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"Kazan Khanate"

Introduction

The history of the Kazan Khanate is filled with defense from its neighbor, which was accompanied by complex processes within the state: economic relations drew a watershed line in the state organism and divided it into two different slopes. One current tried to adapt to pressure from external enemies and develop forms of joint symbiosis, first - in the form of an alliance, then - in the form of a personal union of two states. The other current tried to resolutely dissociate itself from external enemies and fought for its complete independence, on the conditions of mutual balance between both powers. Such a struggle between two currents was accompanied by the evolution of political thought and the growth of state consciousness; it was rich in bright moments, produced many talented figures and deserves great attention.

The purpose of this essay is to reveal as fully as possible the course of Kazan history of that period, to show relations with the Russian state. Russian historians were interested in the history of the Kazan Khanate only as material for studying the advancement of the Russian tribe to the east. It should be noted that they mainly paid attention to the last moment of the struggle - the conquest of the region, in particular - the victorious siege of Kazan, but ignored the gradual stages that the process of absorption of one state by another took place. The main task of this work is precisely to reveal all stages of the existence of the Kazan Khanate. When writing the abstract, the works of Kazan authors were used as literature sources.

1 . Formation of the Kazan Khanate

The last Golden Horde khan, Ulu-Muhammad, with his family and the remaining army in 1438 came to Belev, a small Russian city of the Kuna Oke - these lands were part of the Golden Horde. Here he thought to spend the winter, but the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II wanted to survive the khan from there and sent a large army against him, which, however, was defeated by the Tatars. A year later, Ulu-Muhammad appeared under the walls of Moscow and, after standing there for 10 days, retreated. In the winter of 1445 he went to Murom, but could not take it and left. In the spring of the same year, the khan sent his army against the Grand Duke under the leadership of his two sons - Makhmutek and Yakub. Vasily II went to meet them again with a large army, but was captured in the battle of Suzdal, and the princes took him to their father in Nizhny.

At the end of August 1445, Ulu-Mukhammed and his sons moved from Nizhny Novgorodak to Kurmysh, a small town in modern western Chuvashia. There Vasily II received freedom from the khan and his eldest son Mahmutek. The name of Ulu-Muhammad is no longer mentioned in the sources after October of the same year. His sudden disappearance is to some extent reflected in the message of the Kazan History that Makhmutek killed his father and younger brother Yakub (or rather, Yusuf). Whether the khan was killed or whether he died a natural death remains a mystery, since there are no reports of this in other sources. But one thing is clear: he left the historical arena, giving way to his eldest son.

The first khan, the initial ruler of the Kazan Khanate was Makhmutek, and no one else. Undoubtedly, before him, Kazan had its own ruler, but he was not a khan, but only a prince, that is, the head of the Kazan principality, centered first in Old and later in New Kazan.

After the seizure of power by Makhmutek, i.e. Juchid, practically the new Horde khan, the status of the Kazan principality also changed. It ceased to be only a principality with local government, but became a separate state led by a khan. It was during this period, i.e. in the 30s and 40s of the 15th century, other Tatar khanates arose, formed after the final collapse of the Golden Horde. However, it is, of course, impossible to erase the name of Ulu-Muhammad from the history of the Kazan Khanate: it is with his arrival in the Middle Volga region that those historical events are connected that predetermined the formation of a new Tatar state - the Kazan Khanate. In addition, he is the founder of the dynasty of Kazan khans, which turned out to be the most stable, and it was she who ruled the state during the period of his power. Finally, in connection with the events described above, it is necessary to draw the attention of students to one significant and fundamental issue.

The same “Kazan History” reports that 3,000 warriors then came with Ulu-Muhammad. This is clearly an underestimate. The army of the Golden Horde Khan, even during the period of the collapse of the state, when many military leaders and part of the army left him, could not have been such a meager number. And the events that took place then, known to us, indicate that Ulu-Muhammad still had considerable forces at his disposal. His army defeated the 40,000-strong army of Vasily II, and with a detachment of 3,000 soldiers it was simply impossible to do this; it was also impossible to besiege Moscow with this army for 10 days just a year later, and in 1445 to once again defeat the Moscow army and capture the Grand Duke himself. Taking all this into account, there is reason to say that the army of Ulu-Muhammad consisted of an incomparably larger number of warriors than indicated in the “Kazan History”. Consequently, together with Ulu-Muhammad, a significant number of the Tatar population came to the Middle Volga region, which played a large role in the final formation of the Kazan Tatar nationality.

2 .Territory and population. The first period of the existence of the Khanate

The Kazan Khanate occupied a fairly large territory in the northern zone of the former Golden Horde. In the east, its borders reached the Ural Mountains and bordered the Siberian Khanate. In the southeast and south there were vast steppes occupied by the Nogai Horde. There were no definite boundaries here, because the steppe was occupied from time to time by one side or another, or was even completely empty. But some conventional line could be drawn in the area of ​​the Samara River. The southernmost borders of the Khanate along the vast banks of the Volga extended down the river almost to the borders of Sary-Tau (Saratov). The most distinct was the western border - the Sura River, beyond which there were already lands that were subordinate to the Russian state. In the north, the possessions of the Kazan Khanate extended at the level of the middle reaches of the Vyatka and Kama and almost bordered the taiga zone.

The territory of the Kazan Khanate briefly described above was its general territory, the territory of the state, occupied, in addition to the Tatars, by other peoples who were subordinate to Kazan. The inclusion of a number of Turkic-speaking and Finno-Ugric peoples into the Kazan Khanate is reported in sources. So, for example, in Russian chronicles, when describing the campaign of the Moscow army against Kazan in 1469, the following episode is given: a prisoner who escaped from Kazan came to the camp of the Russian army stationed on the Volga and reported that “the king of Kazan had gathered in full force against them.” We will find (Ibrahim) with all our land, with Kamskaya and Syplinskaya and Kostyatskaya and Belovolozhskaya and Votyatskaya and Bakshirskaya.” Kama and Belovolozhskaya are lands higher along the Kama and Belaya (Agidel); Researchers identify the Syplinsky land with the current Tsypyinsky land in the north of Tatarstan in the Shoshma River basin; by Kostyatskaya we must mean the lands in the northeast occupied by the Ishtyaks - Turkicized Ugrians; Votyaks used to be called Udmurts, therefore, Votyatskaya land is Udmurt. The chronicler somewhat distortedly called the Bashkir land “Bakshyr”. But more clearly and specifically, completely understandable to the modern reader without any special comments, Andrei Kurbsky, a participant in the capture of Kazan in 1552, one of the governors in the army of Grozny, defined the ethnic composition of the Kazan Khanate: “besides the Tatar language, there are 5 different languages ​​in that kingdom: Mordovian , Chuvash, Cheremis, Voitetsky, or Arsky (Udmurt), fifth Bashkir.” It is not difficult to understand that the peoples who spoke these languages ​​are named here.

The peoples listed above were thus part of the Kazan Khanate. All of them, living in this state, paid him tribute. However, such a responsibility also fell on the main, indigenous population of the Khanate - the Kazan Tatars (we will talk about tribute and other forms of taxes separately).

The Tatars occupied the main, central lands of the Khanate - this is mainly Zakazanie, that is, a fairly vast area north of the Kama between the Volga and Vyatka. A significant part of the Tatar population also lived on the Mountain side - on the right bank of the Volga and in the Sviyaga basin, in its middle and lower reaches. Less populated at that time were the lands east of Vyatka on the Elabuga side and, of course, the steppe Trans-Kama region - there Tatar settlements were located in stripes only along the banks of the Kama, Cheremshan and some small rivers in the northwestern part of the Trans-Kama lowland.

The land of the Kazan Khanate, occupying an extremely convenient and advantageous place at the junction of the two largest rivers of Eastern Europe, the Volga and Kama, was distinguished by its exceptional natural wealth and amazing beauty. The forest-steppe Middle Volga plain alternating with plateaus, and in some places even high-mountain plateaus, high-yielding fields and forests rich in game, villages immersed in greenery in river valleys - all this was very attractive, and it was not for nothing that the foreigners who visited this land admired its beauty and wealth.

Undoubtedly, the Volga Bulgars left a big mark on the ethnocultural formation of the Kazan Tatars, although this word was already used purely traditionally at that time. In Russian chronicles, even by the end of the 14th century, the former Bulgar lands were already called Tatar.

In the Kazan Khanate, mainly in its capital Kazan, representatives of some other peoples lived, for example, Armenians and other Caucasians in the so-called Armenian Settlement, in the area of ​​the famous Cloth Settlement. There were especially many Russians: merchants, various employees at the courts of Moscow ambassadors and governors, armed detachments to protect them. There were more of them during the Russian protectorate in various years of the first half of the 16th century.

Thus, despite the fact that the Kazan Khanate was a multinational state, its main population were Tatars.

3 .Economic life. Economy, craft andtrade

The main territory of the Khanate was inhabited by a sedentary population that inherited farming traditions from the time of the existence of Volga Bulgaria. Fallow farming became widespread in the Khanate. Plowmen on the farm used a wooden plow with a metal ploughshare. Residents of the Khanate grew rye, spelt, barley and oats. Agriculture was the main occupation not only of the Bulgarian population, but also of the Chuvash and Finnish peoples (Cheremis, Votyaks, Mordovians). Agriculture was extensive. Agricultural land tenure was based on inherited property. In the forest zone, in addition to other trades, hunting and beekeeping became widespread. Residents of the forest zone lived in a few fortified settlements. The khan's power there was limited only to the collection of yasak, carried out by local authorities. The estates of the khan and the nobility were located in agricultural regions. In addition to the Tatars and Chuvash, Russian prisoners also worked on the Khan’s farm. As for the commercial economy, its main industries were hunting and fishing. The forests had favorable conditions for the development of beekeeping. Leatherwork played a vital role among the branches of handicraft production.

Another important occupation of the inhabitants of the khanate was trade, which was greatly facilitated by the favorable geographical location of the khanate. The Volga region has been one of the centers of trade exchange since ancient times. The Volga region cities acted as intermediaries in international trade. Foreign trade in the Khanate prevailed over domestic trade. The center of foreign trade was the capital of the Khanate - Kazan. The state had close and strong trade ties with Russia, Persia and Turkestan. The urban population was engaged in the creation of clay products, wood and metal handicrafts, leather, armor, ploughs, and jewelry; there was active trafficking in people from Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia. The slave trade occupied a special place in the Khanate. The objects of this trade were mainly prisoners captured during raids, in particular, women who were sold to the harems of Eastern countries. The main markets were Tashayak Bazaar in Kazan and a fair on a large island on the Volga opposite the Kazan Kremlin, which later received the name Marquis (currently flooded due to the creation of a reservoir). A number of crafts in the Kazan Khanate also depended heavily on the presence of a large number of slaves (mostly Christians). The foreign population of the outskirts was not involved in the exchange of goods, since exclusively subsistence farming dominated in this environment. Residents of the outskirts did not trade, but gave freely in the form of tribute the products they produced or extracted. The Tatar agricultural population, unlike the population of the outskirts, was involved in commodity exchange.

4 .GovernmentAndsocial order

The Kazan Khanate was a medieval feudal state of the eastern type. The head of the state was a khan from the former Jochi dynasty. As in the old Golden Horde times, not a single person, not being a Juchid, had the right to the throne either in the Kazan or in any other Tatar Khanate. It is known that khans, like emperors, kings, kings, and shahs, received the throne by inheritance. Undoubtedly, there were cases of appointment, even election of a monarch, when the dynasty ceased to exist due to the absence of an heir in all branches of this dynasty or when the sovereign died without announcing his successor. There were often cases when a king, czar, or khan was displaced or even killed as a result of a coup d'etat, palace intrigue, struggle of various parties for power, etc.

In Kazan society, the most privileged classes were the nobility and the clergy. The most important persons who were part of the Divan (“Karachi”) and the emirs (ruling princes) had the greatest wealth and influence. In the works of the Crimean historian Seid-Muhammad Riza, these two terms (Karachi and emirs) are identified. Representatives of the Muslim clergy also occupied a privileged position. Emirs, being from the noblest families of the feudal aristocracy, were extremely few in number. Among the Kazan aristocrats, the father's title was passed on only to the eldest son. The remaining groups of the Kazan nobility were beks, murzas and foreign princes. The beks stood one step lower than the emirs in the social structure of Kazan society. The youngest sons of the beks were the Murzas (a contraction from the Arab-Persian “emir-zadem”, literally “prince’s son”). Among the foreign princes, the most powerful positions were occupied by the so-called “Arsky princes.” There were many Chuvash, Vot and Cheremis princes in the Khanate.

A privileged group of people who owned land and were exempt from taxes and duties were called Tarkhans. Representatives of the military class included Oglans and Cossacks. Oglans were commanders of cavalry units and had the right to participate in the kurultai. The Cossacks were simple warriors. Sometimes they are divided into “courtyards” (who served in the capital) and “backyards” (who served in the provinces). A large and well-organized bureaucracy enjoyed a special privileged status.

5 . Culture KAzan xancestry

In the Kazan Khanate, primarily in its capital Kazan, construction and architecture, including monumental, were widely developed. This is confirmed by eyewitness reports, data from scribal books of the mid-16th century, some outstanding architectural monuments preserved on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin, as well as the foundations of the then buildings and some architectural details discovered there during archaeological research. Scribe books from 1563 - 1568 recorded several mosques on the territory of the Kremlin that were preserved from destruction during the conquest of Kazan, among them the above-mentioned Muraleeva and the mosque near the Khan's palace. The existence of monumental mosques not only in the Kremlin, but also in the city itself, in its suburban settlements, for example, in the settlement of Kuraishevo, even in the rural Zakazanye, is evidenced by some data from scribal books and individual drawings of similar structures from a slightly later time. In addition to the Khan's palace and mosques, there were other brick and stone structures, especially on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. Various “chambers”, i.e. palaces, are often mentioned in sources, among them the same Nurali Shirin (“Muraleev Chamber”).

An outstanding monument of religious architecture of the Kazan Khanate, preserved on the territory of the Kremlin of the city of Kazan, is the famous Syuyumbike tower.

These are the Annunciation Cathedral, the Spasskaya Tower and some other objects of the Kremlin (second half of the 16th century), Dryablovsky House (XVII century), Peter and Paul Cathedral (XVIII century). If the Syuyumbike tower had been built in one of these periods, then it would have become known in the same way as the just named monuments. On the territory of the Kazan Kremlin, another monument of Tatar religious architecture has been preserved - this is the building of the former, already mentioned Nurali Mosque (currently it is used as a dining room). For many years after the fall of Kazan, this old mosque served as an artillery warehouse, then it was turned into the Church of the Presentation, and in 1854 it was restored as the Palace Church, then it was significantly changed in its upper half. However, the past Tatar times are evidenced by such striking elements of the national architecture of the facade of the second floor, such as the system and shape of the colonnades between the windows with bevels in the upper part. Archaeological research data show that the architecture of Kazan was enriched with carved ornamentation, wall cladding with mosaic and majolica slabs, as well as patterned bricks and facing slabs with elegant ornaments. A widespread type of craft, brought to the level of art, was stone carving. The art of jewelry, the production of various jewelry from precious metals in combination with gems, i.e., has reached the highest level of development. precious stones.

Writing based on Arabic script became quite widespread in the Kazan Khanate, which appeared in the region in the initial period of the Volga Bulgaria and became the basis for literacy in the Golden Horde. Official foreign policy documents, business papers, labels, as well as epitaphs, letters, and poems were written in Arabic script.

In addition to written literature, oral folk art also developed further. Legends and traditions about the emergence of Old and New Kazan are undoubtedly connected with this period in their origin. Literary scholars attribute to the same time such works of an epic nature as “Alpamysh”, “Chura-Batyr”, “Jik-Mergen”, “Khaneke-Soltan bytes”, etc. During the Kazan period, the heroic epic “Idegei” became widespread.

6. Conquest of the Kazan Khanate

By the end of the 15th century, the Kazan Khanate pursued an aggressive policy towards Russia; it closed the Volga trade route to Russian merchants, carried out constant raids, ravaging settlements and taking Russians captive. By the middle of the 16th century, military operations against the Tatars and the struggle for the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to Russia intensified significantly. But two campaigns in the 1550s were unsuccessful.

The government of Ivan IV the Terrible launched serious preparations for a new campaign - a number of reforms were carried out to strengthen the army, and the Russian fortress of Sviyazhsk was built not far from the Khanate. A large and well-armed army was assembled for the campaign. For Ivan the Terrible and his entourage, the Kazan campaign had not only political, but also religious significance - it was a campaign of the Orthodox people against the infidels.

In the summer of 1552, the Russian army led by Ivan the Terrible set out from Moscow and moved to Kazan. It was a strong fortress of that time, surrounded by high wooden walls with fortifications. On both sides the city was protected by inaccessible rivers, with another deep ditch.

In August the siege of Kazan began, which turned out to be long and difficult. Despite the active resistance of the Tatars, Russian troops were superior in numbers and artillery power. They used battle towers, siege weapons, and mine tunnels. And as a result of the explosion, the spring from which Kazan residents took water was destroyed. And soon an epidemic began in the city. The Tatars made forays and tried to attack the Russian troops, but to no avail.

First, Tsar Ivan the Terrible tried to conduct peace negotiations: he invited the Kazan people to rely on the will of the sovereign, then he would forgive them. But they refused. This was the beginning of energetic preparations for the assault - the fortress’s defenses were blown up, walls, bridges and gates were set on fire, and the cannons fired incessantly.

On October 2, 1552, the troops of Tsar Ivan the Terrible began an assault on the city. As a result of brutal street fighting, the capital of the Kazan Khanate fell. Not a single one of its defenders remained alive in the city, because the king ordered to kill all armed men and take only women and children captive. The fate of Kazan was decided.

On October 11, the Russian army marched back to Moscow, leaving a garrison in Kazan. As a result of this campaign, the Kazan Khanate was liquidated, and the Middle Volga region annexed to Russia. The prerequisites arose for advancement to the Urals and Siberia and the expansion of trade relations with the countries of the Caucasus and the East.

Golden Horde Khanate reign

Conclusion

After the capture of Kazan and before the territorial-state reform of Peter I in 1713, the conquered Kazan Khanate became the so-called. the formally independent Kazan Kingdom with the Russian State, was headed by the Russian Tsar, who received the title “Tsar of Kazan”, and was administratively controlled by the so-called order of the Kazan Palace in Moscow. Also, the created Kazan Archdiocese was immediately designated the third most important in the Russian Orthodox Church. In honor of the conquest of the Kazan Khanate in 1551-1556, the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as St. Basil's Cathedral, was erected in Moscow on Red Square.

The Kazan Khanate was one of the largest states of the Middle Ages, whose possessions were located in Europe and Asia. His military power constantly kept all his neighbors in suspense and was not challenged by anyone for a very long time. Monarchs of even distant countries sought to establish friendly relations with her and support them with all their might. The most enterprising merchants traveled vast distances to get to its capital, which was rightfully known as the largest trading base between East and West. Travelers and trade caravans spread all over the world, true stories and incredible legends about the peoples who inhabited the Kazan Khanate, their unique customs and nomadic life, the wealth and power of the khans who ruled here, countless herds of cattle and endless steppes, where you could not meet anyone for weeks. one person. True and fictional stories about the huge state of nomads continued to exist even after its disappearance.

And today interest in it has not waned, and its history has long been studied in many countries. But until now, in assessing many political and everyday aspects of the life and history of the Kazan Khanate, the most opposing opinions are encountered. And besides, to this day there exists in scientific works and educational literature, and simply in the most common perception of history, a whole series of misconceptions or established stereotypes associated with the Kazan Khanate. This applies to its territory and borders, the name of the state, the presence of cities, the development of culture, the relationship between the concepts of “Mongols” and “Tatars”, some moments of political history, etc. Most of the widespread cliches about the Kazan Khanate arose in the last century, and their existence is associated solely with neglect of the study of this largely unique state.

WITHlist of used literature

1. Tatar Encyclopedia: In 6 volumes - Kazan, Institute of Tatar Encyclopedia of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 2006. - T.3, P.147;

2. Khuzin F.Sh., Gilyazov I.A., Piskarev V.I. etc. “History of Tatarstan”, Kazan, Tarikh, 2001.

3. Essays on the history of the Kazan Khanate Khudyakov M.G. 2004

4.Novodvorsky, V.V. Livonian campaign of Ivan the Terrible. 1570-1582 / V.V.Novodvorsky. - M.: Direct-Media, 2014. - 296 p.

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The question of when and by whom the Kazan Khanate was founded has caused controversy among scientists for many years. Russian historians of past centuries, among them such famous ones as A. Lyzlov, P. I. Rynkov, N. M. Karamzin, wrote that the Kazan Khanate was formed in 1437 by its khan Ulu-Muhammad, expelled from the Golden Horde. At the same time, they were based on messages from the “Kazan History” - a 16th-century work written by a Russian priest who lived in captivity for 20 years in Kazan and was released in 1552 after the conquest of the city by the troops of Ivan the Terrible. So, this author, who, when covering the early history of Kazan, used only oral, not very reliable information, wrote the following: Ulu-Muhammad, expelled from the Horde by his brother Kichi-Mu-hammed in 1437, headed to Kazan, but found it empty after its capture by Russian troops back in 1392, he built the city in a new place and thereby marked the beginning of the formation of a new Horde - the Kazan Horde.

Even in such a small message, there are clearly several annoying errors: Kichi-Muhammad was never the brother of Ulu-Muhammad, they came from two branches of the Juchidrv dynasty. Ulu-Muhammad could not possibly have headed to Kazan in 1437, for he was still the khan of the Golden Horde in 1438, as we saw above from the messages of Josephat Barbaro, who visited the Tatar lands precisely in those times; according to chronicles, Kazan did not cease to exist after the events of the 1390s (then Russian troops took Bulgar, Zhukotin, Kermenchuk and Kazan and, having received a large trophy and many prisoners there, returned home). Archaeological research also indicates that Kazan continued to exist in the same place after these events. Unfortunately, the mistakes of the author of “Kazan History” were repeated, in addition to the historians listed above, by other scientists. This point of view still exists to some extent.

However, back in the middle of the last century, the largest orientalist researcher, Academician V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov, having carefully analyzed the entire available set of historical sources that reported on the historical events of the 30s and 40s of the 15th century, came to a different conclusion. He proved that Ulu-Muhammad, after leaving the center of the Golden Horde with his army to the north, stopped and lived not in Kazan, but in the old part of Nizhny Novgorod; The Kazan Khanate was founded by his eldest son Mahmutek in 1445.

However, everything is in order. The last Golden Horde khan, Ulu-Muhammad, with his family and the remaining army in 1438 came to Belev, a small Russian town on the Oka River - these lands were part of the Golden Horde. Here he thought to spend the winter, but the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II wanted to survive the khan from there and sent a large army against him, which, however, was defeated by the Tatars. A year later, Ulu-Muhammad appeared under the walls of Moscow and, after standing there for 10 days, retreated. In the winter of 1445 he went to Murom, but could not take it and left. In the spring of the same year, the khan sent his army against the Grand Duke under the leadership of his two sons - Makhmutek and Yakub. Vasily II went to meet them again with a large army, but was captured in the battle of Suzdal, and the princes took him to their father in Nizhny.

It should be said that even after the Battle of Belev, Ulu-Muhammad came to Nizhny Novgorod and settled there. Russian chronicles clearly testify to this: “The king went from Belev to Novugorod to Nizhny and settled down Novgorod Nizhnyaya Staraya”; “from Novagorod from Nizhny from Staroye to Murom”; “run back to the Lower Old, you live in it.” As can be seen from these messages, Ulu-Muhammad did not live in Nizhny Novgorod itself, but in the old city. There is an opinion that before the founding of the Russian city in 1221, there used to be a Bulgarian town there. It is likely that the former Golden Horde khan used this former Muslim settlement as a temporary residence.

At the end of August 1445, Ulu-Muhammad and his sons moved from Nizhny Novgorod to Kurmysh, a small town in modern western Chuvashia (“kurmysh” translated from Tatar means strengthening). There Vasily II received freedom from the khan and his eldest son Mahmutek. This is what the sources say. However, other princes could also play a role in this political act, for Vasily the Dark later appreciated their participation in his release from captivity and thanked them.

The name of Ulu-Muhammad is no longer mentioned in the sources after October of the same year. His sudden disappearance is to some extent reflected in the message of the Kazan History that Makhmutek killed his father and younger brother Yakub (or rather, Yusuf). Whether the khan was killed or whether he died a natural death remains a mystery, since there are no reports of this in other sources. But one thing is clear: he left the historical arena, giving way to his eldest son.

There is a series of historical sources that briefly and clearly indicate that Makhmutek actually killed the Kazan prince, took possession of the city and became the first khan (according to Russian chronicles, “tsar”) in Kazan. Let's give the floor to the sources themselves. Resurrection Chronicle: « Toesame autumn(1445 - R.F.) Tsar Mamotyak, Ulu-Magmet’s son, took the city of Kazan, killed the patrimony of the Kazan prince Libey, and sat down to reign in Kazan”; Nikon Chronicle: “And Tsar Mamutyak came from Kurmysh, took Kazan, and killed the Kazan prince Azy, and he himself reigned in Kazan, and from there the kingdom of Kazan began to exist”; Genealogical book (Russian source, which also includes “Genealogy of the Tatar kings”): “Ulu-Makhmet has a son, Mamotyak, the first king in Kazan.” The Collection of Chronicles, compiled in the Tatar language in the city of Kasimov in 1602 - 1605, is largely in tune with these sources: “Ulug-Mukhamed Khan’s son Makhmutek came to the Kazan country.”

These are the sources that clearly indicate that the first khan, the initial ruler of the Kazan Khanate was Makhmutek, and no one else. Undoubtedly, before him, Kazan had its own ruler, but he was not a khan, but only a prince, that is, the head of the Kazan principality, centered first in Old and later in New Kazan.

After the seizure of power by Makhmutek, i.e. Juchid, practically the new Horde khan, the status of the Kazan principality also changed. It ceased to be only a principality with local government, but became a separate state led by a khan. It was during this period, i.e., in the 30s and 40s of the 15th century, that other Tatar khanates arose, formed after the final collapse of the Golden Horde.

It is quite natural for the following question to arise: what to do with Ulu-Muhammad, whom a number of historians considered the first khan of Kazan? As has already been noted, this misunderstanding is mainly due to the mistakes of the compiler of the Kazan History, which gradually became simply a tradition. However, it is of course impossible to erase the name of Ulu-Muhammad from the history of the Kazan Khanate: it is with his arrival in the Middle Volga region that those historical events are connected that predetermined the formation of a new Tatar state - the Kazan Khanate. In addition, he is the founder of the dynasty of Kazan khans, which turned out to be the most stable, and it was she who ruled the state during the period of his power.

Finally, in connection with the events described above, it is necessary to draw the attention of students to one significant and fundamental issue. The same “Kazan History” reports that 3,000 warriors then came with Ulu-Muhammad. This is clearly an underestimate. The army of the Golden Horde Khan, even during the period of the collapse of the state, when many military leaders and part of the army left him, could not have been such a meager number. And the events that took place then, known to us, indicate that Ulu-Muhammad still had considerable forces at his disposal. His army defeated the 40,000-strong army of Vasily II, and with a detachment of 3,000 soldiers it was simply impossible to do this; it was also impossible to besiege Moscow with this army for 10 days just a year later, and in 1445 to once again defeat the Moscow army and capture the Grand Duke himself. Taking all this into account, there is reason to say that the army of Ulu-Muhammad consisted of an incomparably larger number of warriors than indicated in the Kazan History. If he defeated the Russian army of 40,000 soldiers, then we can assume that the Khan’s army was hardly smaller. Thus, the total number of the Tatar population of the Ulu-Muhammad horde could be called at least 200 thousand. To calculate the composition of the population of a state or city, if the number of their warriors is known, this number is multiplied by five, because the family of each warrior (old people, women, children, etc.) consisted of an average of five people. This is customary in historical and ethnographic science.

Consequently, along with Ulu-Muhammad, a significant number of the Tatar population came to the Middle Volga region, which played a large role in the final formation of the Kazan Tatar nationality.

§ 39. Territory and population. The first period of the existence of the Khanate

The Kazan Khanate occupied a fairly large territory in the northern zone of the former Golden Horde. In the east, its borders reached the Ural Mountains and bordered the Siberian Khanate. In the southeast and south there were vast steppes occupied by the Nogai Horde. There were no definite boundaries here, because the steppe was occupied from time to time by one side or another, or was even completely empty. But some conventional line could be drawn in the area of ​​the Samara River. The southernmost borders of the Khanate along the vast banks of the Volga extended down the river almost to the borders of Sary-Tau (Saratov). The most distinct was the western border - the Sura River, beyond which there were already lands that were subordinate to the Russian state. In the north, the possessions of the Kazan Khanate extended at the level of the middle reaches of the Vyatka and Kama and almost bordered the taiga zone.

The territory of the Kazan Khanate briefly described above was its general territory, the territory of the state, occupied, in addition to the Tatars, by other peoples who were subordinate to Kazan. The inclusion of a number of Turkic-speaking and Finno-Ugric peoples into the Kazan Khanate is reported in sources. So, for example, in Russian chronicles, when describing the campaign of the Moscow army against Kazan in 1469, the following episode is given: a prisoner who escaped from Kazan came to the camp of the Russian army stationed on the Volga and reported that “the king of Kazan had gathered in full force against them.” We will find (Ibrahim) with all our land, with Kamskaya and Syplinskaya and Kostyatskaya and Belovolozhskaya and Votyatskaya and Bakshirskaya.” Kama and Belovolozhskaya are lands higher along the Kama and Belaya (Agidel); Researchers identify the Syplinsky land with the current Tsypyinsky land in the north of Tatarstan in the Shoshma River basin; by Kostyatskaya we must mean the lands in the northeast occupied by the Ishtyaks - Turkicized Ugrians; Votyaks used to be called Udmurts, therefore, Votyatskaya land is Udmurt. The chronicler somewhat distortedly called the Bashkir land “Bakshyr”. But more clearly and specifically, completely understandable to the modern reader without any special comments, Andrei Kurbsky, a participant in the capture of Kazan in 1552, one of the governors in the army of Grozny, defined the ethnic composition of the Kazan Khanate: “besides the Tatar language, there are 5 different languages ​​in that kingdom: Mordovian , Chuvash, Cheremis, Voitetsky, or Arsky (Udmurt), fifth Bashkir.” It is not difficult to understand that the peoples who spoke these languages ​​are named here.

The peoples listed above were thus part of the Kazan Khanate. All of them, living in this state, paid him tribute. However, such a responsibility also fell on the main, indigenous population of the Khanate - the Kazan Tatars (we will talk about tribute and other forms of taxes separately).

The Tatars occupied the main, central lands of the Khanate - this is mainly Zakazanie, that is, a fairly vast area north of the Kama between the Volga and Vyatka. A significant part of the Tatar population also lived on the Mountain side - on the right bank of the Volga and in the Sviyaga basin, in its middle and lower reaches. Less populated at that time were the lands east of Vyatka on the Elabuga side and, of course, the steppe Trans-Kama region - there Tatar settlements were located in stripes only along the banks of the Kama, Cheremshan and some small rivers in the northwestern part of the Trans-Kama lowland.

The territory of residence of the main population of the Kazan Khanate is determined by mapping Tatar villages of the 15th - 16th centuries. Information about them was collected by the Kazan historian E.I. Chernyshev on the basis of data from scribal books of the mid-16th and early 17th centuries. According to these data, 700 villages are known, the main part of which corresponds to the location of modern Tatar villages with the same historical names that were recorded more than four centuries ago. So, the predominant number of these monuments, namely 500 points, falls on the Zakazanye region, 150 - on the Mountain Side, the rest are related to the areas east of Vyatka and northern Trans-Kama region. Information about the villages in the scribal books is supplemented by found archaeological monuments: settlements, settlements, sites of various finds, burial grounds, but most of all epigraphic objects, i.e. cemeteries with gravestones.

The land of the Kazan Khanate, occupying an extremely convenient and advantageous place at the junction of the two largest rivers of Eastern Europe, the Volga and Kama, was distinguished by its exceptional natural wealth and amazing beauty. The forest-steppe Middle Volga plain alternating with plateaus, and in some places even high-mountain plateaus, high-yielding fields and forests rich in game, villages immersed in greenery in river valleys - all this was very attractive, and it was not for nothing that the foreigners who visited this land admired its beauty and wealth.

The above-mentioned author of “Kazan History,” although he made mistakes when covering the ancient history of Kazan due to his lack of proper sources, left quite valuable information about that period of Kazan, of which he himself was a contemporary. What he saw with his own eyes and later described in the book is undoubtedly of interest. This is how he described the Kazan land: “The place is deliberately and beautifully velmi(excellent and very decent), and livestock, and bees, and with all kinds of earthly seeds, and abundantly with vegetables, and animals, and fish, and a lot of all kinds of land, as if it is not possible to find another such place throughout the entire Russian land, nowhere like this place with beauty and strength and human pleasure, we do not know (unknown) if (if) there will be food in foreign lands.” And it’s not for nothing that the ideologist of the Russian nobility of the 16th century, Ivan Peresvetov, in his “petitions,” that is, requests, to Ivan the Terrible called the Kazan Khanate “a great land under the heavens,” calling on him to quickly conquer it.

Speaking about the main Tatar population of the Kazan Khanate, which occupied the central lands of this state described above, special attention should be paid to the following. In the first period of the existence of the Khanate, i.e. in the second half of the 15th century, as the name of its people along with the ethnonym “Tatars” (“ethnonym” - the word is Greek and means the self-name of a particular people), the words “Bulgars” and “Besermen” were used in parallel. Undoubtedly, the Volga Bulgars left a big mark on the ethnocultural formation of the Kazan Tatars, although this word was already used purely traditionally at that time. In Russian chronicles, even by the end of the 14th century, the former Bulgar lands were already called Tatar.

“Besermen” is a somewhat distorted chronicle form of “busurman”, i.e. the Russian transcription of “Muslims”, for the Tatars were Muslims. There was a third name - “Kazanians”, which was used by the author of the well-known “Kazan History” in relation to the Tatars; although he called them Tatars, he used the name more for the city of Kazan. This is not surprising, because in antiquity and the Middle Ages the population of a state was often called by the name of the capital of this state (for example, the Romans, Muscovites). It was Muscovites that Western European travelers of the 16th and 17th centuries called Russians.

Despite the alternation of the listed terms, the main name, ethnonym of the Tatar population of Kazan, and other neighboring khanates, was “Tatars”. The word “Tatars” as the name of the population of these states is clearly recorded in Russian historical sources (chronicles, chronicles, scribes, rank and survey books, and other documents); in the notes of Western European travelers and diplomats (Josephate Barbaro and Ambrogio Contarini, 15th century, Sigismund Herberstein, 16th century, Adam Olearius, 17th century); in the surviving shert charters, i.e. sworn charters of some Tatar khans, for example, Kazan, Abdul-Latif, and Crimean, Mengli-Girey; in individual works of oral folk art.

To be fair, it should be noted that in existing Tatar historical narratives and other works of ancient Tatar writing, the word “Muslims” is often used when talking about the Tatars of the Kazan Khanate period and even subsequent times. Undoubtedly, this is not an ethnonym, but a kind of religious term used in contrast to “kafirs” (“infidels”), that is, non-believers, in this case, Orthodox Christians. Therefore, it is quite logical and understandable to replace “Tatar” with “Muslim” in the national literature that was created during the period of forced baptism of the Tatars, and it sounds like a legitimate protest against Christianization in defense of Islam - the Islamic religion and culture. Consequently, the word “Muslims” in Tatar works of the 15th - 18th centuries is not an ethnic name, but is used as respect for Islam, the Islamic religion - the way of life, the way of thinking of the Tatars for several centuries.

In the Kazan Khanate, mainly in its capital Kazan, representatives of some other peoples lived, for example, Armenians and other Caucasians in the so-called Armenian Settlement, in the area of ​​the famous Cloth Settlement. There were especially many Russians: merchants, various employees at the courts of Moscow ambassadors and governors, armed detachments to protect them. There were more of them during the Russian protectorate in various years of the first half of the 16th century.

Thus, despite the fact that the Kazan Khanate was a multinational state, its main population were Tatars.

§ 40. Economic life. Economy, craft and trade

The main type of economic activity of the population of the Kazan Khanate was agriculture. A steam system was used and rye, oats, barley, wheat, spelt, millet, buckwheat, peas, and lentils were sown. Agricultural technology was connected with the previous one, known since Bulgarian times. In the black earth regions of the northern Trans-Kama region, in the Sviyaga basin and in the southern zone of the Trans-Kazan region, a plow-saban, convenient for deep plowing, was used with a characteristic ploughshare, cutter and policemen and with a two-horse team. In more northern regions, on podzolic soils, they used a plow with two iron coulters and a one-horse team. Both ploughshares and ploughshares were discovered during excavations of the Urmat and some other settlements in the Kazaika and Mesha basins, and the Challyn settlement on the right bank of the Kama.

Cattle breeding played a great role in economic life. The valleys of the Volga, Kama and their tributaries, the wide lowlands near Kazan were rich in vast water meadows with lush grass, where large herds of animals grazed - horses, cows, small cattle. Particular importance was attached to horse breeding; The predominant part of the first-class horses went to replenish the Khan’s army.

In addition to fleet-footed horses, other breeds of horses were also bred - saddle horses, driving horses, baggage horses that carried heavy convoys, as well as sled horses, which were successfully used for regular yam (postal) service. Horsemeat was considered a favorite and very healthy food product among the Tatars. Cattle breeders supplied, in addition to horse meat, meat and other animals - lamb, veal and beef: fresh and frozen, dried and smoked.

Vast, often uninhabited forest spaces provided great opportunities for the development of various industries, among which fur harvesting was of great importance. In addition to “expensive coons (martens) and squirrels,” as A. Kurbsky wrote about, they hunted beavers. Sources speak of beaver ruts - places where beavers lived and made their burrows in forest streams; a special permit was issued for them. In addition to the most valuable fur, the beaver also produced the so-called beaver stream.

In the forests there were special berms - natural apiaries with beaded trees that had hollows for a swarm of bees. There they obtained honey, which was used both in natural and processed forms and was even exported to other countries. Considerable importance was also attached to fishing. In the Volga and Kama, valuable varieties of fish were caught, including sturgeon. S. Herberstein wrote about “excellent fish, which include beluga, and which are caught on the Volga on this side and on the other side of Kazan.” During excavations of the Kazan Kremlin, Iski-Kazan and the already mentioned Challyn settlement, sturgeon bones and large fishhooks are often found.

Developed agriculture and natural resources of the region provided great opportunities for the development of various crafts, supplying them with raw materials. Agriculture provided spinning plants (hemp, flax), and cattle breeding and hunting provided wool and furs. The economy then was subsistence, and almost the entire rural population was engaged in spinning, weaving and leather crafts. All main types of good leather were produced: yuft, colored morocco, dense and thick sole leather. Rawhide was also widely used - a durable and irreplaceable material in saddlery for the manufacture of horse harness and military equipment. Sheepskin was produced from the skins of domestic animals, and forestry yielded expensive fur, which was also a valuable export product.

Vast forests were a source of rich material - wood for the construction of houses, defensive fortifications of cities (towers, gates, palisades), mosques, mills, bridges, and other structures; wood was also an indispensable material in shipbuilding. Sources often talk about various vessels: plows, pauzkas, nasads. The first were light ships used to transport people and assist cargo ships in their passage through shallow waters. Among them, plows, for example, are called “greyhound”, i.e., high-speed; There is also information about the “Tsar’s Plane”, which were heavy vessels with a displacement of sometimes up to several hundred tons and were used for transporting large loads - they usually sailed along the Volga between Kazan and Astrakhan, forming large caravans.

In addition to carpentry and joinery, the construction of stone structures - khan's palaces and chambers, “walled”, i.e., brick-and-stone mosques, “golden-domed towers”, became widespread. Information about them is available in Russian chronicles, in the notes of eyewitnesses, and scribal books in Tatar historical narratives. We will talk more specifically about architecture, including monumental architecture, separately, when we talk about the culture of the Kazan Khanate. The existence of artisan masons is proven not only by reports from contemporaries about stone buildings in Kazan, but also by the presence of several religious buildings of the 16th century preserved there, and also the foundations of mosques, mausoleums, and dwellings revealed during excavations. Block stone, brick, cement, and ornamented gypsum were used in construction.

Stone carving was very widely developed in the Kazan Khanate, both in the city and in the countryside, which was expressed, in addition to construction and architecture, in the production of large gravestones. Pottery production was even more widespread and widespread: the production of simple and artistic ceramics, which in shape and ornamentation resembles pottery of the 13th - 14th centuries, common in the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria, but more so in the lower Volga, in the Golden Horde cities themselves. Naturally, ceramics from the period of the Kazan Khanate also have some of their own characteristics.

Blacksmithing and weaponry were especially highlighted, because in general it is impossible to imagine the existence of an entire state without weapons, without tools of labor, both agricultural and industrial, without the production of appropriate tools for the manufacture of these tools, and in general without metalworking, both ferrous and non-ferrous. We must again mention archaeological finds: a wide variety of tools and weapons, numerous household items, blacksmith tools, including hammers, chisels, punches, blacksmith tongs, etc. During excavations, crucibles are often found, i.e. vessels made from refractory material for melting iron and other metals, not to mention the mass of iron slags and slags.

Various jewelry was made from precious and semi-precious metals. Craft centers for the production of jewelry were not only cities, but also individual villages in Zakazanye, which continued this tradition for a long time even after the conquest of Kazan. Undoubtedly, in addition to home production based on a natural form of farming, there were real artisans, even craft associations in cities, whose products, especially jewelry and leather, among the latter the famous Kazan Ichigi, occupied a worthy place in the foreign market.

The Kazan Khanate had large international transit trade with a number of countries in Western and Eastern Eurasia. Even in the very initial period of the existence of this state, its capital Kazan established close trade and economic relations with several then well-known centers of the world market. Josephat Barbaro wrote (we remind you: this is the 40s - 50s of the 15th century): “This is a trading city; From there they export a huge amount of furs, which go to Moscow, Poland, Persia and Flanders.”

Flanders- a county in the main lands of the modern Netherlands (Holland), Belgium and northern France; one of the most economically developed medieval states, famous for its large international trade and navigation.

Barbaro writes that Kazan receives these furs from the northern peoples who were subordinate to the Tatars, as well as from the regions of the “Dzagatais” (Burtas?) and from Mordovia. In general, there is a long tradition of very profitable transit trade, the famous centers of which in the Volga region at different times were Itil, Bulgar, and Sarai. The most important trade routes connected in Kazan; here on the Volga, at Gostiny Dvor, every year in the middle of summer the largest international fair was held (“gostiny” means trade fair here).

In order to deprive the Tatars of important trading positions, in 1523 Vasily III forbade Russian merchants from going to this Kazan fair and founded a new one near Nizhny Novgorod, which later received the name Makaryevskaya. However, as S. Herberstein reports, Muscovy itself felt great disadvantages from such a transfer. "For,- he writes, - the consequence of this was the high cost and shortage of many goods that were brought along the Volga from the Caspian Sea, from the Astrakhan market, as well as from Persia and Armenia.”

So, the geography of international trade of the Kazan Khanate was quite extensive - from Flanders in the west to Persia in the east. In between them are Rus', and the peoples of the North, and the immediate neighbors of Kazan, and other Tatar khanates and principalities. The range of goods in this exchange was also rich: silk fabrics, Damascus steel, books, grapes, raisins, wine, oriental spices, and other overseas goods came from the east and south; from Rus' and from Western countries - cloth, paper, some types of weapons, individual household items, including needles and mirrors; the latter, perhaps, are already glass - Italian. From the Finno-Ugric peoples of the North, as well as from the Siberian Khanate, came expensive furs: sable, silver fox, ermine, arctic fox (certain varieties of furs, including beaver and mustelids, as mentioned above, Kazan - the Tatars produced at home). Some good horses and some types of small cattle came from the Nogai Horde and from the Bashkirs; From Astrakhan they received salt, expensive fish and caviar, and watermelons.

The actual Tatar goods were: honey, bread, Kazan fish, jewelry, blacksmithing, and pottery, expensive leather (yuft, morocco) and leather goods, among them elegant women's boots; Construction timber and other raw materials were also exported. In addition to international trade, there was, naturally, domestic trade. In Kazan, other cities, in the centers of darugs and large villages, throughout the year on Fridays there was a brisk trade in a wide variety of goods - livestock, meat, grain, honey, wax, oil, raw and tanned leather and everything that is needed in the household farmers, cattle breeders and artisans: sleighs and carts, plows and plows, clamps and arches, shovels and pitchforks, saws and axes, sickles and scythes, cauldrons and buckets... Here in a separate shop there is jewelry displayed: bracelets, rings, earrings, braids , necklaces; and there are embroidered velvet skullcaps and caps, patterned ichigs, soft duvets, the famous Kazan towels. A little further away are the shops of coopers, potters, tinsmiths...

Money played a big role in both foreign and domestic trade. The Kazan Khanate did not mint its own coins (the reasons for this have not yet been clarified); former Golden Horde dirhems from the 20s - 30s of the 15th century were in circulation there.

§ 41. Government and social system

The Kazan Khanate was a medieval feudal state of the eastern type. The head of the state was a khan from the former Jochi dynasty. As in the old Golden Horde times, not a single person, not being a Juchid, had the right to the throne either in the Kazan or in any other Tatar Khanate. It is known that khans, like emperors, kings, kings, and shahs, received the throne by inheritance. Undoubtedly, there were cases of appointment, even election of a monarch, when the dynasty ceased to exist due to the absence of an heir in all branches of this dynasty or when the sovereign died without announcing his successor. There were often cases when a king, tsar, or khan was displaced or even killed as a result of a coup d'etat, palace intrigue, the struggle of various parties for power, etc. Or they were simply removed through the intervention of a foreign state in the internal affairs of this country when it was depending on that state. This often happened with the Kazan khans during the periods of Moscow’s political protectorate over Kazan at the end of the 15th century and in various years of the first half of the 16th century. We will look at such cases separately when we turn to the political history of the Kazan Khanate.

Under the Kazan, as under any other Tatar khan, there was a divan, that is, a state council from the famous Karacha-biys of the Golden Horde families Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak, from representatives of the feudal nobility and major military leaders, as well as the highest clergy. Among the Karachi, the ulu (big) Karacha stood out - this is how Bulat Shirin, “the Kazan big Karacha” and his son Nurali Shirin are named in Russian chronicles. The feudal elite was represented by ulus emirs and beks; they were also the leaders of military formations in wartime. The implementation of public policy both within the country and abroad largely depended on them. Among the highest clergy, a special place was occupied by the seid - the head of all Muslims of Kazan and the Kazan land. If we take into account that in the Kazan Khanate Islam was the state religion, then the role of the seid in the political and ideological life of the Tatars was enormous. And it is not for nothing that in the sources he is called the second person after the khan: even the khan, seeing the approach of the seid, got off his horse and, standing, extended his hand to him when he remained seated on the horse. Kazan seids were considered the descendants of the prophet Muhammad from his daughter Fatima and the first caliph Ali.

The Khan's administration consisted of a fairly large number of members of the administrative apparatus and servants. There were various ranks at the court of the khans, among which were the custodians: finance, seal, keys, the khan's court, and the arsenal. There were high positions of the organizer of the khan's hunt, and atalyk - the educator of the khan's children. There were a number of officials in the administration office of the Khanate, among whom sources especially note those who performed responsible work in the field of external relations.

In addition to the leaders and servants of the central apparatus, there were a number of other positions that were responsible for one or another area of ​​​​the political and economic management of the Khanate. These are hakims and qadis, that is, judges who decide cases on the basis of Muslim legislation; ship, police, customs officials, officials at outposts, envoys, various authorized representatives. These positions are named in the label of Khan Sahib-Girey in 1523 - many of them are almost identical to those that we already know from the labels of the Golden Horde khans Timur-Kutluk and Tokhtamysh.

In the label of Khan Sahib-Girey, 13 types of duties are named, among which yasak, kalan, salyg go back to the period of the Golden Horde, and the general Muslim tax kharaj has been known in the Volga region even since the time of the Volga Bulgaria. Some forms of taxes and duties disappeared, but new ones appeared: village and land taxes, food and fodder for visiting officials, and a tax on the number of houses.

Administratively, the Khanate was divided into darugs (Russian form of “road”) - small uluses-regions that could be compared with later counties. The Alat, Arsk, Garech (“Galician” in the chronicles), Zureyskaya, Nogai darugs are known, the centers of which were the cities of Alat, Arsk, Chelny (Tyaberdino-Chelny) and others.

It was noted above that the Kazan Khanate was a typical feudal state. This was expressed primarily in the presence there of those attributes that were inherent in medieval feudalism as a whole, primarily in the types of land ownership. There were three such types. The first is land ownership by individuals, that is, large feudal lords, who were called emirs or beks (“biy”). The second type of land ownership in the Kazan Khanate is land ownership by the highest clergy. Finally, the third type is state land ownership: the state itself owned large, inviolable land and forest lands, the income from which went directly to the state treasury.

Large feudal lords were representatives of the highest genealogy of the nobility, owners of hereditary lands. As in the Golden Horde times, in case of war they became the military leaders of their ulus army, that is, the troops of a separate daruga, and by order of the khan they had to appear with this army in full armor. Slightly lower in rank, but the most numerous, the main group of feudal lords were the Murzas (“Murza” literally means son of the emir or bek). It must be assumed that the most influential of them also had the right to hereditary ownership of land.

A similar form of land ownership in the Kazan Khanate was the soyurgal. We first encountered this Mongolian word, which meant the military right to dispose of land, in the chapter on the history of the Golden Horde. Here it is necessary to clarify that "flax" - this word is German and meant such land ownership, which was given by the head of state to his feudal vassal for performing military and administrative service.

And this form of award, which the feudal lord received with the right of inheritance for performing military service in favor of the state, determined the entire system of land tenure among the Kazan, and other Tatars. The legal right to land is recorded in the already mentioned yarlyk of Sahib-Girey, and it is repeated three times in the yarlyk of another Kazan khan - Ibrahim. Moreover, the latter begins with the appeal: “Ibrahim Khan is our soyurgal word,” which shows how great the importance of the soyurgal was in the entire feudal system and social system of the Kazan Khanate. The owner of the soyurgal not only used it for life and passed it on by inheritance, but this grant gave the feudal lord enormous privileges: no taxes were levied on him. Moreover, the soyurgal granted him the right of judicial-administrative immunity, i.e., civil immunity. Even the rent, which previously went to the state treasury, was collected by the holder of the soyurgal for his own benefit.

We must keep in mind that such unprecedented privileges were given to the feudal lord only when he undertook to perform military or other important service in favor of his state. If he forgot this sacred duty in the future, then he was deprived of the rights he had received, that is, his soyurgal was taken away from him with all the ensuing consequences.

Dear guys! So that you don’t have any ambiguities, let’s clarify one more point. Soyurgal law is actually tarkhan law in the broad sense of the word, for soyurgal itself was formed from tarkhan awards. “Tarkhan” generally meant the land and property of the feudal lord in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Golden Horde, and later in the Kazan and other Tatar khanates. Therefore, the labels of the Golden Horde, Kazan and Crimean khans are mainly called tarkhan, because they gave tarkhan right, that is, a grant from the state for the full right to use land and property. In other words, the concept of “Tarkhan” is broader than the concept of “soyurgal” - the latter meant the specific, military-feudal right of Tarkhan.

A step below the Murza stood the oglan (lancer). If in the era of the Golden Horde an oglan was called a khanzade prince, then during the period of the Kazan Khanate its meaning narrowed somewhat - this is how they now began to call serving feudal military leaders; this is a type of “children of boyars” in the Russian state in the 15th - 17th centuries. We already know that in the Middle Ages there were no standing regular armies in the modern concept - they were mainly militias that gathered in full force in the event of large campaigns and wars. However, there were still some permanent units in the form of khan's and prince's squads or a military garrison, around which the entire army of the country later gathered. It was in such units that the oglans served for a certain period of time. After serving this period, the Oghlans returned to their home and received their well-deserved land.

Finally, at the lowest level of the feudal hierarchy were the Cossacks. They formed the main core of the Khan's army in wartime and were divided into internal and external. The Cossacks occupied an intermediate position between the feudal Tarkhans and the bulk of the peasants. However, they constituted a very significant force on which the ruling elite relied when solving important state affairs. The Cossacks also received land for their service in favor of the khan, that is, the state.

Ordinary people in the Kazan Khanate bore the usual name “keshelar” (people); in another way they were also called “kul” (hand), which meant a farmer, apparently dependent on the tarkhan. However, this dependence cannot be understood in the classical sense - in the sense of serfdom of peasants in the West and in Rus'. There are no documents indicating serfdom in the Kazan or other Tatar Khanate, and even earlier in the Golden Horde. It is noteworthy that after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, as a result of the Russian colonization of the region and the settlement of Russian landowners with their serfs there, the Tatars, with rare exceptions, did not become such - they were made mainly state peasants. This suggests that the Tatar world was not characterized by serfdom. Here, obviously, there were other forms of subordination and dependence, that is, not political-coercive, but economic. The exception was prisoners of war, who were called “chura” (the origin and meaning of this word has not yet been clarified).

§ 42. Military affairs and weapons

Talking about the army and weapons of the Golden Horde, we have already highlighted some general issues of organizing military affairs in medieval states, primarily in the Ulus of Jochi. The entire system of government and social system of the Golden Horde formed the basis for the same aspects of the life of subsequent Tatar khanates. The same can be said about the development of military affairs and weapons of the Kazan Khanate. Therefore, there is no need to repeat ourselves on such issues as troop structure, military discipline, formation and support of military formations, etc.

Undoubtedly, the military affairs of the Kazan Khanate were not a complete repetition of those of the Golden Horde. It incorporated a number of important elements of the military art of Volga Bulgaria and other early medieval associations of the Middle Volga region. This is expressed in the considerable similarity of fortifications and, in general, the defensive architecture of Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate. True, the Tatar cities differed from the Bulgar ones in their significant openness. This means that only political centers, i.e., the kremlins of the cities of the Kazan Khanate (except for Kazan itself in the late period), were surrounded by defensive fortifications, and their main territories, i.e., suburbs, remained open, without walls.

It should be said that the system of defensive fortifications of cities, feudal castles and military fortresses of the Eastern European northern zone, i.e. Volga Bulgaria, the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate, was of the same type. This was justified by military requirements based on the same natural conditions and landscape, as well as the main building material of this Central European zone - wood.

Let's mentally imagine these ancient fortifications. Here is the city, or rather its Kremlin, surrounded by two rows of earthen ramparts and a ditch between them; along the internal shaft passes

dit tyn in the form of a two-row wide wall made of thick logs laid on top of each other; Between the two walls, small stones, broken bricks, baked clay and sand are poured for strength. On the convolutions of the ramparts, at an arrow's distance from each other, there are fortress towers made of the same logs, and at the entrance to the city, at the cross section of the ramparts, there are powerful fortress gates, guarded by armed guards. Guards also stand on the towers and in the openings of the walls, vigilantly observing the surroundings through the archers, i.e., windows in the walls. Along the second, outer shaft there is a palisade of log pegs, pointed and driven into the ground, point up, close to each other. The building material of this entire structure was oak, in rare cases it was replaced by pine.

This, in general, was the defense of the medieval cities of the Middle Volga region, including later ones located in Zakazane-Iski-Kazan, Arsk, and the mentioned town of Chelny. The remains of their fortifications in the form of earthen ramparts and ditches without wooden structures that have survived to this day have been partially studied archaeologically.

There is no doubt that the defensive system of Kazan itself was the same. Although the fortifications of the Tatar period were finally destroyed as a result of the conquest of the city in 1552, information from historical sources eloquently testifies to this. “The city is Kazan,- wrote the author of “Kazan History”, - very strong, velmi, and stands in a high place, between the two rivers of Kazan and Bulak, and is fenced(fenced, surrounded) in 7 walls, in large and thick oak trees; in the walls there is cartilage strewn inside(coarse sand mixed with small pebbles) and sand and small stones.” And the chronicles themselves often talk about Kazan fortifications of almost the same nature. “Bound within 7 walls” cannot be understood in the sense of a seven-fold wall, but must be imagined as wall openings between the largest gate towers.

The fortifications of Kazan were especially strong where the approach to the city remained most open. For example, from the side of the Arsky field, along which it was possible to approach Kazan with a wide front, the thickness of the wall was 7 fathoms (14.91 m; in other places it was 4 fathoms, i.e. 8.52 m); the ditch behind the wall was also 7 fathoms deep and 3 fathoms wide, i.e. 6.39 m.

In general, the powerful oak city wall with heavy gates and high towers was evidence of the high level of military engineering among the Tatars in the 15th-16th centuries. It was impossible to take this defense with a regular attack, and the commanders of Ivan the Terrible had to spend a huge amount of gunpowder to explode it. Then, after the fall of Kazan, the same Grozny was amazed at the power of these fortifications: “looking at the wall heights and attack places and seeing, he was surprised at the extraordinary beauty of the walls of the city fortress.” A powerful wall, especially from the side of the Arsk field and along Bulak, from where the main attacks were actually made and the strongest explosions were carried out, was built back in 1530 by order of Khan Safa-Girey.

Other cities also had strong fortifications. Here is a brief description of Arsk, where a large Russian army marched in September 1552 before the assault on Kazan: “That old fort, by the call of Aresk, was built like a solid city, with towers and battlements, and many people live in it, and they travel around.” It goes on to say how the Russian governor, seeing the impossibility of taking the city by a simple attack (in addition to strong defenses and a large crowd of people, there were another 15,000 soldiers there), ordered it to be shelled from cannons and arquebuses. Only after such “artillery preparation” was it possible to take Arsk.

When marching to Zakazanye, the Russian regiments came across other Tatar fortifications. The Russian chronicler, talking about this, was forced to note that “they have built great fortresses.” Ivan the Terrible, in his speech at the Holy Cathedral in Moscow on the occasion of the capture of Kazan, said that he stationed many of his governors in Tatar cities and lands. How many such cities there were is not reported, but such a statement by the tsar is, as it were, concretized in the “Kazan History”: it states that Russian troops took “in ten days 30 great and small forts.” Only a small part of the settlements have survived, which are the remains of these cities and fortresses - they are named above. The rest were destroyed to prevent the Tatars from defending themselves in them in the future; Subsequently, these settlements were completely built up or plowed up.

It is necessary to say a few words about the number of troops of the Kazan Khanate. In accounts of the Kazan War of 1552, Russian chronicles indicate 30,000 men as the main military force of the Tatars inside Kazan (the same number of militias under the leadership of Yaush and Yapanch princes were stationed east of the city). S. Herberstein also wrote about the 30 thousand zoins that the Kazan Khan had at his disposal - this, naturally, (before the campaigns of Ivan the Terrible (there is no information on this in Tatar sources).

This number then became firmly established in Russian and historical science in general. However, such a number of Tatar warriors raises suspicion in a more objective assessment of the situation at that time. We already know that the troops of the Crimean Khanate and the Nogai Horde each had 300,000 people. Could the Kazan Khanate, one of the largest and strongest associations, have had the size of its army 10 times less than other Tatar states of that time? There can only be one answer - no! It is also necessary to take into account that this army included warriors from other peoples who were part of the Kazan Khanate. In any case, the sources speak quite definitely about the Mari (“Cheremis”) and the Chuvash as skilled shooters.

And one more thing. In 1506, the Kazan army under the leadership of Khan Muhammad-Amin completely defeated the army of Vasily III of 100,000 soldiers. The same Grand Duke in 1524 sent an army of 180,000 to Kazan, which returned in disgrace, having encountered strong resistance from the Tatars. Could all this be done with only thirty thousand warriors? Definitely not!

We believe that 30,000 is only the size of the Kazan garrison, and not the entire militia army of the Khanate. The new Kazan khan Ediger did not have time, and was not able, to assemble such an army during this most difficult period: after the emergence of the Russian fortress on Sviyag, the entire Mountain Side fell away, and Zakazanie, shortly before the fall of Kazan, was completely conquered, therefore, the capital found itself surrounded. In their time, Ibrahim, Muhammad-Amin and Safa-Girey khans were able to gather an army from the entire Kazan land, and it repulsed the Russian campaign against Kazan in 1469, 1506, 1524, 1530, 1545.

The courage and valor of the Tatar warriors was not inferior to the military skill of their enemies. Russian sources themselves, interested in promoting the greatness of Russian weapons and the Russian spirit, were forced to note the fearlessness of the Tatars in battles with the troops of the Moscow Grand Dukes. This is especially clear from their description of the above-mentioned events of 1506, 1524 and 1530, as well as earlier times, for example, the period of the reign of Ibrahim Khan. The Tatar military leaders were not devoid of military talents both in attacking battles and in other military maneuvers, using various tricks and tricks.

To better imagine the courage of the Tatar warrior of those times, we present one interesting message from S. Gerberstein:

“Great dissimilarity and diversity exists among men, both in other matters and in the conduct of war. It is the Muscovite who takes flight as quickly as possible, without thinking about any salvation other than the one he can get in flight; overtaken or caught by the enemy, he neither defends himself nor asks for forgiveness.

A Tatar, thrown from a horse, deprived of any weapons, and, moreover, very seriously wounded, usually defends himself with his hands, feet, teeth, in general for as long as he can.”

The armament of the Tatar army also met the requirements of the era. The main types of weapons were: arrows and spears, sabers and axes, maces and poles, shields, helmets and chain mail. Most types of these weapons were discovered archaeologically during excavations of the above-mentioned settlements or in the form of random finds on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin; Among the latter, the chain mail, helmet and gilded iron shield of the Kazan military leader and a separate saber are of particular value. Information about the types of weapons from both the period of the Golden Horde and the time of the Kazan Khanate also contains works of Tatar folklore and Russian sources.

Russian, Western European and Tatar historical sources also speak of the presence of firearms among Kazan residents - cannons and arquebuses. In Russian and Soviet historical literature it was customary to write that in the Kazan Khanate there were no

there were similar weapons, and even if there were, the Tatars themselves did not know how to use them. This is not true at all! Firearms first appeared in Eastern Europe precisely in the Middle Volga region, in the city of Bulgar in the 70s of the 14th century. We have already spoken above about the Iski-Kazan finds, which also testify to such weapons.

However, why didn’t the Tatar cannons thunder in the tragic year of 1552? Firstly, the supply of Kazan gunpowder was taken to Moscow by the Russian Prince Serebryany during the capture of Syuyumbike just a year ago (see more about this below). Secondly, the gunpowder accumulated after this destroyed Shah Ali on the instructions of Ivan the Terrible, when this traitor khan left Kazan in February 1552. He poured tin into the muzzles of Kazan cannons, and eliminated the firepower of Kazan, fulfilling the will of his Moscow master.

The Kazan army also had military vessels in service. However, the whole state, through whose territory the largest rivers in Europe, the Volga and Kama, flowed, cannot be imagined without a military flotilla. And historical information indicates that the Tatars have military courts. Back in 1467, when Kasim Khan, with the support of a large Russian force, launched a campaign against Kazan, they were met on the other side of the Volga near the mouth of the Sviyaga by the Kazan Khan Ibrahim with a large army that arrived there on ships. The chronicles say so: “the Kazan Tatars came against them (the Russians and Kasim) in ships, and climbed out of the ships ashore”; “Tatarovs left the courts”; “The Tatars left Kazan in many ships,” etc. And two years later, a military flotilla of the Tatars defeated a large army of Ustyuzhans near Kazan, which arrived on ships along the Vyatka and Kama. The Russians escaped with difficulty: according to Russian chronicles, they, jumping from one ship to another, went ashore and ran away.

In general, Tatar military vessels took part in almost all subsequent battles when repelling the campaigns of Russian troops. So why, given a fairly high level of defensive architecture, the significance of the army, the leadership abilities of military leaders, good armament, including firearms, and the presence of military courts, the Tatars were ultimately defeated, and the Kazan Khanate ceased to exist? We have already partially answered this question; we will talk about the rest later, when assessing the dramatic events of the mid-16th century.

§ 43. Culture of the Kazan Khanate

In the Kazan Khanate, primarily in its capital Kazan, construction and architecture, including monumental, were widely developed. This is confirmed by eyewitness reports, data from scribal books of the mid-16th century, some outstanding architectural monuments preserved on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin, as well as the foundations of the then buildings and some architectural details discovered there during archaeological research.

A. Kurbsky wrote about the Khan’s palace that it was “extremely strong, between the stone chambers and mosques.” The famous Tatar architectural historian, doctor of art history F. X. Valeev believed that it was a two-story building with an arcade-gallery, that is, a long balcony on columns, and was similar to similar buildings in Crimea and Turkey of that time. Kurbsky’s words about “very high” “walled” mosques, that is, stone mosques with very high minarets, where, as he reports, their deceased “kings” - khans - were buried are well known. And the author of “Kazan History”, describing the interior decoration of the Muraleeva Mosque, which belonged to the above-mentioned famous Karacha-biy Nurali Shirin, noted that “on the royal tombs the covers are precious, set with pearls and precious stones.”

Scribe books from 1563 - 1568 recorded several mosques on the territory of the Kremlin that were preserved from destruction during the conquest of Kazan, among them the above-mentioned Muraleeva and the mosque near the Khan's palace. The latter, apparently, was the Cathedral Mosque - this is the eight-minaret mosque, the existence of which was written by the largest Tatar historian of the last century, Sh. Marjani, based on some national sources known to him. The famous Kazan historian M. G. Khudyakov made a completely reasonable assumption that this mosque served as a prototype for the Moscow St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, built in 1555 - 1560 in honor of the capture of Kazan. The ninth, central dome of this temple, towering above the other eight, personified the victory of the cross over the crescent - the Russians over the Tatars in 1552. Information has been preserved that those eight domes removed from the Kazan Cathedral Mosque were then brought to Moscow on twelve carts.

The existence of monumental mosques not only in the Kremlin, but also in the city itself, in its suburban settlements, for example, in the settlement of Kuraishevo, even in the rural Zakazanye, is evidenced by some data from scribal books and individual drawings of similar structures from a slightly later time. In addition to the Khan's palace and mosques, there were other brick and stone structures, especially on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. Various “chambers”, i.e. palaces, are often mentioned in sources, among them the same Nurali Shirin (“Muraleev Chamber”).

An outstanding monument of religious architecture of the Kazan Khanate, preserved on the territory of the Kremlin of the city of Kazan, is the famous Syuyumbike tower. There was a lot of debate among historians, architects, and representatives of public circles about the time of construction, cultural affiliation and the purpose of this legendary tower, in other words, when, by whom and for what purpose it was built. It goes without saying that the scope of a small section of a school textbook does not allow us to cover all these problems in their entirety. We are forced to draw students’ attention only to the following.

There are no Tatar or Russian documents or other materials indicating the construction of the Syuyumbike tower in one period or another. There are no Tatar ones because the archive of the Kazan Khanate, where such data could have been, was taken to Moscow and its further fate is still unknown. Russian sources are silent about the construction of this tower already in the so-called Russian period, i.e. in the second half of the 16th - 18th centuries, although the emergence of a number of the largest Russian monuments of this time is known for sure. These are the Annunciation Cathedral, the Spasskaya Tower and some other objects of the Kremlin (second half of the 16th century), the Dryablovsky House (17th century), and the Peter and Paul Cathedral (18th century). If the Syuyumbike tower had been built in one of these periods, then it would have become known in the same way as the just named monuments. In addition, the construction of such a large structure, the tallest in Kazan, like this tower, would certainly have caused a resonance in the public opinion of one or another Russian period. However, the Russians never considered her theirs, did not compose songs, legends, or other works of folklore about her, never worshiped her, did not sanctify her.

A whole galaxy of Russian historians and scientists of the last century and representatives of the Orthodox cult (K. I. Nevostruev, S. M. Shpilevsky, M. N. Pinegin, N. P. Zagoskin, P. E. Zarinsky, P. Nevzorov, etc.) , not to mention Tatar historians-orientalists, especially noted that the Syuyumbike tower is the object of extremely respectful attitude towards it on the part of the Tatar, and not other people, that it was the Tatars who for centuries attached sacred significance to it. It should be emphasized that it is no coincidence that she was named after that Muslim queen, who was a convinced and active fighter for the freedom and independence of her state, who was and remains the heroine of the Tatar people.

Finally, in terms of its architectural design, stylistic features, compositional techniques and design details, the Syuyumbike Tower is a distinct monument of Tatar architecture. As Professor V.V. Egerev, one of the famous experts on Russian and national architecture, rightly noted, contrasting tiers and sharp steps distinguish this tower (in this regard, it is close to the architectural style of the famous Black Chamber of the 14th century on the territory of the Bulgar settlement) from the monuments of Russian religious architecture with their smooth subordination of component parts.

What was this tower? Unfortunately, there is still no exact answer to this question. Some researchers consider it to be the minaret of the Nurali mosque connected to it, others - a grandiose grave monument built by Syuyumbike over the ashes of her husband, the Kazan Khan Safa-Girey. It is quite possible that it was used as an observation post during difficult times for Kazan - in 1552 and in subsequent periods. It should also be noted that in 1991, by decision of the government of the Republic of Tatarstan, the crescent moon was restored on the Syuyumbike tower.

On the territory of the Kazan Kremlin, another monument of Tatar religious architecture has been preserved - this is the building of the former Nurali Mosque, already mentioned more than once (it is currently used as a dining room). For many years after the fall of Kazan, this old mosque served as an artillery warehouse, then it was turned into the Church of the Presentation, and in 1854 it was restored as the Palace Church, then it was significantly changed in its upper half. However, the past Tatar times are evidenced by such striking elements of the national architecture of the facade of the second floor, such as the system and shape of the colonnades between the windows with bevels in the upper part.

Archaeological research data show that the architecture of Kazan was enriched with carved ornamentation, wall cladding with mosaic and majolica slabs, as well as patterned bricks and facing slabs with elegant ornaments. The excavation materials leave no doubt about the existence of artisan artists in medieval Kazan, moreover, an entire school of these craftsmen producing the above types of decoration for palaces, chambers, mosques, mausoleums and other structures.

Decor- the word is Latin and means a system of decorating a structure: its facade, that is, the front, front side, and the interior, in other words, the internal space of the building. The word “decor” is associated with decorative art, divided into monumental-decorative (decorating works of architecture) and decorative-applied (creating artistic objects for public and private life) art.

A widespread type of craft, brought to the level of art, was stone carving. In addition to architecture, it found very wide application in the artistic design of gravestones - epigraphic monuments of the second half of the 15th and especially the first half of the 16th centuries. These monuments differ from the epitaphs of an earlier time, that is, from the Bulgarian ones, in the richness and variety of motifs and patterns used in their carved decor. The delicate floral ornamentation and lush inscriptions amaze not only the average viewer, but also a keen connoisseur of medieval stone-cutting art.

Jewelry art, the production of various jewelry from precious metals in combination with semiprecious stones, has reached the highest level of development. The works of Tatar gold and silversmiths amazed the author of “Kazan History”, who, characterizing the activities of Khan Mohammed-Amin, noted that “the king gave himself precious crowns, and vessels and dishes of silver and gold, and arranging the royal outfit.” And when describing the events of subsequent times, he often talked about the large jewelry of the Kazan khans and rich dignitaries. The Khan's treasury was enriched with the most valuable jewelry, as evidenced by the inventory carried out by Prince Vasily Serebryany in August 1551 during the arrest of Queen Syuyumbike: “... you assigned the Tsar’s treasury all the way to gunpowder, and sealed it with the autocratic seal, and filled it before loading(fully loaded) 12 great ladies(large river vessels), gold and silver, and vessels of silver and gold, and decorated with beds and various royal clothes and military weapons of all kinds, and the former queen was sent from Kazan with another commander to the new city (Sviyazhsk).” From there they were sent to Moscow.

Unfortunately, it is still unknown where all these jewels that were taken away from Kazan are located in their entirety. Some of them then ended up in famous museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg: the State Armory Chamber in the Moscow Kremlin, the State Historical Museum on Red Square, the Museum of Russian Ethnography (formerly the Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR in Leningrad). Among the most valuable finds stored in them is the famous “Kazan Cap”, i.e. the crown of the Kazan khans, made of gold using the high filigree jewelry technique, combined with gems and trimmed with sable fur of the highest quality; gold belt clasps and a silver amulet, also made using the filigree technique in combination with graining. The State Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan has some samples of gold embroidery and gold buttons; There is also an ornamented brass jug (it was slightly damaged when it was removed from a dilapidated old house in Kazan).

The jewelry art of the Kazan Khanate found continuation and further development in the art of the Kazan Tatars of subsequent times, gaining truly worldwide fame. The famous collar clasps and hasite, bracelets and earrings, braids and necklaces, plaques and brooches, amulets and koran boxes made of gold and silver in combination with crystal, turquoise, carnelian and other precious stones, in the manufacture of which such highly artistic types of jewelry techniques as tuberculate were used and flat filigree, granulation, inlay, glyptics, engraving, silver nielloing, are unique masterpieces of folk art, a manifestation of the artistic and poetic thinking of the Tatar people.

Writing based on Arabic script became quite widespread in the Kazan Khanate, which appeared in the region in the initial period of the Volga Bulgaria and became the basis for literacy in the Golden Horde. They studied, as before, in the mekteb and madrasah; It is likely that there are madrassas of a higher type, for example, the famous Kul Sherif madrassah. Literacy was necessary primarily for representatives of the administration and the clergy, but it was also quite widespread among the population. Official foreign policy documents, business papers, labels, as well as epitaphs, letters, and poems were written in Arabic script.

Oriental poetry was widely known in Kazan and on Kazan soil. They read the magnificent works of Rudaki and Firdousi, Omar Khayyam and Maadi, Nizami and Saadi, their early poets: Balasaguni and Kul Gali, Qutbi and Saif Sarai, Kharazmi and Rabguzi... New poets appeared in the Kazan Khanate, among them: Muhammad-Amin (aka khan, late 15th - early 16th centuries), Muhammadyar, Emmi-Kamal, Garif-bek, Maksudi, Kul Sharif (aka the famous Kazan seid, national hero of the Tatar people - first half of the 16th century). There were many other court and folk poets in Kazan. The pinnacle of the poetic heritage of the Kazan Khanate is the work of Muhammadyar, who in his poems “Tukhvai-mardan” (“Gift of Men” - 1539) and “Nury-sodur” (“Light of Hearts” - 1542) preaches kindness and justice, faithful service to the people:

Be bold to do good, the time will come,

And you will also know the taste of goodness...

Who is just and whose tongue is true,

He is not crooked either by eye or by hand.

Muhammadyar's works glorify humanistic ideals and pay great attention to moral and ethical issues. The poet’s language is beautiful and melodious:

Yarmukhamed, you have a tongue,

Your tongue is a nightingale, and the world is a flower garden.

In addition to written literature, oral folk art also developed further. Legends and traditions about the emergence of Old and New Kazan are undoubtedly connected with this period in their origin. Literary scholars attribute to the same time such works of an epic nature as “Alpamysh”, “Chura-Batyr”, “Jik-Mergen”, “Khaneke-Soltan bytes”, etc. During the Kazan period, the heroic epic “Idegei” became widespread.

Both among the upper class and among the people, vocal and instrumental music based on the pentatonic scale (a scale of five tones) was very popular. Tatar folk songs have deep roots and, naturally, they were sung during this historical period. The Kazan chronicler tells how the Kazan people in the besieged city played and sang their drawn-out songs. However, earlier he saw how the Kazan people “rejoice and have fun”, “singing lovely songs”, “dancing and playing their harp, and striking the harp”. These songs and dances accompanied folk festivals on the Tsar's Meadow near Kazan, on the Arsk Field. The same thing happened, of course, in the villages. These were holidays like the Djiins and Sabantuis we know.

§ 44. The capital of the Khanate is the city of Kazan

Kazan, like many medieval cities, consisted of two parts - the Kremlin and the Posad. The Kremlin, the site of the Khan's residence and administrative apparatus with a military garrison, in the 15th century occupied the northern, largest part of the modern Kremlin (up to the location of the Ministry of Health). It arose at the end of the 14th century and, having become the political center of the capital of the new state in the mid-40s of the 15th century, was significantly modified and improved. To the southeast of it, behind the ramparts, began a settlement - a place of life and activity for the craft and trade population, and other urban people. There were, in fact, two posads: the upper one, which occupied the territory from the Kremlin to the modern Universitetskaya Street, fenced by a deep and wide ravine, along the bottom of which Kuibysheva Street currently runs; The lower settlement was located west of the upper one, that is, from the slope of the Kremlin hill to the Bulak River, occupying the area of ​​modern Bauman, Ostrovsky and Pravobulachnaya streets.

Kazan of the first half of the 16th century, the last period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate, is one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe. Situated on high hills, separated by deep ravines, Kazan was a heavily fortified and quite beautiful city with fortress walls, gate towers, high minarets of mosques and palaces on the mountain. The Kremlin stood out against the general background of the ancient city, in the northern part of which, on the highest place, was the Khan’s palace, occupying the “king’s courtyard” with some other chambers. This courtyard was fenced with a high stone wall and served as the last place of refuge, the site of the last battle of the besieged in 1552: up to 10 thousand Kazan residents gathered there. 12-15 years after the fall of Kazan, individual khan's chambers were turned into military warehouses and gunpowder magazines, and at the beginning of the 18th century they became part of the commandant's house and soon disappeared completely.

The famous historian of Kazan of the last century, K. F. Fuchs, wrote in 1817 that the remains of the Khan’s palace were finally destroyed in 1807. In 1845, the governor's palace was built in its place, which currently houses the residence of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan. Just to the south of the Khan's palace, apparently on the site of the Annunciation Cathedral, the Kazan eight-minare Cathedral Mosque described above was located (Sh. Marjani called it the Kul Sharif Mosque). However, its location has not yet been precisely established and requires serious archaeological research.

The famous Kazan city gates have always attracted considerable interest among historians and antiquity lovers in general.

There were 11 similar gates, or rather high fortress towers with wide passages in the lower part, in Kazan at that time. They, like the fortress wall itself, were built from thick oak logs. After the fall of Kazan, during the construction of a new stone wall of the Kremlin, stone towers arose, but with new, Russian names. The largest of them were built on the site of former Tatar ones.

The names of the Tatar gates are associated either with the roads that started from these gates (from the Arsk gate there was a road to Arsk, from the Nogai gate to the Nogai Horde, etc.), or with the names of the then largest personalities. The latter, obviously, were directly related to the construction of these gates, for example, Muraleev Gate - on behalf of Nurali Shirin, Ata-lykovy - from the Tatar military leader Atalyk, also known for his active political life, Kebekovy - on behalf of Prince Kebek, mentioned more than once in sources .

The gates along the Kremlin wall were located as follows. In the very northwestern corner, not far from the modern bridge over the Kazanka, on the site of the current Tainitskaya Tower, stood the Muraleev Gate. Further to the northeast, where the quadrangular nameless corner tower stands, there was the Elbugin Gate (it is customary to associate this name with the city of Alabuga-Elabuga). On the eastern wall, from the side of modern Baturina Street, in place of the round Dmitrievskaya tower, there was the Troubled Gate - this is the Russian translation of the Tatar name, which, according to M. G. Khudyakov, meant “easily knocked down,” i.e., the most accessible during an assault. Diagonally from them on the opposite side, i.e. from the side of Bauman Street, where the quadrangular Preobrazhenskaya Tower was located, there was the Tyumen Gate - from there the road to Tyumen, the capital of the Siberian Khanate, began. Adjacent to them, as well as to the Lost Gate, that is, on both sides of the Kremlin, were fortified walls, in other words, the walls surrounding the settlement - this was the city itself.

This city wall started from the Tyumen Gate of the Kremlin and through the Atalykov Gate, located at the foot of the mountain, approximately where now the road past the monument to Musa Jalil goes down and goes out onto Bauman Street, it went to Bulak. Walking along the right bank of Bulak approximately to the area of ​​the modern Duslyk Hotel and the Zdorovye plant, where the Crimean Gate stood, it turned southeast and adjoined the Nogai Gate, which stood at the intersection of Bauman and Universitetskaya streets. Then the wall gradually went up the slope of the university mountain, fenced from the southeast, as already said, by a large ravine, that is, the ravine along the bottom of which much later Rybno-Ryadskaya Street (present-day Kuibysheva) was built.

On the mountain, approximately where the university almost approaches the edge of this ravine, according to some researchers, stood the Upper Nogai Gate. From here the wall gradually descended (past the “Old Clinic” - the former building of the Republican Clinical Hospital) along the same ravine and abutted against the main Kazan Gate - “Tsarev”, i.e. Khansky, located near the Leninsky Garden stop at the intersection Kuibyshev and Galaktionov streets. Further, the wall went in the direction of modern Pushkin Street to Freedom Square, and on the outer side of the wall from the Khan’s Gate a deep ditch was dug as a continuation of the natural “fish row” ditch. The wall abutted the Arsk Gate, located at the intersection of Pushkin and Karl Marx streets. During this period, Kazan's defensive fortifications were especially powerful.

Further, the city fortifications turned to the northeast and north and through modern Freedom Square, Telman, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and Nagornaya streets again adjoined the Kremlin, to its Lost Gate. At this distance, somewhere in the middle of Telman Street, stood the Kebekov Gate! This entire long wall enclosed the Kazan Posad, which occupied a large area for those times and, together with the Kremlin, represented a solid medieval city. According to A. Kurbsky, it was slightly smaller than Vilna (Vilnius).

However, ancient Kazan will seem even larger to us if we take into account the settlements and villages adjacent to it. This is primarily the settlement of Kuraishevo on the left bank of Bulak in the area of ​​modern streets of Kirov, Stolbov, Paris Commune and Galiasgara Kamal, on the site of the famous Haymarket in the Tatar world. Scribe books and Russian chronicles, among them the “Royal Book” - a particularly valuable source on the history of Kazan during the conquests of Ivan the Terrible - note the presence there of the Otucheva Mosque, associated with the name of Prince Otuch (or rather, Utesha). There is a completely reasonable opinion that it was a stone mosque located on the site of the “Sennaya Bazaar Mosque”, i.e. in the recent past of the Kazan Cathedral Mosque. This speaks of deep religious and national traditions.

A small village, discovered archaeologically in 1950, was located near Kuraishev near the modern railway station. These were the settlements closest to the city, between which and the city, obviously, there were bridges across Bulak. Sources note even two water mills on Bulakev. Outside the city wall5 but directly below the Kremlin, on the right bank of the Bulak,.; there were some buildings, among them the white stone “Dairova Baschg”, which belonged to a certain rich man Tagir.

Much to the south of Kuraishev, on the eastern bank of Nizhny Kaban, in the area of ​​the modern zoo on Khadi Taktasha Street, the settlement of Kulmametovo was located. The name of the village of Ometyevo (Ametyevo) within the current city is also associated with the Tatar settlement that existed there during the period of the Kazan Khanate; According to legend, it was founded by a certain Ahmed. Legends have also been preserved about the existence of a country dacha of the Kazan khans on the site of the later Bishop's dacha behind Lake Sredny Kaban, on its high, picturesque shore. It is said that there existed a beautiful “Syuyum-bike garden” with summer buildings.

According to other legends recorded by Kazan University professor N.F. Vysotsky in the last century, an Armenian settlement existed on the site of the Cloth Settlement during the period of the Kazan Khanate; in the area of ​​the public garden at the intersection of Sverdlov and Ulyanov streets, on the site of St. George’s Church, there was an Armenian church. A little higher than the Cloth Bazaar, at the beginning of modern Kalinin Street, N.F. Vysotsky discovered 6 Armenian tombstones. It was a settlement founded by Armenian merchants who had profitable trade with Kazan, and through it with the northern peoples.

On the southwestern border of the former Admiralteyskaya Sloboda, in the old center of the present Kirov region, during the period of the Kazan Khanate there was a Tatar village Bish-Balta (“Beshbolda” in Russian chronicles), which has retained its name to the present day. The places to the west and south of Bish-Balta are also historical. So, near the mouth of the Kazanka, then called “Tiren Uzok” (Deep Channel), there was a Bakaldinskaya pier. Not far away was the famous “Gostiny Island”, where an international fair was held annually in June. In general, these places have always been noted for their liveliness. In addition to trade, here, at the crossroads, meetings and send-offs of distinguished guests were arranged, and at other times, prisoners of war were exchanged here.

The appearance of the city was distinctive. Solid palaces and chambers, “golden-domed towers”, soaring minarets of mosques, fenced by a fortress wall with high battle towers, gave Kazan a unique appearance of an eastern city. Surrounded on all sides by water - a long chain of picturesque lakes Kaban, the winding Kazanka and the mighty Volga - the city looked amazingly beautiful, especially during the spring flood when the wide floodplains of these rivers, joining together, formed a wide expanse of water. In early summer, wide water meadows were freed from under the water, according to eyewitnesses’ descriptions, “great and spacious, and smooth, greenly cheerful meadows,” which “have a lot of fun with grass and great flowers of various colors.”

The very place where the city lay was picturesque, with the slopes of mountains and ravines covered with green grass. At the same time, the lower mules and alleys, laid along the bottom of the ravines, became covered with mud in early spring and during the autumn rains; in some places there were puddles that never dried up. Such, for example, were the so-called “filthy” lakes (as they are called in Russian sources; the Tatar name is “Cherek Kul”, i.e. Rotten Lake), located in a large depression running along modern Dzerzhinsky Street, starting from the Leninsky Garden. Some historians believe that they were so named because water flowed into them from the baths that stood near the upper lakes.

Unlike the Kremlin with its stone buildings, the Kazan suburb was mainly wooden. The city had several large streets with adjacent alleys. These main streets and roads later remained the main streets of the city. Thus, the central street of the Khan's Kremlin passed almost in the same place as the current Sheinkman Street. In the direction of modern Lenin Street, along the top of a long hillock, known in the historiography of Kazan as “Voskresensky Hill” (pre-revolutionary Voskresenskaya Street), ran the main street of the upper suburb of ancient Kazan. Branching at the end into two parts, it went to the Khan and Nogai gates. Along the base of this hillock, between the Lower Nogai and Atalik gates, ran the central street of the lower settlement, corresponding to modern Bauman Street. To everyone

The gates led to streets that turned into big roads beyond the city limits.

There were also underground passages in Kazan. Although not all legends about them reflect reality, we can speak with confidence about the existence of passages in the city center, especially under its Kremlin or in the adjacent area from the main street of the upper suburb, because they are recorded in chronicles and eyewitness reports. These sources indicate the presence of a secret passage dug by the besieged Kazan people under the Nurali tower to a spring on the banks of the Kazanka in the fall of 1552. Some traces of underground passages and basements were discovered at the end of the last century by Kazan University professors N.P. Zagoskin and M.M. Khomyakov in the northern part of Voskresenskaya Street. These basements and dungeons with old masonry walls were not connected with the foundations of Russian buildings, therefore, they were more ancient, and in one of them, according to the stories of old-timers, ancient Tatar coins and manuscripts had previously been found.

There were several cemeteries in medieval Kazan. We already know A. Kurbsky’s message about the tombs of the Kazan khans in mosques; a similar burial ritual was also inherent in Muslim culture (in the Middle Volga region it is also known from the monuments of the city of Bulgar). Individual burials were discovered during excavations in recent years at the Syuyumbike tower and at the site of the former Nurali mosque. A small cemetery was located on the southern side of the then Gostiny Dvor, i.e., shopping arcades on the site of the State Museum of the Republic, where the gravestone of the Kazan prince Muhammad Ali Bek, who died in 1530 while defending the city, was discovered. A more extensive cemetery was located much further south, in the area of ​​the public garden at the corner of Lenin and Lobachevsky streets, and the cemetery of the lower suburb was located behind Bulak, at the intersection of 1atar-stan and Grazhdanskaya streets; epigraphic monuments of the first half of the 16th century are also known from there.

§ 45. Political history. Second half of the 15th century

The political situation in the Khanate during this period depended mainly on its relations with the Russian state. Moreover, the conduct of the entire foreign and even domestic policy of Kazan was often determined by the desire of the Moscow Grand Dukes and was subordinated to the big policy of the Russian state.

It should be said that relations between Moscow and Kazan, especially since the late 60s of the 15th century, have been strained. They were often resolved with the help of military campaigns, organized mainly by Moscow rulers. Kazan residents also did not remain in debt. These were complex relationships, sometimes very dramatic, which ultimately led to the fall of the Kazan Khanate and the loss of statehood of the Tatar people.

The first period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate, the 20-year reign of Mahmutek (1445 - 1465), was peaceful and creative. The sources do not contain a single message indicating military clashes between Moscow and Kazan. On the contrary, their relationship was quite good neighborly. From those years, one document has survived - a letter from the Moscow Metropolitan Jonah to the influential Kazan dignitary Shaptyak, in which the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in a humiliated tone asked his “friend,” as he called the Kazan citizen, to assist the khan with two of his confidants, whom he sent with gifts. This document from 1455 shows how high the prestige of Kazan was then before the Moscow leadership.

Moreover, at this time Moscow paid Kazan a “way out,” i.e., tribute. The fact that Russians paid tribute not only to the Great Horde, but also to a new state in the north, i.e., the Kazan Khanate, perplexed many Russian historians. In his famous work “Essays on the History of the Kazan Khanate” (Kazan, 1923), M. G. Khudyakov called this “exit” the indemnity that Moscow had to pay for the release of Grand Duke Vasily II from captivity after the famous battle near Suzdal in the summer of 1445 . Then a mutual agreement was drawn up. True, it was not officially communicated to the Moscow public, but it found some reflection in Russian chronicles. Unfortunately, the volume of this indemnity, or rather, ransom, is not precisely indicated - some sources say “as much as possible,” others indicate an amount from 30 to 100 thousand rubles.

According to the same agreement, together with the Grand Duke, 500 Tatars then arrived in Moscow, who were appointed to various administrative positions in the capital and in other cities. Some of them were even determined by the rulers of individual cities. Then and later, Tatar princes and princes ruled such Russian cities as Serpukhov, Zvenigorod, Kashira, Yuryev, Surozhik, and the second son of Ulu-Muhammad Kasim was given the so-called. Meshchersky town on the Oka River, renamed Kasimov in his honor.

However, Moscow paid “exit” not only to Kazan, but also to Crimea, Astrakhan, even to Kasimov, which was actually an appanage principality of Russia, although it was officially called a khanate (“kingdom”). Moreover, the payment of tribute to the Kasimov khans continued even after the fall of Kazan. This is still difficult to explain, but the documents speak about it. And in the above-mentioned Russian cities, which were ruled by people from Kazan and Kasimov, mosques had already begun to appear. In general, there was a clear increase in Tatar influence on the political life of the Russian state.

All this caused extreme discontent in Russian society of that time. In 1446, an anti-government conspiracy arose led by influential boyars Dmitry Shemyako and Vasily Kosy. The Grand Duke was accused of bringing the Tatars to Rus' and giving them cities “to feed.” Vasily II was deposed and blinded (hence his nickname “Dark”). However, the Tatar army led by Kasim and Yakub moved in his defense, and in 1447 the Grand Duke was restored to the throne.

The mentioned treaty of 1445 gave the newly formed Kazan Khanate peace for the near future and great opportunities for strengthening the economy and military power. Over the 20-year period of its existence, by the end of Mahmutek’s reign, it had become one of the strongest states of the then Central Eurasia. The geography and volume of international trade expanded, political power strengthened, the state structure finally took shape, and solid foundations were laid for the further development of material and spiritual culture.

Mahmutek left behind two sons - Khalil and Ibrahim. The eldest, Khalil, ruled for only two years. He had no children, and after his sudden death, Ibrahim (1467 - 1479) sat on the throne. He was one of the most powerful khans of Kazan, and the period of his reign was marked by the further development of the economy and military power of the state. Ibrahim Khan was practically the last head of this state in terms of the country's development along an ascending line. In general, the 35-year period of existence of the Kazan Khanate under Mahmutek and Ibrahim remains one of the brightest periods in the history of the Tatar people and their statehood. Under Ibrahim, a new policy of the Russian state began in relation to the Kazan Khanate, manifested in direct military interventions. But the khan always gave a worthy rebuff to this.

If Vasily II was a captive, and then a tributary of the Tatars, and, moreover, obviously a rather gentle man, not without certain democratic views, then his son, the Grand Duke of “All Rus'” Ivan III (1462 - 1505), was the complete opposite of him. The 42-year reign of this man - a cruel, imperious, but at the same time talented politician and a major statesman - made it possible for Rus' to finally unite around one center, i.e. Moscow. It was during this period that the foundations were laid for the internal structure of the new, more powerful Russian state and its foreign policy, which developed with obvious interference in the internal affairs of other countries. This was clearly manifested primarily in relations with the Kazan Khanate.

Ivan III organized seven campaigns against Kazan: in 1467, 1469, 1478, 1482, 1484, 1485 and 1487 (the last one ended with the capture of the city). Essentially the entire spectrum of relations between the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate in the last quarter of the 15th century is connected with these campaigns.

A good reason was found for intervention in the affairs of the Kazan Khanate, whose power was growing stronger before the eyes of the Moscow government: the small opposition of Kazan residents against Khan Ibrahim, led by Prince Abul-Mumin, secretly invited Kasim to join their khans. He was delighted at the prospect of seizing the throne of a more powerful state than his patrimony, but he perfectly understood that with his small forces from the “Gorodets”, i.e. Kasimov, Tatars, he could not defeat Ibrahim and turned to Ivan III for help. This played into the hands of the Grand Duke, and in September 1467 a campaign of the Kasimovites was organized, accompanied by a strong Russian army. However, the Kazan people did not even allow them to cross the Volga, and they turned back, experiencing many hardships on the way back. In the winter of the same year, Ibrahim made a retaliatory move, sending an army to Galich near Kostroma, but the Kazan people were unable to take the city and returned home. In turn, Ivan III sent a punitive expedition to the Volga, which, having visited the Mari land, carried out robberies and murders of civilians there, which is recorded in most Russian chronicles.

Kazan decided to take revenge for this: troops were sent towards the Russian border cities in several directions, which carried out their campaign with varying success - successfully in the north and with losses in the south. At this time, the Vyatka Ushkuiniki attacked the eastern regions of the Khanate, simultaneously robbing merchant ships on Vyatka and Kama. Another Kazan army was sent there, which took Khlynov, the center of the Vyatka land, subordinate to Rus'. A Tatar governor was installed there.

In 1469, Moscow organized its own, that is, without the Kasimovites, campaign against Kazan and again failed. The intentions of the Russians with two groups of troops - from Nizhny Novgorod along the Volga and from Ustyug along the northern route along Moloka, Vyatka and Kama with access to the Volga - to approach Kazan and encircle it failed. The troops could not approach at the same time, and the Tatars defeated them one by one. This happened in May and June. Having met on the way back in Nizhny and having significantly replenished their forces, these two groups again went to Kazan in September. However, things did not come to a battle - a peace treaty was concluded. It was needed not so much for Kazan as for Moscow: by that time relations with the sovereign Novgorod Republic had worsened, and in the south a Lithuanian-Horde (Greater Horde) union had arisen, which was very undesirable for Rus'.

In 1478, Ivan III made several campaigns against Novgorod and annexed it to the Russian state, thereby freeing his hands for further actions against Kazan. Even in winter, the Tatars went to Khlynov, which had begun to show their independence, and returned from there with captives. This was the reason for the start of a new series of attacks on Kazan. A small campaign in the spring of the same year ended in vain for them, although the previous agreement of 9 years ago was extended. Unfortunately, sources are silent about its conditions, except that back in 1469, the Kazan government agreed to release Russian captives.

In 1479, Ibrahim Khan died, leaving five sons from two wives: Ilgam, Khudai-Kul and Melik-Taghir - from his first wife Fatima, Muhammad-Amin and Abdul-Latif - from his second, Nur-Saltan. By this time, two parties had already formed, which played a large role in determining the foreign policy course of the Kazan Khanate. One of them, under the leadership of Fatima, headed to the East - the Nogai Horde and through it to Central Asia. The second, Nur-Saltanovskaya, was a supporter of an alliance with Moscow, moreover, she did this in order to preserve the independence of the state, maintaining peaceful relations with the Russians.

The eastern party won, and Ilgam sat on the throne, moreover, he was the legal heir. Nur-Saltan married the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, taking her young son Abdul-Latif with her to Bakhchisarai. The eldest, 10-year-old Muhammad-Amin, was sent to Moscow and soon he was given control of the specific city of Kashira.

Ilgam followed his mother’s policy, which, naturally, did not please Ivan III. In 1482 he sent. the army to Kazan, by the way, for the first time armed with cannons, under the command of a German engineer of Greek origin, Aristotle. The Ilgam government, having learned about the arrival of this army in Nizhny, asked for peace, which was accepted by Moscow on terms favorable to it.

Ilgam did not possess the qualities of a politician and statesman that were inherent in his father. It was during his reign that unrest began, and the Kazan Khanate entered the period of its fall. Of course, subsequently there were periods of recovery, a certain revival of the power of the state. But it was no longer able to regain the former power that characterized the era of Mahmutek and Ibrahim. Moscow's interference in Kazan affairs became increasingly noticeable. Thus, military detachments visited Kazan in 1484 and 1485, alternately replacing Muhammad-Amin and Ilgam on the throne. Finally, in 1487, another big campaign against Kazan took place. After an almost two-month siege, on July 9, the Russian army entered the city, and the pro-Moscow party deposed Ilgam and handed him over to the Moscow governors.

Khan, along with his mother, two wives, brothers and sisters, was taken to Moscow. Ilgam himself was exiled to Vologda, where he later died, the rest were sent to Kargol on Beloozero - an ancient Russian city on Vologda soil. Their fate also turned out to be sad. Queen Fatima and one of her sons, Melik-Taghir, died soon. Melik-Taghir's two sons were baptized and subsequently provided various services to the Russian state. Ilgam’s second brother Khudai-Kul was also baptized under the name of Peter Ibrahimovich; he was soon released from arrest and married the sister of Ivan III. The prince died in 1523, and his tomb is located in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin among the sarcophagi of Russian tsars and grand dukes.

Muhammad-Amin, who ruled the Khanate until 1496 as a protege of Moscow, was placed on the Kazan throne. The Russian protectorate, which began after the capture of Kazan in 1487, became even stronger. Moscow openly began to dictate its will to Kazan, even deciding who to appoint as its khan. The Eastern Party made an unsuccessful attempt to put an end to such dependence by inviting the Siberian prince Mamuk to the khans, but he did not find further support in the same party: its leader, the head of the Kazan government Kel-Ahmed, betraying his principles, accepted the Moscow orientation. Taking advantage of Mamuk's temporary absence in Kazan, the city gates were closed in front of him, and he and his retinue went back to Siberia (for some reason he died on the way).

The leadership of Kazan decided to restore the dynasty of Ulu-Muhammad, but not in favor of Muhammad-Amin, with whom the same Kel-Ahmed had disagreements, but invited his younger brother Abdul-Latif, who at that time ruled Zvenigorod near Moscow. However, before this, the young prince was raised in Crimea, with his mother Nur-Saltan, which played a decisive role in the formation of his views and in pursuing his policy in favor of the independence of the Kazan Khanate. He ruled for just over five years (1497 - 1502) and was deposed by the Russian embassy, ​​which was sent to Kazan by Ivan III with the assistance of Kel-Ahmed.

Nur-Saltan, the mother of the last two Kazan khans from the clan of Ulu-Muhammad, was mentioned several times above. She played an outstanding role in the history of the Kazan Khanate, and the forty-year period from 1480 to 1520 is even called the era of Nur-Saltan. The major events of Kazan-Crimean-Russian relations and the difficult period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate are associated with her name. In the difficult era of the Moscow protectorate, she showed great willpower and strength of character in posing and solving a number of fundamental problems in Russian-Tatar relations. Thanks to her wisdom and perseverance, even her personal friendship with Sophia Paleolog, the wife of Ivan III, she made an invaluable contribution to the preservation of the Kazan Khanate as a state in the era of the “gathering of Russian lands”, the beginning of a new, pronounced great-power policy of the Moscow state.

§ 46. Political history. First half of the 16th century

In 1502, Abdul-Latif was arrested, taken to Moscow and exiled to Beloozero, just as they did with Ilgam. Muhammad-Amin, who had previously been the ruler of Kashira and Serpukhov, was again seated on the Kazan throne. By this time he had reached the age of 30, at one time, due to his high rank, he was even, albeit nominally, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Lithuanian war.

Having become the Khan of Kazan for the second time (1502 - 1518), Muhammad Amin changed his views and began to assess the political situation from a different point of view - from the standpoint of the further development of his state along an independent path. Sources claim that his new wife, the former wife of the late Ilgam Khan, played a big role in this (then there was such a custom: the widow of a deceased monarch was passed off as his brother, the new head of state. This was done, for example, with the widow of Kasim, passing her off as Mahmutek, the wife of Khalil Nur-Saltan was married to Ibrahim. The widow of the khan married for the second, in other cases even for the third time, only to the khan, and if there were no brothers of the late husband, then to the ruler of another khanate. Therefore, the presence of two or even several wives. among the Tatar khans should not surprise the modern reader. However, a similar custom existed in general in the medieval world). The widow of Ilgam, a patriot of the Kazan land and who, together with her first husband, endured the humiliation of exile, undoubtedly had a great influence on the awakening of the national feelings of Muhammad-Amin. The fruits of maternal education were not wasted either - although Nur-Saltan already lived in Crimea, from time to time she visited her children in Kazan and Russia.

Muhammad-Amin, being an intelligent and cunning politician, prepared for war secretly, so that neither the Moscow rulers nor his worst enemy in Kazan Kel-Ahmed noticed this. By the way, the latter - the culprit in the overthrow of Muhammad-Amin and Abdul-Latif and who played a very negative role in the political life of the Kazan Khanate - was arrested and executed in 1506.

The Khan understood perfectly well that the days of the decrepit Ivan III were numbered, that this once all-powerful monarch no longer represented a formidable force for him, and his son and successor Vasily III did not possess the abilities of his father. Muhammad Amin equipped a 60,000-strong army towards Nizhny Novgorod. The news of the Tatars crossing the border Sura reached the Grand Duke, and he sent a large army against them. However, at that time the Kazan people were already besieging Nizhny - they failed to take the city, and they returned back without meeting the Russians.

In October 1505, Ivan III died, and in April 1506, Vasily III sent an entire army of two large formations - a ship and a horse - against the Kazan Khanate. On May 22, Muhammad Amin defeated the naval army that had arrived earlier near Kazan, and a month later, on June 25, when the cavalry units had already arrived, the entire united Russian army suffered a severe defeat. The Russian army, according to some Russian sources, consisted of 100,000 people. K. Marx, in his notes on the history of Russia, wrote about this war that “the Muscovites... were so defeated near Kazan that only 7,000 were saved.”

In a word, it was the largest battle. Rus' has never known such a defeat since Genghis and Batu Khans. Contemporaries compared this battle with Kulikovskaya. The Tatars, undoubtedly, this time took revenge for their defeat 125 years ago. Vasily III was forced to draw up an agreement with Muhammad-Amin - “peace of old and friendship.” As S. Herberstein wrote a little later, “the Kazan people broke away from the Moscow sovereign.”

Muhammad-Amin agreed to the agreement and all his further political activities were not distinguished by any activity. Assessing this period of his reign, M. G. Khudyakov noted that, having won a brilliant victory over the Russians, Muhammad-Amin was justified before the Tatar public for his previous activities in favor of Moscow and his further life flowed calmly. In recent years he fell ill with some serious illness and died in 1518 at the age of about 48 years.

The Tatars again faced the question of the owner of the throne, for the line of Ulu-Muhammad ended there: Ilgam and Melik-Taghir were no longer alive, Khudai-Kul became a Christian, but Abdul-Latif, who was in exile on Beloozero, a year before death of Muhammad-Amin, killed. True, Ibrahim Khan had several more daughters, among them the most famous was Gauharshad (Kovgarshad, according to Russian chronicles), she is also the daughter of Nur-Saltan, a future active participant in the struggle for the national independence of the Kazan Khanate. However, the question of her as the legal successor of her brother was not raised, because in those days women did not yet have the right to the throne. Then we could talk about Nur-Saltan herself, whose husband, i.e. the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey, died in 1515.

However, Nur-Saltan had two sons from Mengli-Girey, i.e. the brothers Muhammad-Amin and Abdul-Latif are Muhammad-Girey and Sahib-Girey. After the death of his father, Muhammad-Girey became the Khan of Crimea and he offered Vasily III his brother to the Kazan throne. Moscow refused - it did not want a future strong Crimean-Kazan opposition. Vasily III had his own candidacy and he informed the Kazan government about it - it was the eldest son of Kasimov Khan Sheikh-Auliyar Shah-Ali (Shigalei, according to Russian chronicles). It was not by chance that the Grand Duke picked him up - Shah-Ali grew up in Moscow and accordingly received a Great Russian upbringing, which played a role in his subsequent anti-Tatar activities.

Even before his departure to Kazan, Shah-Ali swore an oath of allegiance to Russia in Moscow and sat on the Kazan throne in 1519 as a 13-year-old youth. According to the description of the Russian chronicler, he “had a terrible and merciful face and body, had long ears hanging on his shoulders, a woman’s face, a thick and arrogant belly (belly), short legs, long steps, and a bestial seat.” S. Herberstein described him in approximately the same way when he saw Shah-Ali in Moscow in 1526. And it was not for nothing that the same chronicler sarcastically remarked: “They, the Tatars, deliberately depicted the king as a reproach and ridicule for them.”

Shah Ali was placed on the Kazan throne three times by Moscow and actually kicked out of there three times - he was so disgusting and unnecessary for the people of Kazan. Even supporters of the pro-Moscow orientation did not like him - they simply tolerated him because Moscow itself gave him to them. He was also hated by the Crimeans: the clan of the Gireys and the clan of the Greater Horde Akhmat, from where Shah-Ali was from, had long been at enmity with each other, moreover, Vasily III, having betrayed his word to the Crimeans not to place this man on the Kazan throne, made him the new one head of the Kazan Khanate. The patience of the Crimeans has run out: after all, just a few years ago, Muhammad-Girey, fulfilling an allied agreement with Russia, defeated the Polish army hostile to it. Thus, the Grand Duke thoroughly failed Crimea.

And in the spring of 1521, accompanied by only 300 soldiers, Sahib-Girey arrived from Crimea to Kazan. This happened so unexpectedly that he entered the city completely unhindered. The Russian ambassador and governor were arrested, the property of all Russian and Kasimov merchants was confiscated, and Shah Ali’s personal guard was almost killed. He miraculously escaped and, at the head of a small detachment, managed to escape to Moscow. The Russian protectorate, which lasted almost 35 years (1487 - 1520), ended. A new period began in the history of the Kazan Khanate, a period of rising national consciousness, active struggle of the population of Kazan and the Kazan land against intervention.

The name Sahib-Girey is already known to students: it is with him that the only authentic document from the era of the Kazan Khanate is associated - the khan's label. Unlike his predecessor, Sahib-Girey was exceptionally pleasant-looking, and this alone already made a very good impression on the Kazan people after Kasimov’s “handsome guy” had the honor of “leading” them. In the same 1521, Sahib-Girey, together with Muhammad-Girey, began a war with Russia. Crimean and Kazan troops united near Kolomna (before this, the Kazan people took Nizhny Novgorod), together they approached Moscow and surrounded it. A terrible panic began in the city, vividly described in Russian and Western European sources. The Grand Duke himself fled to Volokolamsk, leaving the defense of Moscow to his brother-in-law Peter Ibrahimovich, i.e. Khudai-Kul. The Russian government asked for peace, and the Grand Duke, returning to Moscow, was forced to sign a treaty that was humiliating for him - he admitted his dependence on the Crimean Khan, agreeing to pay him the previous tribute. The Kazan Tatars returned with great booty and gained complete independence from Moscow.

Returning to Kazan, the Tatars staged a pogrom against Russian merchants, killed many of them, and even killed the ambassador of Moscow. This served as a pretext for Vasily III for a new war against the Tatars. First, the Vasil-gorod (Vasilsursk) fortress was built closer to Kazan - it was built on the land of the khanate. This first step of the aggressive policy was condemned even in Moscow itself, but the Orthodox clergy supported the government’s actions, and Metropolitan Daniel declared: “With that city we will take the entire land of Kazan.”

An unfavorable situation developed for Kazan: Muhammad-Girey, brother and ally of Sahib-Girey, suddenly died in Crimea. The new khan Saadet-Girey began negotiations with Moscow, insisting that it make peace with Kazan. Vasily III responded with a categorical refusal, and the campaign against the Tatars began again. Feeling the approaching danger, Sahib-Girey called his nephew Safa-Girey from Crimea, and he himself went to Turkey to ask the Sultan for help in defending Kazan. This is noted in some sources. However, the khan went to the Turks not so much for help for Kazan, but to obtain the Crimean throne. A few years later, he achieved the removal of Saadet-Girey and became khan. Crimea under the rule of Sahib-Girey (1532 - 1551) experienced an era of prosperity. He was a highly educated man for his time and a major statesman, a worthy successor to the powerful khans of the Golden Horde.

13-year-old Safa-Girey sat on the Kazan throne. It was a difficult time: the Russian army was approaching, numbering, according to some sources, 150 thousand soldiers, and according to others, 180 thousand. However, different parts of this army again, as in 1469 and 1506, approached Kazan at different times. The Tatars first defeated the vanguard of their cavalry army, and then an entire flotilla, 90 of which even fell into the hands of the Kazan people. In general, the campaign was again unsuccessful and a peace treaty was drawn up again, according to which Vasily III recognized Safu-Girey as the Kazan Khan.

The peace was short-lived - in 1530 the Russian army again approached Kazan. 30 thousand Nogais and Astrakhan residents came to help Safe-Girey. The Russians set fire to the settlement from the direction of Bulak, but were unable to take the city. Realizing that they could not defeat the Tatars so easily, the Moscow leadership resorted to diplomacy - it was necessary to lure the influential Tatar princes to their side and raise a rebellion against the khan. It was a rather unpleasant story, and a certain circle of the Kazan elite fell for this bait. Safa-Girey was deposed, and Moscow proposed the same Shah-Ali as khan, but Kazan categorically rejected him. They settled on the candidacy of his brother Jan-Ali (Yenaley, according to Russian chronicles), who had previously, like Shah-Ali at various times, been Kasimov's khan.

Jan-Ali ascended the Kazan throne in 1531 as a 15-year-old youth, but he was only a nominal khan: the country was ruled by a government headed by the already mentioned Gauharshad princess, the daughter of Ibrahim Khan and Nur-Saltan. Two years later, the young khan was married to 15-year-old Syuyumbika, the daughter of the Nogai prince Yusuf, which required the consent of the Russian government. It was a marriage of convenience - Moscow needed a reliable ally in the Nogai Horde. However, Yusuf, realizing his mistake, became an opponent of the alliance with Russia.

After the death of Vasily III in 1535, Gauharshad, together with the famous Karacha-bi Bulat Shirin (some sources say that they later became spouses) led an active struggle against the Moscow protectorate. The Resurrection Chronicle, one of the most authoritative medieval Russian sources, says so: “Princess Kovgarshad and Bulat the prince and the whole land of Kazan betrayed the Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich.” This was immediately followed by a coup: on September 25, 1535, Jan-Ali was killed and Safu-Girey was again invited as khan. At the same time, successful military operations of the Tatars against Russia began in the directions of Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma and Murom.

Meanwhile, great disagreements arose again in the leadership of Kazan - this time between Safa-Girey and Bulat Shirin, who was the organizer of the overthrow of the khan in 1531. In 1541, serious opposition to the khan arose, which turned to Moscow for help in removing Safa-Girey. Russia began to prepare for war, but Crimea intervened again, and things did not come to a battle. Safa-Girey's position strengthened, and an agreement was drawn up between the two leading forces: the khan and the Shirin opposition. Moreover, the parties either found a common language or seriously diverged.

In 1545, taking advantage of another disagreement between the khan and the opposition, Moscow organized a new campaign against Kazan. As has happened more than once, the Russians approached in two ways: along the Volga from Nizhny and along Vyatka from the north. The meeting with the Volga detachment did not bring luck to the Kazan people, but they defeated the late Vyatka army. Khan accused the opposition of being the culprits of the Russian campaign against Kazan, and arrests and executions began. Gauharshad and Bulat-Prince left the historical arena. Although they fought for the independence of the khanate, which was especially evident in the overthrow of the Moscow protege Jan-Ali, they were unable to achieve unity of forces in the state.

A year later, a new opposition to the khan arose, led by princes Buyurgan and Chura Narykov. Safa-Girey was again deposed, and a pogrom of the Crimeans was carried out. The Khan went to the Nogai Horde, from there to Astrakhan; returned with a new detachment, but could not take Kazan and went back to the Nogais. Shah Ali was invited by the Kazan Khan for the second time. However, Kasimov’s puppet managed to “rule” for only 1 month: Safa-Girey came from Nogai with a significant army and entered Kazan without hindrance. Shah Ali was able to escape this time too. Arrests began in Kazan, Chura Narykov and his associates were executed. The pro-Russian party practically ceased to exist, the coalition government fell. Peaceful relations were restored between Moscow and Kazan.

§ 47. Conquest of the Kazan Khanate

In March 1549, at the age of 39, Safa-Girey died suddenly, without having time to announce his successor. He had several wives and four sons. Two adults lived in Crimea at that time and one of them, Bulyak-Girey, after the death of his father was invited by the khan to Kazan, but the Kazan people themselves nominated this candidate. Another son of Safa-Girey, from a Russian wife, had no right to the throne, and the youngest son, Utyamish-Girey, who was only two years old, remained. He was chosen as the new Kazan Khan, appointing his mother Syuyumbike as his regent.

The name Syuyumbike is well known to students, but many still do not know its history. We have already said above that she was the daughter of the Nogai prince Yusuf. Yusuf came from the family of the famous Idegei: he was the great-grandson of Nuretdin, the youngest son of Idegei, therefore, the latter was the ancestor (father of the great-grandfather) of Syuyumbike. In this regard, Syuyumbike and Nur-Saltan were even relatives: grandfather Nur-Saltan and great-great-grandfather Syuyumbike were brothers, sons of Idegei.

Syuyumbike arrived in Kazan in August 1533 and was taken away in August 1551... After Jan-Ali was killed, she married Safu-Girey, with whom she lived for 14 years in love and harmony, and in 1546 Her late child, Utyamish-Girey, was born. Despite the fact that Syuyumbike was the youngest among the other wives of Safa-Girey, she was considered the eldest in her position, for she was his beloved wife. As Russian chronicles report, she was “velmi red and wise,” that is, very beautiful and wise. There is no need to talk about Tatar legends and bytes in this regard - her beauty and nobility are glorified in them. The name Syuyumbike in the history of the Tatar people is a symbol of a fighter for freedom and independence.

And now let us briefly turn to the events of the very last period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate, which left a tragic mark on the history of the Tatar people, an unhealed wound in their soul.

A government was formed in Kazan, headed by the Crimean oglan Kuchak, the head of the garrison. The fact that civil and military power was concentrated in the hands of one person was to play a large role in this most difficult period. However, the government was created only three months after the death of Safa-Girey. Thus, precious time was lost to mobilize the army and bring it to combat readiness. The Moscow leadership, meanwhile, was preparing for new campaigns against Kazan.

From the end of the 1540s, the well-known “Kazan campaigns of Ivan the Terrible” began, led by Ivan IV himself, when he came of age, and in 1547, for the first time in the history of the Russian state, he was declared tsar (all the rulers before him, as we know, bore the title "Grand Duke"). Two people became the ideological mentors of the young king, who played a decisive role in the formation of his extreme belligerence and aggressive views. One of them is Metropolitan Macarius, who is also the head of the royal government, that is, the second person in the state after the king. Another of his ideological leaders is the above-mentioned Ivan Peresvetov, who in his letters to the tsar and journalistic writings constantly called on him to conquer the Kazan Khanate. As the largest Russian-Soviet historian, banned during the years of Stalinism, Academician M. N. Pokrovsky rightly emphasized, I. Peresvetov “demanded conquests. First of all, the conquest of Kazan, and then the general offensive war of conquest.”

Ivan the Terrible was distinguished by his immoral life and misanthropic actions, and it was the Russian people themselves who suffered first of all from the system of terror he created. In relation to the peoples he conquered, he pursued a policy of extermination. This began precisely with his Kazan campaigns, which led to the conquest and liquidation of the Kazan Khanate.

So, events unfolded in the following order. At the end of 1548, the tsar and the metropolitan went on a campaign against the Tatars, but it was so disorganized that it dragged on until the beginning of March 1549, and the “commanders” returned to Moscow empty-handed. They repeated the campaign in the winter of 1550, again led by the tsar himself and... again unsuccessfully - again, like the last time, thaw, rains, “warmth”, “great wetness” began, as Russian chronicles note with regret. Here, of course, it is not “warmth” or “wetness” that is to blame, but the mediocrity of the organizers. However, the Kazan government, despite the fact that the Russian army stood idle for 13 days near Kazan, was unable to take any serious measures to strike at the enemy.

After these unsuccessful campaigns, a broad and serious program for the conquest of the Kazan Khanate was drawn up in Moscow. Experts in military affairs of the time, state and church leaders, with the invitation of specialists from Western Europe, as well as those Kazan defectors who knew well the strengths and weaknesses of the military-state structure of the Kazan Khanate, took part in its development. The army was improved (by the way, they took advantage of the example of Crimea and Turkey in organizing advanced corps and called them Streltsy), the artillery was strengthened, and with the inspection and close participation of German and English demolitions, engineering troops were created to blow up the impregnable walls of Kazan.

One of the major achievements of the military-strategic plan for the conquest of the Kazan Khanate was the construction on its land, just 30 km from Kazan itself, the Sviyazhsk fortress as a strong stronghold in the offensive operation. Sviyazhsk was built in the shortest possible time - in just 28 days from May 24, 1551, for which previously prepared parts of the future fortress were brought from Uglich along the Volga. Sviyazhsk became not only the strongest stronghold for that time, a convenient base for the active army, but also a kind of military-political center of the Mountain Side, that is, a good half of the Khanate in the west. The isolation of the Mountain side deprived the Kazan Khanate of significant economic and human (primarily military) resources in the upcoming war. The construction of this stronghold gave the Russians great opportunities to occupy the main river (Volga, Kama, Sviyaga, Vyatka) and land routes, thereby blocking the capital, in which a serious political crisis was brewing.

Great opposition to Kuchak arose, and an obvious coup was being prepared. Kuchak escaped with a small detachment, but was caught by the Russians at the mouth of the Vyatka and sent to Moscow, where he was publicly executed. A new government was formed in Kazan, headed by Khudai-Kul (this is not Pyotr Ibrahimovich, but another person) and Nurali Shirin, the son of Bulat Shirin, known to us. An embassy was sent to Moscow with truce terms. The Russian government demanded that Shah-Ali be accepted as khan in Kazan, and Syuyumbike and his son sent to Moscow. If the Kazan residents did not fulfill this condition, Moscow threatened to terminate the agreement and immediately send troops to Kazan.

Syuyumbike understood the complexity of the situation: the Khanate was split into two parts, almost all the main routes to the capital were controlled, and there was almost zero possibility of gathering a militia army. Being still inexperienced in government, she believed that the Moscow leadership would not send troops to Kazan if she was captured and appointed Shah Ali Khan, and sacrificed herself in order to preserve the state. Her move could be called exceptionally wise if she were dealing with a normal, civilized enemy. But the enemy deceived her: contrary to his promises, a year later he conquered Kazan. The trusted Russian Tsar, Prince Serebryany, arrived in Kazan and took away Syuyumbike and Utyamish-Girey with enormous wealth of the state.

Syuyumbike was forever separated from her people, her homeland, and finally from her only child, and was forcibly married to the same Shah-Ali, when he became Kasimov’s khan after the fall of Kazan. The last years of her life were spent in great grief and suffering. The letters of her father Yusuf to Ivan the Terrible, with legitimate claims and great resentment, say that Shah Ali tortured her. And her son Utyamish-Girey was baptized under the name Alexander, lived until 1564 and died at the age of 18 (the reasons for his death are unknown). He was buried, like Khudai-Kul, that is, Peter Ibrahimovich, in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

So, the Kazan throne was given to Shah Ali for the third time - the same freak-politician, freak-man, “Russian protégé”, as defined by K. Marx, who was hated by the Kazan Tatars.

The Tatar public reacted violently to the separation of the Mountain Side at the congress-kurultai, held on August 14, 1551, the day of Shah Ali’s arrival. Despite Kazan’s strong objection to the seizure of this territory, Moscow did not make any concessions, citing “the will of God” in this matter. Under the threat of war, the Tatars were forced to sign an agreement, after which the western half of the Khanate went to Russia. Moscow set extremely strict demands for the release of all Russian prisoners, “forgetting” about the Tatar slaves in Russia. Unrest began among the Tatars, a conspiracy arose against Shah Ali and the Moscow envoys, but it was eliminated by the treachery and betrayal of the khan. In the center of Kazan, Russian archers carried out a real massacre - more than 70 Tatars were killed, among them prominent princes and military leaders.

Moscow decided to take tough measures: replace Shah-Ali with a Russian governor, and seize the eastern half of the Khanate to Russia. This issue was discussed in the tsarist government in the presence of the Tatar ambassadors detained there, including Nurali Shirin. They decided to leave the Kazan Khanate with autonomous rights, replacing the khan with the governor of Moscow, freeing all Russian prisoners, but without changing the internal structure of the khanate and returning the Mountain Side to it. The Tatar ambassadors were actually forced to sign this agreement.

In February 1552, the Russian ambassador Alexei Adashev arrived in Kazan to depose the khan, who demanded from Shah-Ali permission for the Russian governor to enter the city and surrender Kazan to him. Shah Ali refused to open the city gates to the Moscow army, but abdicated the throne and left for Moscow, fulfilling the will of Ivan the Terrible - to destroy the Kazan artillery arsenal. He also took with him a large number of hostages - more than 80 Tatar princes and Murzas. On March 9, the Russian governor Semyon Mikulinsky left Sviyazhsk for Kazan, accompanied by reinforced troops, taking with him Tatar hostages brought there by Shah-Ali on his way to Moscow. But the Kazan people closed the gates in front of him. The spirit of freedom returned to the city, and Moscow’s plan to make the Kazan Khanate a province of Russia collapsed. The governor went back with the hostages (they were later liquidated). A provisional government was organized in Kazan, headed by Prince Chapkun Otuch.

The new government decisively set as its goal to organize the struggle for national independence. The remaining archers in the city were killed. They sent an invitation to the khans to the Astrakhan prince Yadiger, who was at that time in the Nogai Horde. At the same time, successful military operations recaptured the Mountain Side, except for Sviyazhsk. At the beginning of March, 30-year-old Yadiger arrived in Kazan and took the throne. The Tatars perked up, and an elevated, patriotic mood reigned in the city.

Moscow has finally taken decisive action. The 150,000-strong Russian army led by the Tsar went to Kazan in June and arrived in Sviyazhsk in early August. On August 23, the army of Ivan the Terrible crossed the Volga and with significantly superior forces besieged Kazan, in addition, it had 150 cannons and a specially trained group of demolition miners under the leadership of the English engineer Butler (the great Russian chemist from Kazan A. M. Butlerov traces his ancestry back to him) .

The first foray of the Kazan people took place on August 23 - the Tatars struck the enemy’s advanced ranks and retreated without breaking through them, due to the incomparably larger number of Russians. A few days later, an entire army unit of Prince Gorbaty-Shuisky eliminated the army of suburban Tatar militias, led by Yaush and Yapancha. Another detachment fought its way to Arsk and, as we already know, returned from there with rich booty and a large number of prisoners. The unfortunates were tied to pegs in front of the city fortifications and forced to ask their relatives to surrender to the Russians.

Meanwhile, the ring around Kazan was increasingly compressed, and there was a great danger of breaking through the defenses at the main Kazan gates - Khansky and Arsky. The wall between them exploded, but the defenders quickly eliminated the gap in the fortifications. On September 5, an underground passage leading to the only remaining spring with clean water was blown up under the Muraleev Tower. The besieged were forced to take water from the “filthy” lakes, as a result of which an epidemic began among some of the townspeople. On September 30, the Russians staged another explosion at the Arsky Gate, but the Kazan residents again did not allow them into the city. The envoys of Grozny turned to the besieged with a demand to surrender, but received a decisive refusal. The Tatars vowed to defend their city, their land to the last drop of blood.

A general attack on Kazan was scheduled for October 2. The day before we carried out a strong artillery barrage. No one slept that night: the Kazan people were preparing for the last, decisive battle with the enemy, the Russians took up their offensive positions, awaiting the general signal to attack. And before dawn, two powerful explosions simultaneously occurred at the Atalykov and Nogai Gates - in total, 48 large barrels of gunpowder were planted there. Two huge breakthroughs appeared in the city fortifications, which were no longer possible to restore, and through them a horde of Russian soldiers rushed into the city. A terrible battle began. However, the numerical superiority was clearly on the side of the enemy and he increasingly began to push back the besieged.

But here the victory almost tilted in favor of the Tatars: the Muscovites began to rob houses, cages, barns, and real looting began. Seeing all this and experiencing a powerful surge of strength, the Tatars attacked the enemy. With a cry of “flogged, flogged!” (as reported in the chronicles) the Russians began to flee. However, Ivan the Terrible brought his 20,000-strong reserve into battle, and, moreover, taking the “sacred” banner in his hands, he himself stood at the Khan’s Gate, inspiring his falcons to fight for the “sacred” cause. Fresh Russian force began to push the Tatars towards the Kremlin.

The last battle took place here. The defenders of the city were led by Yadiger Khan and Kul Sharif, the head of all Muslims in the country. Seid heroically fell in battle, and by noon Yadiger was captured. The very last stronghold of the Kazan people was the “Tsar’s Dvor”, where up to 10 thousand surviving Tatar warriors gathered. Suddenly the women from the Khan's palace stepped forward, but the enemies did not spare them either. The last 6 thousand Tatars broke through from the fortress to Kazanka, but met with new forces from Kurbsky’s formation. Only a small part of Kazan residents were able to cross the Kazanka and go into the forests.

A massacre began in the city. Russian sources (Royal Book, Nikon and other chronicles, “Kazan History”) report that the men were killed, and the women and children were distributed to Russian soldiers. Tatar blood flowed like a river; it was difficult to get through the many corpses lying around. The banks of the Kazanka River under the Kremlin, pits, ravines, and ditches of defensive fortifications were filled with them; In some places their heaps reached the height of the city walls. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Ivan the Terrible rode into the city on horseback, for which they had difficulty clearing a passage only a hundred steps long from the Muraleev Gate to the Khan's palace. Kazan fell, the Kazan Khanate ceased to exist. The last Kazan khan, Yadiger, was taken to Moscow and baptized under the name of Simeon. The government and army were destroyed, all government structures were liquidated. The Moscow governor Gorbaty-Shuisky was appointed to govern Kazan. However, the Tatars and other peoples of the Kazan Khanate did not stop fighting for their independence, although it had now acquired a spontaneous character - a form of popular struggle. Zakazanie, the Mountain Side and the Mari region were engulfed in uprisings, the general leadership of which was taken into the hands of Prince Mamysh-Berdi. He chose as his headquarters the well-fortified town of Chalymsky on the high left bank of the Volga on Mari land. A fortress also appeared on the Arsk side, in the upper reaches of the Mesha River.

The rebels initially achieved significant success - they defeated and destroyed government troops sent against them from Kazan and Sviyazhsk. From Saraichik they invited Ali-Akram, Syuyumbike's brother, to become khan. His father, Prince Yusuf, known to us, gathered a 100,000-strong army to help the Kazan people, but the head of the Nogai principality Ismail intervened, bribed before the conquest of the Kazan Khanate by the Moscow government in order to eliminate the Kazan-Nogai coalition. Ismail threatened Yusuf with war, and the help of the Nogais, which together with the Kazan people themselves could have restored the Kazan Khanate, did not materialize.

Meanwhile, Moscow began punitive actions against the rebels. Throughout the summer of 1553, military units led by Adashev, Mikulinsky, Sheremetyev, Morozov, Kurbsky walked along the banks of the Volga, Kama, Vyatka and Sviyaga, leaving a bloody trail in the Kazan events of 1552. These troops captured and killed Tatars, Mari, Chuvash, robbed and burned villages, and generally terrorized the population of the entire Kazan land. As the famous Russian historian S. M. Solovyov later noted, only in the winter of 1554 the punitive forces “terribly devastated the entire country, they walked 250 miles up the Kama River, captured 6,000 men, 15,000 women and children.”

The people's war during 1554 - 1555 went on with varying success. However, later Mstislavsky’s detachment caused new devastation, capturing and executing thousands of people. In the spring of 1556, Morozov’s army surrounded the Chalymsky town and repeated the Kazan version of the blasting operations of 1552 there. The fortress fell, Ali-Akram was killed, and Mamysh-Berdi, under heavy escort, was sent to Moscow and executed there. The Kazan Khanate, restored to some extent, was completely liquidated. But the people's war for freedom and independence did not stop.

Now we will try to briefly list the main reasons for the defeat of the Tatars in 1552:

1. The presence of an enemy of the Kazan Khanate in the person of the Russian state, whose general aggressive policy took the form of expansionist, wars of conquest in the east from the 40s of the 16th century with the extremely hostile attitude of the militant church towards the Muslim Tatars (“Basurmans”, “Antichrists”, “ wicked”, “filthy”, “Tatarva”, “Kazan abomination”, etc.).

2. The absence of the militia army of the Kazan Khanate, i.e. the army of the entire country, the general mobilization of which became impossible after the emergence of the Sviyazhsk fortress with the simultaneous rejection of the western half of the state and the blocking of the main water and land roads of the entire Kazan land, which ultimately led to the isolation of the capital states.

3. The liquidation of the artillery arsenal of Kazan at the decisive moment in the defense of the city and the Khanate, carried out on the orders of the tsarist government.

4. Lack of unity among the Tatars themselves, especially in the country's leadership, during the crucial period of protecting the integrity of the state in the late 40s - early 50s. The anti-people, anti-state policy of Shah-Ali, Kel-Ahmed, the Nogai prince Ismail, and other traitors, created and constantly supported by the government of Ivan the Terrible and the bodies of autocratic church ideology.

5. Active diplomatic and other work by Moscow in order to prevent the creation of the Kazan-Nogai, Kazan-Crimean and Kazan-Siberian coalitions in the common struggle against invasion from the West. The weakness of Kazan diplomacy in this regard, in search of new allies both outside the state and within the country. Insufficient activity of even some famous statesmen (Bulat and Nurali Shirin, Gauharshad, Boyurgan, Chura Narykov, Kuchak, etc.) in creating the unity of political and social forces, lack of cohesion in the work of the khan’s apparatus and government.

§ 48. Brief history of other Tatar khanates

The largest late medieval Tatar state was Crimean Khanate. Even before the separation of the Crimean Khanate proper in the disintegrating Golden Horde, there was a struggle for power between Ulu-Muhammad, who owned Sarai with the adjacent Volga lands, and Davlet-Berdi, with the region of the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea lands. Ulu-Muhammad won, but he had another opponent - Kichi-Muhammad, who managed to force his eldest namesake to leave to the north. Kichi-Muhammad achieved significant success in public administration as a khan, but not of the Golden Horde, which had completely disintegrated by that time, but of its direct successor, the Great (Great) Horde, with Crimea subjugated to it. He expelled from there his long-time rival Seyid-Ahmed, who seized power in Crimea after Davlet-Berdi, but a new enemy appeared - Hadji-Girey, the son of the former Golden Horde khan Gias ad-din, who back in 1434 tried to secure Crimea for himself, but failed and went to Lithuania.

And now Hadji Giray appeared on the historical stage again. He was supported by the feudal aristocracy of the noblest families of Crimea and the entire Golden Horde, the Shirins, Baryns, Argyns, and Kipchaks, who sought to transform Tavria (Crimea) into an independent state. This recently powerful economic region of Central Eurasia, which played a huge role in the system of major international trade, although it began to lose its former power during the collapse of the Golden Horde, still remained a solid economic base with large cities. The Tatar aristocracy of Crimea was in turn supported by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir, and Hadji Giray sat on the Tauride throne in 1443. From this time on, the existence of the Crimean Khanate began as an independent state.

Hadji Giray ruled the Crimean Khanate until his death in 1446, and the period of his reign was the time of the emergence and formation of a new late medieval Tatar state in the west. He founded the Girey dynasty (it would be more accurate to say: the Giray clan of the Jochid dynasty) as the only and stable dynasty of the Tatar khanates. She ruled Crimea until its annexation by the Russian state in 1783, i.e. for 340 years. It was the longest-lasting state among all the Tatar khanates. After Hadji-Girey, his eldest son Nur-Davlet received the throne, but he remained khan for only two years and in 1468 was removed by his brother Mengli-Girey. The latter's reign turned out to be the longest - about 45 years with breaks between 1468 and 1475 and continuously from 1475 to 1515 - and Mengli-Girey became one of the most powerful khans not only of Crimea, but of the entire Tatar world.

The initial period of Mengli-Girey's reign, until 1475, was unsuccessful for him: he had quite a lot of brothers and other relatives, who led the fight against him. Haidar, who led this strife, forced him to leave the throne, and Mengli-Girey was forced to seek refuge with the Genoese. Taking advantage of internal strife, Christians then took power over Kaffa, Mangup and other southern Crimean cities.

Turkey decided to intervene in this matter, and its Sultan Muhammad II in 1475 sent his vizier Keduk Ahmed Pasha with a large army to the Crimea. The Turks quickly captured these cities, captured the Christian rulers and sent them to Constantinople (Istanbul). Among the prisoners was Mengli-Girey, who was at that time in Caffa under the protection of the Italians. The Sultan ordered the execution of all Crimeans, but at the last moment he spared the life of the young Khan, showing him high honor. The Crimean patron of Mengli-Girey, the great emir Emenek-bek, interceded for his protégé with the Sultan, and Mengli-Girey with all honors, accompanied by troops, was sent to Crimea. He was received with the same honor in his homeland and placed on the throne for the second time... The Arab author of the 16th century, al-Jannabi, who conveyed this story, called Mengli-Girey one of the best sovereigns of the Turkic world.

Having regained the khan's throne with the help of the Ottoman Sultan, Mengli Giray had to recognize Turkish patronage over himself and the Turkish protectorate over the country. However, this did not prevent him from drawing up an agreement with Ivan III. Undoubtedly, he maintained very close relations with the Kazan Khanate, in this he was helped by his wife, the former Kazan queen Nur-Saltan, already well known to us. In general, Mengli-Girey was an experienced politician and his long, stable rule of Crimea played a very positive role in the political and economic life of the country.

Naturally, like many major rulers, Mengli-Girey, in order to strengthen his state, used all possible means of political struggle. In 1502, he defeated the Great Horde, the enmity between which and the Crimea had been going on since the initial period of the reigns of Kichi-Muhammad and Hadji-Girey. Mengli annexed most of its territory to his state, and it was after this that the number of Tatars in the Crimean Khanate increased greatly, far surpassing the Genoese, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Goths, etc. who lived there.

Mengli-Girey pursued an energetic domestic and foreign policy, developed the country's economy, paid a lot of attention to construction, and founded new cities. Under him, the capital of the Khanate was moved from Iski-Crimea to Bakhchisarai, built under Hadji Giray. The Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai has almost completely survived to this day. The palace itself with the Jami (Cathedral) Mosque, the Golden Cabinet of the Khans, the Coffee Room, the Fruit Pavilion, the Falcon Tower, the “Fountain of Tears”, glorified by A. S. Pushkin, and other equally interesting objects still amaze today with their magnificent architectural design, aesthetically decorated interiors of halls and chambers, medieval mystery...

Famous ancient and medieval cities continued to exist in Crimea, which are known to us from the previous chapter: Su-Dag (Sudak, Soldaya), Kherson (Sary-Kirman), Mangup (Gotia), Kefe (Kaffa), Balaklava (Chembalo), Iski- Crimea (Sol-khat), Chufut-Kala (Kyryk-Er). New ones arose, among them the named Bakhchisarai, Gezlev (Evpatoria), Ak-Mosque, or Soltan-Saray (Simferopol), Or-Kapusy (Ditch Gate - Perekop), Yangi-Kala (New City), the former, but greatly changed Yalita ( Yalta), etc. Crimea has been a land of high urban culture since antiquity, and it remained so during the periods of the Golden Horde and the Crimean Khanate. Professor Thunmann of the Gallic University in Saxony, who had a wealth of information about the Crimean Khanate and who himself visited it in the mid-70s of the 18th century, i.e. in the last period of the existence of the state, recorded 48 districts there, headed by cities and large settlements, separately 9 cities and 1399 villages (this is much more than in the Kazan Khanate).

All these cities, villages and nomadic camps occupied a large territory. In addition to the Crimea itself, the Khanate included: the vast Dnieper and Bug steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, fenced from the north by Russian and Polish-Lithuanian possessions; the western lands between the Dniester and the Danube called Budzhak (Bessarabia) - this is the westernmost region of the former Golden Horde; eastern lands in the Kuban basin, including the Taman Peninsula, led by the city of Taman (formerly Tamatarkha) and a number of other medieval cities and fortresses, many of which also continued to exist since the period of antiquity.

All these ancient, rich lands belonged to the Crimean Khanate. If in the south, on the Crimean peninsula, especially in its coastal part, there were the largest port cities, centers of large maritime and caravan trade, centers of craft and urban civilization, the northern zone was mainly occupied by the steppe. In medieval Arab geography, according to tradition, it was also called Dasht-i-Kipchak, or simply Dasht (Steppe). The soil of these lands, according to eyewitness reports, was one of the most fertile, where grass grew taller than human height, and the whole air was saturated with a pleasant smell. Countless steppe animals lived there, among which you could even find herds of wild horses.

This steppe zone of the Khanate in Crimea itself was called Nogai and consisted of two parts: Eastern Nogai in the Dnieper region and Western Nogai in the area between the Bug and Dniester rivers. Thunmann says that the steppe Tatars “are called Nogai after the famous commander of the same name, who founded his own, but short-lived state in these places at the end of the thirteenth century.” This story is known to students from the initial period of the Golden Horde, when Temnik Nogai tried to separate the western lands from the Ulus of Jochi, but was defeated in a battle with Khan Toktay. And in Western European geographical maps of the 16th - 17th centuries, this entire steppe, and further east to Yaik, including the Nogai Horde, was called Tartary - the words “Tatars” and “Tataria” in the west were also written with an “r” in the middle.

The steppe Tatars were engaged in cattle breeding (they raised horses, large and small cattle, camels), agriculture (they sowed millet, barley, buckwheat), hunting and trade - they sold bread, honey, wax, wool, furs and skins of wild and domestic animals to the south and some other goods. They lived in durable steppe yurts and dwellings; in appearance they were somewhat different from the southern Tatars with an admixture of Mongoloid features. They were Sunni Muslims by religion, but they also retained many pagan rituals.

Sunnis- the most numerous followers of the teachings of Islam. Their main difference from the Shiites, followers of the second, less widespread school, is their non-recognition of the possibility of mediation between Allah and people after the death of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. There are a number of other differences between Sunnis and Shiites: in the resolution of legal issues, in the nature of holidays, in the details of prayer and ritual. Among the main signs of belonging to Sunnism is, for example, recognition of the legitimacy of all four first caliphs - Abu Bekr, Omar, Osman and Ali (Shiites recognize only Ali). About 80% of all Muslims in the world, including Tatars, are Sunnis (Iranians, Iraqis and Azerbaijanis are Shiites).

According to the German traveler N. Kleemann, who visited Crimea in the late 1760s, there were 500,000 Tatars in Eastern Nogai (400,000 lived on the Crimean peninsula). Unfortunately, there is no exact information about their numbers in other territories - only about the Tatars of the Burjuk side it is said that they can field up to 40,000 soldiers (in terms of population, this is 200,000). This is already more than a million, but taking into account the population of Western Nogai and the densely populated Kuban with the Taman Peninsula, the total number of Crimean Tatars could then be about two million.

The head of state was the khan, who had a divan (council) of representatives of the highest titled nobility. Among them, the most influential, both in the former Golden Horde and in other Tatar khanates, were the Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak clans (in Crimea, Argyn and Kipchak later fell out and the Mansur clans appeared from the Mangyt and Suchuvud tribe). The most powerful was the Shirin clan, which kept its special residence in Iski-Crimea; At the State Council, the opinion of the Shirin Bek carried the greatest weight; sometimes his word meant more than the word of the khan himself.

Here, as well as in the Golden Horde, there was the position of bekleri-bek, but, unlike the previous Persian form, he was called in Tatar: bekler beg, i.e. the same prince of princes, grand duke. The highest feudal level was called “kyrym bekleri” (Crimean princes); these were, in essence, ulus emirs, heads of districts. The rank below were the murzas (nobles) - the children of princes. The prince of the blood of the Girey family, that is, the prince, was called the sultan.

Of the highest government positions, in addition to bekler beg, there were: kalga-sultan - in the role of commander of the entire army; kaymakan - the khan's viceroy in his absence; The mufti is the head of all Muslims in the country and the leader of the qadis, i.e. judges who decided cases on the basis of Sharia law. As you can see, in the feudal hierarchy, in the system of government positions, there are similarities with other Tatar khanates and the former Golden Horde, at the same time new titles and terms appeared.

The army of the Crimean Khanate was also a militia. This is clearly seen from the words of the aforementioned Thunmann: "Every Tatar is a soldier(i.e. liable for military service). The Khan only needs to indicate the gathering place, and they come from all directions." He goes on to say that “it is difficult to find lighter cavalry than the Crimean Tatar.” The combat effectiveness of the Crimean army is well known. So, in 1687 and 1689 they defeated the Russian army when it twice marched on the Crimea; the second time it had a strength of 150 thousand people. Such a major defeat for the Russians was the reason for the resignation of the government of Prince Golitsyn. The Crimeans also fought bravely in the Russian-Turkish War of 1768 - 1774.

The reason for the forced annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian state in 1783 is not the military weakness of Crimea, but the so-called. The Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty, drawn up in 1774 between Russia and Turkey after the above-mentioned war. Türkiye was then defeated and practically gave up Crimea, its vassal, to Russia.

Small Kasimov Khanate was formed as a buffer principality between Moscow and Kazan in 1452, when the second son of Ulu-Muhammad Kasim received from the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily II as a reward for his military service the Meshchersky town on the Oka River, which was later renamed in his honor to the city of Kasimov. In essence, the Khanate was created by Moscow as a stronghold for the fight against Kazan, and it was not for nothing that the Moscow rulers later appointed as khans in Kazan some of the princes they liked from Meshchera, for example, Shah-Ali, Jan-Ali. Kasimov itself did not have any dynasty of rulers of its own; khans, who often had no relationship with each other, were simply appointed by the “center.”

Kasimov, as a Meshchera (Mishar) town, had previously been inhabited by people from the Golden Horde - the “Gorodetsky” Tatars, who were joined by the Tatars from Kaeim’s army, who came to him as part of the army of his father Ulu-Muhammad after his death in 1445. The urban population - mostly serving Tatars - were in the service of the Russian state; some were engaged in trade and crafts. After the liquidation of the Khanate in 1681, the rural agricultural population was assigned to the category of state peasants.

The descendants of the population of the Kasimov Khanate - modern Kasimov Tatars - live in the old, Tatar part of the city of Kasimov, Ryazan region and in nearby villages. They speak the so-called the middle, i.e., Kazan-Tatar dialect of the Tatar language with a significant admixture of Mishar words; They profess Islam and have a common Tatar material and spiritual culture with individual local characteristics. Monuments of monumental architecture from the period of the Kasimov Khanate are the Minaret of the Khan's mosque of the 15th century located on the territory of the city of Kasimov (the mosque itself and the remains of the nearby Khan's palace were destroyed in the 18th century; then a new mosque was built on the site of the old one, next to the minaret); Mausoleum of Shah Ali with the gravestones of the khan himself preserved inside. and his associates, 16th century; Mausoleum of Avgan-bek, 17th century.

Khanate of Siberia was founded in 1429 under Mahmutek, the son of Hadji Muhammad from the dynasty, or rather, the Shaybanid clan of the Golden Horde Jochids dynasty. Shaiban was the brother of Batu Khan, who allocated him an ulus in Western Siberia between the Urals and the Irtysh - in this territory the Siberian Khanate arose. If earlier the Tatars of this ulus were engaged in cattle breeding and taiga hunting in the northern forest zone, then the period of the Khanate is characterized by the spread of agriculture and urban culture. Known, for example, are the ancient city of Isker (Iski-Yir, i.e. Old Land in the sense of the old city), the capital Chingi-Tura (later Tyumen) and Kashlyk, as well as Tabul (Tobolsk), Tontur, Kasim-Tura and others. Data from archaeological research and the ruins of medieval buildings that survived until the last century indicate the presence of stone architecture, various types of crafts, and jewelry in the cities. There was international trade with the West (Kazan Khanate, Rus') and the East (all the way to China). The main exports of such trade were expensive furs and fur coats.

After the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, the turn came to Siberia. Ivan the Terrible entrusted this mission to the Cossack ataman Ermak, who was once outlawed by the Tsar himself: Ermak sent the gold he had looted from the Urals to the Tsar, and was forgiven. Moreover, Grozny sent him, at his request, large reinforcements, and the conquest of Siberia began. The last Siberian Khan Kuchum led a long and grueling struggle to preserve his state. Ermak died in the war with the Tatars, but the attack on Siberia continued with renewed vigor. Kuchum was defeated in 1598 in the last war with Russian governors. The Siberian Khanate was conquered, and, as K. Marx correctly noted later, “thus the foundation of Asian Russia was laid.”

Siberian Tatars live in their historical homeland - Western Siberia: in the Tyumen, Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions. They speak the East Siberian dialect of the Tatar language and are Muslim by religion; are divided into three ethno-territorial groups - Tobolsk, Barabinsk and Tomsk, with slight differences in culture and language.

Khanate of Astrakhan formed in 1459 by Mahmud, the eldest son of Kichi-Muhammad, who laid the foundation for the local dynasty of rulers of the new Tatar state on the Lower Volga. The territory was sparsely populated; the main occupations of the population were nomadic cattle breeding, as well as melon growing, fishing and hunting. The only city and capital of the Khanate was Astrakhan - a former Golden Horde city called Khajitarkhan with the right to mint Jochid coins. Located at the confluence of the Volga and the Caspian Sea, Astrakhan was a major center of transit international trade and was famous as the “great Tatar market place.”

The foreign policy of the Khanate depended initially on the Great Horde, later on the Nogai Horde and the Crimean Khanate. After the conquest of Kazan, in 1554, the Russian army occupied Astrakhan, displacing Khan Yamgurchey and placing Dervish-Ali on the throne as a vassal of Ivan the Terrible. Dervish-Ali in 1556 tried to leave the subordination of Moscow, the Russians repeated the campaign and finally conquered the Khanate.

Now on the territory of the former Astrakhan Khanate, along with other peoples, the Astrakhan Tatars, direct descendants of the population of the former Khanate, live. Their language is very close to the language of the Middle Volga Tatars with elements of the modern Nogai language, their religion is Islam, they are divided into small groups of Yurt, Kundra and Karagash Tatars.

Nogai Horde how an independent principality began to stand out from the Golden Horde even under Idegei at the turn of the 14th - 15th centuries; finally took shape under his successor, his youngest son Nuretdin in 1420 - 1430. It occupied a vast territory of nomadic steppes from the Volga to the Irtysh south of the Kazan and Siberian Khanates. The main population were Nogai Tatars from the Mangyt and Kungrat clans, as well as some other related tribes who were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, primarily horse breeding, as well as handicraft production, trade, and partly agriculture. The capital was the city of Saraichik - the former Golden Horde center, located in the lower reaches of the Yaik River and was a major trading point on the caravan route from Central Asia to the Crimea and to the centers of other Tatar khanates.

After the fall of Kazan and Astrakhan, the Nogai Horde split into several uluses. Their population migrated to the North Caucasus and later submitted to the Russian state. Currently they live in the North Caucasus, calling themselves Nogais, but for a long time they retained the ethnonym “Tatars” (Nogai Tatars), as the self-name of the population of the former Tatar principality. There were very close ethnopolitical and cultural ties between the Nogai Horde and almost all the Tatar khanates. The Nogai Tatars of the 15th - 16th centuries were the most important component in the formation of the Kazan, Crimean and Astrakhan Tatars. From the Nogai Horde came the national heroes of the Tatar people Idegei and Syuyumbike, the famous Kazan and Crimean queen Nur-Saltan.

Great Horde, also known as the Great, was formed as the direct successor of the Golden Horde in 1433 under the known Kichi-Muhammad and Seid-Ahmed. The struggle between them ended in the victory of Kichi-Muhammad, who is considered the founder of the Great Horde. It was a large nomadic state located on the vast steppes between the Volga and Dnieper, but the residence of its khans, especially in winter, was in the city of Azak. The Italian Josephat Barbaro, living in this city until 1452, wrote mainly about the Tatars of the Great Horde.

The state strengthened significantly during the reign of Akhmat (1459 - 1480), the son of Kichi-Muhammad and brother of the founder of the Astrakhan Khanate, Mahmud. Having an army of 100,000, Akhmat made an attempt to restore the former power of the Tatars over Moscow: in 1476, he sent a message to Ivan III demanding the payment of an annual tribute, but was refused, although the Grand Duke two years earlier recognized himself as a vassal of the khan and promised to pay tribute . In 1480, the troops of the parties met on the Ugra, a tributary of the Oka (according to Russian chronicles, “The Great Stand on the Ugra”). The Tatar cavalry, having unsuccessfully attempted to cross the river, retreated into the steppe.

The Great Horde existed until 1502, when Mengli-Girey dealt the final blow to it, annexing its main population and western lands to the Crimea. The rest of the Greater Horde Tatars became part of the population of the Astrakhan Khanate and the Nogai Horde.