2024, vol. 12, no. 2. Penskoy V.V., Penskaya Т.М.

2024, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 414-434

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2024-12-2.414-434

EDN: https://elibrary.ru/KPJRUQ

   CRIMEAN IMPERIAL “PROJECT” IN THE 1st THIRD OF THE 16th CENTURY:
A “WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY” OPEN AND CLOSE*

V.V. Penskoy *, T.M. Penskaya
Belgorod National Research University
Belgorod, Russian Federation
* penskoy@bsu.edu.ru

Abstract. The purpose of the study: To analyze the development of political relations in Eastern Europe during the 16th century, to identify and characterize the main and most notable features of the evolution of the Eastern European political system at that time, to identify the main trends and periods in this process and the factors that determined its course and direction.
Research materials: The messages from chronicles, diplomatic documentation (primarily embassy books and correspondence), historical materials, and interpretations contained in historical research.
Results and scientific novelty of the study: In domestic historiography, it is traditional to consider interstate relations in Eastern Europe in the “long 16th century” mainly in pairs Moscow-Bakhchisaray, Moscow-Vilno, and Vilno-Bakhchisaray. Only rarely are these relationships presented as a system. However, studying these relations precisely as an integral political system, as a kind of “Great Game,” allows us to look at these events from a different perspective. In this “game”, each of its participants in this “trio” sought to implement imperial projects facing the past. Bakhchisarai wanted to restore the Horde empire under its auspices, Moscow sought to regain the “legacy of Yaroslav the Wise,” and Lithuania wanted to preserve what was left of the “legacy of Vytautas.”
Analysis of documents and materials allows us to assert that in its development, this “Great Game” went through three stages: first half of the 1500s to 1523; late 1530s to early 1550s; and second half of 1550s to the late 1570s. This division is determined by the “windows of opportunity” that opened up for Bakhchisarai on the way to realizing its imperial plan. Why is Crimea taken as a starting point? The authors proceed from the fact that if it was successful, the political situation in the region would radically change since the universalist claims of the Crimean “kings” did not leave room for preserving any significant political subjectivity of the other two members of the “trio.” But the implementation of the Crimean imperial plan met with resistance from Moscow which wanted to implement its own similar project. For 1506–1523, this is the first round of this confrontation, which will be discussed in this article. During these years, the Crimean Gireys came close to their dream, but the imperial burden turned out to be prohibitively large for them. The first attempt to take on this weight ended in collapse and the temporary withdrawal of the Crimean Khanate from among the active participants in the “Great Game” in Eastern Europe.

Keywords: early Modern times, “long 16th century”, Eastern Europe, interstate relations, political systems, foreign policy, diplomacy, war, Crimean Khanate, Grand Duchy of Li­thuania, Grand Duchy of Moscow

For citation: Penskoy V.V., Penskaya Т.М. Crimean imperial “Project” in the 1st third of the 16th century: a “window of opportunity” opened and closed. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2024, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 414–434. https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2024-12-2.414-434 (In Russian)

* This paper is a continuation of the previous one, forming a cycle dedicated to the evolution of political relations in Eastern Europe in the late Middle Ages and early Modern times. See: Penskoy V.V., Penskaya T.M. The post-Horde world and the union of Ivan III and Mengli-Girey I: An attempt to create a “bipolar” political system. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2022, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 868–898. https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2022-10-4.868-898 (In Russian)

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Vitaly V. Penskoy – Dr. Sci. (History), Professor at the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Belgorod State National Research University (85, Pobeda Str., Belgorod 308015, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0000-0002-4092-8992. E-mail: penskoy@bsu.edu.ru

Tatyana M. Penskaya – Cand. Sci. (History), Associate Professor at the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Belgorod State National Research University (85, Pobeda Str., Belgorod 308015, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0000-0001-6548-0226. E-mail: penskaya@bsu.edu.ru

Received  20.02.2024  Revised  24.05.2024
Accepted  04.06.2024