphasized by the sources, which directly report that the supreme ruler “pays attention only to the essence of the matter, without entering into the details of the circumstances, and is content with what is reported to him, but does not seek details regarding the collection and spending.”
The entire Horde army was commanded by a military leader - beklyaribek, that is, the prince of princes, Grand Duke. Beklyaribek usually exercised military power, often being the commander of the khan's army. Sometimes his influence exceeded the power of the khan, which often led to bloody civil strife. From time to time, the power of the Beklyaribeks, for example, Nogai, Mamai, Edigei, increased so much that they themselves appointed khans.
With the strengthening of statehood in the Golden Horde, the administrative apparatus grew, its rulers took as a model the administration of the state of Khorezmshahs conquered by the Mongols. According to this model, a vizier appeared under the khan, a kind of head of government, who was responsible for all spheres of the non-military life of the state. The vizier and the divan (state council) headed by him controlled finances, taxes, and trade. foreign policy the khan himself was in charge with his closest advisers, as well as the beklyaribek.
The heyday of the Horde state was marked by the highest level and quality of life in Europe at that time. The rise took place almost during the reign of one ruler - Uzbek (1312 - 1342). The state took upon itself the obligation to protect the lives of its citizens, to administer justice, to organize social, cultural and economic life.
All this testifies to the well-coordinated state mechanism of the Golden Horde with all the attributes that are necessary for the existence and development of a large medieval state: central and local government, judicial and tax system, customs service and strong army.
Chapter II. social order
The social structure of the Golden Horde was complex and reflected a motley class and National composition this robber state. There was no clear class organization of society, similar to that which existed in Russia and in the Western European feudal states and which was based on hierarchical feudal ownership of land.
The status of a citizen of the Golden Horde depended on the origin, merit to the khan and his family, on the position in the military administrative apparatus.
In the military-feudal hierarchy of the Golden Horde, the dominant position was occupied by the aristocratic family of the descendants of Genghis Khan and his son Jochi. This numerous family owned all the land of the state, it owned huge herds, palaces, many servants and slaves, innumerable riches, military booty, state treasury, etc.
Subsequently, the Jochids and other descendants of Genghis Khan retained a privileged position in the Central Asian khanates and in Kazakhstan for centuries, secured for themselves the monopoly right to bear the title of sultan, to occupy the khan's throne.
Khan had the richest and largest domain-type ulus. The Jochids had a preferential right to occupy the highest government posts. In Russian sources they were called princes. They were awarded state and military titles and ranks.
The next step in the military-feudal hierarchy of the Golden Horde was occupied by noyons (in eastern sources - beks). Not being members of the Jochid clan, they nevertheless traced their genealogies from the associates of Genghis Khan and their sons. Noyons had many servants and dependent people, huge herds. They were often appointed by khans to responsible military and state positions: darugs, temniks, thousanders, Baskaks, etc. They were awarded tarkhan letters, freeing them from various duties and responsibilities. The signs of their power were labels and paizi.
A special place in the hierarchical structure of the Golden Horde was occupied by numerous nukers - warriors of large feudal lords. They either were in the retinue of their seniors, or occupied middle and lower military-administrative positions - centurions, foremen, etc. These positions made it possible to extract significant income from the population of those territories where the corresponding military units were located or where they were sent or where the nukers occupied administrative positions.
From among the nukers and other privileged people, a small layer of tarkhans advanced to the Golden Horde, who received tarkhan letters from the khan or his senior officials, in which their owners were granted various privileges.
The ruling classes also included numerous clergy, primarily Muslim, merchants and wealthy artisans, local feudal lords, tribal and tribal elders and leaders, large landowners in the settled agricultural regions of Central Asia, the Volga region, the Caucasus and the Crimea.
The peasantry of agricultural regions, urban artisans, servants were in varying degrees of dependence on the state and feudal lords. The bulk of the working people in the steppes and foothills of the Golden Horde were Karacha - nomadic cattle breeders. They were part of clans and tribes and were forced to unquestioningly obey the clan and tribal elders and leaders, as well as representatives of the military-administrative authority of the Horde. Fulfilling all household duties, Karachu at the same time had to serve in the army.
Feudally dependent peasants worked in the agricultural regions of the Horde. Some of them - sabanches - lived in rural communities and cultivated, in addition to the plots of land allocated for them by the feudal lords, and carried other natural duties. Others - urtakchi (share sharecroppers) - bonded people cultivated the land of the state and local feudal lords for half the harvest, carried other duties.
Artisans driven from the conquered countries worked in the cities. Many of them were in the position of slaves or dependent on the Khan and other rulers of the people. Small merchants, servants also depended on the arbitrariness of the authorities and their masters. Even wealthy merchants and independent artisans paid taxes to the city authorities and carried various duties.
Slavery was quite common in the Golden Horde. First of all, captives and inhabitants of the conquered lands became slaves. Slaves were used in handicraft production, construction, as servants of feudal lords. Many slaves were sold to the countries of the East. However, the majority of slaves, both in cities and in agriculture after one or two generations they became feudally dependent or received freedom.
The Golden Horde did not remain unchanged, borrowing a lot from the Muslim East: crafts, architecture, a bathhouse, tiles, ornamental decor, painted dishes, Persian poetry, Arabic geometry and astrolabes, more sophisticated customs and tastes than ordinary nomads.
Having extensive ties with Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, the Horde replenished the army of the Mamluk sultans of Egypt with Turkic and Caucasian slaves, the Horde culture acquired a certain Muslim-Mediterranean imprint. Egorov V.L. Golden Horde: myths and reality. - M .: Publishing house "Knowledge", 1990. P. 129.
Islam became the state religion in the Golden Horde by 1320, but, unlike other Islamic states, this did not lead to the total Islamization of its society, state and legal institutions. A feature of the judicial system of the Golden Horde, firstly, was the above-mentioned coexistence of the institutions of traditional Mongolian justice - the dzargu courts and the Muslim qadi court; at the same time, there was no conflict of seemingly incompatible legal systems: representatives of each of them considered cases assigned to their exclusive jurisdiction.
Chapter III. Law of the Golden Horde
The judicial system of the Golden Horde has not yet become an object of independent research by either historians-orientalists or lawyers-historians of law. The question of the organization of the court and the process of the Golden Horde was only touched upon in works devoted to the history of this state, in particular in the study of B.D. Grekov and A.Yu. Yakubovsky Grekov B.D., Yakubovsky A.Yu. The Golden Horde and its fall, as well as in the work of G.V. Vernadsky "Mongols and Russia" Vernadsky G.V. History of Russia: Mongols and Russia.
The American researcher D. Ostrovsky, in an article devoted to the comparison of the Golden Horde and Russian state-legal institutions, confines himself to a brief mention of the Supreme Court of the Golden Horde. Ostrovsky D. The Mongolian Roots of Russian State Institutions American Russian Studies: Milestones of Historiography recent years. Period of Kievan and Muscovite Rus: An Anthology. Samara, 2001, p. 159.
The bodies administering justice in the Mongol Empire were: the court of the Great Khan, the court of kurultai - the congress of representatives of the ruling family and military leaders, the court of specially appointed persons - judges-dzarguchi Skrynnikova T. D. Legal proceedings in the Mongol Empire Altaica VII - M., 2002. S. 163-174 .. All these bodies also operated in the Golden Horde.
As in the Mongol Empire, the highest court was the rulers of the Golden Horde, who in the second half of the XIII century. first received actual, and then official independence and took the title of khan. Justice as one of the functions of the Khan's power was inherited by the Mongols from the ancient Turks: already in the Turkic Khaganate in the VI-IX centuries. The khan is the highest court.
The central government in Mongolia recognized the right of the actual founder of the Golden Horde - Batu (Batu, ruled in 1227-1256) to trial the noyons and officials subordinate to him, however, with the proviso that "Batu's judge is a kaan."
The subsequent khans of the Golden Horde also actively carried out judicial functions. It was under Mengu-Timur, the grandson of Batu, in 1269. The Golden Horde officially became an independent state, and its rulers became sovereign sovereigns, one of the inalienable signs of whose power was the exercise of the function of the supreme judge.
On the basis of what legal norms did the khans make judgments? The main source of law in the Mongol Empire and the Chingizid states were the so-called yases (laws) of Genghis Khan (collectively referred to as the Great Yasa) and his successors - the great khans. The Great Yasa of the founder of the empire and the Yasa of his successors constituted the main source of law for all bodies that administered justice, including the khan. Other sources should not have contradicted the yasas.
The Great Yasa of Genghis Khan, compiled in 1206 as an edification to his successors, consisted of 33 fragments and 13 sayings of the Khan himself. Yasa contained mainly the rules of the military organization of the Mongolian army and the norms of criminal law. It was distinguished by the unprecedented cruelty of punishments not only for crimes, but also for misdemeanors.
Another important source is the labels of the khans themselves. A label was any document issued on behalf of supreme ruler- khan and possessing certain characteristics (had a certain structure, was supplied with a scarlet seal - tamga, was addressed to persons who were lower in position than the person who issued it, etc.). Oral and written orders and orders of the khans were for the subjects, including the feudal nobility, the highest law, subject to immediate and unquestioning execution. They were used in the practice of state bodies of the Golden Horde and the highest officials of the state.
Not all labels were sources of law that guided the administration of justice. For example, labels-messages, which were not legal, but diplomatic documents, could not serve as sources of law for khans (and lower ulus judges); labels were not sources for the court either - letters of commendation and safe conduct, which were issued in large numbers to diplomats and private individuals.
However, there were other labels that can be considered sources of law, and which were guided by the khans of the Golden Horde and judges subordinate to them - these are the decrees of the rulers of various Chingizid states mentioned in historical chronicles and annals (for example, the “firmans” of the Persian ilkhan Ghazan cited by Rashid ad-Din " On the Elimination of Fraud and Unfounded Claims”, “On the Granting of the Position of the Qaziy”, “On the Claims of Thirty Years Ago”), labels-contracts with Venice that have come down to us in Latin and Italian translations. In the work of Mohammed ibn-Hindushah Nakhichevani (an approximate ruler of Iran, the Jalairids), “Dastur al-Katib” (XIV century), labels are given that describe the procedure for appointing the “emir yargu” (i.e. judge) and his powers.
It is logical to assume that the khan, being the creator of law (he confirmed or canceled the decisions of his predecessors, issued his own labels and other normative and individual acts), was not bound by any norms. In making decisions, the khans were guided not only by their will, but also by written documents - the yas and labels of Genghis Khan and his successors.
The difference between these sources of law was that the yases were permanent laws, which were forbidden to be changed by subsequent rulers, while each label was valid only during the life (reign) of the khan who issued it, and the next khan could, at his own discretion, either confirm or cancel it.
The court of the khan was only one, although the highest, judicial authority. In addition to the court of the khan, there were other courts, to which, as needed, he transferred judicial powers. There is evidence that kurultai administered justice in the Golden Horde, as well as in Mongolia.
References to the kurultai court are quite rare in the sources. It can be assumed that his judicial function was only a tribute to the ancient Mongolian tradition and was soon reduced to nothing, as well as his other functions. This is due to the fact that these functions were transferred at the beginning of the XIV century. to the Karachibeys - tribal princes, who under the Khan of the Golden Horde became something like " state council».
In addition to the princes, the darugs, governors of the regions of the Golden Horde, also performed judicial functions.
The sources of law, on the basis of which the princes and darugs administered justice, were yases and labels, which were obligatory for the khan himself. In addition, the princes could largely be guided by their own discretion, which they correlated with the political situation and the personal position of the khan.
The next court instance was, as in the Mongol Empire, the court itself - “dzargu” (or “yargu”). The legal basis for the activity of the Dzargu courts was, first of all, the jars and labels of the great khans and khans of the Golden Horde.
In the labels appointing judges (dzarguchi), it is expressly prescribed to make decisions on the basis of Yasa. Decisions were supposed to be recorded in special letters “yargu-name” (this, in principle, corresponds to the order of Genghis Khan: “Let them write in the Blue painting Coco Defter-Bichik , binding then into books ... court decisions, "which was carried out by a special staff of scribes -" divan yargu ". Researchers, not without reason, believe that a similar order existed in the Golden Horde.
Thus, these "Blue Paintings" are another source that guided the judges of the Golden Horde. Qadi judges, who appeared in the Golden Horde after Islam became the official religion (in the 1320s), relied on traditional sources of law for Muslims - Sharia and fiqh (doctrine).
Finally, we should consider another judicial institution, the emergence of which can only be explained by the international relations of the Golden Horde: the joint court of representatives of the authorities of the Golden Horde and other states, which operated in areas where there were lively relations between the merchants of the Golden Horde and other states, diplomats, etc.
First of all, this applies to the Black Sea, long before the emergence of the Golden Horde, which became the center of international trade and diplomacy. The special status of this region was that its population lived and conducted business, as a rule, not only according to the laws of the state that was considered its overlord (which the Golden Horde formally was in the XIII-XV centuries), but also in accordance with the historical the established norms of international law, business practices, which were a mixture of Byzantine, Turkic, Persian, Arab and other legal systems, whose representatives had interests in the region. Accordingly, the authorities of the Golden Horde had to take these realities into account in their legislative and judicial practice.
Based on the general principles of the Great Yasa, as well as on the specific labels of the khans, the judges of the "international courts" were largely guided by their own discretion, which, like the court princes, correlated with the current political situation and the personal position of the khan or his immediate superior - the daruga, and representatives of the Italian republics, respectively, - their consul and the government of the republics.
The judges' own discretion reflected the trend that was common in that era in the legal proceedings of the Italian commercial republics: judges (official and arbitrators) made decisions corresponding to the peculiarities of the moment, giving preference to public opinion and the prevailing situation.
To a greater extent, it also reflected the principle of ijtihad accepted in Muslim law - the free discretion of a judge (later a legal scholar) in the event of silence on this issue from a generally recognized source of law.
The law of the Golden Horde is characterized by extreme cruelty, legalized arbitrariness of feudal lords and state officials, archaism and formal uncertainty.
Property relations in the Golden Horde were regulated by customary law and were very confused. This applies especially to land relations - the basis of feudal society. The ownership of the land, the entire territory of the state belonged to the ruling khan family of the Jochids. In the conditions of a nomadic economy, the inheritance of land was difficult. Therefore, it took place mainly in agricultural areas. The owners of the estates, of course, had to bear various vassal duties to the khan or the local ruler appointed by him. In the khan's family, power was a special object of inheritance, and political power was combined with the right to own land in the ulus. The youngest son was considered the heir. Under Mongolian law, the youngest son generally had priority in inheritance.
The family and marriage law of the Mongol-Tatars and the nomadic peoples subject to them was regulated by ancient customs and, to a lesser extent, Sharia. The head of the patriarchal polygamous family, which was part of the village, clan, was the father. He was the owner of all the property of the family, disposed of the fate of the family members subject to him. Thus, the father of an impoverished family had the right to give his children for debts into service and even sell them into slavery. The number of wives was not limited (Muslims could have no more than four legal wives). The children of wives and concubines were legally in an equal position, with some advantages of sons from older wives and legal wives among Muslims. After the death of the husband, the management of all family affairs passed into the hands of the eldest wife. This continued until the sons became adult warriors.
The criminal law of the Golden Horde was characterized by exceptional cruelty. This stemmed from the very nature of the military-feudal system of the Golden Horde, the despotic power of Genghis Khan and his successors, the severity of the attitude of the low general culture inherent in the nomadic pastoral society in the very initial stage of feudalism.
Cruelty, organized terror were one of the conditions for establishing and maintaining long-term domination over the conquered peoples. According to the Great Yasa, the death penalty was relied upon for treason, disobedience to the khan and other feudal lords and officials, unauthorized transfer from one military unit to another, failure to provide assistance in battle, compassion for the captive in the form of helping him with food and clothing, for advice and assistance from one of parties in a duel, lying to elders in court, appropriation of another's slave or an escaped captive. It was also relied on in some cases for murder, property crimes, adultery, bestiality, spying on the behavior of others, and especially the nobility and superiors, magic, slaughtering cattle in an unknown way, urination into fire and ashes; even those who choked on a bone were executed. The death penalty, as a rule, was carried out in public and in ways characteristic of a nomadic lifestyle, by strangling on a rope suspended from the neck of a camel or horse, dragging by horses.
Other types of punishments were also used, for example, for domestic murder, a ransom was allowed in favor of the relatives of the victim. The amount of the ransom was determined by the social status of the victim. Nomads were required to pay tenfold ransom for stealing horses and sheep. If the perpetrator was insolvent, he was obliged to sell his children and thus pay a ransom. At the same time, the thief, as a rule, was mercilessly beaten with whips. Witnesses were involved in the criminal process during the interrogation, oaths were pronounced, cruel torture was used. In the military-feudal organization, the search for an undetected or hidden criminal was assigned to a dozen or a hundred, to which he belonged. Otherwise, all ten or one hundred were responsible.
Chapter IV. The influence of the Horde on the Russian state and law
The origins of the phenomenon of Russian imperial statehood, of which the Russian Empire was a vivid embodiment, are based on a symbiosis of three components: Old Russian statehood Kievan Rus, the impetus for the creation of which was the arrival of the Varangians or Normans, immigrants from the Germanic tribes of Scandinavia to Russia; ideological and cultural tradition of the Byzantine Empire through Orthodox Christianity, and the imperial heritage of the Golden Horde.
The question of the influence of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the establishment of the Horde dominion on the history of Russia has long been one of the debatable ones. There are three main points of view on this problem in Russian historiography.
Firstly, it is the recognition of the very significant and predominantly positive impact of the conquerors on the development of Russia, which prompted the process of creating a unified Muscovite (Russian) state. The founder of this point of view was N.M. Karamzin, and in the 30s of the last century it was developed by the so-called Eurasians. At the same time, unlike L.N. Gumilev, Gumilev L.N. "Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe", which in his studies painted a picture of good-neighborly and allied relations between Russia and the Horde, did not deny such obvious facts as the devastating campaigns of the Mongol-Tatars on Russian lands, the collection of heavy tribute, etc.
Other historians (among them S.M. Solovyov, V.O. Klyuchevsky, S.F. Platonov) assessed the impact of the conquerors on inner life ancient Russian society as extremely insignificant. They believed that the processes that took place in the second half of the 13th - 15th centuries either organically followed from the trend of the previous period, or arose independently of the Horde.
Finally, many historians are characterized by a kind of intermediate position. The influence of the conquerors is regarded as noticeable, but not determining the development of Russia (and unequivocally negative). The creation of a single state, according to B.D. Grekov, A.N. Nasonov, V.A. Kuchkin and others happened not thanks to, but in spite of the Horde.
In relation to Russia, the conquerors were content with its complete subjugation, establishing the institution of Basque tax collectors on the ancient Russian lands, but without changing the social structure. Subsequently, the collection of taxes was transferred to the jurisdiction of local Russian princes, who recognized the authority of the Golden Horde.
The Horde sought to actively influence political life Russia. The efforts of the conquerors were aimed at preventing the consolidation of Russian lands by opposing some principalities to others and weakening them mutually. Sometimes the khans went for these purposes to change the territorial and political structure of Russia: at the initiative of the Horde, new principalities were formed (Nizhny Novgorod) or the territories of the old ones were divided (Vladimir).
It was the Golden Horde state system that became the prototype of Russian imperial statehood. This was manifested in the establishment of an authoritarian tradition of government, in a rigidly centralized social system, discipline in military affairs and religious tolerance. Although, of course, there were deviations from these principles at certain periods Russian history.
In addition, medieval Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, Khorezm and other lands subject to the Horde were involved in a more high level financial system of the Golden Horde empire. The conquerors created an effective, centuries-old yamskaya system of communications and a network of postal organizations in a significant part of Eurasia, including on the territory of Kazakhstan and Russia.
The Mongol conquest radically changed the social structure of Ancient Russia. The princes were turned into subjects - vicegerents of the great Khan of the Golden Horde. According to Mongolian state law, all conquered land was recognized as the property of the khan, and the princes - governors of the khan were only the owners of the land and taxable people within the will of the khan. This is how the Mongols looked at the Russian lands, subject to the free disposal of the conqueror.
Having deprived the specific Russian states of political independence and dominating them from afar, the conqueror left untouched the internal state structure and the right of the Russian people, and, among other legal institutions, the ancestral order of the succession of princely power. But in the era of Mongol rule, the Russian prince, defeated in the struggle for a disputed tribal inheritance, had the opportunity to call his rival to the court of the khan and bring the Tatar army against him if he managed to position the Horde in his favor. So, Alexander Nevsky, defending his right to the Vladimir table, went to the Horde and begged the khan to give him seniority over all his brothers in Suzdal.
The khans of the Golden Horde often acted as international arbitrators, resolving disputes between the vassal rulers of the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Russia. One of the well-known examples is the submission of a dispute on the Moscow Grand Table for consideration by Khan Ulug-Muhammed in 1432: despite the decision made by the Moscow princely house not to involve the Jochids in internal contradictions, the boyar of Grand Duke Vasily II Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the de facto ruler of the Moscow Grand Duchy, resorted to to the court of the khan and managed to achieve a decision in favor of his patron, appealing not to the “dead letter of his father” (unlike Yuri Zvenigorodsky, Vasily II’s uncle and opponent), but to the “salary, devterem and label” of the khan himself.
The Grand Duchy of Moscow was divided into districts, which were ruled by princes. Uyezds were subdivided into camps or black volosts, where the princely millers or volosts ruled. The stations were divided into boil , which were ruled by elected elders or centurions.
In the XVI century. although there was a steady increase in the power of the Moscow sovereigns, who by force of arms swallowed up such fragments of the Golden Horde as the Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberian (on the Tobol) khanates, the Muscovite state experienced a strong onslaught from the Crimean Khanate, but which was then powerful Ottoman Empire. The Crimean-Tatar hordes reached the outskirts of Moscow and even captured Alexandrovskaya Sloboda - the residence of the winner of Kazan, Astrakhan and the Siberian Khanate on the Tobol - the first Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. This struggle for hegemony in the Eurasian heritage of the Golden Horde dragged on until late XVII century, when the Muscovite state stopped paying tribute, though irregular, the so-called "commemoration" to the Crimean Khanate. And this happened during the reign of Tsar Peter I, who transformed the Muscovite state into the Russian Empire.
Politics Russian Empire in relation to nomadic peoples and states-heirs of the Golden Horde, as long as they have not yet become subjects Russian crown, in particular Bashkirs, Nogais, Kazakhs, Crimean Tatars, in many ways bore the stamp of fear, at least until early XIX century, since the time of the Golden Horde rule before the possible unification of these peoples.
The final point in this centuries-old competition in favor of Russian state was set at the end of the 18th century, when the last Turkic states - the heirs of the Golden Horde - the Nogai Horde, the Kazakh and Crimean Khanates became part of the Russian Empire. Only the Khiva Khanate remained outside the Russian control on the territory of the Khorezm oasis. But in the second half of the 19th century, Khiva was conquered by Russian troops and the Khiva Khanate became a vassal principality within Russia. History has made another turn in a spiral - everything has returned to normal. The Eurasian power was reborn, albeit in a different guise.
golden horde right state
Conclusion
The purpose of the course research is achieved through the implementation of the tasks. As a result of the study on the topic " State structure and the legal system of the Golden Horde (XIII-XV centuries)" we can draw a number of conclusions:
The origins of the institution of Genghisides lead to the XIII century in the Great Mongolian ulus, created by Genghis Khan and repeating the situation of the birth of a new power elite of its predecessor - the Turkic Kaganate of the VI century, when a ruling class appeared, no longer associated with any one tribe. Genghisides were a supra-tribal grouping of the highest aristocracy, which regulated the system of power relations within the states - the heirs of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire was a highly organized state, where there was a single and stable order over a vast territory.
The Golden Horde was created by the descendants of Genghis Khan in the first half of the 13th century. Its territory stretched from the banks of the Dniester in the West to Western Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan in the East, including at some stages of its history a number of Middle Eastern, Caucasian and Central Asian regions. At the beginning of the XVI century. The Golden Horde broke up into a number of states - the Crimean, Kazan, Astrakhan Khanates, the Nogai Horde, etc., which were the heirs of the political, state and legal traditions of the Golden Horde. Some of these states existed for quite a long time: the Kazakh khanates - until mid-nineteenth, and the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva - until the beginning of the 20th century.
The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of the Middle Ages, whose possessions were in Europe and Asia. Its military power constantly kept all its neighbors in suspense and for a very long time was not disputed by anyone.
A vast territory, a large population, a strong central government, a large combat-ready army, skillful use of trade caravan routes, extortion of tribute from conquered peoples, all this created the power of the Horde empire. It grew stronger and stronger in the first half of the XIV century. survived the peak of its power.
Justice in the Golden Horde as a whole corresponded to the level of development of the court in various countries world - both European and Asian. The features of the court of the Golden Horde are explained both by the peculiarity of the legal consciousness of its society, and by a combination of a number of other factors - the influence of the traditions of the regions to which the power of the Jochids extended, the adoption of Islam, nomadic traditions, etc.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion and the yoke of the Golden Horde that followed the invasion played a huge role in the history of our country. After all, the rule of the nomads lasted almost two and a half centuries, and during this time the yoke managed to put a significant imprint on the fate of the Russian people.
The Mongol-Tatar conquests led to a significant deterioration in the international position of the Russian principalities. Ancient trade and cultural ties with neighboring states were forcibly severed. The invasion dealt a strong devastating blow to the culture of the Russian principalities. In the fire of the Mongol-Tatar invasions, numerous monuments, icon paintings and architecture were destroyed.
While the Western European states, which were not attacked, were gradually moving from feudalism to capitalism, Russia, torn to pieces by the conquerors, retained the feudal economy.
This period in the history of our country is very important, because it predetermined the further development of Ancient Russia. The true beginning of the greatness of Russia as a great state, with all the significance of Kievan Rus, was laid not on the Dnieper, not by the Slavs and Varangians, and not even by the Byzantines, but by the Horde.
Due to historical circumstances, the ancient Russian statehood did not develop to the imperial level, but followed the path of fragmentation and fell under the onslaught of the Turkic-Mongolian nomads of the Great Steppe, who created the world Eurasian power - the Golden Horde, which became the forerunner of the Russian Empire.
List of used literature
1. Barabanov O. N. Arbitration court in the Genoese community of the 15th century: Arbitrage practice Bartolomeo Bosco // Black Sea region in the Middle Ages. Issue. 4. St. Petersburg, 2000.
Vernadsky G.V. What the Mongols gave Russia//Motherland.-1997.- No. 3-4.
Grekov B. D., Yakubovsky A. Yu. The Golden Horde and its fall. - M., 1998. Vernadsky GV History of Russia: Mongols and Russia. - M., 2000.
Grigoriev A.P., Grigoriev V.P. Collection of Golden Horde documents of the XIV century from Venice. - St. Petersburg, 2002.
Gumilyov L.N. Ancient Russia and the great steppe. - M., 1992.
Egorov V.L. Golden Horde: myths and reality. - M.: Publishing house "Knowledge", 1990.
Ostrovsky D. Mongolian Roots of Russian State Institutions // American Russian Studies: Milestones of Historiography in Recent Years. Period of Kievan and Muscovite Rus: An Anthology. - Samara, 2001.
Skrynnikova T. D. Legal proceedings in the Mongol Empire // Altaica VII. - M., 2002.
Solovyov K. A. Evolution of the forms of legitimacy of state power in ancient and medieval Russia.// International historical journal. - 1999. - No. 2.
Fakhrutdinov R.G. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. (Antiquity and the Middle Ages). Textbook for secondary general education schools, gymnasiums and lyceums. - Kazan: Magarif, 2000.
Fedorov-Davydov G.F. The social system of the Golden Horde. - M., 1993
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The Golden Horde was formed in the Middle Ages, and it was a really powerful state. Many countries tried to maintain good relations with him. Cattle breeding became the main occupation of the Mongols, and they knew nothing about the development of agriculture. They were fascinated by the art of war, which is why they were excellent riders. Of particular note is that the Mongols did not accept into their ranks the weak and cowardly people.
In 1206, Genghis Khan becomes a great khan, whose real name is Temujin. He managed to unite many tribes. Possessing a strong military potential, Genghis Khan with his army defeated the Tangut kingdom, Northern China, Korea and Central Asia. Thus began the formation of the Golden Horde.
It lasted for about two hundred years. It was formed on the ruins and was powerful political entity in Desht-i-Kypchak. The Golden Horde appeared after it died; it was the heir to the empires of nomadic tribes in the Middle Ages. The goal set by the formation of the Golden Horde was to take possession of one branch (northern) of the Great Silk Road.
Eastern sources say that in 1230 a large detachment, consisting of 30 thousand Mongols, appeared in the Caspian steppes. It was a site of nomadic Polovtsy, they were called Kypchaks. Many thousands went to the West. Along the way, the troops conquered the Volga Bulgars and Bashkirs, and after that they captured the Polovtsian lands.
Genghis Khan appointed Jochi to his eldest son as an ulus (region of the empire), who, like his father, died in 1227. A complete victory over these lands was won by the eldest son of Genghis Khan, whose name was Batu. He and his army completely subjugated the Ulus of Jochi and stayed on the Lower Volga in 1242-1243.
During these years it was divided into four destinies. The Golden Horde was the first of these, a state within a state. Each of the four had its own ulus: Kulagu (this included the territory of the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf and the territory of the Arabs); Jagatai (included the area of present-day Kazakhstan and Central Asia); Ogedei (it consisted of Mongolia, Eastern Siberia, Northern China and Transbaikalia) and Jochi (this is the Black Sea and the Volga region). However, the ulus of Ogedei was the main one. In Mongolia, there was the capital of the common Mongol empire - Karakorum. All state events took place here, the leader of the kagan was main man throughout the united empire.
The Mongolian troops were distinguished by militancy, initially they attacked the Ryazan and Vladimir principalities. Russian cities again turned out to be a target for conquest and enslavement. Only Novgorod survived. In the next two years, the Mongol troops captured all of what was then Russia. During the fierce hostilities, he lost half of his troops.
The Russian princes were separated at the time of the formation of the Golden Horde and therefore suffered constant defeats. Batu conquered Russian lands and imposed tribute on the local population. Alexander Nevsky was the first who managed to negotiate with the Horde and temporarily suspend hostilities.
In the 60s, there was a war between the uluses, which marked the collapse of the Golden Horde, which the Russian people took advantage of. In 1379, Dmitry Donskoy refused to pay tribute and killed the Mongol generals. In response, the Mongol Khan Mamai attacked Russia. It began in which the Russian troops won. Their dependence on the Horde became insignificant and the Mongols troops left Russia. The collapse of the Golden Horde was completely completed.
The Tatar-Mongol yoke lasted for 240 years and ended with the victory of the Russian people, however, the formation of the Golden Horde can hardly be overestimated. Thanks to the Tatar-Mongol yoke, the Russian principalities began to unite against a common enemy, which strengthened and made the Russian state even more powerful. Historians estimate the formation of the Golden Horde as an important stage for the development of Russia.
The phenomenon of the Golden Horde still causes serious controversy among historians: some consider it a powerful medieval state, according to others it was part of the Russian lands, and for others it did not exist at all.
Why Golden Horde?
In Russian sources, the term "Golden Horde" appears only in 1556 in the "Kazan History", although this phrase is found among the Turkic peoples much earlier.
However, the historian G.V. Vernadsky argues that in the Russian chronicles the term "Golden Horde" originally referred to the tent of Khan Guyuk. The Arab traveler Ibn Battuta wrote about the same, noting that the tents of the Horde khans were covered with plates of gilded silver.
But there is another version, according to which the term "golden" is synonymous with the words "central" or "middle". It was this position that the Golden Horde occupied after the collapse of the Mongolian state.
As for the word "horde", in Persian sources it meant a mobile camp or headquarters, later it was used in relation to the whole state. In ancient Russia, an army was usually called a horde.
Borders
Golden Horde - a fragment of the once mighty empire Genghis Khan. Great Khan by 1224, he divided his vast possessions between his sons: one of the largest uluses with a center in the Lower Volga region went to his eldest son, Jochi.
The borders of the ulus of Jochi, later the Golden Horde, were finally formed after Western campaign(1236-1242), in which his son Batu participated (according to Russian sources, Batu). In the east, the Golden Horde included the Aral Lake, in the West - the Crimean Peninsula, in the south it neighbored Iran, and in the north it ran into the Ural Mountains.
Device
The judgment of the Mongols, solely as nomads and pastoralists, should probably become a thing of the past. The vast territories of the Golden Horde required reasonable management. After the final separation from Karakorum, the center of the Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde is divided into two wings - western and eastern, and each has its own capital - in the first Saray, in the second Horde-Bazaar. In total, according to archaeologists, the number of cities in the Golden Horde reached 150!
After 1254, the political and economic center of the state completely transferred to Sarai (located near modern Astrakhan), whose population at its peak reached 75 thousand people - by medieval standards, quite Big City. The minting of coins is being established here, pottery, jewelry, glass-blowing craft, as well as smelting and metal processing are developing. Sewerage and water supply were carried out in the city.
Sarai was a multinational city - Mongols, Russians, Tatars, Alans, Bulgars, Byzantines and other peoples peacefully coexisted here. The Horde, being an Islamic state, tolerated other religions. In 1261, the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and later the Catholic bishopric.
The cities of the Golden Horde are gradually turning into major centers of caravan trade. Here you can find everything - from silk and spices, to weapons and precious stones. The state is also actively developing its trade zone: caravan routes from the Horde cities lead both to Europe and Russia, as well as to India and China.
Horde and Russia
In Russian historiography, for a long time, the main concept characterizing the relationship between Russia and the Golden Horde was the “yoke”. We were painted terrible pictures of the Mongol colonization of Russian lands, when wild hordes of nomads destroyed everyone and everything in their path, and the survivors were turned into slavery.
However, in the Russian chronicles the term "yoke" was not. It first appears in the works of the Polish historian Jan Długosz in the second half of the 15th century. Moreover, the Russian princes and Mongol khans, according to researchers, preferred to negotiate rather than devastate the lands.
L. N. Gumilyov, by the way, considered the relationship between Russia and the Horde an advantageous military-political alliance, and N. M. Karamzin noted the most important role of the Horde in the rise of the Moscow principality.
It is known that Alexander Nevsky, having enlisted the support of the Mongols and insured his rear, was able to expel the Swedes and Germans from northwestern Russia. And in 1269, when the crusaders besieged the walls of Novgorod, the Mongol detachment helped the Russians repulse their attack. The Horde sided with Nevsky in his conflict with the Russian nobility, and he, in turn, helped her resolve inter-dynastic disputes.
Of course, a significant part of the Russian lands was conquered by the Mongols and taxed, but the scale of the devastation is probably greatly exaggerated.
The princes, who wanted to cooperate, received the so-called "labels" from the khans, becoming, in fact, the governors of the Horde. The burden of duty for the lands controlled by the princes was significantly reduced. No matter how humiliating vassalage was, it still preserved the autonomy of the Russian principalities and prevented bloody wars.
The Church was completely freed by the Horde from paying tribute. The first label was given to the clergy - Metropolitan Kirill Khan Mengu-Temir. History has preserved the words of the khan for us: “We favored the priests and blacks and all the poor people, but with a right heart they pray for us to God, and for our tribe without sorrow, bless us, but do not curse us.” The label ensured freedom of religion and inviolability of church property.
G. V. Nosovsky and A. T. Fomenko in the "New Chronology" put forward a very bold hypothesis: Russia and the Horde are one and the same state. They easily turn Batu into Yaroslav the Wise, Tokhtamysh into Dmitry Donskoy, and transfer the capital of the Horde, Saray, to Veliky Novgorod. However, official history more than categorically tuned to this version.
Wars
Without a doubt, the Mongols were best at fighting. True, they took for the most part not by skill, but by number. The conquered peoples - Polovtsy, Tatars, Nogais, Bulgars, Chinese and even Russians helped the armies of Genghis Khan and his descendants to conquer the space from the Sea of Japan to the Danube. The Golden Horde was not able to keep the empire within its former limits, but you cannot deny it militancy. The maneuverable cavalry, numbering hundreds of thousands of horsemen, forced many to capitulate.
For the time being, it was possible to maintain a delicate balance in relations between Russia and the Horde. But when the appetites of the temnik Mamai were in earnest, the contradictions between the parties resulted in the legendary battle on the Kulikovo field (1380). Its result was the defeat of the Mongol army and the weakening of the Horde. This event completes the period of the "Great Jail", when the Golden Horde was in a fever from civil strife and dynastic troubles.
The turmoil stopped and power was strengthened with the accession to the throne of Tokhtamysh. In 1382, he again goes to Moscow and resumes the payment of tribute. However, the exhausting wars with the more combat-ready army of Tamerlane, in the end, undermined the former power of the Horde and for a long time discouraged the desire to make aggressive campaigns.
In the next century, the Golden Horde gradually began to "crumble" into parts. So, one after another, the Siberian, Uzbek, Astrakhan, Crimean, Kazan Khanates and the Nogai Horde appeared within its borders. The weakening attempts of the Golden Horde to carry out punitive actions were stopped by Ivan III. The famous "Standing on the Ugra" (1480) did not develop into a large-scale battle, but finally broke the last Horde Khan Akhmat. Since that time, the Golden Horde formally ceased to exist.
