Since the Golden Horde theme turned out to be interesting, it is worth continuing it. All new comments come to my dedicated to the Tatar cities. Analyzing them, I came to the conclusion that people are poorly aware of the scale of Horde urbanism. Therefore, I decided to lay out a few paragraphs of the text from the book by V.L. Egorova "
The historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XII-XIV centuries ". This is a listing and mini-descriptions of the Horde settlements known at the moment. Moreover, I specifically chose not very well-known settlements in the North Caucasus, Ukraine and along the Volga River. Capital giant cities, such as Saraya, or the developed cities of the Volga Bulgaria and Crimea, I did not insert here.
In Egorov's book, the list of settlements is much longer, but he does not list all of them, since in the 13-14 centuries. there were hundreds of cities in the Horde. But a certain idea can be obtained from this text.
So, small and little-known cities of the Golden Horde.
To understand the scale - the approximate dimensions of the ancient Russian cities of the 12-13th century:
The largest ancient Russian city of Kyiv - 100 hectares (within the walls) and about 200 hectares of the total area.
The city of Ryazan - about 57 hectares.
City of Moscow - 5 hectares.
For convenience, I have translated all the areas of the settlements in excerpts from Yegorov's book into hectares.
North Caucasus
Madjar. The remains of it are on the banks of the river. Kumy, near the city of Prikumsk, Stavropol Territory. The name of the city is well known from chronicles and, in particular, from Ibn-Batuta, who visited Majar in the 30s of the XIV century. The heyday of the city dates back to the Golden Horde period, although it is possible that before the arrival of the Mongols there was a small settlement here. At present, part of the ancient settlement is built up and plowed up, so it is rather difficult to determine its area. J. Pototsky, who visited here at the beginning of the last century, noted that the ruins of the ancient city were two miles in diameter. According to later surveys, the city was located on both banks of the Kuma, and only one of its left-bank parts occupied an area of about 300 hectares.
General view of the Madjar mausoleums in the 18th century. Engraving by P.S. Pallas.
These estimates of the area of the ancient city testify not only to its vastness (there is no doubt that it was the largest city in the North Caucasus), but also to the significance of the role it played in the political and economic life of the region. The first confirmation of this is the possession of the right to mint coins, which were issued here in the 14th century. At the Madzhar settlement at the end of the 18th century. quite a lot of monumental brick buildings were preserved.
The total area of Madzhar is about 600 ha (1)
Image of the Golden Horde mausoleum from the city of Majar. Engraving P.S. Pallas, 18th century. 
Settlement Lower Dzhulat. It is located near the town of Maisky, Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, on the right bank of the Terek. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown, but it can be assumed that it was called Julat. A city with this name is mentioned in the description of Timur's campaign in 1395. The cities that arose belong to the pre-Mongolian period, but its heyday is associated with the Golden Horde time. Archaeological research has revealed here the remains of a brick mosque with a minaret, dwellings, and the presence of metallurgical production. Judging by the materials of excavations, the city in the XIII-XIV centuries. occupied a prominent position in the North Caucasus.
Classification of tented Golden Horde mausoleums. 
Settlement Upper Dzhulat. Located at the Elkhotovo, Kirov District, North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown; the data accumulated in recent times allow us to presumably identify it with the city of Dedyakov, known from the chronicles of Yassa. Judging by the surviving remains, the city occupied a large area. Excavations have shown that its heyday dates back to the 14th century, although the oldest layers date back to the 10th century. Archaeological research has revealed monumental architectural structures - a church and two mosques.
Volga basin
Barskoe-Naruska settlement and ancient settlement. They are located near the village of Barskoye Yenaruskino, Aksubaevsky district, Tatar ASSR. They form a single urban complex (the area of the ancient settlement is over 3 hectares, the settlement area is over 60 hectares), which reached its greatest development in the 14th century. Judging by the area of the settlement, it was one of the significant urban centers of the region. The ancient name of the city is unknown
Kokryatskoye settlement. It is located on the right bank of the river. Ducks, near the village Kokryat, Staromoynsky district, Ulyanovsk region It represents the remains of one of the significant cities in the region (the area of the settlement exceeds 70 hectares). The ancient name of the city is not exactly known, presumably the chronicle Tukhchin is localized here.
Cheboksary settlement. Located on the site of the modern city of Cheboksary; the ancient name is not exactly known. Archaeological studies date the oldest layers of the city to the end of the 14th century. During the excavations, not only wooden residential buildings were found, but also glazed architectural tiles, indicating the existence in the city of the 14th century. brick buildings. The urban character of the settlement that existed here is also confirmed by the remains of various handicraft industries: blacksmithing, locksmithing, jewelry, leather, shoemaking, and pottery.
Abisovo settlement. Located 42 km from Ufa; the ancient name is unknown. The area of the settlement is about 50 hectares. Archaeological research has not been carried out.
City of Ukek. Its remains are located on the right bank of the Volga on the outskirts of Saratov. The area of the settlement is heavily destroyed and built up with modern houses. Ukek is one of the early cities of the Golden Horde, founded by the Mongols themselves in the 50s of the XIII century. The first mention of him is contained in the "Book of Marco Polo"199) and dates back to the reign of Khan Berke. The name of the city is well known from written sources and coins minted here. Archaeological studies have shown that the ancient city was stretched along the Volga for a distance of more than 2 km. Excavations have revealed various buildings made of baked and raw bricks, the remains of a water supply system, furnaces for firing architectural ceramics.
The total area of Ukek is about 150-200 ha (2)
City of Beljamen. Its settlement is located on the right bank of the Volga, 2 km north of the city of Dubovka, Volgograd Region; the total area is over 50 hectares. In archeology, this object is known as the Vodyansk settlement.
Long-term archaeological research of the Vodyansk settlement makes it possible to describe Beljamen as one of the developed and comfortable cities of the Golden Horde. In addition to various residential buildings, a stone building of a mosque with an area of 900 sq. m, three mausoleums, a bathhouse with running water and various handicraft complexes.
Settlement Mechetnoe. It is located on the territory of the modern city of Volgograd. The territory of the settlement is currently completely built up. The Golden Horde name of the city is unknown; its area was approximately the same as the territory of Beljamen. Archaeological excavations have revealed here various monumental buildings made of baked and raw bricks.
Settlement Akhtubinsky. It is located on the left bank of the Volga, directly opposite Mechetny, at the very beginning of the Akhtuba channel. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown; archaeological research has not been carried out. At present, the settlement is completely destroyed.
Settlement Bezrodnoe. It was located on the territory of the modern city of Volzhsky. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown; archaeological research has not been carried out. Currently completely destroyed.
Settlement Zaplavnoye. It was located below the settlement of Bezrodny along the Akhtuba. 226) The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown; archaeological research has not been carried out. Currently completely destroyed.
Mohshi city. Its remains are located near the modern village of Narovchat, Penza region. The ancient name of the city was determined from coins and identified with the Narovchatsk settlement by A. A. Krotkov. The city was founded by the Mongols at the beginning of the 14th century, the first coins minted here date back to 1313. It was completely abandoned at the very beginning of the 15th century. Archaeological excavations depict it as a large settlement, built up with brick buildings of a public and residential nature. Research has revealed a bathhouse, a mausoleum and residential buildings of a peculiar layout with underfloor heating.
Settlement of Moshaik. Located at the village Moshaik on the eastern outskirts of Astrakhan. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown. The area of the settlement is about 7 hectares. Archaeological research has revealed typical Golden Horde residential buildings here.
Don basin
Settlement Krasnohutorskoe. Located at the village Krasny Khutor Khrenovsky district, Voronezh region, on the bank of the river. Mechetka. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown. In 1902, the ruins of buildings of the Golden Horde period were discovered here, which were partially explored in 1947. Excavations revealed the remains of a large kiln for firing bricks, capable of producing a significant amount of this product, made from local clay. Not far from it, the remains of a monumental brick building were explored, which the author of the excavations defined as a mausoleum-mosque. The finds made here and the structures studied date back to the 14th century.
Settlement Pavlovskoe, It is located two kilometers from the city of Pavlovsk, Voronezh region. The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown, no excavations have been carried out. The monument covers an area of about 15 hectares.
Hillfort Kumylzhenskoye. It is located near the village of Kumylzhenskaya, Volgograd region, on the left bank of the river. Kumylgi (tributary of Khopra). The Golden Horde name of the settlement is unknown, no excavations have been carried out. In the last century, local residents mined bricks for construction from the cultural layer.
Azak. Remains of the ancient city of the XIII-XIV centuries. located on the territory of the modern city of Azov. The Golden Horde name of the city is well known from written sources and coins minted here. The excavations carried out allow us to speak about the wide development of various handicraft industries in it. In the 30s of the XIV century. the importance of Azak as a major trading center increased in connection with the emergence of the Genoese and Venetian colonies here, which were called Tana in Italian sources. According to the agreement with Khan Uzbek, both colonies were two adjacent city blocks. Fortifications around the Venetian Tana were erected only in the 15th century.
Noting the saturation of this area with Golden Horde settlements, one of the archaeologists who studied it wrote: “Across the entire space from the Sala River to Medveditsa, and especially along the rivers Ilovla, Sheryai, Chir, Tsutskan, Kurtlak, Tsaritsa and so on. traces of the former dwellings of the Tatars are visible. And who visited these places at the end of the XVIII century. Academician I. I. Lepekhin also noted another interesting feature, which testified to the wide spread of settled life here. He reports on the groves of mulberry trees that were encountered and, discussing their appearance, writes: “No one will remember the initial establishment of these mulberry trees, and there is no written evidence of them. The ruins of stone buildings, with which, so to speak, the whole steppe is humiliated, give an undoubted guess that the planters of these trees were Tatars who lived in this steppe and were known under the name of the Golden Horde.
Left bank basin of the Dnieper
Kuchugur settlement. It is located on the left bank of the Dnieper, 30 km south of the city of Zaporozhye. The remains of the city cover an area of about 10 hectares. In 1953, fairly extensive archaeological research was carried out here. On the surface of the monument, strewn with stones, bricks and ceramics, numerous remains of the foundations of buildings can be traced. The excavations revealed the remains of a brick mosque (about 500 sq. m) with a minaret, baths with underfloor heating and a palace-type residential building (476 sq. m). In addition, the remains of small residential buildings of the ordinary population of the city with cans with sufas, characteristic of the Golden Horde buildings of this type, were studied. Finds of various objects of material culture, construction and technical methods used in the construction of buildings, allow us to attribute the existence of the city to the XIV century. The existence of handicraft production in the city is evidenced by the finds of iron slag, cuttings of copper sheets and fragments of crucibles for melting metal.
Settlement Horse. It is mentioned only in the "Book of the Big Drawing", there is no other information about it. According to this source, it was located 60 versts from the Dnieper, on the right bank of the river. Horses. By the time the “Book of the Great Drawing” was compiled, “7 caches of Tatar mosques” had been preserved here.61) The Golden Horde name of the city is unknown; archaeological research has not been carried out.
Dniester-Dnieper interfluve
City of Lighthouses. It is located near the mouth of the Dniester, on its left bank, near the modern village. Lighthouses. The sources noted the existence of a crossing over the Dniester at this place with the remains of a mosque and the ruins of several stone buildings. Apparently, this settlement was located on the caravan road leading from the east to Akkerman. Its Golden Horde name is unknown; archaeological excavations have not been carried out.
Settlement Great Mosque. It is located on the right bank of the Southern Bug near the modern village. Great Mosque. Remains of brick and stone buildings and crypts have been preserved from the Golden Horde city; its name is unknown, archaeological excavations were not carried out.
Solone settlement. Located near the village of Solona, on the river. Solenaya, the right tributary of the Rotten Elants (left bank of the Yu. Bug). In the last century, the ruins of a mosque and the foundations of buildings were noted here at the beam of the Mosque, between which the foundation of a large building stood out. The Golden Horde name of the city is unknown, archaeological research has not been carried out.
Settlement of Argamakli-Saray. It is located on the right bank of the river. Gromokley, the right tributary of the Ingul. A significant number of foundations of stone buildings and the ruins of a mosque were noted. On the map of 1772 by Ricci Zanoni there is an inscription "Tatar mosque" in this place. The Golden Horde name of the city is unknown; archaeological research has not been carried out.
Settlement Ak-Mechet. Located on the right bank of the Yu. Bug, near the village. Ak-Mosque. In the last century, the ruins of the Golden Horde city were noted at this place. Its name is unknown; archaeological research has not been carried out. Ricci Zanoni's map shows a mosque at this location.
Etc...
What conclusions can be drawn here. The main one - the Golden Horde was not inferior to Ancient Russia in the number of cities and their size, even rather surpassed Russia in this matter. The largest cities of Russia - Kyiv and Chernigov were inferior in size to the "average" cities in the Horde ,
like Majar, not to mention the capital Horde city of Saray.
And the second conclusion is that such a vast cultural layer could not disappear without a trace, which proves the existence of modern Russia...
Other posts dedicated to the Golden Horde.
History of the Golden Horde
| Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi, Ulug Ulus) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
Ulus Jochi c. 1300 |
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| Capital | Sarai-Batu
Shed-Berke |
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| Largest cities | Sarai-Batu, Kazan, Astrakhan, Uvek, etc. | |||
| Languages) | Golden Horde Turks | |||
| Religion | Tengrism, Orthodoxy (for part of the population), Islam since 1312 | |||
| Area | OK. 6 million km² | |||
| Population | Mongols, Turks, Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and other peoples | |||
Title and borders
Name "Golden Horde" was first used in Russia in 1566 in the historical and journalistic work "Kazan History", when the state itself no longer existed. Until that time, in all Russian sources the word "Horde" used without the adjective "golden". Since the 19th century, the term has been firmly entrenched in historiography and is used to refer to the Jochi ulus as a whole, or (depending on the context) its western part with its capital in Saray.
In the actual Golden Horde and eastern (Arab-Persian) sources, the state did not have a single name. It was usually denoted by the term "ulus", with the addition of some epithet ( "Ulug ulus") or the ruler's name ( Ulus Berke), and not necessarily acting, but also reigning earlier ( "Uzbek, ruler of the Berke countries", "ambassadors of Tokhtamyshkhan, sovereign of the Uzbek land"). Along with this, the old geographical term was often used in the Arab-Persian sources Desht-i-Kipchak. Word "horde" in the same sources, it denoted the headquarters (mobile camp) of the ruler (examples of its use in the meaning of “country” begin to be found only from the 15th century). Combination "Golden Horde" in the meaning of "golden front tent" is found in the description of the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta in relation to the residence of Khan Uzbek. In Russian chronicles, the concept of "Horde" usually meant an army. Its use as the name of the country becomes constant from the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, until that time the term "Tatars" was used as the name. In Western European sources, the names “country of Komans”, “Komania” or “power of the Tatars”, “land of the Tatars”, “Tataria” were common.
The Chinese called the Mongols "Tatars" (tar-tar). Later this name penetrated into Europe and the lands conquered by the Mongols became known as "Tataria".
The Arab historian Al-Omari, who lived in the first half of the 14th century, defined the boundaries of the Horde as follows:
"The borders of this state from the side of Jeyhun are Khorezm, Saganak, Sairam, Yarkand, Dzhend, Sarai, the city of Majar, Azaka, Akcha-Kermen, Kafa, Sudak, Saksin, Ukek, Bulgar, the region of Siberia, Ibir, Bashkird and Chulyman ...
Batu, medieval chinese drawing
[ Formation of Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde)
Separation Mongol Empire Genghis Khan between his sons, produced by 1224, can be considered the emergence of the Ulus of Jochi. After Western campaign(1236-1242), headed by the son of Jochi Batu (in the Russian chronicles Batu), the ulus expanded to the west and the Lower Volga region became its center. In 1251, a kurultai took place in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum, where Mongke, the son of Tolui, was proclaimed the great khan. Batu, "senior of the family" ( aka), supported Möngke, probably hoping to gain full autonomy for his ulus. Opponents of the Jochids and Toluids from the descendants of Chagatai and Ogedei were executed, and the possessions confiscated from them were divided among Mongke, Batu and other Chingizids who recognized their authority.
Rise of the Golden Horde
After the death of Batu, his son Sartak, who was at that time in Mongolia, at the court of Mongke Khan, was to become the legitimate heir. However, on the way home, the new khan suddenly died. Soon the young son of Batu (or the son of Sartak) Ulagchi, proclaimed khan, also died.
Berke (1257-1266), brother of Batu, became the ruler of the ulus. Berke converted to Islam in his youth, but this was apparently a political step that did not lead to the Islamization of large sections of the nomadic population. This step allowed the ruler to gain the support of influential trading circles in urban centers. Volga Bulgaria and Central Asia, to recruit educated Muslims. During his reign, significant proportions reached urban planning, Horde cities were built up with mosques, minarets, madrasahs, caravanserais. First of all, this refers to Saray-Bat, the capital of the state, which at that time became known as Saray-Berke (there is a controversial identification of Saray-Berke and Saray al-Jedid) . Having recovered after the conquest, Bulgar became one of the most important economic and political centers of the ulus.
big minaret Cathedral Mosque of Bulgar, the construction of which was begun shortly after 1236 and completed at the end of the 13th century
Berke invited scientists, theologians, poets from Iran and Egypt, and artisans and merchants from Khorezm. Trade and diplomatic relations with the countries of the East have noticeably revived. Highly educated immigrants from Iran and Arab countries began to be appointed to responsible government posts, which caused discontent among the Mongolian and Kypchak nomadic nobility. However, this dissatisfaction has not yet been expressed openly.
During the reign of Mengu-Timur (1266-1280), the Ulus of Jochi became completely independent of the central government. In 1269, at the kurultai in the valley of the Talas River, Munke-Timur and his relatives Borak and Khaidu, the rulers Chagatai ulus, recognized each other as independent sovereigns and entered into an alliance against the great Khan Kublai in case he tried to challenge their independence.
Tamga of Mengu-Timur, minted on Golden Horde coins
After the death of Mengu-Timur, a political crisis began in the country associated with the name of Nogai. Nogai, one of the descendants of Genghis Khan, held the post of beklyarbek under Batu and Berk, the second most important in the state. His personal ulus was located in the west of the Golden Horde (near the Danube). Nogai set as his goal the formation of his own state, and during the reign of Tuda-Mengu (1282-1287) and Tula-Buga (1287-1291), he managed to subjugate a vast territory along the Danube, Dniester, Uzeu (Dnieper) to his power.
With the direct support of Nogai, Tokhta (1298-1312) was placed on the Sarai throne. At first, the new ruler obeyed his patron in everything, but soon, relying on the steppe aristocracy, he opposed him. The long struggle ended in 1299 with the defeat of Nogai, and the unity of the Golden Horde was again restored.
Fragments of the tiled decor of Genghisides' palace. Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu. Ceramics, overglaze painting, mosaic, gilding. Selitrennoye settlement. Excavations in the 1980s. GIM
During the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) and his son Janibek (1342-1357), the Golden Horde reached its peak. Uzbek declared Islam the state religion, threatening "infidels" with physical violence. The rebellions of the emirs who did not want to convert to Islam were brutally suppressed. The time of his khanate was distinguished by severe punishment. Russian princes, going to the capital of the Golden Horde, wrote spiritual testaments and paternal instructions to children, in case of their death there. Several of them, in fact, were killed. Uzbek built a city Saray al-Jedid("New Palace"), paid much attention to the development of caravan trade. Trade routes have become not only safe, but also well-maintained. The Horde conducted a brisk trade with the countries of Western Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, India, China. After Uzbek, his son Dzhanibek, whom the Russian chronicles call "good", ascended the throne of the khanate.
"Great Jam"
Kulikovo battle. Thumbnail from "Tales of the Battle of Mamaev"
FROM From 1359 to 1380, more than 25 khans changed on the throne of the Golden Horde, and many uluses tried to become independent. This time in Russian sources was called the "Great Zamyatnya".
Even during the life of Khan Dzhanibek (not later than 1357), his Khan Ming-Timur was proclaimed in the Ulus of Shiban. And the murder in 1359 of Khan Berdibek (son of Dzhanibek) put an end to the Batuid dynasty, which caused the emergence of various pretenders to the Sarai throne from among the eastern branches of the Jochids. Taking advantage of the instability of the central government, a number of regions of the Horde for some time, following the Ulus of Shiban, acquired their own khans.
The rights to the Horde throne of the impostor Kulpa were immediately questioned by the son-in-law and at the same time the beklyaribek of the murdered khan, the temnik Mamai. As a result, Mamai, who was the grandson of Isatay, an influential emir from the time of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in the western part of the Horde, up to the right bank of the Volga. Not being Genghisides, Mamai did not have the right to the title of khan, therefore he limited himself to the position of beklyaribek under the puppet khans from the Batuid clan.
Khans from Ulus Shiban, descendants of Ming-Timur, tried to gain a foothold in Saray. They did not really succeed, the khans changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The fate of the khans largely depended on the favor of the merchant elite of the cities of the Volga region, which was not interested in a strong khan's power.
Following the example of Mamai, other descendants of the emirs also showed a desire for independence. Tengiz-Buga, also the grandson of Isatai, tried to create an independent ulus on the Syr Darya. The Jochids, who rebelled against Tengiz-Buga in 1360 and killed him, continued his separatist policy, proclaiming a khan from among themselves.
Salchen, the third grandson of the same Isatai and at the same time the grandson of Khan Dzhanibek, captured Hadji Tarkhan. Hussein-Sufi, son of Emir Nangudai and grandson of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in Khorezm in 1361. In 1362, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd seized lands in the Dnieper basin.
The unrest in the Golden Horde ended after Genghisid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Emir Tamerlane from Maverannahr, in 1377-1380 first captured uluses on the Syr Darya, defeating the sons of Urus Khan, and then the throne in Sarai, when Mamai came into direct conflict with Moscow principality (defeat on the Vozh(1378)). Tokhtamysh in 1380 defeated the collected by Mamai after the defeat in Battle of Kulikovo remnants of troops on the Kalka River.
Tokhtamysh's reign
During the reign of Tokhtamysh (1380-1395), the unrest ceased, and the central government again began to control the entire main territory of the Golden Horde. In 1382 he made a trip to Moscow and achieved the restoration of tribute payments. After strengthening his position, Tokhtamysh opposed the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, with whom he had previously maintained allied relations. As a result of a series of devastating campaigns in 1391-1396, Tamerlane defeated the troops of Tokhtamysh, captured and destroyed the Volga cities, including Saray-Berke, robbed the cities of Crimea, etc. The Golden Horde was dealt a blow from which it could no longer recover.
The collapse of the Golden Horde
In the sixties of the XIII century, important political changes took place in the life of the former empire of Genghis Khan, which could not but affect the nature of the Horde-Russian relations. The accelerated disintegration of the empire began. The rulers of the Karakoram moved to Beijing, the uluses of the empire acquired de facto independence, independence from the great khans, and now rivalry between them intensified, sharp territorial disputes arose, and a struggle for spheres of influence began. In the 60s, the Jochi ulus was drawn into a protracted conflict with the Hulagu ulus, which owned the territory of Iran. It would seem that the Golden Horde has reached the apogee of its power. But here and within it began the inevitable process of disintegration for early feudalism. The "splitting" of the state structure began in the Horde, and immediately a conflict arose in the ruling elite.
In the early 1420s, a Siberian Khanate, in the 1440s - the Nogai Horde, then Kazan (1438) and Crimean Khanate(1441). After the death of Khan Kichi-Mohammed, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single state.
The main among the Jochid states formally continued to be considered the Great Horde. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended unsuccessfully, and Russia was finally freed from Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed during an attack on his headquarters by the Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde ceased to exist.
State structure and administrative division
According to the traditional structure of nomadic states, after 1242 Ulus Jochi was divided into two wings: right (western) and left (eastern). The right wing, which was the Batu Ulus, was considered the eldest. The west of the Mongols was designated in white, so the Ulus of Batu was called the White Horde (Ak Horde). The right wing covered the territory of western Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, the Don, Dnieper steppes, Crimea. Its center was Sarai.
The left wing of the Ulus Jochi was in a subordinate position in relation to the right, it occupied the lands of central Kazakhstan and the Syrdarya valley. The east of the Mongols was indicated in blue, so the left wing was called the Blue Horde (Kok Horde). The center of the left wing was the Horde-Bazaar. Batu's elder brother Orda-Ejen became the khan there.
The wings, in turn, were divided into uluses owned by other sons of Jochi. Initially, there were about 14 such uluses. Plano Carpini, who made a trip to the east in 1246-1247, singles out the following leaders in the Horde indicating the places of nomads: Kuremsu on the western bank of the Dnieper, Mautsi on the eastern steppes, Kartan, married to Batu’s sister, in the Don steppes, Batu himself on the Volga and two thousanders on the two banks of the Urals. Berke owned lands in the North Caucasus, but in 1254 Batu took these possessions for himself, ordering Berke to move east of the Volga.
At first, the ulus division was unstable: possessions could be transferred to other persons and change their boundaries. At the beginning of the XIV century, Khan Uzbek carried out a major administrative-territorial reform, according to which the right wing of the Juchi Ulus was divided into 4 large uluses: Saray, Khorezm, Crimea and Desht-i-Kypchak, headed by ulus emirs (ulusbeks) appointed by the khan. The main ulusbek was beklyarbek. The next important dignitary is the vizier. The other two positions were occupied by especially noble or distinguished feudal lords. These four regions were divided into 70 small possessions (tumens), headed by temniks.
Uluses were divided into smaller possessions, also called uluses. The latter were administrative-territorial units of various sizes, which depended on the rank of the owner (temnik, thousand's manager, centurion, foreman).
The city of Sarai-Batu (near modern Astrakhan) became the capital of the Golden Horde under Batu; in the first half of the 14th century, the capital was moved to Saray-Berke (founded by Khan Berke (1255-1266), near present-day Volgograd). Under Khan Uzbek, Sarai-Berke was renamed Sarai Al-Dzhedid.
Army
The overwhelming majority of the Horde army was the cavalry, which used the traditional tactics of fighting with mobile cavalry masses of archers in battle. Its core was heavily armed detachments, consisting of the nobility, the basis of which was the guard of the Horde ruler. In addition to the Golden Horde warriors, the khans recruited soldiers from among the conquered peoples, as well as mercenaries from the Volga region, Crimea and North Caucasus. The main weapon of the Horde warriors was the bow, which the Horde used with great skill. Spears were also widespread, used by the Horde during a massive spear strike that followed the first strike with arrows. Of the bladed weapons, broadswords and sabers were the most popular. Crushing weapons were also widespread: maces, shestopers, coinage, klevtsy, flails.
Among the Horde warriors, lamellar and laminar metal shells were common, from the 14th century - chain mail and ring-plate armor. The most common armor was khatangu-degel, reinforced from the inside with metal plates (kuyak). Despite this, the Horde continued to use lamellar shells. The Mongols also used brigantine-type armor. Mirrors, necklaces, bracers and greaves became widespread. Swords were almost universally replaced by sabers. From the end of the 14th century, guns appeared in service. Horde warriors also began to use field fortifications, in particular, large easel shields - chaparras. In field combat, they also used some military technical means, in particular, crossbows.
Population
In the Golden Horde lived: Mongols, Turkic (Polovtsy, Volga Bulgars, Bashkirs, Oguzes, Khorezmians, etc.), Slavic, Finno-Ugric (Mordovians, Cheremis, Votyaks, etc.), North Caucasian (Alans, etc.) and other peoples. The bulk of the nomadic population were Kypchaks, who, having lost their own aristocracy and the former tribal division, assimilated-Turkicized [source unspecified 163 days] relatively small [source unspecified 163 days] Mongolian top. Over time, the common name for most of the Turkic peoples of the western wing of the Golden Horde was "tatars".
It is important that for many Turkic peoples the name "Tatars" was only an alien exo-ethnonym and these peoples retained their own self-name. The Turkic population of the eastern wing of the Golden Horde formed the basis of the modern Kazakhs, Karakalpaks and Nogays.
Trade
Ceramics of the Golden Horde in the collection State Historical Museum.
The cities of Sarai-Batu, Sarai-Berke, Uvek, Bulgar, Khadzhi-Tarkhan, Beljamen, Kazan, Dzhuketau, Madzhar, Mokhshi, Azak (Azov), Urgench and others were major centers of mainly caravan trade.
Trading colonies of the Genoese in the Crimea ( Captaincy of Gothia) and at the mouth of the Don were used by the Horde to trade in cloth, fabrics and linen, weapons, women's jewelry, jewelry, precious stones, spices, incense, furs, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain, wood, fish, caviar, olive oil.
The Golden Horde sold slaves and other booty captured by the Horde detachments during military campaigns to Genoese merchants.
From the Crimean trading cities, trade routes began, leading both to southern Europe, and to Central Asia, India and China. Trade routes leading to Central Asia and Iran followed the Volga.
Foreign and domestic trade relations were provided by the issued money of the Golden Horde: silver dirhams and copper pools.
rulers
In the first period, the rulers recognized the supremacy of the great kaan of the Mongol Empire.
- Jochi, son of Genghis Khan, (1224 - 1227)
- Batu (c. 1208 - c. 1255), son of Jochi, (1227 - c. 1255), orlok (jehangir) Yeke Mongol Ulus (1235 -1241)
- Sartak, son of Batu, (1255/1256)
- Ulagchi, son of Batu (or Sartak), (1256 - 1257) under the regency of Borakchin-Khatun, widow of Batu
- Berke, son of Jochi, (1257 - 1266)
- Munke-Timur, son of Tugan, (1266 - 1269)
Khans
- Munke-Timur, (1269-1282)
- There Mengu Khan, (1282 -1287)
- Tula Buga Khan, (1287 -1291)
- Ghiyas ud-Din Tokhtogu Khan, (1291 —1312 )
- Giyas ud-Din Muhammad Uzbek Khan, (1312 —1341 )
- Tinibek Khan, (1341 -1342)
- Jalal ud-Din Mahmud Janibek Khan, (1342 —1357 )
- Berdibek, (1357 -1359)
- Kulpa, (August 1359 - January 1360)
- Muhammad Nauruzbek, (January-June 1360)
- Mahmud Khizr Khan, (June 1360 - August 1361)
- Timur Khodja Khan, (August-September 1361)
- Ordumelik, (September-October 1361)
- Kildibek, (October 1361 - September 1362)
- Murad Khan, (September 1362 - autumn 1364)
- Mir Pulad Khan, (Autumn 1364 - September 1365)
- Aziz Sheikh, (September 1365 -1367)
- Abdullah Khan Ulus Jochi (1367-1368)
- Hassan Khan, (1368 -1369)
- Abdullah Khan (1369 -1370)
- Bulak Khan, (1370 -1372) under the regency of Tulunbek Khanum
- Urus Khan, (1372 -1374)
- Circassian Khan, (1374 - early 1375)
- Bulak Khan, (beginning 1375 - June 1375)
- Urus Khan, (June-July 1375)
- Bulak Khan, (July 1375 - end of 1375)
- Giyas ud-Din Kaganbek Khan(Aibek Khan), (late 1375 -1377)
- Arabshah Muzzaffar(Kary Khan), (1377 -1380)
- Tokhtamysh, (1380 -1395)
- Timur Kutlug Khan, (1395 —1399 )
- Giyas ud-Din Shadibek Khan, (1399 —1408 )
- Pulad Khan, (1407 -1411)
- Timur Khan, (1411 -1412)
- Jalal ad-Din Khan, son of Tokhtamysh, (1412 -1413)
- Kerim Birdi Khan, son of Tokhtamysh, (1413-1414)
- Kepek, (1414)
- Chokre, (1414 -1416)
- Jabbar-Berdi, (1416 -1417)
- Dervish, (1417 -1419)
- Kadyr Birdi Khan, son of Tokhtamysh, (1419)
- Hadji Mohammed, (1419)
- Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1419 —1423 )
- Barak Khan, (1423 -1426)
- Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1426 —1427 )
- Barak Khan, (1427 -1428)
- Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1428 )
- Kichi-Muhammed, Khan of Ulus Jochi (1428)
- Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1428 —1432 )
- Kichi-Mohammed, (1432 -1459)
Beklarbeki
- Kurumishi, son of Horde-Ezhen, beklyarbek (1227-1258) [source not specified 610 days]
- Burundai, beklyarbek (1258 -1261) [source not specified 610 days]
- Nogai, great-grandson of Jochi, beklarbek (?—1299/1300)
- Iksar (Ilbasar), son of Tokhta, beklarbek (1299/1300 - 1309/1310)
- Kutlug-Timur, beklyarbek (c. 1309/1310 - 1321/1322)
- Mamai, beklarbek (1357 -1359), (1363 -1364), (1367 -1369), (1370 -1372), (1377 -1380)
- Edigey, son Mangyt Baltychak-bek, beklarbek (1395 -1419)
- Mansur-biy, son of Yedigey, beklyarbek (1419)
LESSON #6
Golden Horde of the heyday
Golden Horde cities
Most of the cities were located in the agricultural regions of the Middle Volga, Crimea and Khorezm. Some cities, especially Bulgar ones, suffered greatly during the Mongol conquests. But during the reign of Khan Uzbek, they were rebuilt again. A significant part of the cities arose in the steppes, where previously only feather grass made noise. Cities were built at the behest of the khans, who sought to show the power of their uluses.
Of a good hundred Golden Horde cities, three cities were the largest. This Saray, Saray al-Jadid and Crimea(Solkhat). Significantly inferior to them were Kafa (modern Feodosia), Azak (modern Azov).
SARAI-BATU CITY
Barn was the first capital of the Golden Horde. It was a giant city. Almost 75 thousand people lived in it - Mongols, Kipchaks, Alans, Circassians, Russians, Byzantines. It took a whole day to go around it in a circle. Contemporaries considered Saray one of the most beautiful and comfortable cities.
In it, water supply and sewerage were arranged from ceramic pipes. Fountains spouted in the streets, and ditches were laid along the roadsides. From the fountains, residents took drinking water.
Aryk - irrigation canal
The living rooms of rich houses were warm and cozy. Hot air was supplied from the furnace through the chimney channels under the floor. These houses, like palaces, public buildings, were built of brick.
Ordinary citizens did not know such amenities. They lived in houses built of wood or adobe. Slaves even huddled in dugouts.
Raw - not burned and therefore fragile brick
The barn was also known as a craft center. Entire blocks in the city were occupied by potters, metallurgists, and jewelers.
In the middle of the XIV century, Khan Uzbek founded the second capital of the Golden Horde. Saray al-Jadid or New Saray - this was the name of this city. Not far from its remains now stands the city of Volgograd.
Sarai al-Jadid was in no way inferior to Sarai, the former capital of the Golden Horde. Bazaars were also noisy here, dozens of mosques towered, and clean water ran through ditches.
The architecture of the buildings was unique. The walls of the houses of wealthy citizens were laid out with beautiful slabs covered with colored glazes. A floral pattern in the form of large leaves and flowers was applied to the plates. Arched slabs were decorated with inscriptions in Arabic.
Glaze - glossy, reminiscent of glass
alloy used to coat pottery
The city of Crimea was located in the center of the Crimean peninsula. It was the third largest city in terms of population and wealth of the Golden Horde. It rose thanks to the development of international trade during the reign of Khan Uzbek.
RUINS OF SOLKHAT (CRIMEA)
Numerous rich cities testified to the high level of development of the Golden Horde civilization here.
In the middle of the XIII century. as a result of aggressive campaigns on the territory of Eurasia, one of the Mongolian states was formed - Ulus Jochi. It included the steppe spaces of Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, Eastern Europe to the Danube. These areas were called Desht-i-Kshchak (Kypchak steppe). In addition, the state included a number of settled regions with old urban centers: the North Caucasus, Crimea, Moldavia, Volga Bulgaria, Central Asian regions to the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, part of Khorezm. Russia was in a dependent position.
Later, the state of Ulus Jochi became known to the Russians as the Golden Horde. This name is fixed in the historical literature. Initially, it meant "golden tent" (the headquarters of the khan).
In its development, the Golden Horde went through several stages: becoming(1242-1266); heyday(1267-1359); decline(from the 60s to the 80s XlVe.), when the Horde ruled only within the Volga region.
One of notable features Horde from its very foundation is that it was the bearer of two economic systems - nomadic steppe and urban handicraft and trade. This determined the originality of the Golden Horde social system. At the first stage of its existence, the Horde considered areas with a settled population and urban centers as an object of periodic predatory campaigns. Only in the second half of the XIII century. the Mongol aristocracy began to lean towards the policy of patronage of settled lands and cities, contributed to the restoration of the economy and the transformation of the conquered territories into objects of systematic taxation. The change in the policy of the Golden Horde aristocracy was to a certain extent facilitated by the liberation of Ulus Jochi from the power of the head of the Chinggisid Empire - the great kaan. It is noteworthy that it was the Jochid khans in the 1270s. the first of the rulers of the Mongolian states began to mint coins in their own name.
Freed by the end of the thirteenth century. from the highest imperial power, the Golden Horde rulers reduced the payment of tribute to Mongolia; the funds remained in their own treasury. Since that time, the intensive growth of cities began in the main region of the Golden Horde - in the steppe lower reaches of the Volga. If in the middle of the XIII century. the main cities of the Horde were Bolgar, Khorezm (Urgench), Crimean cities, i.e. centers in the outlying settled lands, then in the XIV century. it becomes A barn in the delta of Itil (Volga), practically in the center of the vast possessions of the Ulus Jochi.
On the Lower Volga, where new cities were built, floodplain lowlands, convenient for agriculture, and steppe expanses, for nomads and pastures, favorably combined. Weak population made it possible to develop them faster than the traditional nomadic territory of the Kypchak population. Here, the most important East European trade route - the Volga - crossed with caravan routes from the Black Sea region, Central Asia and Mongolia. The control of the Golden Horde power was established over the trade routes.
Golden Horde cities were set on the places of nomad camps of the khan's headquarters- actually "hordes". Rudiment of the old nomadic life, it was a characteristic element of the Golden Horde social system. The Khan's horde was the main capital, the political center of the Ulus Jochi. Even in the XIV century, when there were many large and rich cities in the Golden Horde, the khan could often be found wandering in the horde. Barn also served as the capital, the political center of the state, but shared it with the horde, while being the main economic, cultural and religious center of the country.
The Golden Horde cities were built primarily as administrative centers - outposts of the khan's power in the conquered territory. Cities arose at the behest of the khans. The heyday of cities fell on the period of strong khan power, and the decline coincided with the time of its weakening. Cities were built in historical fast deadlines. This was facilitated by the fact that the grandiose conquests of the Mongols caused a massive flow of captive slaves. Slaves were used initially as builders of new cities, and later as their population, as forced citizens. Gradually, artisan slaves freed themselves from slavish dependence, turning into feudally dependent people living under the care of their masters, but with their own home. Slave labor was transformed into the labor of the feudally dependent population. The cities of the Golden Horde did not appear as a result of long-term economic development in places of traditional settlement, but appeared “instantly” in areas devoid of long-term habitation. In a short time - second half of the 13th - early 14th century- along the banks of the Volga and its tributaries, from the middle reaches to the delta, a whole chain of Golden Horde settlements grew. Archaeological materials record at least 75 settlements. Most of them have been little studied, so there is no reason to attribute all places with Golden Horde layers to urban centers, but the scope of construction is impressive, especially since in addition to the Volga region, Golden Horde settlements appear in Western Siberia, the North Caucasus, the Don region, the Crimea, the Dnieper region, and Moldova . It is noteworthy that everywhere, even in the old settlement areas, near the pre-Mongol cities, the Golden Horde settlements do not have previous cultural strata. The urban centers in the Lower Volga region were Barn- the capital of the Ulus Jochi (now Selitrennoye settlement, 100 km above Astrakhan on the Volga channel - Akhtuba), New Barn(Tsar's settlement near Volgograd), in which in the 40s. 14th century the capital was moved Vodyanskoye settlement(40 km above Volgograd), uvek(near Saratov), Hadji Tarkhan(Astrakhan), etc.
Golden Horde cities, even capital centers, since their inception have been deprived of defensive fortifications. Only in the 1360s, during the period of unrest and civil strife, a ditch was dug around the cities and a rampart was poured. However, they can hardly be called fortifications in the full sense of the word: there were no structures on the ramparts. Consequently, the Golden Horde cities initially and consciously excluded one of the most important (if not the main) functions - defensive, which was a consequence of the confidence of the khan's power in its strength. The early Horde cities probably consisted of a group of castles-estates, to which were attached the yards of slaves and semi-slaves - builders and artisans driven from the occupied lands. During the heyday of the Horde, individual castles turn into city estates with adjoining quarters of artisans. In these cities, public places appear - mosques and minarets, baths, state craft workshops, mints, etc. Cities and individual estates are being improved, provided with water, sewerage, roads.
residential buildings in the Golden Horde cities clearly demonstrate the social ranking of the inhabitants.
The lowest rung of the social ladder was occupied by slaves and semi-slaves. They lived together in large rectangular or oval dugouts. These dwellings had earthen benches (sufas) along two or three walls and an entrance in the form of a narrow staircase. Heated with braziers. The area of dugouts is 11-32 sq. m.
Cases of rebuilding large dugouts into houses with landscaping elements have been recorded, when chimneys-kans were laid in the sufas, connected to a furnace-firebox, round tandoor ovens were placed for baking cakes, and a toshnau was made - a device for washing.
Such rebuilt or initially comfortable dugouts of a smaller size (9-15 sq. m.) served as dwellings for an individual family of semi-free or poor free citizens. The poor also lived in one-room houses, partially buried in the ground. These houses had wooden walls plastered with clay.
Ground one-room square houses in terms of area from 10 to 50 square meters. m with wooden or brick mud walls could be the dwellings of poor families, servants or dependent people. The buildings were often part of a complex of rich estates. They had all the elements of improvement inside the premises. Sufas had double or triple lines of chimneys. Sometimes several one-room buildings were connected to multi-room houses. This trend led to the fact that later they began to immediately put up multi-room buildings, brick and wood, formed by several interconnected houses, usually with individual entrances.
The dwellings of the Golden Horde aristocracy were large multi-room houses, which often represented real palace complexes. Huge buildings up to 570-580 sq. m were built of wood, raw or burnt bricks. The floor was lined with burnt bricks, sometimes glazed. The stools-sufs of the central hall had multi-channel kans. There was a swimming pool in the center. The walls of the central halls were painted on white plaster and decorated with tiled panels. On the sides of the hall there were residential, storage, utility rooms, there were special children's rooms. Sometimes the house had up to 10 or more rooms. Living quarters were whitewashed, sometimes painted. Special rooms were reserved for toshnau, usually with a brick floor, tandoors, and a home mill. There were patios.
The central entrances were architecturally decorated. Gypsum lattices were inserted into the windows for glazing. The doors were decorated with alabaster ornamented architraves. The roofs of such houses may have been covered
tiles.
A bathhouse, houses for servants and guards, workshops for artisans were set up near the palace. The area of estates reached 10,000 square meters. m, possibly more. Inside the estates there was always a well, sometimes a pool. In front of the palace, sometimes they made open platforms with baked brick walls. In the yards near the houses there were tandoors, open or under canopies. There are utility pits, including grain pits. Gardens were fenced off on large estates. The estates were protected by the walls of houses, blank facades overlooking the street, and adobe fences. In the summer, light tents - yurts - were set up in the yard.
Stationary yurt-like buildings are found in urban areas. Yurts were lined with fragments of burnt bricks (they are preserved). In yurts there are accumulations of coals from open hearths and partially paving of the floor with burnt bricks.
In the cities revealed landscaping elements. Ditches were dug along the city streets - ditches with running water. In the quarters of the ordinary part of the population there were public wells and large quarterly reservoirs were arranged in the squares. Used water was discharged through wooden drainage pipes.
In the development of the Golden Horde cities, an important place was occupied by places of worship and public baths. According to written data, there were 13 cathedral and many other mosques in Saray, which were built in combination with minarets.
public baths consisted of several rooms: an extensive heated dressing room with a adobe floor and a sufa, washing rooms with underfloor heating and water supply through ceramic pipes. Water was diverted through an underground drain. In the rest rooms, the visitor could cool down after washing. Such baths were intended for ordinary citizens. In buildings for the more privileged, they were larger (up to 200 or more square meters) - a fountain was arranged in the dressing room, additional rooms were equipped. In addition to public baths, there were manor baths, their main structural elements are similar.
Funerary buildings- the mausoleums were of different types, single-chamber and two-chamber. They were often decorated, including mosaics. Along with the ground ones there were underground mausoleums.
Golden Horde cities were large craft centers. The forms of organization of handicraft production were varied: individual workshops with a narrow specialization and a small volume of products; manor workshops in which work was carried out for the owner; large-scale industries in which dozens of craftsmen were combined into one manufactory owned by a noble owner; finally, of course, there were state manufactories, such as mints.
The most developed pottery.
Glazed or glazed ceramics is the brightest and most characteristic manifestation of the civilization and culture of the Golden Horde city. Irrigation vessels were made of clay and kapshn (silica mass mixed with glue, which was filled in a special form). In ceramics, the syncretism and multi-component nature inherent in the Golden Horde urban culture were well manifested. The technology of glazed ceramics in the Golden Horde developed under the influence of three powerful currents: Iranian-Central Asian, Byzantine-East Caucasian and Far Eastern.
Forms of glazed ceramics are diverse, but in terms of species they are limited. Most bowls of different options with an annular tray. There are also plates, pot-shaped vessels, one-handled jugs, bottles, lamps, flasks, and inkwells. The specific limitation of glazed dishes is repeatedly compensated by ornamental diversity. The polychrome scale of the painting was provided by applying a green, blue or brown outline of the pattern on a white, less often light turquoise background and coloring the details of the ornament with blue dots and turquoise spots. Ornamentation is extremely diverse, combining plant (most often a lotus flower or shamrock), geometric, less often zoomorphic (waterfowl or winged centaur) elements, supplemented in some cases with ornaments in the form of Arabic script.
Red-clay and less often gray-clay ceramics very diverse: tableware (jugs, plates, bowls, pots, pans, cups), household items (lamps, piggy banks, whistles, toys), containers (amphoras, khum), technical products (pipes, tiles, jugs for lifting wheels ). To decorate red-clay and gray-clay tableware, a stamp, carved, and sometimes molded ornament were used.
Ceramic products. A special type of production of the Golden Horde ceramists is the manufacture of mosaics and majolica, which were widely used in architectural decoration. Mosaics covered the outer surfaces of buildings, panels were made of them, friezes, cornices, etc. were decorated. The basis of the mosaics was formed by carved individual elements of the ornament from ceramic tiles, which were usually covered with opaque glaze - ultraviolet, white, blue, red, yellow. The originality of the Golden Horde mosaics was that the mosaic elements were additionally ornamented with patterns of gold foil on a red base. Majolica - ceramic tiles with a full floral or geometric pattern on the surface.
architectural decor complemented by terracotta elements with stamped ornaments, carved gypsum window grilles, overlays on individual parts of buildings. The Golden Horde architectural decor developed under the influence of Iranian and East Caucasian (Azerbaijani) impulses.
Complex in technology glassmaking It is represented by numerous finds - vessels, jewelry, window glass - and traces of production. A workshop for the manufacture of beads, pendants, rings and bracelets was found in Saray, which indicates local production and narrow specialization of artisans. The forms of glass vessels are varied: bottles, jugs, glasses, goblets, bowls. The window glass was bluish or greenish and looked like flat discs. The products of the Golden Horde glassmakers and the composition of glass find wide analogies in the workshops of different countries, mainly in Central Asia.
The iron-making craft in the Lower Volga cities was not specifically studied, but its products are known from archaeological materials. Blacksmiths of the Golden Horde produced various tools - axes, chisels, adzes, sickles, shovels, saws, anvils, hoes; weapons - swords and sabers, daggers, darts, arrowheads of various types, including Mongolian arrows with a slot ("whistling"); items of horse equipment - arched stirrups, bits, horseshoes; household items - locks and keys to them, armchairs, nails, crutches, staples, etc.
As well as in Volga Bulgaria, in the Golden Horde cities from the XIV century. produced cast iron, from which boilers were made, axle bushings for carts. An iron foundry with 79 nozzle holes was found in Novy Sarai. Such an amount was necessary for a constant supply of air and to achieve the melting point of iron.
In Novy Sarai, two estates were opened carving workshops. The range of products of bone carvers was limited - mainly knife handles, linings, pommel, also rings for pulling bowstrings, bone arrows, piercings, kopoushki, lamellar ornamented linings for quivers and caskets were also produced.
Workshops of artisans working with non-ferrous metals and jewelers who worked with gold and silver have been unearthed in several cities of the Golden Horde. Craftsmen mastered all technological methods - casting, including the "splash" casting method, soldering, stamping, chasing, engraving.
From non-ferrous metals, including silver and gold, made a lot of jewelry (earrings, bracelets, rings and rings), clothing items (buckles, belt plaques, lining and bells), household items (dishes, mirrors, buttons, bronze locks in the form of animal figures, candlesticks and lamps, miniature vessels). The forms of objects (especially jewelry) were varied. They were often ornamented, most often engraved. Magnificent cast bracelets with lion masks at the ends, bronze and gold. In most cases, the outer side of the mirrors was decorated with geometric and floral ornaments; images of animals running in a circle; lion hunting scenes; images of a fox and grapes - the plot of an ancient fable.
Toreutics, along with glazed ceramics, is an area of artistic craft, where the highest skill and degree of culture of the Golden Horde artisans was most clearly manifested. Silver vessels - goblets, bowls, jugs - were covered with the finest engraving. An interesting group of gold and silver vessels with handles in the form of dolphins and dragons, sometimes with rings in their mouths, almost always with a thin wire decoration along the crest.
The Golden Horde cities were created by the khan's authorities on trade routes, which initially turned them into the most important centers of international trade and places of lively internal trade. Khans and aristocrats patronized trade, which brought great income. There were merchant associations with the participation of aristocrats who organized a large caravan trade. State power provided postal communications and road safety.
International trade in the cities of the Golden Horde was largely transit and consumer. Imports were larger than exports. Goods from the east and west, from the north and south flocked to the cities of the Lower Volga region: porcelain and jewelry, glass and metal utensils, jewelry and weapons, silk and brocade, wood, spices and incense. All these goods either went to the needs of the Golden Horde nobility, or were supplied in bulk to other countries, thereby carrying out an extensive medieval exchange of goods. There is evidence of the existence of permanent merchant offices in the Golden Horde cities.
Finds of trade tools are ubiquitous and numerous: scales of the "pharmacy" type and parts from them, steelyards, weight weights. Golden Horde weights - bronze, prismatic six- and octahedral or polyhedral. Cylinders or rosette-shaped thick plates also served as weights. Usually the Golden Horde weights did not have a multiplicity designation.
The intensity of market relations was facilitated by the Golden Horde coinage, organized by the first khans in Bolgar, and later transferred to the cities of the Lower Volga region and other centers of the Horde. The Golden Horde coin was in circulation in many countries and, first of all, in the subject territories.
A large number of coin hoards are known, found both in the settlements and far from them. The latter were probably buried by merchants not far from the route of the road in moments of danger. There are very large treasures - up to 30 thousand silver coins. A huge number of coins, mainly copper ones, are found in the cultural layer of the Golden Horde settlements. In addition to silver and copper coins, rod-shaped “boat-shaped” silver ingots were used in the monetary circulation of the Golden Horde, and gold coins are also found.
Branch of geology for the study of patterns of formation of modern sedimentary rocks.
Paleogeography is a science that studies physical and geographical conditions, their dynamics, the sources (factors) of this dynamics - climate change, tectonic movements - on the Earth's surface in the geological past.
§13. Cities, culture of the Golden Horde
Features of the formation and characteristic features of the Golden Horde culture. The Golden Horde was one of those countries of the medieval world where one of the highest levels of development of civilization, material and spiritual culture was achieved. And this is no coincidence.
The centralized state, which was the Golden Horde, numerous cities, wide trade relations with the outside world created the most favorable conditions for the development of culture. Many Golden Horde rulers sought to attract prominent scientists, theologians, poets, educated people from distant countries to the court, and provided them with patronage. Khans Berke, Uzbek and Dzhanibek were such patrons in the state of the Jochids. Here are some contemporary testimonies. Berke gained respect for himself by "spreading Islam among all his people, began to build mosques and schools in all his possessions, brought scholars and lawyers closer to him and made friends with them." The Uzbek built in Sarai "a madrasah for science, (because) he is very devoted to science and its people." Dzhanibek "showed great respect to scientists and everyone who was distinguished by knowledge, ascetic deeds and piety." In addition, the possibilities of the lands conquered and subordinated to the Golden Horde were used.
The urban culture of the Golden Horde is alloy traditions craftsmen from various countries conquered by the Mongols. It has features of Chinese and Central Asian art, house-building elements borrowed from Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia, the traditions of the crafts of the Crimea, Khorezm and Volga Bulgaria. So, along the Great Silk Road, the main achievements of Chinese civilization easily penetrated the Horde cities. During their excavations, archaeologists find Chinese mirrors, porcelain dishes, bone products with images of birds and dragons, cast-iron cauldrons, Chinese silk, etc.
Country of cities. To date, more than 100 cities of the Golden Horde are known. The largest were Barn, Barn al- Jedid And Crimea (Solkhat).
Some of the cities were located in the settled agricultural regions of the Middle Volga, Crimea, Khorezm. Some of them, especially the Bulgar ones, suffered greatly during the Mongol conquests, but experienced their second birth during the reign of Uzbek. A significant part of the cities arose practically from scratch, in the steppes, at the behest of the Khavs, who sought to demonstrate the power and organization of their uluses.
In the middle of the 13th century, Batu Khan founded the first capital of the state. Barn or Sarai al-Mah-rusa (God-protected Palace). Its majestic ruins (Selitrennoye settlement) are located on the Lower Volga, in the Kharabalinsky district of the Astrakhan region. It was a giant city, the size of which surprised contemporaries. Ibn Battuta, an Arab traveler of the 14th century, visited the city and left the following record about it: “The city of Sarai is one of the most beautiful cities, reaching extraordinary size, on flat ground, crowded with people, with beautiful bazaars and wide streets. One day we went out on horseback with one of its elders, intending to go around it and find out its volume. We lived at one end of the city and left there in the morning, and reached the other end only after noon ... Once we crossed it wide, went and returned in half a day, and all this is a continuous row of houses where there are neither empty places nor gardens . It has 13 mosques for conciliar service ... In addition, there are still an extremely large number of other mosques.” Ibn Battuta did not exaggerate anything. Indeed, the city occupied a vast territory (approximately 10 sq. km) and it took at least a day to bypass it in a circle, including the suburbs.
About 75 thousand people lived in Sarai. Among them were Mongols, Kypchaks, Alans, Circassians, Russians, Byzantines. But in the words of Ibn Battuta, “each nation lives separately in its own area; there is their bazaar.
Against the background of other, especially Western European, medieval cities, Sarai was distinguished by an extremely high level of improvement. Here, water and sewer systems were laid from ceramic pipes. Residents took drinking water from fountains connected to the source with ditches.
Beautiful palaces and public buildings were built of baked bricks, and the houses of ordinary people were built of mud and wood. Living rooms in wealthy houses were heated with hot air from a stove, which was supplied through chimney channels located under the floor. Warm couches stood against the walls. Stone and clay carvings, pottery tiles served as decorations for houses and structures. In one of the rooms, a beautiful swimming pool with running water was made.
There were many rich houses in Saray. Some of them remained almost in their original form until the 16th century, when the Moscow Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich ordered them to be broken and “make the city of Astrakhan”.
The barn was also a major craft center. Entire blocks in the city were occupied by potters, metallurgists, jewelers; there were workshops for the manufacture of glazed dishes and various architectural details. Craftsmen lived in simple houses nearby, slaves huddled in dugouts, whose hands created all this wealth. Their houses were usually not heated; in the cold season they were heated by braziers or bonfires.
Lasted a little over 60 years Barn al- Jadid or Novy Saray (Tsarevskoye settlement south of Volgograd) the second capital of the Golden Horde. The city was founded in the XIV century. Khan Uzbek and destroyed in 1395 by the troops of Timur.
New Sarai was famous for dozens of mosques, noisy bazaars, where one could meet merchants from many near and far countries. In the place of these bazaars, even today you can find dozens, even hundreds of coins scattered right on the ground. Craftsmen worked in numerous workshops. The architecture of the buildings attracted the eye. The walls of the houses of wealthy citizens were lined with clay slabs. These slabs were covered with colored glazes with a floral pattern in the form of large leaves and flowers on climbing stems, as well as Arabic inscriptions in white paints on a blue background. Ditches were arranged along the streets, connected by a network of canals with artificial reservoirs or wells. Groundwater from the structures was diverted by an underground drainage system in the form of pipes made of hollowed tree trunks. Archaeologists have also unearthed numerous ditches along the streets.
The third most important, populous and wealthy city of the Golden Horde was Crimea. It was located in the center of the Crimean peninsula, on the southern coast of which lived Greek, Armenian and Italian merchants, Genoese and Venetians. The transformation of the Crimea (or Solkhat, as the Genoese called it) into a major administrative and economic center of the peninsula is associated precisely with the flourishing of the Genoese trade, which falls on the reign of Uzbek. One of the most beautiful buildings in the Crimea was the madrasah of Uzbek Khan. Next to it was a fountain, where water flowed through ceramic pipes from a spring located on a nearby mountain range.
Among the most famous cities were also Hud- zhitarkhan (modern Astrakhan), Ukek (the remains are located near modern Saratov), Mokhsha (in the Penza region), Madjar (in the Stavropol Territory), ackerman(modern Belgorod-Dnestrovsky) and some others. All of them experienced a rise in the 14th century and practically ceased to exist in the first half of the 15th century.
World of urban culture. The center of this culture was the capital of the Golden Horde. Already under Berke Khan, the barn “became the center of science and a mine of graces, and in a short time a good and healthy share of scientists and celebrities, philologists and artisans, and all kinds of people deserved” (Ibn Arabshah) accumulated in it.
Not only in Saray, but also in other cities of the country, a wide network of various educational institutions was created. Prominent theologians, scientists and writers, including people from famous centers of the Muslim East, taught here. So, in Bolgar for a long time lived major religious figures Hodge Hassan ibn- Omar al- Bulgarians, native of Ganja (Azerbaijan), Abu Mosstar ibn- Mahmoud al- Kazvini, refugee from Iran Gosam ibn- Malik al- Margiani from Ferghana and others.
Many scholars and poets spoke several languages and wrote their works in Turkic, Arabic and Persian. But the written culture developed mainly in the Kypchak language, which is very close to modern Tatar. The official khan's labels, masterpieces of the Golden Horde literature, are written in this language: « Khosrow And Shirin" Kotba (1342), iNakhjel- faradis Mahmud Bulgarians (1358), "Jum- Juma- Sultan" Hisama kyatiba (1369), « Gulistan bit Turks» Saif Sheds (1391).
When writing, the Arabic alphabet was used. The most prominent places of public buildings of the dome, high portals and doors were decorated with beautiful inscriptions in Arabic script, sayings from the Koran, verses of oriental poets. They wrote on paper with metal pens, wrote on dishes, jewelry and household items. Literacy was widespread among the common people.
The heyday of culture in the Golden Horde did not last long. With the crisis of the state that began in the second half of the 14th century, it enters a period of decline. Many representatives of the enlightened part of society are leaving the country. The Middle East is becoming the center of Islamic science and culture.
QuestionsAndtasks
1. Name the largest cities of the Golden Horde. How did they differ from Western European cities, the cities of Russia? 2. What facts indicate that the Golden Horde cities actively participated in international trade? 3. Can you imagine the ethnic composition of the population of the Golden Horde cities? 4. What types of handicraft production were developed in the cities of the Golden Horde? 5. Can it be argued that Saray, Novy Saray, Crimea and other large cities were the cultural centers of the Golden Horde? Justify your answer. 6. What factors contributed to the development of the culture of the Golden Horde? 7. Make up a story about the architecture of the Golden Horde cities. 8. In what language did written culture develop in the Golden Horde? What does this language have to do with the modern Tatar language? 9. Based on what facts do historians claim that literacy was widespread among the common people in the Golden Horde? 10. Name the most outstanding literary works and their authors of the Golden Horde period. 11. Features and achievements, what cultures were represented in the culture of the Golden Horde? Can we say that this culture was synthetic?
