2016. Vol. 4, no. 4. Zaynuddinov D.R.

2016. Vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 767-778

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2016-4-4.767-778

 

BIOGRAPHICAL COMPILATION BY AS-SAFADI SALAH AL-DIN
AS A SOURCE OF THE GOLDEN HORDE HISTORY

D.R. Zaynuddinov
Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences
Kazan 420014, Russian Federation
E-mail: abu-hanifanur@yandex.ru

Publication and translation into Russian of extracts of sources on the Golden Horde history remains topical issue of contemporary source studies.
Research objective: to introduce into academic circulation materials on the Golden Horde history from a previously unknown medieval Arab source.
Research materials: Biographical Collection Aʿyān al-ʿAṣrwa-Aʿwān al-Naṣr (Outstanding personalities of this century, and the champions of victory) belonging to the pen of the Mamluk historian al-Safadi, Salah al-Din (696 AH / 1297 – 764 GH./1363).
Results and novelty of the research: The work was written by the author in Egypt and Syria in the second half of the 14th century, that is, during the heyday of the Golden Horde. It was first published in 1998 in Beirut in six volumes, the latter being composed of indexes. The amount of volume ranges from 685 (Volume 4) to 736 (Vol.1) pages, which makes a total of 3578 pages (without indexes). The novelty of the paper consists in the fact that it introduces for the first time into scholarly circulation Russian translation of biographies of the Golden Horde khans Tokhta and Uzbek, of the Mamluk physician al-Numan, of amir Kusun and Sultan al-Nasir. The article also contains an analysis of the collection as well as translation of certain sections of the work related to the history of Dasht-i Kipchak, together with brief comments. In conclusion, I would like to note that the introduction into the scholarly circulation of Salah al-Din al-Safadi’s biographical collection Aʿyān al-ʿAṣrwa-Aʿwān al-Naṣr will provide a lot of useful information and help to clarify the available data on the history of the Golden Horde.

Keywords: Safad, Cairo, Tabriz, Tiesenhausen, Sarai, poetry, prose, biography, Hulaguids, Jochids, sources base, Yasa, Tokhta, khan Uzbek, Abu Said, Sufis, physician al-Numan, son of Davlatshah, medicine, Sultan al-Nasir, amirs Kusun and Susun.

For citation: Zaynuddinov D.R. Biographical Compilation by as-Safadi Salah al-Din as a Source of the Golden Horde History. Golden Horde Review. 2016. Vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 767–778. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2016-4-4.767-778

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About the author: Damirdzhan R. Zainuddinov – post-graduate student, Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (5 entrance, Kremlin, Kazan 420014, Russian Federation). E-mail: abu-hanifanur@yandex.ru

Received September 8, 2016
Accepted for publication November 26, 2016
Published online December 20, 2016