2022, vol. 10, no. 2. Wilson J.

2022, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 332-343

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2022-10-2.332-343

   NOGAI THE KHANMAKER: A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL PROBLEM

J. Wilson
Central European University
Vienna, Austria
wilson.jack.r@gmail.com

Abstract: Research objectives: Nogai, a great-grandson of Jochi, is most commonly known as the all-mighty kingmaker of the late thirteenth century Gol­den Horde, who in scholarship is portrayed as appointing and deposing khans at will and establishing an independent khanate on the lower Danube. However, the author argues that this is a portrayal with little basis in the primary source materials, and instead largely a creation of the secondary literature. The present article sets out to trace its development in the secondary literature from the nineteenth century onwards.
Research materials: Briefly noting the portrayal of Nogai’s role in the relevant primary sources – the Rus’ chronicles, Mamluk historians, Rashīd al-Dīn and Marco Polo – then notes the contrast in the most prominent secondary literature on the Golden Horde of the last century, including d’Ohsson, Veselovskij, Vernadsky, Spuler through to Vásáry and Favereau.
Research results and novelty: Much of the basis for the modern idea of Nogai the Khanmaker owes to Veselovskij’s 1922 biography of Nogai, built upon by the influential histories on the Golden Horde by Vernadsky and Spuler. Later scholars have combined these accounts, exaggerating claims of his prominence with each succeeding generation and accepting, unquestioned, Nogai’s modern status as the near-total master of the Jochid ulus.

Keywords: Nogai, Golden Horde, Möngke-Temür, Töde-Möngke, Tele-Buqa, Toqta, historiography, Veselovskij, Vernadsky

For citation: Wilson J. Nogai the Khanmaker: A Historiographical Problem. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2022, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 332–343. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2022-10-2.332-343

REFERENCES

  1. Broadbridge A.F. Careers in diplomacy among Mamluks and Mongols, 658–741/1260–1341. Mamluk Cairo: A Crossroads for Embassies: Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics. Bauden F., Dekkiche M. (eds). Boston: Brill, 2019, pp. 263–301.
  2. Chambers J. The Devil’s Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe. London: Cassel Publishers, 1988. 190 p.
  3. Ciocîltan V. The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Willcocks S. (tr.). Leiden: Brill, 2012. 321 p.
  4. Curta F. Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500–1300). Boston: Brill, 2019. 1356 p.
  5. The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016–1471. Michell R., Forbes N. (tr.). London: Camden Society, 1914. 237 p.
  6. De Clavijo, Ruy González. Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406. Le Strange G. (tr.). London: Routledge, 2006. 211 p.
  7. DeWeese D. Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994. 638 p.
  8. Favereau M. The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World. London: Belknap Press, 2021. 377 p.
  9. Georges Pachymérès. Relations historiques. Part 1. Lives I-III. Failler A. (ed.), Laurent V. (tr.). Paris: Société d’éition ‘Les Belles Lettres,’ 1984. 325 p. (In French)
  10. Grousset R. L’empire des steppes. 4th edition. Paris: Payot, 1965. 651 p. (In French).
  11. Halperin Ch. The Tatar Yoke: The Image of the Mongols in Medieval Russia. 2nd edition. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2009. 239 p.
  12. Hodong K. The early history of the Moghul nomads: The Legacy of the Chagatai Khanate. The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy. Amitai-Preiss R., Morgan D.O. (eds). Leiden: Brill, 1999, pp. 290–318.
  13. Howorth H.H. History of the Mongols: From the ninth to the nineteenth century, Part 2: The So-Called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1888. 1097 p.
  14. The Hypatian Codex II: The Galician-Volynian Chronicle. Perfecky G.A. (tr.). Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1973. 159 p.
  15. Jackson P. The Mongols and the West: 1221–1410. Second edition. New York: Routledge, 2018. 425 p.
  16. Jackson P. The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017. 614 p.
  17. Kovács S. The Franciscans and Yaylaq Khatun. Acta Orientalia Vilnensia. 2016, no. 13, pp. 45–59.
  18. Manz B.F. Temür and the early Timurids to c. 1450. The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age. Di Cosmo N., Frank A.J., Golden P.B. (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 182–198.
  19. Martin J. Medieval Russia: 980–1584. 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 507 p.
  20. May T. The Mongol Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018. 416 p.
  21. McLynn F. Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy. Boston: First da Capo Press, 2015. 646 p.
  22. The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Court of the Great Khan Möngke, 1253–1255. Jackson P. (tr.), Morgan D. (ed.). London: The Hakluyt Society, 1990. 312 p.
  23. Mirgaleyev I. Attempts to restore the Golden Horde at the end of the 14th – beginning of the 15th century. The Golden Horde in World History: A Multi-Authored Monograph. Khakimov R., Favereau M. (eds). Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2017, pp. 693–699.
  24. Mirgaleyev I. The Time of Troubles in the 1360s and 1370s. The Golden Horde in World History: A Multi-Authored Monograph. Khakimov R., Favereau M. (eds). Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2017, pp. 689–693.
  25. The Nikonian Chronicle. Zenkovsky S.A., Zenkovsky B.J. (tr.). Princeton, NJ: The Kingston Press, 1986. Vol. 3. 305 p.
  26. d’Ohsson A. Histoire des Mongols depuis Tchinguis-Khan jusqu’à Timour ou Tamerlan. Volume 5. The Hague; Amsterdam: Les Frères Van Cleef, 1834–1835. 774 p. (In French).
  27. Pochekaev R. First rulers of the Ulus of Jochi. The Golden Horde in World History: A Multi-Authored Monograph. Khakimov R., Favereau M. (eds). Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2017, pp. 220–238.
  28. Polo, Marco. The Description of the World. Moule A.C., Pelliot P. (eds and tr.). London: George Routledge & Sons Limited, 1938. 595 p.
  29. Rashīd al-Dīn. The Successors of Genghis Khan. Boyle J.A. (tr.). New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. 372 p.
  30. Rashiduddin Fazlullah. Jami‘ u’t-tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles: A History of the Mongols. Thackston W.M. (tr.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1998. 811 p.
  31. Reva R. Struggle for power in the first half of the 15th century. The Golden Horde in World History: A Multi-Authored Monograph. Khakimov R., Favereau M. (eds). Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2017, pp. 699–723.
  32. Sbornik materialov, otnosyashchikhsya k istorii Zolotoy Ordy [Collection of Materials Related to the History of the Golden Horde]. Tiesenhausen V. (ed.). Almaty: Dayke Press, 2005. Vol. 1. 706 p. (In Russian).
  33. Spuler B. Die Goldene Horde: Die Mongolen in Rußland, 1223–1502. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowtiz, 1965. 638 p. (In German).
  34. Tanase T. Le ‘Khan’ Nogaï et la géopolitique de la mer Noire en 1287 à travers un document missionnaire: la Lettre de Ladislas, Custode de Gazarie. Annuario dell’Istituto romeno de cultura e ricerca umanistica di Venezia. 2004–2005, no. 6–7, pp. 267–303. (In French)
  35. Trepavlov V. The Manghit Yurt (the Nogai Horde). The Golden Horde in World History: A Multi-Authored Monograph. Khakimov R., Favereau M. (eds). Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2017, pp. 828–837.
  36. Uzelac A. An Empire within an Empire? Ethnic and religious realities in the lands of Nogai (c.1270–1300). Chronica: Annual of the Institute of History. 2018, no. 18, pp. 271–283.
  37. Uzelac A. Pod senkom Psa – Tatari i južnoslovenske zemlje u drugoj polovini XIII veka [Under the Shadow of the Dog: Tatars and South Slavic Lands in the second half of the thirteenth century]. Belgrade: Utopia, 2015. 321 p. (In Serbian).
  38. Vásáry I. The Jochid Realm: The Western Steppe and Eastern Europe. The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age. Di Cosmo N., Frank A.J., Golden P.B. (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 67–85
  39. Vásáry I. Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 230 p.
  40. Vernadsky G. The Mongols and Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. 462 p.
  41. Veselovskij N. Khan iz temnikov Zolotoy Ordy: Nogay i yego vremya. [Khan from the temniks of the Golden Horde: Nogai and His Time]. Petrograd: Russian Academy of Sciences, 1922. 58 p. (In Russian).
  42. Zimonyi I. The Volga Bulghars between wind and water (1220–1236). Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 1992/3, vol. 46, no. 2/3, pp. 347–355.
  43. Zimonyi I. The first Mongol raid against the Volga Bulgars. Altaistic Studies. Papers at the 25th Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference at Uppsala. Jarring G., Rosén S. (eds). Stockholm, 1985, pp. 197–204.

About the author: Jack Wilson – MA (Medieval Studies), Central European University (Quellenstrasse 51 | A-1100 Vienna, Austria); KNG Productions (A52-108 Finch Avenue West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada). ORCID: 0000-0001-9601-376X. E-mail: wilson.jack.r@gmail.com

Received March 16, 2022   Accepted for publication  May 25, 2022
Published Online  June 29, 2022