21 research outputs found
Review on the Book: Pochekaev R.Yu. The Golden Horde Law (Kazan, 2009. 260 p.) » 231
No full textThis paper contains a review of the R.Yu. Pochekaev’s book “The Golden Horde Law”. The reviewer points out that the Pochekaev’s book is a significant academic research in both the study of the Golden Horde history and the law system of the Eurasian Turkic-Mongol peoples. This book is published by the Center for Research on the Golden Horde Civilization at the Sh.Marjani Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. For several years, the author of this book, R.Yu. Pochekaev, has been concerned with the the history of the Golden Horde State and its law system. He has published a number of works on this topic, the main conclusions of which are reflected in this generalizing work. The study is based on a wide range of sources (annals and chronicles, memoirs of contemporaries, bureaucratic and numismatic materials) and numerous studies including the works of foreign specialists in the original language. In his book, the author organically combines the latest achievements of research on both the Golden Horde history and theory and history of law. The book will be of interest to experts of the Golden Horde history and Orientalists, who are often faced with the legal aspects of the material under study
On the question of typology of Mansi home sanctuaries
No full textThe article is dedicated to systematization and generalization of ethnographic data about Mansi home sanctuaries. The author considers ethnographic descriptions published in the XVIII — XX centuries and uses her own field data. The author held expeditions to the territory of inhabitance of Northern Mansi in the settlements situated on the banks of the rivers Severnaya Sos’va and Lyapin in 2006–2010 years. Two types of home sanctuaries in traditional Mansi dwelling were marked out during the research. The first type is a holy ceiling, located directly in the living space. The second type is an attic, separated from the living space of the house by a ceiling. The research shows their interrelation and development as well as present functional features. The article also deals with the question of origin of Samsay-oyka, a house guardian spirit of Northern Mansi. The attic is considers as one of the places where it lives. A hypothesis of late formation of the image of Samsay-oyka is formulated
Adaptation of the traditional culture of subsistence of the Ukrainian peasant-migrants in the south of Western Siberia (late 19th — early 21st century)
No full textPresented In the paper, are the results of a field study of the adaptation of the traditional culture of subsistence of the Ukrainian peasant-migrants of the late 19th century, who lived in Odessa District of Omsk Oblast. It has been established that due to the lack of constructional timber descendants of the migrants continued building adobe houses up until the 1990s. Despite a number of innovations and borrowings, many of the original elements of the traditional dietary culture of the migrants retained. This phenomenon was caused by that, for a long time, personal allotments continued to play an important role in the subsistence of the migrants, as well as by that the food preferences usually constitute one of the sturdiest elements of family traditions. As compared to dwellings and food, clothing turned out to be the least invariant element of the traditional life-sustaining culture of the Ukrainian migrants. This was caused by the difficulty of growing flax and relative availability of purchasable fabrics. It has been concluded that the peculiarities of the local natural resources in most cases turned out to be the determining factor of preservation or transformation of certain elements of the traditional culture of subsistence of the migrants. At the same time, this model carried on until the moment when, alongside these resources for the sustenance of the local community, substitute materials and products, obtained in the result of the industrial production, were becoming available
Specifics of settlement and numbers of armoured boyars in the Tobolsk Governorate in the second half of the 19th c.
No full textOn the basis of the archival sources, for the first time an attempt is made to reconstruct settlement of the migrants from the Vitebsk Governorate — the armoured boyars — in the territory of Siberia. The armoured boyars was a category of servicemen who guarded the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later — of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the annexation at the end of the 18th century of the eastern territories of the Commonwealth by the Russian Empire, the armoured boyars joined in the peasant estate. The resettlement to Siberia of separate groups of armoured boyars in the 1840s–1850s caused by the land shortage may be considered as one of the first experiments in organised peasant resettlements to the territory of the Asian part of Russia. The foundation of the source base of this study comprises documents from the holdings of the state archives of Omsk, Tobolsk, Chelyabinsk, and St. Petersburg. Most archival documents are introduced into scientific discourse for the first time. The main stream of the migrants was directed to the Ishim and Tara Uyezds of the Tobolsk Governorate. According to the statistical data, more than 3000 armoured boyars arrived in Siberia with the permission from the government. The largest parties of the migrants were domiciled in Utchanskaya and Ilyinskaya Volosts of the Ishim Uyezd. In various developed places of their compact residence, the living conditions had significant differences. Different settlement models were implemented there, including co-settling armoured boyars with old-settlers, founding villages populated by different groups of resettlers, as well as a separate domicile. The most stable were the large groups of armoured boyars living in relatively favourable conditions. Such examples include the places of their compact residence in the territory of the Ilyinskaya and Loktinskaya Volosts of the Ishim Uezd. In the meantime, small groups of the migrants, who found themselves in less favourable conditions, were much quicker assimilating in the new ethnic environment
Material culture of Belarusian migrants in the Bratsk district: identity markers
No full textAt the beginning of the 20th century, migrants from Belarus, Ukraine and the Pskov province founded a number of settlements in the territory of the Central Angara region. Migrants brought with them the specific features of their traditional culture and economic activity, which were different from those typical for the local Russian population. The empirical basis for the research was formed by the materials of an ethnographic expedition conducted in 2017 in the territory of the Bratsk district (Irkutsk region, Russia). The research was aimed at identifying various markers of the ethnocultural identity of Belarusian peasant migrants in their material culture and at investigating the interactions of Belarusians with their ethnic environment. It is found that the ethnic identity of Belarusian migrant descendants is currently characterized by a high level of variability across different families. Certain representatives of the senior generation consider themselves as Belarusians. At the same time, the majority of informants emphasize in their oral stories that only their ancestors were Belarusians. The culture of food among the first Belarusian migrants had a number of distinct features. Thus, in comparison with Russian settlers, Belarusians tended to consume more vegetables, rye bread and pork. The first generation of the Belarusian migrants preferred to make clothes according to their ethnic traditions; however, the subsequent generations of migrants borrowed many clothing items from the local population, which were more practical for the local climatic conditions. A visual survey of dwellings and other buildings indicates that the national architecture of the Belarusian migrants still have a number of features introduced from their homeland. At the same time, these features have undergone certain transformations over the course of the 20th century, as a result of adaptation to a more severe climate and introduction of improved construction technologies. In comparison with the immovable objects of traditional material culture, the transformation of such cultural manifestations as cuisine and clothing is shown to be a more prolonged process
Ethnocultural and adaptation aspects for the development of folk architecture of the late peasant resettlers in the Middle Angara region (first quarter of the 20th century)
No full textThe article examines the ethnocultural and adaptation factors for the development of folk architecture of peasant resettlers of the early 20th century who lived in the Middle Angara region. It has been concluded that in the first quarter of the 20th century, the late resettlers sought to preserve their building technologies as much as possible, changing only those of them that prevented adaptation to new conditions. At the same time, the construction culture of the resettlers of the Bratsk District has undergone a much greater degree of transformation than that of most of their compatriots who settled in other regions, due to the need for more intensive adaptation to the specifics of the natural and climatic conditions of the Middle Angara region
A New Book on the Law System of the Golden Horde: Pochekaev R.Yu. Legal Culture of the Golden Horde (Historical and Legal Essays) (Moscow: Yurlitinform, 2015. 312 p.)
No full textThis book is a study at the intersection of such academic disciplines as general history, history of state and law and source study.
The subcect of R.Yu. Pochevalev’s book appears very relevant since the interest of the scientific community and readership toward the Golden Horde and its role in the history of the Russian state remains traditionally high for several centuries. However, the author is trying to take a fresh look at this state and refute the stereotype of the Golden Horde as a some kind of bunch of nomads who lived only by plundering neighboring sedentary peoples. He succeeds in this by studying such an important part of the Golden Horde history as its law and legal culture.
The book examines a number of questions on the history of state and law of the Golden Horde, which have not previously been the subject of a special study (for example, possessions of the Golden Horde in other uluses, dualism of power in different states, relations between authorities and traders, etc.). On some other issues that have already been studied by experts, he proposes new interpretations in the framework of historical and legal approach (for example, the causes of intestine strife in the Golden Horde in the mid-14th century, yarliks of the Golden Horde khans granted to the Russian Chruch, relations of the Golden Horde rulers and Italian colonies in the Northern Black Sea region).
The author examines to a great extent the themes of state and legal regulation of economic relations: status of merchants in the Golden Horde and post-Golden Horde states, role of economic sanctions in the resolution of political conflicts. In other essays contained in the book, the author also emphasizes the role of the economic component of the political and legal relations. For example, R.Yu. Pochekaev convincingly shows that relations of the Golden Horde with other states of the Mongol Empire was based on the principle of mutual provision of possessions to the rulers of other states. The consequence of this was the acquisition of revenues: the Golden Horde khans received such incomes, for example, from China and Central Asia. Various taxation existed in nomadic and sedentary regions of the Golden Horde itself: thereby khans found a kind of compromise that allowed for the effective management of subjects with a different way of economy
Tamgha and the Struggle against It: On the History of Medieval Turkic-mongol Taxation System
No full textThe paper deals with the Turkic-Mongol taxation institute of tamgha widely used in the Mongol Empire since the first half of the 13th century. Author characterizes the etymology of this term, its meanings, legal regulation of levy and rates, evolution of the tax in different states – successors of the Mongol Empire (the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, etc.) as well as in these states even after fall of Chinggisid dynasties (such as Iran under Safavids, Central Asia under Timurids).
As the author supposes, the long-term use of tamgha allows us to talk about the vitality and effectiveness of Chinggisid legal tradition, which survived after the end of “Chinggisid age”. Even the rulers and dynasties, which positioned themselves as rivals of Chinggisids, used tamgha in their taxation system. This tax was also borrowed by the Russians and was used for a long time becoming a base for custom system in Russia.
Other subjects of the research are the struggle of Islamic theologians and jurists against tamgha in different countries of Inner Asia and reasons for this struggle. The author attempts to clarify reasons of this struggle, strict position of clergy against tamgha and measures of rulers who did not want to be in trouble with clergy, but at the same time tried to save tamgha as effective and profitable tax
“King” Godan: Status of the Ruling Chinggisid in Mongolian and Tibetan Sources
No full textResearch objectives: Analyzing characteristics of the legal status of Prince Godan, son of Ögedei Khan, who was often mentioned in different imperial, Tibetan, and late medieval Mongolian sources; clarifying the reasons why he was given the title of khan in some sources, though he never possessed this title. The author attempts to define the status, level of power, and real position of Godan among the Chinggisids and in the political structure of the Mongol Empire.
Research materials: The basis for research comprises three groups of historical sources – Mongolian imperial historiography (works of Juwayni and Rashid al-Din, “Yuan shih”, etc.), Tibetan historical works (“The Blue Annals”, “Pagsam-jonsan”, “Debter-chjamtso”), and late medieval Mongolian chronicles created under the influence of Tibetan Buddhist historiography (“Golden Tale”, “Crystal Mirror”, “Yellow History”, “White History”, “Jewel beads”, etc.). The author also used the works of specialists on Mongolian and Tibetan historiography (such as Sh. Bira, R.E. Pubaev, Yu.N. Rerikh, A.D. Tsendina) as well as the works of researchers of political and religious history of the Mongol Empire (such as V.L. Uspenskiy, H. Franke, C.P. Atwood, etc.).
The novelty of the study: It offers a systematization of historical sources of different origins to clarify some aspects of the political biography of Prince Godan, identifying his legal status as a Chinggisid and the ruler of an ulus. At the same time, the author tries to not refute sources with contradicting statements but to clarify the reasons behind such contradictions and to find information which could clarify and complement the data of other sources.
Research results: The author tries to systematize different sources on the status of Prince Godan as one of the key political figures in the history of the Mongol Empire from the 1240s to the beginning of the 1250s and the ruler of a large ulus with substantial level of power, which could be compared with that of rulers of the Golden Horde, the Chaghadaid Ulus, etc. Also, the reasons behind the brief existence of Godan’s ulus and loss of his status already by the time of his direct descendants are analyzed
How the Warriors of Prester John Transformed into Demons from Tartarus. Review of the book: Hautala R. From “David, King of the Indies” to “Detestable Plebs of Satan”: An Anthology of Early Latin Information about the Tatar-Mongols. (Kazan: Sh.Marjani Institute of History of AS RT, 2015. 496 p.)
No full textThis paper is a review of recently published book of Finnish researcher Roman Hautala devoted to publication and study of Latin sources on the Mongols of the 13th century. The book is of great importance as it is a compilations of the very valuable sources which demonstrate evolution of the attitude of European authorities and contemporaries towards the Mongols – from potential allies to the most dangerous enemy. Analysis of these sources helps to understand the further policy of Western European monarchs in the Eastern Europe, Ancient Rus’, Mongol Empire and its successors – Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, etc. At the same time, R. Hautala pays substantial attention to a fate of another nomads of Eurasia connected with the Mongol invasion – especially Kumans (Kipchaks) in Hungary.
The book contains author’s preface, Latin texts and Russian translations of sources as well as very valuable comments of author. Each part could be considered as independent part of this complex research. The main importance of book is put into use of Russian-speaking scientific society of a huge number of sources, most part of which was not accessible for home historians because of lack of knowledge of Latin. The structure of the book completely corresponds to its goals and objectives.
Nevertheless, the author of review points that the book has several insignificant weaknesses, which could be kept in mind and removed in the future works of R. Hautala
