Foundation of the Crimean Khanate. Crimean Khanate: geographical location, rulers, capitals

In the middle of the 15th century, when the Golden Horde, weakened by civil strife, began to disintegrate, the Crimean yurt turned into an independent khanate. It was formed after a long struggle with the Golden Horde by Hadji Giray, the first Crimean Khan, founder famous dynasty Gireev, who ruled Crimea for more than three hundred years. The Crimean Khanate, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, included the Dnieper and Azov regions.

Under the second Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey (1466-1515), the city of Bakhchisarai, the capital of the Crimean Khanate, was founded. Khan Adil-Sahib-Girey in the middle of the 16th century finally moved the khan’s residence to Bakhchisarai, where the khan’s palace was built. The name of the city Bakhchisarai translates as “palace in the garden”. In total, in the entire history of the Crimean Khanate there were 44 khans.

Having freed itself from the Golden Horde, the Khanate already in 1478 fell into vassal dependence on Ottoman Turkey.

Taking advantage of the internecine struggle for power between the sons of Hadji Giray, the Turkish Sultan invaded Crimea in 1475. The Turks captured Kafa, Sogdaya (Sudak), all Genoese settlements and fortifications of the southeastern and southern coasts.

The peninsula was surrounded by a chain of Turkish fortresses: Inkerman (formerly Kalamita), Gezlev (Evpatoria), Perekop, Arabat, Yeni-Kale. The cafe, renamed Keffe, became the residence of the Sultan's governor in Crimea.

Since 1478, the Crimean Khanate officially became a vassal of the Ottoman Porte and remained in this capacity until the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774. Turkish sultans confirmed or appointed and removed Crimean khans.

And yet the Khanate did not lose its statehood, and the khans sometimes pursued a policy independent of the Porte and actively participated in the events taking place in Eastern Europe.

After the Turks captured Constantinople and the Genoese possessions in the Crimea, the peninsula lost its former importance in the trade of Western Europe with the countries of the East. The position of a vassal of Turkey aggravated the economic and political backwardness of the Crimean Khanate.

The Crimean feudal lords preferred to look for a way out of the difficult economic situation in beshbash - predatory raids on neighboring countries to seize booty and wealth. The slave trade in the Khanate, which began with Mengli Giray, turned into a trade, and Crimea became the largest international slave market. True, starting from the fifteenth century, the Zaporozhye Sich became a serious obstacle to raids not only on Ukrainian, but also on Moscow and Polish lands.

The heyday of the Crimean Khanate occurred at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. At this time, culture and art noticeably developed in the Khanate. Architecture has reached a high level. Beautiful mosques, fountains, and water pipelines were built, for which many European, especially Italian, architects were involved.

The main fortress at the entrance to the peninsula was Perekopskaya, which was the gateway to Crimea. The functions of protecting Crimea were performed by the fortress cities of Arabat and Kerch. The trading ports were Gezlev and Kafa. Military garrisons (mostly Turkish, partly local Greeks) were also maintained in Balaklava, Sudak, Kerch, and Cafe.

The state religion on the territory of Crimea was Islam, and shamanism dominated among the Nogai tribes. According to Sharia, every Muslim must participate in wars with infidels. Military activity was mandatory for both large and small feudal lords.

The entire period of the 15th - 18th centuries was a time of almost continuous border conflicts and wars. Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and other countries were constantly in a state of great tension, since not only the border lands, but also the deep territories of the states were threatened by the possibility of a Tatar invasion. The Turkish government often sent janissary troops and artillery to reinforce military power Tatar army.

The devastating Tatar-Turkish attacks increased from year to year. So, for example, if from 1450 to 1586 there were 84 Tatar attacks on Ukrainian lands, then from 1600 to 1647 - over 70. The objects of Turkish-Tatar attacks were, first of all, cities and towns on the territory of Ukraine.

In the summer of 1571, all Crimean forces led by Khan Davlet-Girey marched on Moscow. Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his corps of guardsmen barely escaped capture. Khan positioned himself near the walls of Moscow and set fire to the settlements. Within a few hours, a huge fire destroyed the city. Losses among residents were enormous. On the way back, the Tatars plundered 30 cities and districts, and more than 60 thousand Russian captives were taken into slavery.

Relations with Crimea were extremely difficult for European countries, since in addition to military methods - raids, wars, the rulers of Crimea often resorted to the Golden Horde practice of collecting tribute from nearby territories. (Only Russian state in the first half of the 17th century, it spent up to 1 million rubles for these purposes. (With this money, four cities could be built annually.)

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia (1783), the entire Muslim population of the peninsula began to be called “Tatars.” By the 80s of the 18th century, there were about 500 thousand Crimean Tatars.

It was a cocktail of descendants of dozens of peoples who appeared on the peninsula at different times. These were the Scythians, Cimmerians, Goths, Sarmatians, Greeks, Romans, Khazars and others. The first Tatar troops invaded Crimea in January 1223. They ravaged the city of Sugdeya (Sudak) and went to the steppes. The next Tatar invasion of Crimea dates back to 1242. This time the Tatars imposed tribute on the population of northern and eastern Crimea.

Batu gave Crimea and the steppes between the Don and Dniester to his brother Maval. The capital of the Crimean ulus and the residence of the ulus emir became the city of Kyrym, built by the Tatars in the valley of the Churuk-Su river in the southeast of the peninsula. In the 14th century, the name of the city of Kyrym gradually passed to the entire Tauris peninsula. Around the same time, on the caravan route from the steppe Crimea to the southern coast in the eastern part of the peninsula, the city of Karasubazar (“bazaar on the Karasu River”, now the city of Belogorsk) was built, which quickly became the most populous and richest city in the ulus.

After the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, Italian city-colonies emerged on the banks of Tauris. Conflicts repeatedly arose between the Italians and the Tatars, but on the whole the Ulus emirs tolerated the existence of the colonies. Trade with the Italians brought good profits to the emirs. The founder of the Girey dynasty, Hadji-Devlet-Girey, was born in the 20s of the 15th century in the Lithuanian castle of Troki, where his relatives fled during the Horde strife. Hadji-Girey was a direct descendant of the Golden Horde Khan Tash-Timur - a direct descendant of Tukoy-Timur - the grandson of Genghis Khan. Therefore, the Gireys, considered Chingizids, claimed power over all the states that arose from the ruins of the Golden Horde.

Hadji Giray first appeared in Crimea in 1433. According to the peace treaty of July 13, 1434, the Genoese recognized Hadji Giray as the Crimean Khan. However, a few months later, the Nogai Khan Seyid-Akhmet drove Giray out of Crimea. Giray was forced to flee to his “homeland” in Lithuania, where in 1443 he was proclaimed Crimean Khan. With the military and financial support of the great Lithuanian prince Casimir IV Giray moved to Crimea. Having again become the Crimean Khan, he made the city of Crimea-Solkhat his capital. But soon Seyid Akhmet again expelled Hadji Giray from Crimea. Hadji Giray finally became the Crimean Khan only in 1449.

In Crimea, Hadji Giray founded a new one (“Palace in the Gardens”), which became the new capital of the state under his son Mengli Giray. In the Soviet historical literature Until 1990, not a single book was published on the history of the Crimean Khanate. This was due both to the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944, and to the discrepancy between the history of the Khanate and Marxism-Leninism. Marxists believed that in the Middle Ages there were two classes - feudal lords and serfs, with the former living off the backbreaking labor of the latter. In the Crimean Khanate, the feudal method of production did not bring even half of the gross product of the khanate. The main method of production was robbery of neighbors. This mode of production is not described by Marx for the reason that similar states Western Europe in the 13th – 19th centuries there was none.

Europeans, waging large and small wars, also burned and plundered villages, raped women, and killed civilians during the fighting. But this was a by-product of the war. The purpose of the war was to sign a profitable peace (territorial acquisitions, trade benefits, etc.). Several years of war were followed by 50 or even 100 years of peace.

The Crimean Tatars raided their neighbors almost every year. Their goal of war is to loot and take away the loot safely. The Crimean khans had practically no regular troops. The army on a campaign is assembled from volunteers. As historian D.I. wrote Yavornitsky: “There was never a shortage of such hunters among the Tatars, which depended mainly on three reasons: the poverty of the Tatars, their aversion to hard physical labor and fanatical hatred of Christians.”

Historian V. Kokhovsky believes that the Crimean Khan raised a third of the entire male population of the country for campaigns. In the middle of the 16th century, Devlet Giray led 120 thousand people with him to Rus'. Thus, it was not the Crimean feudal lords who took part in the robberies, as Soviet historians claim, but, in fact, all the male population of Crimea without exception.

The Tatar troops are well described by the French military engineer G. de Beauplan, who was in Polish service from 1630 to 1648. The Tatars always went on a campaign lightly: they did not carry with them either convoys or heavy artillery. Tatar horses, the number of which reached 200 thousand heads, were content with steppe grass and were accustomed to winter time get food for themselves by breaking the snow with their hoofs. Firearms the Tatars did not use it, preferring well-aimed shots from bows. With arrows they could hit the enemy at full gallop from 60 or even 100 steps. Each Tatar brought with him on a campaign from 3 to 5 horses. Riders had the opportunity to replace tired horses with fresh ones, which increased the speed of movement of troops. Some of the horses were used as food for the Tatars.

The Tatars dressed very easily: a shirt made of paper fabric, trousers made of nankee, morocco boots, a leather hat, and in winter - a sheepskin sheepskin coat. The Tatar's weapons are a saber, a bow, a quiver with 18 or 20 arrows, a whip (instead of spurs). A knife, a fire-making tool, an awl with ropes, threads and straps, and 10-12 meters of rawhide leather rope for tying slaves were hung from the belt. In addition, every ten Tatars took with them a cauldron for cooking meat and a small drum on the pommel of the saddle. Each Tatar had a pipe to call his comrades together if necessary. Noble and rich Tatars stocked up on chain mail, which was very valuable and rare among the Tatars.

The main food of the Tatars on the campaign was horse meat. Each Tatar had with him a certain amount of barley or millet flour and a small supply of dough fried in oil and dried over a fire in the form of crackers. The Tatar's equipment included a leather tub to water his horses and drink himself. They cared more about the horses than themselves. “If you lose your horse, you’ll lose your head,” they said. At the same time, they fed their horses little on the way, believing that they could better withstand fatigue without food.

The Tatars sat on their horses with their backs bent, because they pulled the stirrups too high to the saddle in order, in their opinion, to lean more firmly and sit more firmly in the saddle. Tatar horses, called bakemans, were not shod. Only noble nobles tied cow horns to their horses with thick belts instead of horseshoes. The bakemans were generally short, lean and clumsy. But bakemans were distinguished by their extraordinary endurance and speed. They could ride 90-130 km in one day without rest.

The riders themselves were distinguished by their lightness, agility, and dexterity. Rushing at full speed on a horse, the Tatar held the bridle with the little finger of his left hand, held the bow with the remaining fingers of the same hand, and with his right hand quickly shot arrows in any direction, right at the target.

An important governing body in the Crimean Khanate was the council - the divan. In addition to the khan, the divan included: kalgi-sultan (deputy and mentor), khansha valide (senior wife or mother), mufti, chief beks and oglans. In 1455, Haji Giray managed to completely defeat the army of Khan Seyid-Akhmet. A year earlier, the Crimean Khan, finding himself in a difficult situation, entered into an alliance with the Turks, who captured Constantinople and became masters of the straits.

In June 1456, the first joint Turkish-Tatar operation was carried out against the Genoese in Cafe. This action ended with the signing of a peace treaty, according to which the Genoese began to pay tribute to the Turks and Tatars.

In May 1475, the Turks, with the support of the Tatar troops of Mengli Giray, captured Kafa. Turkish troops defeated and occupied the Principality of Theodoro and all the cities on the southern coast of Crimea. The Genoese presence in Crimea was ended.

In the spring of 1484, the combined troops of Sultan Bayazid II and the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray attacked Poland. On March 23, 1489, Poland signed a peace treaty, according to which Turkey retained the captured lands in the Northern Black Sea region. The Crimean Khanate became a vassal of Turkey for 300 years. Türkiye was the only buyer of prisoners captured by the Tatars and looted property. The only exceptions were prisoners released for ransom.

The Crimean Khanate was constantly at war with the Golden Horde, and Muscovy in this became an ally of the Crimean Gireys. Moreover, from the very beginning, Grand Duke Ivan III took a subordinate position in relation to Khan Mengli Giray. Ivan III “beat” the khan with his forehead, Mengli Girey “didn’t hit Ivan with his forehead”, but called Ivan his brother. From the moment diplomatic relations with Crimea began, Muscovy actually began paying tribute to the Gireys. Moreover, in Moscow this money, furs and other goods sent annually to Crimea were called gifts (funerals).

In 1485, the Golden Horde army invaded Crimea. Only with the help of the Turks and Nogai Tatars did Mengli Giray manage to drive the Golden Horde out of Crimea. From the north at this time to Golden Horde Moscow troops attacked.

At the end of the summer of 1482, the horde of Mengli Giray burned Kyiv and took thousands of townspeople and villagers into slavery. In 1489, the Crimean Tatars invaded Podolia several times. Podolia was devastated by them and in 1494. The Tatar army, together with the Turkish army, defeated Galicia and Podolia in 1498, capturing about 100 thousand people. In 1499, the Crimean horde again plundered Podolia. All this suited Ivan III quite well.

In the spring of 1491, the Golden Horde troops moved to. To the rescue of his ally, Ivan III sent a 60,000-strong army into the steppe. Having learned about the campaign of the Moscow army, the Golden Horde left Perekop. In response, they raided Aleksin in 1492, and Kozelsk in 1499.

The Golden Horde Khan Shig-Akhmet in the fall of 1500 came to southern Tavria and approached Perekop. He failed to break into Crimea. He retreated to Kyiv. The next year, Shig-Akhmet appeared in the steppes again, and again unsuccessfully. Then he destroyed Novgorod Seversky and a number of small towns, and then began to wander between Chernigov and Kiev.

In May 1502, Khan Mengli Giray gathered all the Tatars who could mount a horse and moved towards Shig-Akhmet. A battle took place near the mouth of the Sula River. Shig-Akhmet was defeated and fled.

“This is how the existence of the famous Golden Horde ceased,” wrote historian S.M. Soloviev, “Crimea finally liberated Muscovy from the descendants of the Batyevs.”
But, while helping the Crimeans finish off the decrepit Golden Horde, the Moscow princes and boyars did not understand what kind of enemy they were raising for their misfortune. Already in 1507, the Crimean Tatars attacked the Moscow state. They plundered the Belevskoye, Odoevskoye and Kozelskoye principalities. Thus began the 270-year war between Muscovy and Russia. Crimean Tatars, which ended in the 18th century with the defeat of Crimea and the annexation of its territory to the Russian Empire.

Determining the boundaries of the Crimean Khanate is quite problematic; it is obvious that it did not have definite borders with most neighboring states. V.D. talks about this. Smirnov, who studied the history of the Crimean Khanate in detail and quite well. He emphasizes that the question of the territorial borders and area of the Crimean Khanate is further complicated by the fact that the emergence of the Khanate itself as a separate state center is fraught with many ambiguities. Its history becomes completely reliable only from the moment when it came into close contact with the Ottoman Empire, falling into vassalage under Sultan Muhammad II. Early history has many “blank spots”. The coastal strip alone, long ago developed by European colonists, is a certain exception, but also not to the full extent.

Therefore, we can only determine the approximate boundaries of this state. The Crimean Khanate is, first of all, Crimea itself, but its southern coast initially belonged to the Genoese, and from 1475 it went to the Turkish Sultan; The Principality of Theodoro was also independent before the Turkish invasion of the peninsula. As a result, the khan controlled only the foothill and steppe parts of Crimea. Perekop was not a border; through it the khan had an exit from the Crimea to the “field”, where the northern outlines of the Crimean Khanate were lost in the vast expanses of the steppes. A significant part of the Tatars constantly wandered beyond Perekop. In the spring, people flocked to the steppe expanses of the Northern Black Sea region for pastures and the Crimean uluses themselves. Those tracts in the steppe are known where military forces guarding nomadic camps stood in the 15th century, which to a certain extent can be considered the approximate borders of the Crimean Khanate. Thus, the Molochnaya River (or Mius) begins as the border of the Crimean Khanate from Astrakhan and the Nogais. In the north, the Crimean possessions reach Konskie Vody. In 1560, all Crimean uluses were pushed beyond the Dnieper, to the borders of the Lithuanian principality.

Thus, the borders of the Crimean Khanate under the first Crimean khans outside the peninsula were determined on the eastern side by the Molochnaya River, and perhaps expanded further, to the Mius. In the north, on the left bank of the Dnieper, they go beyond Islam Kermen, right up to the Konskie Vody River. In the west, the Crimean nomads stretch across the steppe beyond Ochakov to Belgorod to Blue Water.

Almost the same borders of the Crimean Khanate are indicated by a number of researchers, but Thunmann stands out among them, who even accompanied his work with a fairly detailed map. In determining the more precise boundaries of the Crimean Khanate, the “Map of the Crimean Khanate after the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774-1783”, compiled and drawn by N.D., is of great importance. Ernst. Analysis of these data allows us to quite accurately determine the boundaries of the Crimean Khanate. The territory of the Khanate was heterogeneous in terms of natural and climatic conditions. The northern slopes of the Crimean mountains, the valleys of Salgir, Alma, Kachi, Belbek with their gardens and vineyards, and finally, the steppes in Crimea itself and beyond its borders created special, unique conditions for the development of the economy.

In addition to these geographical conditions, it is important to note that Crimea was a country of ancient agricultural culture. The Tatars met here with a number of nationalities, whose economic structure was determined by the centuries-old past. Some of the nationalities of Crimea - Greeks, Karaites, Genoese and others - became part of the yurt population; on the other hand, many Tatars settled in Greek villages in the vicinity of Kaffa, Sudak, Balaklava and in these cities themselves.

Living together and the process of assimilation with the previous population inevitably led to a change in the economic structure of the Tatars, nomadic pastoralists who found themselves in a region with ancient traditions farming cultures.

Socio-political structure of the Crimean Khanate

A characteristic feature of the socio-political structure of the Crimean Khanate was the preservation of tribal traditions for many centuries. A number of additional factors that accompanied the history of the Crimean Khanate also had a significant impact on all spheres of state life and, in particular, on the management system. Being on the Crimean throne, much less governing the Crimean Khanate, was far from an easy task. Each khan had to carefully weigh his own, both internal and foreign policy, taking into account numerous nuances. It was necessary to deeply know the ancient traditions of one’s people, among which tribal relations were extremely important.

Back in the 17th and even in the 18th century, the Tatars - both Crimean and Nogai - were divided into tribes divided into clans. At the head of the clan were bey- the highest Tatar nobility, who concentrated in their hands significant wealth (livestock, land, pastures), captured or granted by the khans, and, at the same time, great power. Large yurts- the appanages (beyliks) of these clans, which became their patrimonial possessions, turned into feudal principalities, almost independent of the power of the khan, with their own administration and court, with their own militia.

A step lower on the social ladder were the vassals of the beys and khans - Murza(Tatar nobility). Special group consisted of the Muslim clergy. The next step was occupied by the Tatar “simple” (without titles) population of the uluses, a step lower - the dependent local population, and at the bottom rung of the social ladder were slaves.

Thus, the clan organization of the Tatars was a shell of relationships typical of many nomadic peoples who preserved the traditions of their ancestors. Nominally, the Tatar clans led by beys and murzas were in vassal dependence on the khans; in particular, they were obliged to field troops during military campaigns, but in fact the highest Tatar nobility was a full-fledged mistress in essentially all spheres of life of the khanate. The dominance of the beys and murzas was a characteristic feature of the political system of the Crimean Khanate.

The main princes and murzas of Crimea belonged to a few specific families. The oldest of them settled in Crimea long ago and were known already from the 13th century. Which of them occupied a dominant position in the 14th century? There is no unanimous answer to this. The oldest include, first of all, the clan of Yashlau (Suleshev), Shirinov, Barynov, Argynov, Kipchakov.

In 1515, the Grand Duke of All Rus' Vasily III insisted that Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak, i.e., the princes of the main Tatar families, be singled out by name for the presentation of gifts (funerals). The princes of these four clans, as is known, were called “Karachi” (Karach Bey). The institution of Karachi was a general phenomenon of Tatar life. In Kazan, in Kasimov, in Siberia, among the Nogai, the main princes were called Karachi. Moreover, as a rule, there were four Karachis everywhere, with the exception of some cases.

But Karachi was not all equal in weight and importance. The most important was the importance of the first prince (bey), essentially the second person in the state after the sovereign. We note the same concept among the Tatars. The position of the first prince in Crimea was quite close to the position of the khan.

The first prince also received the right to certain incomes; commemorations had to be sent in the following way: two parts to the khan, and one part to the first bey.

As you know, the first among the beys of the Crimean Khanate were the Shirinskys. Moreover, beys from this family occupied a leading position not only in Crimea, but also in other Tatar uluses. At the same time, despite being scattered across individual Tatar kingdoms, a certain connection, a certain unity, remained between the entire Shirinsky family, but the main nest from which the family of these beys spread is considered to be Crimea.

The Shirins' possessions in Crimea extended from Perekop to Kerch. Solkhat - Old Crimea - was the center of the Shirins' possessions.

As a military force, the Shirinskys represented something unified, acting under a common banner. The independent Shirin princes, both under Mengli-Girey I and under his successors, often took a hostile position towards the khan. “But from Shirina, sir, the tsar’s life is not smooth,” stated the Moscow ambassador in 1491. “And since Shirina there was great strife between him,” noted the ambassadors of the Moscow sovereign a century later. Such enmity with the Shirinskys, apparently, was one of the reasons that forced the Crimean khans to move their capital from Solkhat to Kyrk-or.

The Mansurovs' possessions covered the Evpatoria steppes. The Beymis of the Argyn Beys was located in the region of Caffa and Sudak. The Yashlavsky beylik occupied the space between Kyra-or (Chufut-kale) and the Alma River.

In their yurt-beyliks, the Tatar beys were the sovereign masters, this is confirmed by the khan’s yarlyks (letters of grant).

As already noted, the beys and murzas significantly limited the power of the Crimean khans: the heads of the most powerful clans - the Karachi - constituted the Divan (Council) of the khan, which was the highest state body of the Crimean Khanate, where the most important issues of the internal and foreign policy of the state were decided. The Divan was also the highest court. The congress of the khan's "vassals" could be complete or incomplete, and this did not have special significance in his competence. But the absence of influential beys and, above all, the patrimonial aristocracy (Karach beys) could paralyze the implementation of the Divan’s decisions.

Based on this, without the Council (Divan), the khan, in general, could not resolve a single issue. This is confirmed by the reports of the Russian ambassadors to their sovereign: “The Khan cannot carry out any great deed without a yurt (i.e. Divan - author), which should be between the states.”

The princes not only influenced the khan’s decision, but the choice of khans depended on them. Repeatedly, as a result of bey conspiracies, the khan was overthrown from the throne. The Shirinsky beys were especially “distinguished” in this. No less influential, but less privileged in Crimea was the Nogai clan of the Mansurovs (Mansur).

In favor of the beys and murzas, tithes went from all the livestock that was in the personal property of the Tatars, and from all the booty captured during the predatory campaigns, which were organized and led by the Tatar aristocracy, which also received significant income from the sale of captives.

The main activity of the serving nobility was military, in the khan's guard. The Horde was also a specific military unit, headed by Horde princes. Numerous lancers commanded the khan's detachments (the ancient Mongol term was also used for them - lancers of the right and left hands).

The same serving khan princes were the governors of the cities: the Kyrkor prince, Ferrik-Kermen, Prince Islam of Kermen and the Ordabazar governor. The position of governor of one or another city, as well as the title of prince, was transferred to members of the same family. Among the feudal lords close to the Khan's court were the highest clergy of the Crimea, who to one degree or another influenced the internal and foreign policy of the Crimean Khanate.

The Crimean khans have always been representatives of the Girey family. They had a very pompous title: “Ulug Yortni, ve Tehti Kyrying, ve Dasht and Kipchak, ulugh khani,” which accordingly meant: “ Great Khan The Great Horde and the Throne (State) of Crimea and the Kipchak Steppes.”

Before the Ottoman invasion, Crimean khans were most often elected by representatives of the highest aristocracy, primarily the Karach Beys. But since the conquest of Crimea, elections of the khan were carried out extremely rarely; this was already an exception to the rule. The Sublime Porte appointed and removed khans depending on its interests. It was usually enough for the padishah, through a noble courtier, to send one of the Gireys, destined to be the new khan, an honorary fur coat, a saber and a sable cap strewn with precious stones, with a hatti sherif, i.e., a personally signed order, which was read to the Karach Beys assembled in Divan; then the former khan (most often) abdicated the throne without a murmur. If he decided to resist, then for the most part, without much effort, he was brought to obedience by the garrison stationed in Caffa and the fleet sent to the Crimea. Deposed khans were usually sent to Rhodes. It seemed something extraordinary for the khan to retain his rank for more than five years. During the existence of the Crimean Khanate, the throne was visited, according to V.D. Smirnov, 44 khans, but they ruled 56 times. There are other versions: in recent studies, it is most often noted that the Crimean throne was occupied by 48 khans, and they ruled 68 times (see diagram-table). This means that the same khan was either dethroned from the throne for some offense, or again elevated to the throne with appropriate honors. Thus, Mengli-Girey I and Kaplan-Girey occupied the throne three times, and Selim-Girey became the “record holder”: he was enthroned four times. Curiosities also occurred: two khans, Janibek-Girey and Maksud-Girey, did not even have time to reach the Crimea after their appointment to the khan’s throne, when they were already removed from the unoccupied throne.

Giray is the generic name of the dynasty of the Crimean Khans (nowadays the Russified version - Giray) has become more widespread.

There are a number of assumptions about the origin of the name of the first Crimean Khan. In particular, a version was put forward that the khan, forced to hide from his pursuers, found shelter with the shepherds and subsequently, having become a khan, added Geray (kerai - shepherd) to his name as a sign of gratitude. It was also suggested that he took this name as a sign of gratitude to his teacher. There are other versions: more convincing is the assumption that the future khan received the name from his parents after birth. This name was quite common, and its definition was very flattering - “worthy, correct.” And the prefix Haji appeared with Geray after he made the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca (probably in 1419).

It is interesting to note that of the six sons of Hadji-Gerai (hereinafter Giray), only one, the youngest, Mengli, added his father’s name to his name - Giray. Subsequently, all descendants inherited this name (including Azezar Giray, who lives in England and is, in essence, the heir of the Crimean khans).

I would like to highlight once again the most important factors, who had a huge influence on the position of the highest position in the state-political structure of the Crimean Khanate. In order to, to a certain extent, imagine not only the enormous responsibility for the fate of his people that was entrusted to him, but also, to some extent, the tragedy of the position of the “highest position” in the state. At the same time, this situation led not only to tragedy in the fate of the khan himself, but often also of the entire Crimean Khanate and its people.

Such a factor as the election of the khan at kurultai (general assemblies) played a fairly large positive significance in the initial period of history, when nobles and beys could protect the interests of their clan, tribe, and people. However, in the course of historical development, when the political and economic situation changed, new times came with their own new requirements, the system remained the same. And subsequently, when the highest nobility defended first of all their interests, and not the people, their ambitions and whims, the khan became a “toy” in the hands of his own “vassals.” The situation worsened even more if unity was lost among the beys, and the most powerful clans began to sort things out among themselves (in the Crimea, the Shirinsky and Mansurov clans were often at enmity). The feud between the clans could continue for a long time, causing enormous harm to both the state and the people. At the same time, the Crimean Khan had no real power to solve such problems.

This or that bey (the Nogais were especially often “distinguished” in this regard), regardless of the interests of the state, the prohibitions of the khan and even Turkish Sultan, carried out a raid for the purpose of robbery (receiving income) on the territory of the state with which the Crimean Khanate and Turkey concluded a peace or even allied treaty. And neither the khan nor the sultan could cope with such an “anarchist bey”.

The vassal dependence of Crimea on Turkey did not contribute to the rise in the prestige of the Crimean Khan. Possessing essentially unlimited power, the Turkish Sultan was not at all interested in the power of the Crimean Khanate, just as he was not interested in the independence of its khans. The main criterion for appointment to the khan's throne was not how successfully and skillfully the applicant would rule for his people and his state, but how useful and, most importantly, how obedient to the Turkish Sultan this khan would show himself in the future.

As a result, very often, far from their homeland (somewhere in Persia), without any benefit for it, the soldiers of the Crimean Khanate died in the wars that the Sublime Porte endlessly waged.

So, to paraphrase, we can rightfully say: “Girey’s hat is heavy!” The khan's prerogatives, which he enjoyed even under Ottoman rule, included public prayer (khutbah), i.e. offering him “for health” in all mosques during Friday services, commanding troops, minting coins, the value of which he often, in his own way discretion, raised or lowered, the right to establish duties and impose taxes on his subjects.

In addition to the khan, there were six highest ranks of state rank: kalga, Nuraddin, orbey and three seraskirs or Nogai generals Kalga-sultan - the first person after the khan, the governor of the sovereign. In the event of the death of the khan, the reins of power rightfully passed to him until the arrival of a successor. If the khan did not want or could not take part in a military campaign, the kalga took command of the troops. The residence of the Kalgi Sultan was located in Ak-Mosque (the territory of modern Simferopol), not far from the capital of the Khanate - Bakhchisarai. He had his own vizier, his own divan-effendi, his own qadi, his court consisted of three officials, like the khan’s. Kalga Sultan met every day in his divan. This sofa had jurisdiction over all crimes in the district, even if it involved a death sentence. But the kalga did not have the right to make a final verdict; he only examined the trial, and the khan could approve the verdict. Kalgu Khan could only be appointed with the consent of Turkey; most often, when appointing a new khan, the Istanbul court also appointed Kalgu Sultan.

Nuraddin Sultan is the second person. In relation to the kalga, he was the same as the kalga was in relation to the khan. During the absence of the khan and kalga, he took command of the army. Nuraddin had his own vizier, his divan-effendi and his own qadi. But he did not sit in the Divan. He lived in Bakhchisarai and moved away from the court only if he was given an order. On campaigns he commanded small corps. Usually he was the prince of the blood.

Orbeus and Serasciri occupied a more modest position. These officials, unlike the Kalgi Sultan, were appointed by the khan himself. One of the most important persons in the hierarchy of the Crimean Khanate was considered the Mufti of Crimea, or kadiesker. He lived in Bakhchisarai, was the head of the clergy and interpreter of the law in all controversial or important cases. He could mix up the Qadis if they judged incorrectly.

Dictionary

Bey- the highest Crimean Tatar nobility.

Gireyi(Gerai) - the ruling dynasty of the Crimean khans.

Sofa- Council of the highest nobility in the Crimean Khanate, the largest landowners (owned beyliks).

Murzy- Crimean Tatar nobility (nobility)

Beylik- patrimonial land ownership of the highest Crimean Tatar nobility - beys.

Mufti- in the Crimean Khanate - the head of the Crimean Muslims. Usually appointed by the Turkish Sultan.

CRIMEA KHANATE(1441/1443–1783), medieval state in Crimea. It was formed on the territory of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde during the period of its collapse. The founder of the Crimean Khanate was Hadji Giray (1441/1443–1466). The borders of the Crimean Khanate during the period of its power (mid-15th century) included the territories of the Northern Black Sea region from the mouth of the Dniester in the West to the right bank of the Don in the East, to the Vorskla River in the North.

The administrative division of the Crimean Khanate was traditional for the medieval Turkic-Tatar states and consisted of four large possessions of the Argyn, Baryn, Kipchak and Shirin clans. The nomadic possessions of Yedisan, Budzhak, and Small Nogai depended on the Crimean Khanate. During its heyday, the Khanate was divided into beyliks, which united the lands of several settlements and were ruled by representatives of various Tatar clans.

The capital is the city of Bakhchisaray - a large religious, political and shopping mall. There were others major cities: Solkhat (Iski-Crimea), Kafa, Akkerman, Azak (Azov), Kyrk-Er (Chufut-Kale), Gezlev, Sudak. All of them were centers of beyliks and the focus of administrative power, crafts, trade, and religious life.

Tatars, Greeks, Armenians, Karaites, and Crimeans lived on the lands of the Crimean Khanate; There are also Italian merchants in port cities.

The nobility called themselves Tatars, sometimes with the addition of “Krymly” (that is, Crimean), and the main population most often defined themselves on religious grounds - Muslims.

The main language in the Crimean Khanate was Turkic; office work, diplomatic correspondence and literary creativity; Since the 16th century, numerous Ottomanisms began to penetrate into it.

The economic activities of the population of the Crimean Khanate were strictly zoned: agriculture, gardening and viticulture were cultivated in the southern foothills, semi-nomadic cattle breeding - in the steppe part of Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region. Wheat, barley, millet, rice, and lentils were grown. Peaches, pears, apple trees, plums, cherries, and nuts were grown in the gardens. The population was engaged in beekeeping, fishing and hunting. Cities, especially port cities, were centers of highly developed crafts such as ironworking, weapons, weaving, leatherworking, woodworking, pottery, jewelry, and construction. Trade relations with Turkey, Russia, Poland, and the countries of Transcaucasia were developed. The main items exported from the Crimean Khanate were wheat, honey, and slaves; import - weapons, fabrics, spices, luxury goods. Famous trade fairs are in Cafe, Gezlev, Sudak and Or-Kapu (Perekop).

Supreme power in the Crimean Khanate belonged to the khans from the Girey clan, descendants of Khan Jochi. The tamga (coat of arms) of the Crimean Khanate was a sign in the form of a trident comb, and the tughra was a calligraphically written tamga, preserved in various forms in the diplomatic correspondence of the Crimean khans. After the establishment of vassal dependence of the Crimean Khanate on the Turkish Empire in 1475, a different system of power was formed here. The real ruler of Crimea was the Turkish Sultan, who had the right to remove and appoint khans, control all international relations of the Khanate, and also call upon Crimean troops to go on campaign. Formally, the khans of the Crimean Khanate were autocratic monarchs, but in reality their power was limited by the Turkish sultans and ruling clans. The khans sealed all the laws of the country with their seal and performed other representative functions. The basis of the khan's wealth was his ulus, located in the valleys of the Alma, Kacha and Salgir rivers. The residence of the khans from the end of the 15th century was in Bakhchisarai. The second most important representative of the Gireys was the heir to the throne - kalga, usually the eldest representative of the clan after the khan. His residence and administration were located in Ak-Mosque. Ownership of kalga - kalgalyk was not inherited, but was state property. Since 1578, another heir to the throne appeared in the Crimean Khanate - Nuraddin, the third in importance; his possessions were located in the Alma valley in Kachi-Saray. In fact, power in the Crimean Khanate belonged to the Tatar nobility, in which there were 4 ruling families: Shirin, Argyn, Baryn and Kipchak (Yashlav). Later they were joined by the Nogai clans Mangyt (Mansur) and Sidzheut. In the 16th–18th centuries, there was probably a rotation of clans, when the Mangyts ousted the Argyn, Kipchak or Baryn clans from power structures. The form of influence of the aristocracy on state affairs was the council under the khan - the divan. It included Kalga, Nuraddin, Shirin Bey, Mufti, representatives of the highest Tatar nobility led by Karachibeks from the four ruling clans, the rulers were the serakesirs of the three nomadic hordes (Budzhak, Yedisan, Nogai). The sofa was in charge of everyone state affairs, and also resolved complex court cases that were not subject to the jurisdiction of estate and local courts; was involved in determining government expenditures, including for the maintenance of the khan and his court.

Higher administrative and military power carried out by Ulug Karachibek from the Shirin clan, his residence was in Solkhat. Ensuring the external security of the state was carried out by the or-bek, residence in Perekop. Financial affairs and taxes were in charge of the khan-agasy (vizier), as well as various officials: kazandar-bashi, aktachi-bashi, defterdar-bashi, killardzhi-bashi. After establishing dependence on the Turkish Empire, the representative of the Sultan began to play an important role in the life of Crimea.

Social organization The nobility in the Crimean Khanate had a hierarchical system associated with the rights to land ownership or levying a certain tax, for which the owners were obliged to serve their overlord. Ownership was divided into conditional - iqta, suyurgal and unconditional - tarkhan (exemption from all or part of taxes and duties). The highest stratum of the nobility consisted of the descendants of the Gireys - Kalga, Nuraddin, Sultans, Murzas, Beks and small serving nobility - Emeldyashi and Sirdashi. The army of the Crimean Khanate consisted of the Khan's guard (kapy-kulu) and militias of Tatar clans, as well as troops of nomadic tribes with a total number of 4 thousand to 200 thousand soldiers. The basis of the army was the serving nobility, which comprised a cadre of military leaders and professional warriors, mainly heavily armed cavalrymen, whose total number reached 8–10 thousand people. At the beginning of the 16th century, under the khan, a permanent professional army began to form, similar to the Turkish one, consisting of detachments of infantrymen armed with muskets (janissry and tyufenkchi), as well as field artillery (zarbuzan). Artillery was used in field battles and in the defense of fortifications. Combat and transport fleets were used for crossings and battles on rivers. In the 16th–18th centuries, the detachments of the Crimean Khan most often acted as part of the Turkish troops. In field battles, operational maneuvers, flanking, and false retreats were used. During the battle, the Tatars tried to maintain their distance, hitting the enemy with arrows.

The bulk of the population consisted of the tax-paying class, which paid taxes to the state or feudal lord, the main of which was yasak, traditional for the Tatar states. There were other taxes, fees and duties: supplies of provisions to the troops and authorities (anbar-mala, ulufa-susun), yam duty (ilchi-kunak), taxes in favor of the clergy (gosher and zakat). Large revenues to the treasury of the Crimean Khanate were provided by payments for the participation of military contingents of the Crimean Tatars in the campaigns of the Turkish sultans, monetary indemnities from Poland and Russia issued to prevent raids on their territory, as well as military booty.

The state religion in the Crimean Khanate was Islam. The head of the clergy was a mufti from the Sayyid family. Muftis and seyids actively participated in the political life of the country and were also involved in legal proceedings. The clergy were also in charge of religious educational institutions- mektabs and madrassas. In them, the bulk of the country's population learned to read and write and the basic canons of religion. Data have been preserved about the existence of handwritten libraries and book copyists at the madrasah and the khan’s court. The literacy and culture of the population are evidenced by preserved objects with inscriptions, tombstones with epitaphic inscriptions, and documents on office work. Literature was actively developing. A collection of poems and poems “The Rose and the Nightingale” by Khan Gazi-Girey has been preserved. Khans Bogadyr-Girey and Selim-Girey were also poets. There was an official historiography in the Crimean Khanate. In the 16th–17th centuries, “The History of Khan Sahib-Girey” by Remmal Khoja, the anonymous “History of Dasht-i Kipchak”, around 1638, and “The History of Khan Said-Girey” by Haji Mehmed Senai appeared. The famous fundamental work of the 18th century “Seven Planets” by Sayyid Muhammad Riza. The main motive of these works is the desire to prove the intrinsic value of Tatar history, to determine the role and place of the Crimean khans in the history of Turkey.

Construction and architecture were at a high level of development, for example, white-stone Bakhchisaray was famous for its mosques - Takhtaly-Jami (1704), Yeshel-Jami (1764), Hiji-Jami (1762–1769). The Jumi-Jami mosque (XVI century) was created in Yevpatoria. Mausoleums (dyurbe) of the Crimean khans and khan-bike - Turabek-khanum, Mengli-Gireya, Muhammad-Gireya were also built. The art of stone carving reached a high level; tombstones with floral ornaments were made. Music developed; famous musicians were some representatives of the Girey family who were educated in Turkey: Sahib-Girey, Gazi-Girey.

The population of the Crimean Khanate became the basis for the formation of the modern Crimean Tatar nation, laying down its main political, cultural and linguistic traditions.

The Crimean Khanate pursued an active foreign policy. Having strengthened the internal position in the state, Hadji Giray and his immediate descendants fought with the khans of the Great Horde, and often entered into an alliance with the Russian state. However, during this period the influence of the Ottoman Empire sharply increased, which extended its power to the entire Black Sea coast. On June 1, 1475, the Turkish fleet captured Cafa and other Italian colonies and Gothic fortresses. From that time on, the Crimean Khan became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan. In the first third of the 16th century, as Turkey grew stronger and Russia began to expand in the Volga region, Russian-Crimean contradictions intensified. They sharply intensified after the deposition of the Russian protege Shah-Ali in Kazan and the elevation of Khan Sahib-Girey to the throne. The installation of Sahib-Girey and then his younger brother Safa-Girey on the Kazan throne caused a series of conflicts and wars between Moscow and the Crimean Khanate. Russian military campaigns became more frequent after the death of Safa-Girey in 1546 and ended with the conquest of Kazan (1552). Wars between the Crimean Khanate and Russia began, in which the main demand of the Crimean Khan was the return of khans from the Girey clan to Kazan. In these wars, the Crimean Khanate was supported by Turkey, which, in an effort to expand its influence in the North Caucasus, undertook an unsuccessful campaign against Astrakhan (1569). In 1571, Khan Devlet-Girey approached Moscow and burned it, but in 1572 he was defeated in the Battle of Molodi, which forced him to sign peace with Moscow. All attempts to liberate Kazan from Russian rule were unsuccessful. In the 17th–18th centuries, the Crimean Khanate participated in all military enterprises of the Turkish Empire: in wars against Hungary, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia, Austria and Iran. The territories of Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Wallachia were subjected to repeated attacks by Crimean troops.

At the end of the 17th century, during the war with Turkey, Russia undertook Crimean campaigns(1687, 1689), which ended without result. In 1711, the troops of the Crimean Khanate took part in the war with Russia, which ended with the Prut Peace Treaty, which ensured the preservation of the Crimean Khanate. At the end of the 18th century, the aggressive policy of the Russian Empire led to a series of Russian-Turkish wars. According to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty of 1774, the Crimean Khanate ceased to be a vassal of Turkey and moved into the sphere of influence of Russia. The policies of Khan Shagin-Girey (1777–1783) caused discontent among the population and aristocracy and provoked an uprising. Under the pretext that the new khan was not approved by Russia, Russian troops were brought into Crimea. In 1783, the Crimean Khanate was annexed to the Russian Empire. On April 8, 1783, Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto, according to which Crimea, Taman and Kuban became Russian regions. The population formally retained its former rights and was ensured a peaceful life and justice. A new era began for Crimea - the period of Russian colonization and the gradual displacement of the Tatars.

Hadji Giray (1443–1466)
Nur-Devlet (1466–1469, 1474–1477)
Mengli-Girey I (1469–1515, with a break in 1474–1478)
Janibek-Girey I (1477–1478)
Muhammad-Girey I (1515–1523)
Gazi-Girey I (1523–1524)
Saadet Girey I (1524–1532)
Islam Giray I (1532)
Sahib Giray I (1532–1551)
Devlet-Girey I (1551–1577)
Muhammad-Girey II (1577–1584)
Islam Giray II (1584–1588)
Gazi-Girey II (1588–1597, 1597–1608)
Fath Giray I (1597)
Selamet-Girey I (1608–1610)
Janibek-Girey II (1610–1622, 1627–1635)
Muhammad-Girey III (1622–1627)
Inet-Girey (1635–1638)
Bahadur-Girey (1638–1642)
Muhammad-Girey IV (1642–1644, 1654–1665)
Islam Giray III (1644–1654)
Adil-Girey (1665–1670)
Selim Giray I (1670–1677, 1684–1691, 1692–1698, 1702–1604)
Murad-Girey (1677–1683)
Hadji Giray II (1683–84)
Saadet-Girey II (1691)
Safa-Girey (1691–92)
Devlet-Girey II (1698–1702, 1707–13)
Gazi-Girey III (1704–07)
Kaplan-Girey I (1707, 1713–16, 1730–36)
Kara-Devlet-Girey (1716–17)
Saadet-Girey III (1717–24)
Mengli-Girey II (1724–30, 1737–39)
Fath Giray II (1736–37)
Selim Giray II (1743–48)
Arslan-Girey (1748–56, 1767)
Maksud-Girey (1767–68)
Halim-Girey (1756–58)
Crimea-Girey (1758–64, 1767–69)
Selim Giray III (1764–67, 1770–71)
Devlet-Girey III (1769–70, 1775–77)
Kaplan-Girey II (1770)
Maksud-Girey II (1771–72)
Sahib-Girey II (1772–75)
Shagin-Girey (1777–83)

Qırım Yurtu, قريم يورتى ‎). In addition to the steppe and foothills of the Crimea proper, it occupied the lands between the Danube and the Dnieper, the Azov region and most of the modern Krasnodar region of Russia. In 1478, the Crimean Khanate officially became an ally of the Ottoman state and remained in this capacity until the 1774 Peace of Küçük-Kainardzhi. It was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783. Currently, most of the lands of the Khanate (the territories west of the Don) belong to Ukraine, and the remaining part (the lands east of the Don) belongs to Russia.

Capitals of the Khanate

The main city of the Crimean Yurt was the city of Kyrym, also known as Solkhat (modern Old Crimea), which became the capital of Khan Oran-Timur in 1266. According to the most common version, the name Kyrym comes from Chagatai qırım- pit, trench, there is also an opinion that it comes from the Western Kipchak qırım- “my hill” ( qır- hill, hill, -ım- affix of belonging to the first person singular).

When a state independent from the Horde was formed in Crimea, the capital was moved to the fortified mountain fortress of Kyrk-Era, then to Salachik, located in the valley at the foot of Kyrk-Era, and finally, in 1532, to the newly built city of Bakhchisarai.

Story

Background

During the Horde period, the supreme rulers of Crimea were the khans of the Golden Horde, but direct control was exercised by their governors - emirs. The first formally recognized ruler in Crimea is considered to be Aran-Timur, the nephew of Batu, who received this region from Mengu-Timur. This name then gradually spread to the entire peninsula. The second center of Crimea was the valley adjacent to Kyrk-Eru and Bakhchisarai.

The multinational population of Crimea then consisted mainly of the Kipchaks (Polovtsians) who lived in the steppe and foothills of the peninsula, whose state was defeated by the Mongols, Greeks, Goths, Alans, and Armenians, who lived mainly in cities and mountain villages, as well as Rusyns who lived in some trading cities. The Crimean nobility was mainly of mixed Kipchak-Mongol origin.

Horde rule, although it had positive aspects, was generally burdensome for the Crimean population. In particular, the rulers of the Golden Horde repeatedly organized punitive campaigns in Crimea when the local population refused to pay tribute. Nogai's campaign in 1299 is known, as a result of which a number of Crimean cities suffered. As in other regions of the Horde, separatist tendencies soon began to appear in Crimea.

There are legends, unconfirmed by Crimean sources, that in the 14th century Crimea was allegedly repeatedly ravaged by the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd defeated the Tatar army in 1363 near the mouth of the Dnieper, and then allegedly invaded Crimea, devastated Chersonesus and captured all valuable church objects there. A similar legend exists about his successor named Vytautas, who in 1397 allegedly reached Kaffa itself in the Crimean campaign and again destroyed Chersonesos. Vytautas is also known in Crimean history for the fact that during the Horde unrest at the end of the 14th century, he provided refuge in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to a significant number of Tatars and Karaites, whose descendants now live in Lithuania and the Grodno region of Belarus. In 1399, Vitovt, who came to the aid of the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, was defeated on the banks of the Vorskla by Tokhtamysh’s rival Timur-Kutluk, on whose behalf the Horde was ruled by Emir Edigei, and made peace.

Gaining independence

Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire

Wars with the Russian Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early period

Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom and Poland. The Crimean Tatars and Nogais were fluent in raid tactics, choosing a path along watersheds. The main route to Moscow was the Muravsky Way, which ran from Perekop to Tula between the upper reaches of the rivers of two basins, the Dnieper and the Seversky Donets. Having gone 100-200 kilometers into the border region, the Tatars turned back and, spreading wide wings from the main detachment, engaged in robbery and the capture of slaves. The capture of captives - yasyr - and the trade in slaves were an important part of the economy of the Khanate. Captives were sold to Turkey, the Middle East and even European countries. Crimean city Kafa was the main slave market. According to some researchers, more than three million people, mostly Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, were sold in the Crimean slave markets over two centuries. Every year, Moscow gathered up to 65 thousand warriors in the spring to carry out border service on the banks of the Oka until late autumn. To protect the country, fortified defensive lines were used, consisting of a chain of forts and cities, ambushes and rubble. In the southeast, the oldest of these lines ran along the Oka from Nizhny Novgorod to Serpukhov, from here it turned south to Tula and continued to Kozelsk. The second line, built under Ivan the Terrible, ran from the city of Alatyr through Shatsk to Orel, continued to Novgorod-Seversky and turned to Putivl. Under Tsar Fedor, a third line arose, passing through the cities of Livny, Yelets, Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod. The initial population of these cities consisted of Cossacks, Streltsy and other service people. Large quantity Cossacks and service people were part of the guard and village services, which monitored the movement of the Crimeans and Nogais in the steppe.

In Crimea itself, the Tatars left little yasyr. According to the ancient Crimean custom, slaves were released as freedmen after 5-6 years of captivity - there is a number of evidence from Russian and Ukrainian documents about returnees from Perekop who “worked out”. Some of those released preferred to remain in Crimea. There is a well-known case, described by the Ukrainian historian Dmitry Yavornitsky, when the ataman of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, Ivan Sirko, who attacked Crimea in 1675, captured huge booty, including about seven thousand Christian captives and freedmen. The ataman asked them whether they wanted to go with the Cossacks to their homeland or return to Crimea. Three thousand expressed a desire to stay and Sirko ordered to kill them. Those who changed their faith while in slavery were released immediately, since Sharia law prohibits holding a Muslim in captivity. According to Russian historian Valery Vozgrin, slavery in Crimea itself almost completely disappeared already in the 16th-17th centuries. Most of the prisoners captured during attacks on their northern neighbors (their peak intensity occurred in the 16th century) were sold to Turkey, where slave labor was widely used, mainly in galleys and in construction work.

XVII - early XVIII centuries

January 6-12, 1711 Crimean army married Perekop. Mehmed Giray with 40 thousand Crimeans, accompanied by 7-8 thousand Orlik and Cossacks, 3-5 thousand Poles, 400 Janissaries and 700 Swedes of Colonel Zulich, headed to Kyiv.

During the first half of February 1711, the Crimeans easily captured Bratslav, Boguslav, Nemirov, the few garrisons of which offered virtually no resistance.

In the summer of 1711, when Peter I set off on the Prut Campaign with an army of 80 thousand, the Crimean cavalry numbering 70 thousand sabers, together with the Turkish army, surrounded Peter’s troops, which found themselves in a hopeless situation. Peter I himself was almost captured and was forced to sign a peace treaty on conditions that were extremely unfavorable for Russia. As a result of the Prut Peace, Russia lost access to Sea of Azov and its fleet in the Azov-Black Sea waters. As a result of the Prut victory of the united Turkish-Crimean wars, Russian expansion in the Black Sea region was stopped for a quarter of a century.

The Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39 and the complete devastation of Crimea

The last khans and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire

After the withdrawal of Russian troops, a widespread uprising occurred in Crimea. Turkish troops landed in Alushta; the Russian resident in Crimea, Veselitsky, was captured by Khan Shahin and handed over to the Turkish commander-in-chief. There were attacks on Russian troops in Alushta, Yalta and other places. The Crimeans elected Devlet IV as khan. At this time, the text of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty was received from Constantinople. But the Crimeans even now did not want to accept independence and cede the indicated cities in Crimea to the Russians, and the Porte considered it necessary to enter into new negotiations with Russia. Dolgorukov's successor, Prince Prozorovsky, negotiated with the khan in the most conciliatory tone, but the Murzas and ordinary Crimeans did not hide their sympathies for Ottoman Empire. Shahin Geray had few supporters. The Russian party in Crimea was small. But in Kuban he was proclaimed khan, and in 1776 he finally became khan of Crimea and entered Bakhchisarai. The people swore allegiance to him.

Shahin Giray became the last Khan of Crimea. He tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize governance along European lines, but these measures were extremely late. Soon after his accession, an uprising against the Russian presence began. The Crimeans attacked Russian troops everywhere, killing up to 900 Russians, and plundered the palace. Shahin was embarrassed, made various promises, but was overthrown, and Bahadir II Giray was elected khan. Türkiye was preparing to send a fleet to the shores of Crimea and start a new war. The uprising was decisively suppressed by Russian troops, Shahin Giray mercilessly punished his opponents. A.V. Suvorov was appointed Prozorovsky’s successor as commander of the Russian troops in Crimea, but the khan was very wary of the new Russian adviser, especially after he deported all Crimean Christians (about 30,000 people) to the Azov region in 1778: Greeks - to Mariupol, Armenians - to Nor-Nakhichevan.

Only now Shahin turned to the Sultan as the caliph for a letter of blessing, and the Porte recognized him as khan, subject to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Crimea. Meanwhile, in 1782, a new uprising began in Crimea, and Shahin was forced to flee to Yenikale, and from there to Kuban. Bahadir II Giray, who was not recognized by Russia, was elected khan. In 1783, Russian troops entered Crimea without warning. Soon Shahin Giray abdicated the throne. He was asked to choose a city in Russia for residence and was given a sum for his relocation with a small retinue and maintenance. He lived first in Voronezh, and then in Kaluga, from where, at his request and with the consent of the Porte, he was released to Turkey and settled on the island of Rhodes, where he was deprived of his life.

There were “small” and “large” divans, which played a very serious role in the life of the state.

A council was called a “small divan” if a narrow circle of nobility took part in it, resolving issues that required urgent and specific decisions.

The “Big Divan” is a meeting of “the whole earth”, when all the Murzas and representatives of the “best” black people took part in it. By tradition, the Karaches retained the right to sanction the appointment of khans from the Geray clan as sultan, which was expressed in the ritual of placing them on the throne in Bakhchisarai.

The state structure of Crimea largely used the Golden Horde and Ottoman structures state power. Most often, the highest government positions were occupied by the sons, brothers of the khan or other persons of noble origin.

The first official after the khan was the Kalga Sultan. Appointed to this position younger brother khan or his other relative. Kalga ruled the eastern part of the peninsula, the left wing of the khan's army and administered the state in the event of the death of the khan until a new one was appointed to the throne. He was also the commander-in-chief if the khan did not personally go to war. The second position - nureddin - was also occupied by a member of the khan's family. He was the governor of the western part of the peninsula, chairman of small and local courts, and commanded smaller corps of the right wing on campaigns.

The mufti is the head of the Muslim clergy of Crimea, an interpreter of laws, who has the right to remove judges - qadis, if they judged incorrectly.

Kaimakany - in late period(end of the 18th century) governors of the regions of the Khanate. Or-bey is the head of the Or-Kapy (Perekop) fortress. Most often, this position was occupied by members of the khan family, or a member of the Shirin family. He guarded the borders and watched over the Nogai hordes outside the Crimea. The positions of qadi, vizier and other ministers are similar to the same positions in the Ottoman state.

In addition to the above, there were two important female positions: ana-beim (analogous to the Ottoman post of valide), which was held by the mother or sister of the khan, and ulu-beim (ulu-sultani), the senior wife of the ruling khan. In terms of importance and role in the state, they had the rank next to nureddin.

An important phenomenon in the state life of Crimea was the very strong independence of noble bey families, which in some way brought Crimea closer to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The beys ruled their possessions (beyliks) as semi-independent states, administered justice themselves and had their own militia. The beys regularly took part in riots and conspiracies, both against the khan and among themselves, and often wrote denunciations against the khans they did not please the Ottoman government in Istanbul.

Social life

The state religion of Crimea was Islam, and in the customs of the Nogai tribes there were some vestiges of shamanism. Along with the Crimean Tatars and Nogais, Islam was also practiced by the Turks and Circassians living in Crimea.

The permanent non-Muslim population of Crimea was represented by Christians of various denominations: Orthodox (Hellenic-speaking and Turkic-speaking Greeks), Gregorians (Armenians), Armenian Catholics, Roman Catholics (descendants of the Genoese), as well as Jews and Karaites.

Notes

Budagov. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T.2, p.51
O. Gaivoronsky. Lords of two continents.t.1.Kiev-Bakhchisarai. Oranta.2007
Thunmann. "Crimean Khanate"
Sigismund Herberstein, Notes on Muscovy, Moscow 1988, p. 175
Yavornitsky D. I. History Zaporizhian Cossacks. Kyiv, 1990.
V. E. Syroechkovsky, Muhammad-Gerai and his vassals, “Scientific Notes of Moscow State University,” vol. 61, 1940, p. 16.