2026, vol. 14, no. 1. Yılmaz F.

2026, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 195-213

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2026-14-1.195-213

EDN: https://elibrary.ru/URLPQN

   AN ESSAY ON THE BUDGET EXPENDITURES
OF THE CRIMEAN KHANATE

Fehmi Yılmaz
Marmara University
Istanbul, Türkiye
fehmi.yilmaz@marmara.edu.tr

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to examine the budgetary expenditures of the Crimean Khanate. Recently, our understanding of the history of the Crimean Khanate has significantly improved via new sources and scholarly studies. Nevertheless, crucial aspects of the khanate’s economic history remain largely unexplored. This study focuses specifically on the expenditures of the Crimean Khanate in May 1779, based on budget records from the reign of Shahin Geray, and draws general conclusions from the findings.
Research materials: Research on the topic of the article, Kadiasker court registers of the Crimean Khanate, Ottoman archival documents, chronicles, and travel notes.
Results and scientific novelty: Utilizing newly available data, the present research demonstrates that the Crimean Khanate, which inherited the administrative traditions of the Golden Horde, maintained this legacy until the mid-16th century. As its interactions with the Ottoman Empire intensified, its institutions evolved accordingly, eventually resembling a miniature version of Ottoman governance. The study also reveals that the khanate possessed a structured financial bureaucracy from its early periods. This bureaucratic apparatus continued to function professionally, maintaining regular oversight and documentation of the khanate’s revenues and expenditures-even during the reign of Shahin Geray, a time marked by political, social, and economic turmoil. The expenditures recorded in the budget are analysed under general thematic categories.

Keywords: history, the Crimean Khanate, the Budget Expenditures, Shahin Geray, Golden Horde,Ottoman Empire

For citation: Yılmaz F. An Essay on the Budget Expenditures of the Crimean Khanate. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2026, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 195–213. https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2026-14-1.195-213

Financial Support: This work has received funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the MSCA Staff Exchanges (ORCA, No. 101182752).

REFERENCES

  1. Arpacı M. Kırım Hanlığı’na Ait Resmî Yazışmalardaki (16.–18. Yüzyıllar) İdari, Ekonomik, Sosyal ve Kültürel Terimler (Zernov Neşriyatına Göre) [Administrative, Economic, Social, and Cultural Terms in Official Correspondence of the Crimean Khanate (16th–18th Centuries) (According to Zernov Publications)]. PhD Dissertation. Yildiz Technical University. Istanbul, 2023. (In Turkish)
  2. Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı Osmanlı Arşivi (BOA) [Republic of Türkiye State Archives Directorate Ottoman Archives]. Maliyeden Müdevver Defter (MAD.d) 8964, 9006. (In Ottoman Turkish)
  3. Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı Osmanlı Arşivi. [Republic of Türkiye State Archives Directorate Ottoman Archives]. Kamil Kepeci (KK.d) 5599, 5600, 5601, 5602, 5603, 5604, 5605, 5606, 5607, 5608, 5609, 5610, 5611, 5612, 5613, 5614, 5615, 5616, 5617. (In Ottoman Turkish)
  4. Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı Osmanlı Arşivi. [Republic of Türkiye State Archives Directorate Ottoman Archives]. Cevdet Hariciye (C.HR) 3392. (In Ottoman Turkish)
  5. Elitaş C., Oktay G. (eds.). Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda 500 Yıl Boyunca Kullanılan Muhasebe Yöntemi: Merdiven Yöntemi [The Ladder Method: An Accounting Method Used in the Ottoman Empire for 500 Years]. Ankara, 2008. (In Turkish)
  6. Güran T. Osmanlı Kamu Maliyesi 1839–1918 [Ottoman Public Finance 1839-1918]. Osmanlı Maliyesi Bütçeler ve Kurumlar [Ottoman Finance Budgets and Institutions]. Genç M., Özvar E. (eds.). Istanbul, 2006. 70 p. (In Turkish)
  7. Güvemli O. Türk Devletleri Muhasebe Tarihi [Accounting History of Turkic States]. 1. Istanbul, 1995.
  8. Ulusal Tez Merkezi [electronic resource]. URL: https://tez.yok.gov.tr (date accessed 10.05.2025). (In Turkish)
  9. Kolodziejczyk D. The Crimean Khanate and Poland-Lithuania International dip­lomacy on the European periphery (15th–18th century) a study of peace treaties followed by annotated documents. Leiden-Boston, 2011.
  10. Konkin D.V. Waqfs (types, appointment procedure and operating mechanisms). In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries). Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of Tatarstan Academy of Seciences, 2021, pp. 485–494. (In Russian)
  11. Kurat A.N. Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Arşivindeki Altın Ordu, Kırım ve Türkistan Hanlarına Ait Yarlık ve Bitikler [The Decrees and Letters of the Golden Horde, Crimean and Turkestan Khans in the Topkapi Palace Museum Archives]. Istanbul, 1940. (In Turkish)
  12. Lashkov F.F. Shagin-Girey, posledniy krymskiy khan: istoricheskiy ocherk [Shagin Giray, the last Crimean Khan: a historical essay]. Kiev, 1886. 48 p. (In Russian)
  13. Özvar E. Osmanlı Devletinin Bütçe Harcamaları (1509–1788) [Ottoman State Budget Expenditures (1509–1788)]. Osmanlı Maliyesi Bütçeler ve Kurumlar [Ottoman Finance Budgets and Institutions]. Genç M., Özvar E. (eds.). İstanbul, 2006, pp. 197–236. (In Turkish)
  14. Özyetgin A. M. Altın Ordu, Kırım ve Kazan Sahasına Ait Yarlık ve Bitiklerin Dil ve Üslûp İncelemesi [Linguistic and Stylistic Analysis of Yarliks and Bitiks from the Golden Horde, Crimea, and Kazan Regions]. Ankara, 1996. (In Turkish)
  15. Özyetkin A. M., Kemaloğlu İ. Altın Orda Hanlığına Ait Resmî Yazışmalar [Official Correspondence of the Golden Horde Khanate]. Ankara, 2017, pp. 54–57. (In Turkish)
  16. Pochekayev R.Yu. The Fate of the Crimean Khanate and the Crimean Tatar State in 1771–1783. In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries)]. Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2021, pp. 371–385. (In Russian)
  17. Sheykhumerov A.A. The position of women in the Crimean Khanate. In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries). Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of Tatarstan Academy of Seciences, 2021, pp. 535–538. (In Russian)
  18. Velyaminov V.V. Kırım Yurtına ve Ol Taraflarga Dair Bolgan Yarlıglar ve Hatlar [Yarliks and letters related to Crimea]. Özyetkin A.M., Kemaloğlu İ. (eds.) Ankara, 2009. (In Turkish)
  19. Velyaminov V.V. Kırım Yurtına ve Ol Taraflarga Dair Bolgan Yarlıglar ve Hatlar (1520–1742 Kırım Tatarcasıyla Yarlıklar ve Mektuplar [Yarliks and letters related to Crimea (1520–1742)]. Faysal Okan Atasoy. (eds.) Vols. 1–2. Ankara, 2017. (In Turkish)
  20. Yakushechkin A.V. Monetary circulation, trade and the monetary-weight system. In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries). Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of Tatarstan Academy of Seciences. 2021, pp. 498–526. (In Russian)
  21. Yılmaz F. On Sekizinci Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında Kırım’da Gayrimüslimler [Non-Muslims in Crimea in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century]. Osmanlı Araştırmaları Dergisi [Journal of Ottoman Studies]. Vol. 33, pp. 125–150. (In Turkish)
  22. Yılmaz F. Osmanlı Tarih Sözlüğü [Ottoman History Dictionary]. Istanbul, 2010. (In Turkish)
  23. Yılmaz F. Kırım Hanlığı’nda Servet Birikimi ve Kuzey Bölgelerinin Etkisi, [Wealth Accumulation in the Crimean Khanate and the Influence of the Northern Regions]. Türkiye Ukrayna İlişkileri Dünü Bugünü, [Türkiye-Ukraine Relations: Past and Present]. (ed.). Sakarya University, Sakarya: 2014, pp. 250–275. (In Turkish).
  24. Yılmaz F. XVIII. Asırda Hanlık Başkenti Bahçesaray [Bakhchisaray, the Khanate Capital in the 18th Century]. Doğu Avrupa Türk Mimarisinin Son Kalesi Kırım [Crimea: The Last Bastion of Eastern European Turkic Architecture]. Yücel Öztürk. (ed.). Istanbul, 2015, pp. 179–216. (In Turkish)
  25. Yılmaz F., Cihan A., Deniz-Yılmaz Ö. Kırım Hanlığı Kadı Sicilleri Kataloğu, [Catalogue of the Judges’ Registeres of the Crimean Khanate]. Ankara, 2021. (In Turkish)
  26. Zaytsev I.V. Development of traditional crafts and industries. In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries). Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of Tatarstan Academy of Seciences, 2021, pp. 494–497. (In Russian)
  27. Zaytsev I.V., Seydaliyev E.I. Agriculture and land relations. Peasant community. Cattle breeding. In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries). Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of Tatarstan Academy of Seciences, 2021, pp. 480–484. (In Russian)
  28. Zhukov V.D., Rustemov O.D., Sheykhumerov A.A. Slaves and the slave trade in the Crimean Khanate. In: History of the Crimean Tatars. Volume 3. Crimean Khanate (15th–18th centuries)]. Khakimov R.S. and Zaytsev I.V. (eds.). Kazan: Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, 2021, pp. 527–534. (In Russian)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fehmi Yılmaz – Prof. Dr. of the History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Marmara University (Fahrettin Kerim Gökay Str., Göztepe Campus, Istanbul 34722, Türkiye); ORCID: 0000-0001-7487-6652. E-mail: fehmi.yilmaz@marmara.edu.tr

Received  12.10.2025
Revised  25.02.2026
Accepted  10.03.2026