The last khan of Crimea. Crimean Khanate

Crimean Khanate, Crimean Khanate 1783
vassal of the Ottoman Empire
(from 1478 to 1774)

Crimean Khanate(Crimea: Qırım Hanlığı, قريم خانلغى‎) - the state of the Crimean Tatars, which existed from 1441 to 1783. Self-name - Crimean yurt (Crimea: Qırım Yurtu, قريم يورتى‎). In addition to the steppe and foothill parts 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, after the Ottoman military expedition to Crimea, the Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. After the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, under the terms of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774, Crimea became an independent state under the protectorate of the Russian Empire, while the spiritual authority of the Sultan as the head of the Muslims (caliph) over the Crimean Tatars was recognized. In 1783, the Crimean Khanate was annexed by the Russian Empire. The annexation was recognized by the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791.

• 1 Capitals of the Khanate
• 2 History
  • 2.1 Background
  • 2.2 Gaining independence
  • 2.3 Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire
  • 2.4 Wars with the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early period
  • 2.5 XVII - early XVIII centuries
  • 2.6 Attempted alliance with Charles XII and Mazepa
  • 2.7 Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39 and the complete devastation of Crimea
  • 2.8 Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace
  • 2.9 The last khans and the conquest of Crimea by the Russian Empire
• 3 Maps of lands in history
• 4 Geography
• 5 Army
• 6 State system
• 7 Social life
• 8 Links
• 9 See also
• 10 Notes
• 11 Literature

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 the 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 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

The first appearance of the Mongols in Crimea dates back to 1223, when the commanders Jebe and Subetey invaded the peninsula and captured Sudak, defeating the Russian-Polovtsian coalition (according to Ibn al-Asir): “many of the noble merchants and rich Russians” fled overseas to Muslim countries , saving your property and goods. In 1237, the Mongols defeated and subjugated the Polovtsians. Soon after these campaigns, the entire steppe and foothill Crimea became the possession of the Ulus of Jochi, known as the Golden Horde. However, virtually independent Genoese trading posts arose on the coast, with which the Tatars maintained trade relations.

During the Horde period, the supreme rulers of Crimea were the khans of the Golden Horde, but direct control was exercised by their governors - the emirs. The first formally recognized ruler in Crimea is considered to be Aran-Timur, Batu’s nephew, 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 Kypchaks (Cumans), Greeks, Goths, Alans, and Armenians living mainly in cities and mountain villages who lived in the steppe and foothills of the peninsula. The Crimean nobility was mainly of mixed Kipchak-Mongol origin.

Horde rule, although it had positive aspects, was generally burdensome for the Crimean population. 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 Chersonesus. 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

By the beginning of the 15th century, the Crimean Yurt had already become very isolated from the Golden Horde and had noticeably strengthened. its composition included, in addition to the steppe and foothill Crimea, part of the mountainous part of the peninsula and vast territories on the continent. After the death of Edigei in 1420, the Horde effectively lost control over Crimea. After this, a fierce struggle for power began in Crimea, from which the first khan of independent Crimea and the founder of the Giray dynasty, Hadji I Giray, emerged victorious. In 1427 he declared himself ruler of the Crimean Khanate. In 1441, with the support of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the local Crimean nobility, he was elected khan and enthroned. By the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde period in the history of Crimea was finally completed. The long-term desire of the Crimeans for independence was crowned with success, and the Golden Horde, shaken by unrest, could no longer offer serious resistance. Soon after the fall of Crimea, the Bulgar (Kazan Khanate) also separated from it, and then, one after another, Astrakhan and the Nogai Horde became independent.

Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire

Taking the throne in 1441, Haji I Giray reigned until his death in 1466.

In the fall of 1480, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III turned through his ambassador in Crimea to the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray with a request to organize a campaign in the Polish lands “to the Kyiv places.” Mengli Giray took Kyiv by storm, plundered and greatly destroyed the city. From the rich booty, the khan sent Ivan III a golden chalice and paten from the Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral in gratitude. In 1480, Ivan III entered into an alliance with this khan, which lasted until his death. Ivan III patronized trade, and for this purpose he especially maintained relations with Kafa and Azov.

In 1475, the Ottoman Empire conquered the Genoese colonies and the last bastion of the Byzantine Empire - the Principality of Theodoro, inhabited by Orthodox Christians (Greeks, Alans, Goths, etc.), numbering up to 200 thousand people, who over the next three centuries for the most part (especially in south coast) converted to Islam. These territories, which covered most of the Mountainous Crimea, as well as a number of large cities and fortresses of the Black Sea region, the Azov region and the Kuban, became part of the Turkish possessions, were controlled by the Sultan’s administration and were not subordinate to the khans. The Ottomans maintained their garrisons and bureaucrats in them and strictly collected taxes from the lands under their control. 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. In Ottoman terminology, vassal countries like the Crimean Khanate were called “states under protection” (Turkish: himaye altındaki devletler). The appointment, confirmation and removal of khans were usually carried out at the will of Istanbul since 1584.

Wars with the Russian Empire 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 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Crimean Tatars and Nogais were fluent in raid tactics, choosing a path along watersheds. Their 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. The Crimean city of Kafa was the main slave market. According to some researchers, more than three million people, mainly 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, and Belgorod. The initial population of these cities consisted of Cossacks, archers and other service people. A large number of 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 Polish 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 them to be killed. Those who changed their faith while in slavery were released immediately. 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.

Khan Devlet I Giray waged constant wars with Ivan IV the Terrible, vainly seeking to restore the independence of Kazan and Astrakhan. However, when Turkey tried to organize a military campaign in the Volga region to take Astrakhan and implement the project of connecting the Volga and Don with a canal, the khan sabotaged this initiative as interference of the Ottomans in the traditional sphere of influence of the Crimean Khanate.

In May 1571, at the head of an army of 40 thousand horsemen, the khan burned Moscow, for which he received the nickname Takht Algan (“who took the throne”). During the raid on the Moscow state, as many historians believe, several hundred thousand people died and 50,000 were captured. Ivan IV undertook, following the example of Poland, to pay an annual tribute to the Crimea - according to a list sent in advance from the family of the khan and his nobles. However, due to the devastating defeat of the khan in the Battle of Molodi, a year later, the Crimean Khanate lost a significant part of its power and was forced to renounce its claims to the Volga region. The payment of “wake” to Crimea continued until the end of the 17th century and finally stopped only during the reign of Peter I.

XVII - early XVIII centuries

Islam III Giray (1644 − 1654) provided military assistance to the Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the War of Liberation with Poland.

As the Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi pointed out in 1660, the Crimean Tatars had their northern border at the Or (Perekop) castle, the steppe also belonged to the khan, but the Nogais roamed there: Adil, Shaidak, Ormit. They paid taxes for grazing herds and delivered butter, honey, cattle, sheep, lambs and yasir to the Crimea. He also reports that “the Tatars have 12 languages ​​and speak through translators.” Crimea at that time consisted of 24 kalyks; The qadi was appointed by the khan, except for four in the Kaffen eyalet, which was under the authority of the sultan. There were also “40 beyliks”, where bey meant “chief of the clan”, and the murzas were subject to him. The khan's army numbered 80,000 soldiers, of which 3,000 were “kapykulu” (plural: “kapykullary”), that is, the khan’s guard, paid by the Sultan with 12,000 gold “for boots,” and were armed with muskets.

One of the greatest and most beloved rulers of the Crimeans was Selim I Giray (Hadji Selim Giray). He occupied the throne four times (1671-1678, 1684-1691, 1692-1699, 1702-1704). in alliance with the Ottomans, he waged a successful war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and alone an unsuccessful one with Moscow; for recent failures he lost power and ended up on the island of Rhodes. During his second reign, he successfully repelled the troops of Prince Golitsyn, sent by Princess Sophia (in 1687 and in 1688-1689 (Both Russian campaigns were unsuccessful, but distracted the Crimean troops from helping the Turks in Hungary). During his third reign, Russian Tsar Peter The Great tried to establish himself in the Sea of ​​Azov: he made a campaign against Azov (1695), but this attempt was unsuccessful for him, since he did not have a fleet to take the seaside fortress; in the spring of 1696, he took Azov with a fleet built in the winter (in 1711 Azov was temporarily lost to him for 25 years. In 1699, Selim I Giray renounced the throne in favor of his son. In 1702, he again took the throne at the numerous requests of the Crimeans and ruled until his death in 1704. In 1713, Peter I formed a land militia, settled troops , to protect against attacks by the Crimean Tatars.

Murad Geray (1678-1683), participating in a campaign with the Turks against the Germans, was defeated near Vienna (1683), was accused of treason against the Turkish Sultan and was deprived of the Khanate.

Haji II Giray (1683-1684) fled from Crimea from indignant dignitaries.

Saadet III Giray (1691) ruled during the 9-month renunciation of Selim I's rule.

Devlet II Giray (1699-1702 and 1709-1713) failures in actions against the Russians led to the deposition of Devlet and the election of his father for the fourth time. For the second time he was removed from power on a formal occasion (accused of improper treatment of the Swedish king Charles XII, who sought asylum in Turkey).

Gazy III Giray (1704-1707) was dismissed as a result of intrigues of court groups in Istanbul, the reason was complaints from Russian ambassadors about unauthorized raids by the Kuban Nogais.

Kaplan I Giray (1707-1708, 1713-1716, 1730-1736) was removed from power for the first time after the crushing defeat of the campaign he led against Kabarda.

Attempted alliance with Charles XII and Mazepa

At the beginning of the 18th century, Crimea found itself in a rather ambiguous position. The international order established after the Treaty of Constantinople in 1700 prohibited the Crimeans from making military campaigns on the lands of Russia and Ukraine. The Sultan's divan, interested in preserving peace, was forced to limit the incursions of Crimean troops into foreign states, which caused serious objections in Crimea, expressed during the rebellion of Devlet II Giray in 1702-1703. Charles XII in the spring of 1709, on the eve of Poltava, repeatedly appealed to Devlet II with a proposal for a military-political alliance. Only thanks to the position of Turkey, which had no serious intention of fighting with Russia, and the streams of money filling the bottomless pockets of Turkish officials, Crimea maintained neutrality during the Battle of Poltava.

Finding himself after Poltava in Turkey, in Bendery, Charles XII established close contacts with Istanbul and Bakhchisarai. If the Turkish administration of Ahmed III showed serious hesitation on the issue of war, then Devlet II Giray was ready to rush into any adventure. Without waiting for the start of the war, in May 1710 he concluded a military alliance with Mazepa’s successor, Philip Orlik, who was under Charles XII, and the Cossacks. The terms of the agreement were as follows:

1. the khan pledged to be an ally of the Cossacks, but at the same time not to take them under his protection and subordination;
2. Devlet II promised to achieve the liberation of Ukraine from Moscow rule, but he did not have the right to take prisoners and destroy Orthodox churches;
3. Khan promised to do his best to promote the separation of Left Bank Ukraine from Moscow and its reunification with the Right Bank into a single independent state.

On January 6-12, 1711, the Crimean army advanced beyond 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 Kiev.

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. Under the terms of the Prut Peace, Russia lost access to the Sea of ​​Azov and its fleet in the Azov-Black Sea waters. As a result of the Prut victory of the united Turkish-Crimean troops, 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

Kaplan I Giray (1707-1708, 1713-1715, 1730-1736) - the last of the great khans of Crimea. During his second reign, he was forced to take part in the war between Turkey and Persia. Promoting the installation of Augustus of Saxony on the Polish throne, the Russians took advantage of the situation and attacked Crimea under the command of H. A. Minich and P. P. Lassi (1735-1738), which led to the defeat and devastation of the entire Crimea with its capital Bakhchisarai.

In 1736, the army of H. A. Minich completely destroyed Kezlev and Bakhchisarai, the cities were burned, and all the residents who did not have time to escape were killed. After this, the army moved to the eastern part of Crimea. However, a cholera epidemic that began due to the decomposition of numerous corpses led to the death of part of the Russian army, and Minich led the army beyond Perekop. Eastern Crimea was devastated during the Lassi campaign the following year. The Russian army burned Karasubazar, also killing the population of the city. In 1738, a new campaign was planned, but it was canceled because the army could no longer feed itself - in a completely devastated country there was simply no food and hunger reigned.

The war of 1736-38 became a national catastrophe for the Crimean Khanate. All significant cities were in ruins, the economy suffered enormous damage, there was famine in the country and a cholera epidemic was raging. A significant part of the population died.

The Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace

Khan Kyrim Giray, during his second reign, dragged Turkey into a war with Russia, which ultimately led to the fall of the Crimean Khanate. It was very successful for Russia. The victories of Rumyantsev at Larga and Kagul, and A. Orlov at Chesma glorified Catherine throughout Europe. Russia received reason to bring to the fore the question of the existence of the Crimean Khanate, which Rumyantsev, an astute man who understood the state of affairs better than others, insisted on, but, at the request of Catherine, the fate of Crimea was so far expressed in the form of its rejection of direct dependence on the Porte.

Prince V.M. Dolgorukov, who commanded the second Russian army, entered Crimea, defeated Khan Selim III in two battles and within a month captured the entire Crimea, and captured a Turkish seraskir in Kef. Bakhchisarai lay in ruins. Dolgorukov's army devastated Crimea. A number of villages were burned and civilians were killed. Khan Selim III fled to Istanbul. The Crimeans laid down their arms, bowed to the side of Russia and presented Dolgorukov with a letter of oath with the signatures of the Crimean nobility and notification of the election of Sahib II Giray to the khans, and his brother Shahin Giray to the kalgi.

On July 10, 1774, the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty was concluded, very beneficial for Russia, but also saving for Turkey. Crimea was not annexed to Russia and was recognized as independent from any outside power. In addition, the Sultan was recognized as the Supreme Caliph, and this circumstance caused difficulties and bickering between Russia and Turkey, since among Muslims, religious-ceremonial and civil-legal life are interconnected, therefore the Sultan had the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Crimea, for example, by appointing qadis (judges). Turkey, according to the agreement, recognized Kinburn, Kerch and Yenikale as Russian possessions, as well as its freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.

The South Coast passed from the Ottoman Empire to the Crimean Khanate.

The last khans and the conquest 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 the 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. The economic well-being of Crimea was undermined by the resettlement of most of the Crimean Christians (about 30,000 people) to the Azov region in 1778 by Prozorovsky’s successor as commander of the Russian troops in Crimea, A.V. Suvorov: Greeks to Mariupol, Armenians to Nor-Nakhichevan .

In 1776, Russia created the Dnieper Line - a series of border fortresses to protect its southern borders from the Crimean Tatars. There were only 7 fortresses - they stretched from the Dnieper to the Sea of ​​Azov.

Shahin Geray became the last Khan of Crimea. He tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize governance according to the European model, to equalize the rights of the Muslim and non-Muslim population of Crimea. The reforms were extremely unpopular and in 1781 led to an uprising that began in the Kuban and quickly spread to the Crimea.

By July 1782, the uprising had completely engulfed the entire peninsula, the khan was forced to flee, the officials of his administration who did not have time to escape were killed, and the khan's palace was plundered. The Crimeans everywhere attacked Russian troops (up to 900 Russians died) and the non-Crimean Tatar population of the Khanate. At the center of the uprising were Shahin's brothers, princes Bahadir Giray and Arslan Giray. Bahadir Geray. The leader of the rebels, Bahadir II Giray, was proclaimed khan. The new Crimean government asked the Ottoman and Russian empires for recognition. The first refused to recognize the new khan, and the second sent troops to suppress the uprising. Shahin Giray, who returned with the Russians, mercilessly punished his opponents.

By February 1783, the situation of Shahin Geray again became critical, the mass executions of political opponents, the hatred of the Tatars for the ongoing reforms and policies of Shahin Geray, the actual financial bankruptcy of the state, mutual distrust and misunderstanding with the Russian authorities led to the fact that Shahin Geray abdicated the throne. He was asked to choose a city in Russia to live in 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.

On April 8, 1783, the Russian Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto according to which Crimea, Taman and Kuban became Russian possessions. Thus, Crimea became part of the Russian Empire.

In 1791, according to the Treaty of Jassy, ​​the Ottoman state recognized Crimea as possession of Russia.

Maps of lands in history

Polovtsy XI-XII centuries

Golden Horde 1243-1438

Crimean Khanate 1441-1783

Geography

The Crimean Khanate included lands on the continent: the territories between the Dniester and the Dnieper, the Azov region and part of the Kuban. This territory was significantly larger in area than the khanate's possessions on the peninsula. The borders of the Khanate, including the northern ones, are recorded in many Crimean, Russian and Ukrainian sources, but no special research on this issue has yet been undertaken.

The Crimean khans were interested in developing trade, which provided significant profits to the treasury. Among the goods exported from Crimea are raw leather, sheep's wool, morocco, sheep's fur coats, gray and black smushkas.

The main fortress at the entrance to the peninsula was the Or fortress (known to the Russians as Perekop), which was the gateway to Crimea. The functions of protecting Crimea were performed by the cities - Fortresses of Arabat and Kerch. The main trading ports were Gezlev and Kefe. Military garrisons (mostly Turkish, partly local Greeks) were also maintained in Balaklava, Sudak, Kerch, and Kef.

Bakhchisarai was the capital of the Khanate since 1428, Akmescit (Ak-Mosque) was the residence of the Kalgi Sultan, Karasubazar was the center of the Shirinsky beys, Kefe was the residence of the governor of the Ottoman Sultan (it did not belong to the Khanate).

Army

Military activity was mandatory for both large and small feudal lords. The specifics of the military organization of the Crimean Tatars, which fundamentally distinguished it from the military affairs of other European peoples, aroused special interest among the latter. Carrying out the tasks of their governments, diplomats, merchants, and travelers sought not only to establish contacts with the khans, but also tried to familiarize themselves in detail with the organization of military affairs, and often their missions had the main goal of studying the military potential of the Crimean Khanate.

For a long time, there was no regular army in the Crimean Khanate, and all the men of the steppe and foothills of the peninsula who were able to bear arms actually took part in military campaigns. From an early age, Crimeans became accustomed to all the hardships and hardships of military life, learned to wield weapons, ride horses, and endure cold, hunger, and fatigue. The Khan, his sons, and individual beys carried out raids and got involved in hostilities with their neighbors mainly only when they were confident of a successful outcome. Intelligence played a major role in the military operations of the Crimean Tatars. Special scouts went ahead in advance, found out the situation, and then became guides for the advancing army. Using the factor of surprise, when it was possible to take the enemy by surprise, they often obtained relatively easy prey. But the Crimeans almost never acted independently against regular, numerically superior troops.

The Khan's Council established a norm in accordance with which the khan's vassals had to supply warriors. Some of the residents remained to look after the property of those who went on a campaign. These same people were supposed to arm and support the soldiers, for which they received part of the military spoils. In addition to military service, sauga was paid in favor of the khan - a fifth, and sometimes most of the booty that the Murzas brought with them after the raids. The poor people who took part in these campaigns hoped that going for loot would allow them to get rid of everyday difficulties and make their existence easier, so they relatively willingly followed their feudal lord.

In military affairs, the Crimean Tatars can distinguish two types of marching organization - a military campaign, when the Crimean army led by a khan or kalga takes part in the hostilities of the warring parties, and a predatory raid - besh-bash (five heads - a small Tatar detachment), which was carried out often by individual murzas and beys with relatively small military detachments in order to obtain booty and capture prisoners.

According to the descriptions of Guillaume de Beauplan and de Marsilly, the Crimeans were equipped quite simply - they used a light saddle, a blanket, and sometimes even covered the horse with sheep skin, and did not put on a bridle, using a rawhide belt. A whip with a short handle was also indispensable for the rider. The Crimeans were armed with a saber, a bow and a quiver with 18 or 20 arrows, a knife, a flint for making fire, an awl and 5 or 6 fathoms of belt ropes for tying captives. The favorite weapons of the Crimean Tatars were sabers made in Bakhchisarai; scimitars and daggers were taken in reserve.

Clothing on the campaign was also unpretentious: only the nobles wore chain mail, the rest went to war in sheepskin coats and fur hats, which were worn in winter with the wool inward, and in summer and during rain - with the wool outward or Yamurlakha cloaks; They wore red and sky blue shirts. At the camp they took off their shirts and slept naked, putting the saddle under their heads. We didn’t take tents with us.

There were certain tactics usually used by the Crimeans. At the beginning of the attack, they always tried to go around the enemy’s left wing in order to more conveniently release arrows. One can highlight the high skill of archery with two or even three arrows at once. Often, already put to flight, they stopped, closed ranks again, trying to envelop as closely as possible the enemy who was pursuing them and scattered in pursuit, and thus, almost defeated, snatched victory from the hands of the victors. They entered into open hostilities with the enemy only in case of their obvious numerical superiority. Battles were recognized only in the open field; they avoided sieging fortresses, since they did not have siege equipment.

It should be noted that almost exclusively residents of the steppe and partly foothill regions of Crimea and Nogais took part in military campaigns. The inhabitants of the Crimean Mountains, whose main occupation was viticulture and gardening, did not serve in the army and paid a special tax to the treasury for exemption from service.

State structure

Throughout the history of the Crimean Khanate, it was ruled by the Geraev (Gireev) dynasty. Russian-language literature dedicated to the Crimean Khanate traditionally (sometimes in parallel) uses two forms of this name: Giray and Giray. The first of these options is one of the forms of transcription of the Ottoman (and, accordingly, Crimean Tatar) spelling of this name - كراى. The author of the reading in the form of “Gerai”, apparently, was the Russian orientalist V. Grigoriev (mid-19th century). Initially, this form was used both by Russian orientalists (A. Negri, V. Grigoriev, V. D. Smirnov, etc.) and their Western European colleagues (J. von Hammer-Purgstall). In modern Western European science, through the Turkish language, the Ottoman form of pronunciation and spelling of the family name of the Crimean khans - Giray - became widespread. The second, presumably Kipchak (pre-Ottoman Crimean Tatar), variant is recorded in L. Budagov’s dictionary. It has been widely used in the works of Russian researchers since the first half of the 19th century. (A. Kazembek, F. Hartakhay, A. N. Samoilovich, etc.).

Khan, being the supreme landowner, owned salt lakes and villages near them, forests along the Alma, Kachi and Salgir rivers and wastelands, on which settlements of new inhabitants arose, gradually turning into a dependent population and paying tithes to him. Having the right to inherit the land of a deceased vassal, if he had no close relatives, the khan could become the heir to the beys and murzas. The same rules applied to Bey and Murza land ownership, when the lands of poor farmers and cattle breeders passed to the Bey or Murza. From the land holdings of the khan, lands were allocated to the Kalga Sultan. The khan's possessions also included several cities - Kyrym (modern Old Crimea), Kyrk-Er (modern Chufut-Kale), Bakhchisarai.

There were “small” and “large” sofas, 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 the Crimean Khanate largely used the Golden Horde and Ottoman structures of 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. The khan's younger brother or another relative was appointed to this position. 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 the Crimean Khanate, an interpreter of laws, who has the right to remove judges - qadis, if they judged incorrectly.

Kaymakans - in the late period (end of the 18th century) governing 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 the Crimean Khanate was the very strong independence of the noble bey families, which in some way brought the Crimean Khanate closer to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The beys governed their possessions (beyliks) as semi-independent states, administered court 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.

Public life

The state religion of the Crimean Khanate 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 the Crimean Khanate 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.

Links

• Gusterin P. On the appointment of the first Russian consul in Crimea.

see also

• List of Crimean khans
• History of the Crimean Tatars' raids on Rus'

Notes

1. Budagov. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T. 2, p. 51
2. O. Gaivoronsky. Lords of two continents. vol. 1. Kyiv-Bakhchisarai. Oranta. 2007
3. I. Thunmann. Crimean Khanate
4. Sigismund Herberstein, Notes on Muscovy, Moscow 1988, p. 175
5. Yavornitsky D.I. History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Kyiv, 1990.
6. V. E. Syroechkovsky, Muhammad-Gerai and his vassals, “Scientific Notes of Moscow State University,” vol. 61, 1940, p. 16.
7. Vozgrin V. E. Historical destinies of the Crimean Tatars. Moscow, 1992.
8. Faizov S. F. Funeral “tysh” in the context of the relationship between Rus' and Russia with the Golden Horde and the Crimean yurt
9. Evliya Celebi. Travel Book, pp. 46-47.
10. Evliya Celebi. Travel Book, page 104.
11. Sanin O. G. Crimean Khanate in the Russian-Turkish War of 1710-11.
12. The news of the Christians' exit spread throughout Crimea... Christians opposed the exit no less than the Tatars. This is what the Evpatoria Greeks said when asked to leave Crimea: “We are pleased with his Lordship Khan and our homeland; We pay tribute to our sovereign from our ancestors, and even if they cut us down with sabers, we still won’t go anywhere.” Armenian Christians, in a petition to the khan, said: “We are your servants... and subjects three hundred years ago, we lived in your Majesty’s state in pleasure and never saw any worries from you. Now they want to take us out of here. For the sake of God, the Prophet and your ancestors, we, your poor servants, ask to be delivered from such a misfortune, for which we will continually pray to God for you.” Of course, these petitions cannot be taken at face value, but they show that Christians did not come out of desire or fear. Meanwhile, Ignatius ... continued his tireless efforts in the matter of exit: he wrote letters of exhortation, sent priests and people devoted to exit to the villages, and generally tried to form a party of those who wanted to exit. The Russian government assisted him in this.
    F. Hartakhai Christianity in Crimea. / Memorable book of the Tauride province. - Simferopol, 1867. - Ss. 54-55.
13. Grigoriev V. Coins of the Dzhuchids, Genoese and Gireys, battles on the Tauride Peninsula and belonging to the society // ZOOID, 1844, vol. 1, p. 301, 307-314; Grigoriev V. Labels of Tokhtamysh and Seadet-Gerai // ZOOID, 1844, vol. 1, p. 337, 342.
14. V. D. Smirnov “The Crimean Khanate under the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte until the beginning of the 18th century” St. Petersburg. 1887-89
15. Samoilovich A. N. Several amendments to the Timur-Kutlug label // Selected works on Crimea, 2000, p. 145-155.
16. Compare: Grigoriev V. Labels of Tokhtamysh and Seadet-Gerai // ZOOID, 1844, vol. 1, p. 337, 342 and Sami Ş. Kâmûs-ı Türkî, p. 1155.
17. See note. 13
18. von Hammer-Purgstall. Geschichte der Chan der Krim unter Osmanischer herrschaft. Wien, 1856.
19. Budagov L. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T. 2, p. 120.
20. Sayyid Mohammed Riza. Asseb o-sseyyar or Seven planets, containing the history of the Crimean khans..., Kazan, 1832; Hartakhai F. Historical fate of the Crimean Tatars // Bulletin of Europe, 1866, vol. 2, dep. 1, p. 182-236.

Literature

• Palace of the Crimean Khans in Bakhchisarai
• Dubrovin N. F. Annexation of Crimea to Russia, St. Petersburg: 1885
• Vozgrin V. E. Historical destinies of the Crimean Tatars. - M., 1992.
• Gaivoronsky O. “Constellation of Herays. Brief biographies of the Crimean khans"
• Bazilevich V.M. From the history of Moscow-Crimean relations in the first half of the 17th century. Kyiv, 1914. 23 p.
• Bantysh-Kamensky N. N. Register of affairs of the Crimean court from 1474 to 1779 Simferopol: Tauride Printing House. gubernsk board, 1893.
• Smirnov V.D. The Crimean Khanate under the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte in the 18th century. before its annexation to Russia Odessa: 1889.
• Smirnov V.D. Crimean Khanate in the 18th century. Moscow: “Lomonosov”, 2014
• Smirnov V. D. Collection of some important news and official documents regarding Turkey, Russia and Crimea St. Petersburg: 1881.
• Schwab M. M. Russian-Crimean relations of the mid-16th - early years of the 17th centuries in domestic historiography of the 1940s - 2000s. - Surgut, 2011.
• Nekrasov A. M. The emergence and evolution of the Crimean state in the 15th-16th centuries // Domestic history. - 1999. - No. 2. - P. 48-58.

Crimean Khanate, Crimean Khanate 1783, Crimean Khanate map, Crimean Khanate yu

Crimean Khanate Information About

As a result of the Mongol-Tatar conquests in the 13th century. A huge feudal state of the Golden Horde (Ulus Juchi) arose, the founder of which was Batu Khan.

In 1239, during the Mongol-Tatar expansion to the west, the Crimean Peninsula with the peoples living there - Kipchaks (Cumans), Slavs, Armenians, Greeks, etc. - found itself occupied by the Genghisid troops. From the end of the 13th century. Feudal rule was established in Crimea, dependent on the Golden Horde.

At the same time, in the 13th century, with the participation of the crusaders, colony-cities (Kerch, Sugdeya (Sudak), Chembalo (Balaclava), Chersonese, etc.) of Italian (Genoese and Venetian) merchants arose en masse on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. In the 70s of the 13th century. with the permission of the Great Mongol Khan himself, the large Genoese colony of Kafa (modern Feodosia) was founded. There was a constant struggle between the Genoese and Venetian merchants for control and influence over the Italian colonies of Crimea. Timber, grain, salt, furs, grapes, etc. were exported from the colonies. The Tatar feudal nobility conducted an active trade in slaves through the Italian colonies. The Italian cities in Crimea were in vassal dependence on the Tatar feudal lords and paid them tribute, being subject to repression by the latter in case of resistance.

At the beginning of the 15th century, with the support of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Hadji Giray (founder of the dynasties of the Crimean and later Kazan khans) seized power in Crimea and declared himself khan. He was virtually independent of the Golden Horde, in which, due to dynastic feuds between the Chinggisids, the process of disintegration had already begun. The year of foundation of the independent Crimean Khanate in historiography is considered to be 1443. The Lower Dnieper region also became part of the Khanate. The largest and most influential Crimean uluses were the uluses of the families Kipchak, Argyn, Shirin, Baryn and others. The main activity of the Crimean feudal lords was horse breeding, cattle breeding and slave trading.

Vassal dependence on the Ottoman Empire.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Turks occupied the Balkan Peninsula and captured the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits. The Republic of Genoa was bound by allied obligations with Byzantium. After the fall of the main citadel of the once powerful Byzantine Empire, all Italian colonies in Crimea were under the threat of occupation by the Ottomans.

In 1454, the Turkish fleet approached the Crimean Peninsula, bombarded the Genoese colony of Akkerman and besieged Cafa from the sea. The Crimean Khan immediately met with the admiral of the Sultan's fleet; he concludes an agreement with the Ottomans and announces joint actions against the Italians.

In 1475, the Turkish fleet again besieged Cafa, bombarded it and forced the Genoese to surrender the city. After this, the Turks captured the entire coastal strip of Crimea, including part of the Azov coast, declared it the possessions of the Turkish Sultan, transferred power to the Turkish Pasha and transferred significant military forces to the sanjak (military-administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire) newly proclaimed by the Turks on the coast of Crimea with its center in Kafe .

The northern part of the steppe Crimea and the territories in the lower reaches of the Dnieper came into the possession of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray (1468–1515), who became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan. The capital of the Crimean Khanate was moved to Bakhchisarai.

Union with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. XV century

This period in the history of the Crimean Khanate during the reign of Mengli Giray is associated with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Taking advantage of the hostile relations between the Crimean Khanate and the White Horde, the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III entered into an alliance with Mengli Giray. The latter in 1480 sent his army to the possessions of the Polish king Casimir IV, who was an ally of the White Horde Khan Akhmat, who marched with an army against Moscow, thereby preventing the coalition of the Polish-Lithuanian state and the White Horde in the war with the Great Moscow Principality. As a result of the successful allied actions of Mengli Giray, the Moscow principality was finally freed from the Tatar yoke and began to create a centralized state.

Confrontation with the Russian kingdom. 16th – first half of the 17th centuries.

The Ottoman Empire's capture of the southern coast of Crimea created a serious threat to Rus' from the Crimean Tatar khans, who carried out predatory raids, capturing slaves for the huge Turkish slave market. In addition, the Kazan Khanate became a support for Turkey and the Crimean Khanate in their further expansion against the Russian principalities, especially after the accession to the Kazan throne of a representative of the Girey dynasty of khans, who were the conductors of Turkey’s foreign policy aggressive plans. In this regard, subsequent relations between Rus' (later the Russian Empire) and the Crimean Khanate were openly hostile.

The territories of Russia and Ukraine were constantly attacked by the Crimean Khanate. In 1521 the Krymchaks besieged Moscow, and in 1552 - Tula. Attacks by the Crimean Khan on the young Russian Empire became more frequent during the Livonian War (1558–1583). In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray I besieged and then burned Moscow.

After the death of the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, the outbreak of long-term unrest and Polish intervention, the Crimean khans aggravated the situation with constant raids on Russian territories, devastation and the kidnapping of a huge number of people for subsequent sale into slavery in the Ottoman Empire.

In 1591, Russian Tsar Boris Godunov repelled another attack on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Gazi Giray II.

During the Russian-Polish War of 1654–1667, the Crimean Khan took the side of the Ukrainian Hetman Vygovsky, who went over with part of the Cossacks to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian state. In 1659, at the Battle of Konotop, the combined troops of Vygovsky and the Crimean Khan defeated the advanced elite detachments of the Russian cavalry of princes Lvov and Pozharsky.

In the second half of the 17th century, during the Russian-Turkish War of 1676–1681 and the Chigirin campaigns of the Turkish Sultan of 1677–1678 in Right Bank and Left Bank Ukraine, the Crimean Khanate took an active part in the war with Russia on the side of the Ottoman Empire.

Expansion of Russia in the Crimean direction in the second half of the 17th - first half of the 18th centuries.

In 1687 and 1689, during the reign of Queen Sophia, there were two unsuccessful campaigns of Russian troops in Crimea under the leadership of Prince V. Golitsyn. Golitsyn's army approached Perekop along the steppe previously scorched by the Tatars, and was forced to return back.

After the accession of Peter I to the throne, Russian troops carried out a series of Azov campaigns and in 1696 stormed the Turkish, well-fortified fortress of Azov. Peace was concluded between Russia and Turkey. The independence of the Crimean Khanate in the sphere of foreign policy was significantly limited - the Crimean Khan was prohibited by agreement from making any raids on territories controlled by the Russian Empire.

Khan Devlet Giray II, finding himself in a difficult situation, tried to provoke the Turkish Sultan, inciting him to war with Russia, which was busy solving its northern problem in the war with the Kingdom of Sweden, but aroused the Sultan’s anger, was removed from the Khan’s throne, and the Crimean army was dissolved.

The successor of Devlet Giray II was Khan Kaplan Giray, appointed by the Sultan. However, in view of Russia's serious successes in the Northern War, the Ottoman Sultan Ahmad III again places Devlet Giray II on the Crimean throne; arms the Crimean army with modern artillery and allows negotiations to begin with the Swedish king on a military alliance against Russia.

Despite the betrayal of the Zaporozhye Sich under the leadership of Hetman Mazepa, and the latter’s request to accept Right Bank Ukraine as the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, Russian diplomacy worked perfectly: through persuasion and bribery of Turkish ambassadors, they managed to persuade the Sultan not to go to war with Russia and refuse to accept the Zaporozhye Sich into the Crimean Khanate .

Tensions continued to rise between the Ottoman and Russian empires. After the victorious Battle of Poltava in 1709, Peter I demanded that the Sultan hand over the Swedish king Charles XII, who had fled to Turkey, threatening, otherwise, to build a number of fortified fortresses along the border with the Ottoman Empire. In response to this ultimatum of the Russian Tsar, in 1710 the Turkish Sultan declared war on Peter I; This was followed in 1711 by the very unsuccessful Prut campaign of Russian troops. The Crimean Khan with his 70 thousand army took part in the war against the Russian Tsar on the side of the Turks. The fortified fortress of Azov and the coast of the Azov Sea were returned to Turkey. However, already in 1736, the Russian army under the command of Field Marshal Minikh invaded the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and captured the capital of the Khanate, Bakhchisarai. An epidemic that broke out in Crimea forced the Russian army to leave the peninsula. The following year, 1737, the Russian army of Field Marshal Lassi crossed Sivash and again captured the peninsula. However, Russian troops failed to gain a foothold in Crimea this time either.

Conquest of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century.

During the next Russian-Turkish war of 1768–1774, in 1771 the Russian army under the command of Prince Dolgorukov again occupied the entire Crimea. Sahib Giray II is appointed Khan instead of Maksud Giray Khan, who fled to Istanbul. In 1774, the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty was concluded between Russia and Turkey, according to which the Crimean Khanate was freed from vassal dependence on the Turkish Sultan, and Russia received the right to retain the fortresses of Yenikale, Kerch, Azov and Kinburn. Despite its formal independence, the Crimean Khanate turned from a vassal of the Turkish Sultan into a state association dependent on the Russian Empress.

In 1777, the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal Rumyantsev, elevated Shagin Giray to the khan's throne. However, in 1783, the last khan of the Crimean Girey dynasty abdicated the throne, and the once powerful Crimean Khanate ceased to exist, finally becoming part of the Russian Empire. Shagin Giray flees to Istanbul, but is soon executed by order of the Turkish Sultan.

In 1797, Russian Emperor Paul I established the Novorossiysk province, which included the Crimean peninsula.

Thus, the Crimean Khanate is the last major state formation that arose after the Great Mongol-Tatar conquest of Eastern Europe by the Genghisids in the 13th century. and the collapse of the Golden Horde. The Crimean Khanate lasted for 340 years (1443–1783).

Crimean Khanate: history, territory, political structure

The Crimean Khanate arose in 1441. This event was preceded by unrest in the Golden Horde. In fact, a separatist then ascended the throne in Crimea - Hadji Giray, a distant relative of Janike Khanum, the wife of the Golden Horde khan Edigei. Khansha did not want to take the reins of government of the once powerful state into her own hands and went to Kyrk-Or, assisting in the promotion of Hadji Giray. Soon this city became the first capital of the Crimean Khanate, which occupied the territory from the Dnieper to the Danube, the Azov region, and almost the entire modern Krasnodar region.

The further history of the new political entity is a tireless struggle with representatives of other Golden Horde families who tried to conquer the possessions of the Gireys. As a result of a long confrontation, the Crimean Khanate managed to win a final victory, when in 1502 the last Horde ruler, Sheikh Ahmed, passed away. Mengli-Girey then stood at the head of the Crimean yurt. Having removed his political enemy, the khan appropriated his regalia, title and status, but all this did not save him from the constant raids of the steppe people, who continually infiltrated the Crimea. Modern historians are inclined to believe that the Crimean Khanate never intended to seize foreign territories. It is likely that all the actions taken by the Crimean khans were aimed at preserving and consolidating their power, and at fighting the influential Horde clan of the Namagans.

All this can be traced even in individual historical episodes. So, after the death of Khan Akhmat, the Crimean Khanate decided to improve relations with his sons and hospitably sheltered them. But the heirs to the Horde throne decided to leave the khan’s capital, for which Mengli-Girey took one of them prisoner. The second, Sheikh Ahmed, fled. The third son, Seid-Ahmed II, who at that time became the Horde khan, organized a campaign against the Crimea. Having freed Murtaza, Seyid-Ahmed II took Eski-Kyrym, and then went to Kefa.

At that time, Turkish heavy artillery was already stationed in the Cafe, which forced the Horde to flee without looking back. This is how the friendly gesture of the Crimean Khan served as a pretext for the next devastation of the peninsula, and the Turks showed that they could defend the territories that were under their influence. Then Mengli-Girey caught up with the offenders and took away the property and captives looted from the Khanate.

The relations between the Khanate and the Ottoman Empire occupy a special place in the history of Crimea. In the second half of the 15th century, Turkish troops occupied the Genoese possessions of the peninsula and the territory of the Principality of Theodoro. The Crimean Khanate also found itself in Turkish dependence, but from 1478 the khan became a vassal of the padishah and continued to rule the internal regions of the peninsula. At first, the Sultan did not interfere in issues of succession to the throne in the Crimean Khanate, but a century later everything changed: Crimean rulers were appointed directly in Istanbul.

It is interesting that a political regime specific to that time operated in the yurt. Something like democracy. On the peninsula there were elections for the khan, during which the votes of the local nobility were taken into account. However, there was one limitation - the future ruler of the Khanate could only belong to the Girey family. The second political figure after the khan was the kalga. Kalga, most often, was appointed as the brother of the ruler of the khanate. Representative power in the Khanate belonged to the Greater and Lesser Divans. The first included the Murzas and respected people of the area, the second included officials close to the khan. Legislative power was in the hands of the mufti, who ensured that all the laws of the khanate were in accordance with Sharia. The role of modern ministers in the Crimean Khanate was played by viziers; they were appointed by the khan.

Few people know that the Crimean Khanate contributed to the liberation of Rus' from the Golden Horde yoke. This happened under Sheikh-Ahmed's father. Then the Horde Khan Akhmat withdrew his troops without engaging in battle with the Russians, because he did not wait for Polish-Lithuanian reinforcements, which were held back by the Crimean Tatar warriors. Contrary to popular belief, relations between the Khan's Crimea and Moscow were friendly for a long time. Under Ivan III they had a common enemy - Sarai. The Crimean Khan helped Moscow get rid of the Horde yoke, and then began to call the tsar “his brother,” thereby recognizing him as an equal, instead of imposing tribute on the kingdom.

The rapprochement with Moscow shook the friendly relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Lithuanian-Polish principality. Casimir found a common language with the Horde khans, having quarreled with Crimea for a long time. Over time, Moscow began to move away from the Crimean Khanate: the struggle for the lands of the Caspian and Volga regions led to the fact that the king sought support among those very Namagans with whom the Gireys could not share power for a long time. Under Ivan IV the Terrible, Devlet I Giray wanted to restore the independence of Kazan and the Caspian Sea, the Turks volunteered to help the khan, but he did not allow him to interfere in the sphere of influence of the Crimean Khanate. At the end of the spring of 1571, the Tatars burned Moscow, after which the Moscow sovereigns until the end of the 17th century. were forced to pay the Crimean Khan regular “wake” payments.

After the formation of the Ukrainian Hetman State, the Crimean Khanate collaborated with the rulers of the Cossack state. It is known that Khan Islam III Giray helped Bogdan Khmelnitsky during the liberation war with Poland, and after the battle of Poltava, Crimean troops went to Kiev along with the people of Pylyp Orlik, Mazepa’s successor. In 1711, Peter I lost the battle with the Turkish-Tatar troops, after which the Russian Empire was forced to forget about the Black Sea region for several decades.

Between 1736 and 1738 The Crimean Khanate was swallowed up by the Russian-Turkish war. As a result of the fighting, many people died, some of whom were killed by a cholera epidemic. The Crimean Khanate sought revenge, and therefore contributed to the outbreak of a new war between Russia and Turkey, which began in 1768 and lasted until 1774. However, Russian troops again won and forced the Crimeans to submit, electing Sahib II Giray as khan. Soon, uprisings began on the peninsula; the local population did not want to come to terms with the new authorities. The last khan on the peninsula was Shahin Giray, but after he abdicated the throne, in 1783 Catherine II finally annexed the lands of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire.

Development of agriculture, crafts, trade in the Crimean Khanate

The Crimean Tatars, like their ancestors, greatly valued animal husbandry, which was a way of earning money and obtaining food. Among their domestic animals, horses were in first place. Some sources claim that the Tatars have preserved two different breeds that have long lived in the Northern Black Sea region, preventing their mixing. Others say that it was in the Crimean Khanate that a new type of horse was formed, which was distinguished by unprecedented endurance at that time. Horses, as a rule, grazed in the steppe, but they were always looked after by a herdmaster, who was also a veterinarian and breeder. A professional approach was also evident in the breeding of sheep, which were a source of dairy products and rare Crimean smushkas. In addition to horses and sheep, the Crimean Tatars raised cattle, goats and camels.

The Crimean Tatars did not know settled agriculture even in the first half of the 16th century. For a long time, the inhabitants of the Crimean Khanate plowed the land in the steppe in order to leave there in the spring and return only in the fall, when it was time to harvest. In the process of transition to a sedentary lifestyle, a class of Crimean Tatar feudal lords emerged. Over time, territories began to be distributed for military merit. At the same time, the khan was the owner of all the lands of the Crimean Khanate.

The crafts of the Crimean Khanate were initially of a domestic nature, but closer to the beginning of the 18th century, the cities of the peninsula began to acquire the status of large craft centers. Among such settlements were Bakhchisaray, Karasubazar, Gezlev. In the last century of the Khanate's existence, craft workshops began to appear there. The specialists working in them united into 32 corporations, which were headed by the Usta-Bashi and his assistants. The latter monitored production and regulated prices.

Crimean artisans of that time made shoes and clothes, jewelry, copper dishes, felt, kilims (carpets) and much more. Among the craftsmen there were those who knew how to process wood. Thanks to their work, ships, beautiful houses, inlaid chests that can be called works of art, cradles, tables and other household items appeared in the Crimean Khanate. Among other things, the Crimean Tatars knew a lot about stone cutting. This is evidenced by the Durbe tombs and mosques that have partially survived to this day.

The basis of the economy of the Crimean Khanate was trading activity. It is difficult to imagine this Muslim state without Kafa. The Kafin port received merchants from almost all over the world. People from Asia, Persia, Constantinople and other cities and powers regularly visited there. Traders came to Kef to buy slaves, bread, fish, caviar, wool, handicrafts and much more. They were attracted to Crimea, first of all, by cheap goods. It is known that wholesale markets were located in Eski-Kyrym and in the city of Karasubazar. The Khanate's internal trade also flourished. In Bakhchisarai alone there was a grain, vegetable and salt market. In the capital of the Crimean Khanate there were entire blocks reserved for trading shops.

Life, culture and religion of the Crimean Khanate

The Crimean Khanate is a state with a well-developed culture, represented mainly by examples of architecture and traditions. The largest city of the Crimean Khanate was Kafa. About 80,000 people lived there. Bakhchisarai was the capital and second largest settlement of the Khanate, where only 6,000 people lived. The capital differed from other cities in the presence of the Khan's palace, however, all Crimean Tatar settlements were built with soul. The architecture of the Crimean Khanate consists of amazing mosques, fountains, tombs... The houses of ordinary citizens, as a rule, were two-story, built of wood, clay and rubble.

Crimean Tatars wore clothes made of wool, leather, homespun and purchased overseas materials. The girls braided their hair, decorated their heads with a velvet cap with rich embroidery and coins, and put a marama (white scarf) on top of it. An equally common headdress was a scarf, which could be woolen, thin, or colored patterned. As for clothing, the Crimean Tatars had long dresses, shirts below the knees, trousers and warm kaftans. Women of the Crimean Khanate were very fond of jewelry, especially rings and bracelets. The men wore black lambskin hats, fez or skullcaps on their heads. They tucked their shirts into trousers, wore sleeveless vest-like vests, jackets and caftans.

The main religion of the Crimean Khanate was Islam. Important government positions in Crimea belonged to Sunnis. However, Shiites and even Christians lived quite peacefully on the peninsula. Among the population of the Khanate there were people who were brought to the peninsula as Christian slaves and then converted to Islam. After a certain period of time - 5-6 years - they became free citizens, after which they could go to their native territories. But not everyone left the beautiful peninsula: often former slaves remained to live in Crimea. Boys kidnapped in Russian lands also became Muslims. Such youths were brought up in a special military school and within a few years they joined the ranks of the Khan's guard. Muslims prayed in mosques, near which there were cemeteries and mausoleums.

So, the Crimean Khanate was formed as a result of the split of the Golden Horde. This happened around the 40th year of the 15th century, possibly in 1441. Its first khan was Hadji Giray, he became the founder of the ruling dynasty. The end of the existence of the Crimean Khanate is associated with the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire in 1783.

The Khanate included lands that previously belonged to the Mongol-Tatars, including the principality of Kyrk-Or, conquered in the second half of the 14th century. Kyrk-Or was the first capital of the Gireys; later the khans lived in Bakhchisarai. Relations between the Crimean Khanate and the Genoese territories of the peninsula (then Turkish) can be described as friendly.

The khan either allied or fought with Moscow. The Russian-Crimean confrontation escalated after the arrival of the Ottomans. Since 1475, the Crimean Khan became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan. Since then, Istanbul has decided who will sit on the Crimean throne. According to the terms of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty of 1774, all Turkish possessions in Crimea, except for Kerch and Yeni-Kale, became part of the Crimean Khanate. The main religion of political education is Islam.

CRIMEAN KHANATE, a state on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula (from 1475 - on most of its territory) and adjacent lands in the 15-18th centuries [until the mid-15th century, these territories constituted the Crimean yurt (ulus) of the Golden Horde]. The capital is Crimea (Kirim; now Old Crimea), from about 1532 - Bakhchisarai, from 1777 - Kefe (Kaffa).

Most Russian historians attribute the emergence of the Crimean Khanate to the early 1440s, when the founder of the Girey dynasty, Khan Hadji Giray I, became the ruler of the Crimean peninsula with the support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV Jagiellonczyk. Turkish historiography denies the existence of Crimean statehood until the 1470s.

The main population of the Crimean Khanate were Crimean Tatars; along with them, significant communities of Karaites, Italians, Armenians, Greeks, Circassians and Gypsies lived in the Crimean Khanate. At the beginning of the 16th century, part of the Nogais (Mangyts), who wandered outside the Crimean Peninsula, moving there during periods of drought and lack of food, came under the rule of the Crimean khans. The majority of the population professed Hanafi Islam; part of the population - Orthodoxy, Monothelitism, Judaism; there were small Catholic communities in the 16th century. The Tatar population of the Crimean Peninsula was partially exempt from paying taxes. The Greeks paid jizya, the Italians were in a more privileged position thanks to partial tax breaks made during the reign of Mengli-Girey I. By the mid-18th century, the population of the Crimean Khanate was about 500 thousand people. The territory of the Crimean Khanate was divided into kaymakans (governors), which consisted of kadylyks, covering a number of settlements. The boundaries of large beyliks, as a rule, did not coincide with the boundaries of kaymakans and kadylyks.

In the mid-1470s, the Ottoman Empire began to exert a decisive influence on the internal and foreign political situation of the Crimean Khanate, whose troops captured the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula with the fortress of Kaffa (Kefe, taken in June 1475). From the beginning of the 16th century, the Crimean Khanate acted as a kind of instrument of Ottoman policy in the Eastern European region, and its military forces began to take regular part in the military campaigns of the sultans. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a cooling of relations between the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire several times, which was associated both with internal political instability in the Crimean Khanate itself (which entailed the refusal of the khans to participate in the military campaigns of the sultans, etc.) and the foreign policy failures of the khans ( for example, with the failure of the Turkish-Crimean campaign against Astrakhan in 1569), and with the political struggle in the Ottoman Empire. In the 18th century, there were no military confrontations between the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, but increased political instability in the center and regions of the Ottoman Empire led to more frequent changes of khans on the Crimean throne than in the 17th century.

The state structure of the Crimean Khanate finally took shape at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. Supreme power belonged to the khan, a representative of the Giray dynasty, who was a vassal of the Turkish Sultan (officially consolidated in the 1580s, when the name of the Sultan began to be pronounced before the name of the khan during Friday prayers, which in the Muslim world served as a sign of vassalage).

The suzerainty of the Sultan consisted in the right to confirm the khans on the throne with a special berat, the obligation of the Crimean khans, at the request of the Sultan, to send troops to participate in the wars of the Ottoman Empire, and the refusal of the Crimean Khanate to form allied relations with states hostile to the Ottoman Empire. In addition, one of the sons of the Crimean Khan was supposed to be in Constantinople (Istanbul) as a hostage. The sultans paid the khans and members of their families a salary and provided military support in campaigns when they met the interests of the Ottoman Empire. To control the khans, the sultans, since 1475, had at their disposal the fortress of Kefe with a strong garrison (under Mengli-Girey I, its governors were the sons and grandsons of the sultans, in particular the grandson of Sultan Bayazid II, the future Sultan Suleiman I Kanun), Ozyu-Kale (Ochakov ), Azov, etc.

The heir to the Crimean throne (kalga) was appointed khan. The new khan had to be approved by the heads of 4 clans of the Crimean Khanate (Karachi Beks) - Argynov, Barynov, Kipchakov and Shirinov. In addition, he had to receive an act (berat) from Istanbul about his approval.

Under the khan, there was a council of nobility - a divan, which decided mainly on foreign policy issues. Initially, the main role in the diwan, in addition to members of the khan’s family, was played by the Karachi beks of 4 (from the mid-16th century - 5) clans - Argynov, Barynov, Kipchakov, Shirinov, Sejiutov. Then representatives of the nobility, nominated by the khans, began to play an important role. The divan included heads of families who were hereditary “amiyat”, that is, intermediaries in the diplomatic relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Russian state (the Appak-Murza clan, later beks, in the Russian service - the Suleshev princes), as well as Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ( ON) (since 1569 they united into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) [the family of the Kulyuk-Murzas, later the beks of the Kulikovs (Kulyukovs)]. Representatives of these clans and their relatives, as a rule, were appointed ambassadors to Moscow, Krakow and Vilna. In addition, the divan included the Karachi beks of the Crimean Mangyts (Nogais who recognized the power of the Crimean Khan) - the Diveev beks (the family of one of the descendants of Edigei - Murza Timur bin Mansur). During the reign of Mengli-Girey I, the greatest influence in the diwan was possessed by the Karachi beys Shirinov Eminek and his son Devletek. The predominance of the Shirins (who claimed descent from the Chinggisids) in the Divan generally remained until the end of the 18th century. From the end of the 16th century, the bash-aga (vizier), appointed by the khan, began to play an important role in the divan.

The basis of the military forces of the Crimean Khanate was the cavalry (up to 120-130 thousand horsemen), fielded for the period of military campaigns by the khan himself, other Gireys, the Crimean nobility and Crimean legs, as well as garrisons of fortresses. A distinctive feature of the Crimean Tatar cavalry was the absence of a convoy and the presence of a spare horse for each rider, which ensured speed of movement on the campaign and maneuverability on the battlefield. If the army was led by a khan, as a rule, a kalga remained in the Crimean Khanate to ensure stability.

The economic situation of the Crimean Khanate throughout the entire period of its existence was unstable, as regularly recurring droughts led to massive loss of livestock and famine. Until the mid-17th century, one of the main sources of income for the Crimean Khanate was booty (mainly prisoners) captured during the Crimean Khans' raids. The Khan was considered the supreme owner of the land of the Crimean Khanate. The Gireys had their own domain (erz mirie), which was based on fertile lands in the Alma River valley. The khans also owned all the salt lakes. The khan distributed the land to his vassals as inalienable possession (beyliks). The owners of most of the cultivated land and livestock were, along with the khan, large feudal lords - the families of beys, medium and small feudal lords - the Murzas and Oglans. Land was provided for rent on the terms of payment of a 10th share of the harvest and working 7-8 days of corvee per year. The key role in the use of land by free rural residents was played by the community (jamaat), in which collective land ownership was combined with private one. There were also waqf lands owned by various Islamic institutions.

Livestock farming occupied a leading position in the economy of the Crimean Khanate. Agriculture was practiced only in part of the peninsula (the main crops were millet and wheat). The Crimean Khanate was one of the main suppliers of wheat to the Ottoman Empire. Viticulture and winemaking, horticulture and gardening were also developed. The extraction of salt brought great income to the khan's court. Craft production, largely regulated by guild associations, was dominated by leather processing, woolen products (mainly carpets), blacksmithing, jewelry and saddlery. In the steppe territories, nomadic animal husbandry was combined with agriculture, handicraft production, and local and transit trade. At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, traditions of trade exchange with neighboring countries developed, the practice of simultaneous circulation of Turkish, Russian, Lithuanian and Polish money was established when the Crimean khans minted their coins, the procedure for collecting duties by the khans, etc. In the 16th century, Christians formed the basis of the merchants of the Crimean Khanate. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the economy of the Crimean Khanate experienced a gradual reduction in the share of income from military spoils, and from the 2nd half of the 18th century the use of slave labor in agriculture and handicraft production sharply decreased.

Domestic policy. After the death of Hadji-Girey I in 1466, the throne was inherited by his eldest son, Nur-Devlet-Girey. His power was disputed by his brother Mengli-Girey I, who around 1468 managed to take the Crimean throne. Nur-Devlet-Girey managed to escape from the Crimean Khanate, and in the subsequent struggle for the throne, both contenders actively sought allies. Nur-Devlet-Girey tried to enlist the support of the khans of the Great Horde and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV, and Mengli-Girey I in the early 1470s began negotiations on an anti-Horde alliance with the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III Vasilyevich. By 1476, Nur-Devlet-Girey took possession of the entire Crimean Khanate, but in 1478/79 Mengli-Girey I, sent from Istanbul by Sultan Mehmed II with Ottoman troops, re-established himself on the throne.

The second reign of Mengli-Girey I (1478/79 - January 1515) and the reign of his son Muhammad-Girey I (1515-23) was a period of strengthening of the Crimean Khanate. In April 1524, the throne of the Crimean Khanate, with the support of Ottoman troops, was taken by Muhammad-Girey's brother I Saadet-Girey, who lived in Istanbul. At the same time, the Sultan appointed Gazi-Girey I as kalga under his uncle, but at the moment of taking the oath of allegiance, Saadet-Girey I ordered the death of his nephew, which marked the beginning of the tradition of physical elimination of pretenders to the throne, which persisted throughout the subsequent history of the Crimean Khanate. During the reign of Saadet-Girey I (1524-32), the military-political activity of the Crimean Khanate decreased, and large fortification construction began on Perekop in order to protect the Crimean peninsula from Nogai attacks. The Khan's dependence on the Ottoman Empire sharply increased, and the most characteristic signs of the weakness of the Khan's power in Crimea appeared: a split in the Giray family and uncertainty in the succession to the throne (5 kalg changed). In May 1532, the khan abdicated the throne in favor of his nephew Islam Giray, supported by the majority of the nobility, and left the Crimean Khanate (died around 1539 in Istanbul).

The active position of the new khan Islam-Girey I aroused the discontent of the Turkish Sultan Suleiman I Kanuni, who in September 1532 appointed Sahib-Girey I, who had previously ruled in Kazan, as khan (September 1532 - early 1551). By the summer of 1537, he managed to defeat the forces of the deposed Islam Girey I, north of Perekop, who died in the process. Despite the victory, the position of the new khan did not become stable, since he had opponents among members of the Girey dynasty, and among the Crimean nobility, and among the Nogai nobility, who organized a conspiracy against him. In the summer of 1538, during a campaign against Moldavia, Sahib-Girey I almost died in a skirmish with the Nogai, who were “led” to him by conspirators from among the nobility of the Crimean Nogai. In the 1540s, the Khan carried out a radical reform in the Crimean Khanate: residents of the Crimean Peninsula were forbidden to lead a nomadic lifestyle, they were ordered to break up their tents and live sedentary lives in villages. Innovations contributed to the establishment of a sedentary agricultural system in the Crimean Khanate, but caused discontent among a significant part of the Crimean Tatars.

The contender for the throne was the grandson of Mengli-Girey I, Devlet-Girey I, who fled from the Crimean Khanate to the Ottoman Empire, who arrived in Kefe and proclaimed himself khan. Most of the nobility instantly went over to his side. Sahib-Girey I, who was at that time on another campaign against Kabarda, hastily returned to the Crimean Khanate, but was captured and died along with his sons. In the spring of 1551, the Sultan recognized Devlet-Girey I as khan (ruled until June 1577). During his reign, the Crimean Khanate flourished. The new khan exterminated the entire family of the overthrown khan, gradually eliminating all representatives of the dynasty, except for his own children. He skillfully played on the contradictions between various clans of the Crimean nobility: the Shirins (represented by his son-in-law, Karachi-bek Azi), the Crimean Nogais (represented by Karachi-bek Diveya-Murza) and the Appak clan (represented by Bek Sulesh) were loyal to him. The Khan also provided refuge to emigrants from the former Kazan Khanate and Circassian princes from Zhania.

After the death of Devlet-Girey I, his son Muhammad-Girey II (1577-84) ascended the throne, whose reign was marked by an acute internal political crisis. Part of the nobility supported his brothers - Adil-Girey and Alp-Girey, and the Sultan supported his uncle Muhammad-Girey II Islam-Girey. The khan's attempt to strengthen his position by establishing the position of a second heir (nuradin) further aggravated the situation. As a result of an unsuccessful attempt to suppress the performance of the Kalga Alp-Girey, Mohammed-Girey II was killed.

The position of the new khan Islam Girey II (1584-88) was also precarious. In the summer of 1584, the sons of Muhammad-Girey II Saadet-Girey, Safa-Girey and Murad-Girey with detachments of Crimean Nogais invaded the Crimean peninsula and occupied Bakhchisarai; Saadet Giray was proclaimed khan. Islam Giray II, with the military support of Sultan Murad III, retained nominal power. The rebellious princes of Giray asked for the “arm” of the Russian Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, who recognized Saadet-Girey (died in 1587) as the Crimean Khan, and his brother Murad-Girey received Astrakhan. The decline in the prestige of the khan's power increased the discontent of the Crimean nobility, which was subjected to repression after the rebellion of 1584. Her flight began to the rebellious princes and to Istanbul to the Sultan. Of the nobility, only individual representatives of the Shirin and Suleshev clans remained loyal to the khan. The military potential of the Crimean Khanate, which was subjected to attacks by the Dnieper Cossacks, fell sharply.

The internal political situation of the Crimean Khanate stabilized during the first reign of Muhammad-Girey II's brother - Gazi-Girey II (May 1588 - end of 1596). Under him, his brother Fetkh-Girey became Kalga, and Safa-Girey became Nuradin, who returned to Crimea along with part of the Murzas who had previously emigrated. Upon arrival in the Crimean Khanate, Gazi-Girey II immediately reached an agreement with the majority of representatives of the Crimean nobility. The khan's entourage consisted of supporters of the children of Muhammad-Girey II - beks Kutlu-Girey Shirinsky, Debysh Kulikov and Arsanay Diveev. Some supporters of Islam Girey II were forced to flee to Kefa and then to Istanbul. By the mid-1590s, Gazi-Girey II faced a new threat of destabilization of the situation in Crimea: his main support in the Girey family - Safa-Girey - died, Arsanay Diveev died, and relations with Kalga Feth-Girey worsened. As a result, representatives of the ruling elite of the Ottoman Empire, dissatisfied with the khan, persuaded Sultan Mehmed III to appoint Feth-Girey khan.

Feth-Girey I (1596-97), upon arrival in the Crimean Khanate, sought to protect himself from his brother’s revenge by appointing his nephews Bakht-Girey and Selyamet-Girey, the sons of Adil-Girey, as kalga and nuradin, but his position remained unstable. Soon, as a result of the political struggle in Istanbul, the Sultan issued a berat (decree) to restore Ghazi-Girey II to the Crimean throne and provided him with military support. After the trial, Feth-Girey was captured and killed along with his family.

During his second reign (1597-1608), Gazi-Girey II dealt with the rebellious members of the Girey family and the Murzas who supported them. Nuradin Devlet-Girey (son of Saadet-Girey) and Bek Kutlu-Girey Shirinsky were executed. The khan's nephew Kalga Selyamet-Girey managed to escape from the Crimean Khanate. After this, Gazi-Girey II appointed his sons, Tokhtamysh-Girey and Sefer-Girey, as kalga and nuradin.

Since the beginning of the 17th century, changes of khans on the Crimean throne became more frequent; only individual representatives of the Girey dynasty tried to put up real resistance to the comprehensive control of the Ottoman government over the Crimean Khanate. Thus, Muhammad-Girey III (1623-24, 1624-28) and his brother Kalga Shagin-Girey in 1624 refused to obey the decree of Sultan Murad IV on the removal of the khan and by force defended their right to power and the autonomous status of the Crimean Khanate within the Ottoman Empire . Khan refused to participate in the Turkish-Persian War of 1623-39, became closer to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which opposed the Ottomans, and in December 1624 concluded an agreement with the Zaporozhye Sich, directed against the Ottoman Empire. However, in 1628, a new armed conflict between the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire ended in the defeat of the united Crimean-Zaporozhian troops and led to the expulsion of Muhammad-Girey III and Shagin-Girey from the Crimean Khanate. Separatist tendencies in the relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Ottoman Empire also manifested themselves under Muhammad-Girey IV (1641-44, 1654-66) and Adil-Girey (1666-71). In the 18th century, the authority and power of the khans decreased, the influence of the beys and heads of the nomadic Nogai hordes increased, and centrifugal tendencies on the part of the Nogais developed.

Foreign policy. The main foreign policy opponent of the Crimean Khanate at the beginning of its existence was the Great Horde, which was defeated by the Crimeans in the 1490s - 1502. As a result, part of the Nogai tribes came under the power of the Crimean khans. The Crimean khans positioned themselves as successors to the khans of the Golden Horde. In 1521, Muhammad-Girey I managed to place his brother Sahib-Girey on the Kazan throne, and in 1523, after a successful campaign against the Astrakhan Khanate, he placed Kalga Bahadur-Girey on the Astrakhan throne. In 1523, Sahib-Girey was forced to leave for the Crimean Khanate, and the Kazan throne was taken by his nephew, Safa-Girey (1524-31). In 1535, with the support of his uncle, Safa-Girey managed to regain the Kazan throne (ruled until 1546 and in 1546-49). The military-political activity of the Crimean Khanate in this direction sharply decreased after the annexation of the Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates to the Russian state.

The active actions of Mengli-Girey I in the Volga region led to conflicts with the Nogai Horde that was being formed at that time. Nogai played an important role in the history of the Crimean Khanate throughout the 16th-18th centuries, in particular, some of them were part of the army of the Crimean Khanate. In 1523, the Nogais killed Khan Muhammad-Girey I and Bahadur-Girey, and then, having defeated the Crimean troops near Perekop, invaded the Crimean peninsula and devastated it. From the mid-16th century, the Little Nogai Horde (Kaziyev Ulus) came into the orbit of influence of the Crimean Khanate.

Another important direction of the foreign policy of the Crimean Khanate was relations with the Circassians, both “near” and “distant”, that is, with Western Circassia (Zhaniya) and Eastern Circassia (Kabarda). Zhaniya already under Mengli-Girey I firmly entered the zone of Crimean influence. Under Mengli-Girey I, regular campaigns against Kabarda began, led either by the khan himself or his sons (the largest took place in 1518). This direction of the foreign policy of the Crimean Khanate retained its significance until the end of its existence.

During the reign of Mengli-Girey I, the important role of the Crimean Khanate in international relations in Eastern Europe emerged. Diplomatic relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Russian state, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under Mengli-Girey I were intensive and regular. The practice of concluding alliance treaties with them (bringing the so-called sherti) and the tradition of receiving “remembrances” (“mentions”; in cash and in the form of gifts) were established, which were considered by the khans as a symbol of the former rule of the Genghisids over Eastern Europe. In the 1480s - early 1490s, the foreign policy of Mengli-Girey I was characterized by a consistent course towards rapprochement with the Russian state in order to create a coalition against the Great Horde and the Jagiellons. At the beginning of the 16th century, after the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian-Horde alliance, there was a slow but steady increase in the hostility of the Crimean Khanate towards the Russian state. In the 1510s, the union of the Crimean Khanate and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was formed. The beginning of the raids of the Crimean khans on the Russian state also dates back to this period. Relations between the Crimean Khanate and the Russian state sharply worsened under Devlet-Girey I, the reason for which was the annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates to the Russian state, as well as the strengthening of its positions in the North Caucasus (the construction of the Terki fortress in 1567 at the confluence of the Sunzha River with the Terek). In 1555-58, under the influence of A.F. Adashev, a plan for coordinated offensive actions against the Crimean Khanate was developed; in 1559, Russian troops under the command of D.F. Adashev for the first time acted directly on the territory of the Khanate. However, the need to concentrate military forces in the theater of the Livonian War of 1558-83 forced Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible to abandon further implementation of Adashev’s plan, which opened up the possibility of revenge for Devlet-Girey I. Attempts by the government of Tsar Ivan IV to solve the problem by diplomatic methods (the embassy of A.F. Nagogo in 1563-64) were unsuccessful, although on January 2, 1564, a Russian-Crimean peace treaty was concluded in Bakhchisarai, which was violated by the khan just six months later. The intensity of Crimean raids decreased only after the defeat of the troops of the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Molodin in 1572. Moreover, from the 1550s, raids were carried out on the southern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was associated with the participation of the Dnieper Cossacks in the military operations of Russian governors. Despite the allied obligations of Devlet-Girey I to Sigismund II Augustus, the raids of the Crimean khans on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland continued in the 1560s (the largest in 1566). Muhammad Giray II, in conditions of an acute internal political crisis in the Crimean Khanate, refrained from intervening in the Livonian War of 1558-83. In 1578, through the mediation of the Turkish Sultan Murad III, an alliance treaty between the Crimean Khanate and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was concluded, but at the same time diplomatic relations with Moscow were resumed. At the beginning of 1588, Islam Giray II, on the orders of Murad III, undertook a campaign against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (as a response to Cossack attacks). In 1589, the Crimeans made a major raid on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, against the background of the strengthening of Moscow’s position in the Caucasus (due, among other things, to the fact that Astrakhan was given to Murad-Girey) and the Ottoman Empire’s dissatisfaction with the friendly relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Russian state, the aggressiveness of the Crimean Khanate towards the Russian state intensified in the early 1590s. x years. In 1593-98, Russian-Crimean relations stabilized and became peaceful; at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries they became complicated again, but after 1601 they were resolved. With the beginning of the Time of Troubles, the Polish king Sigismund III unsuccessfully tried to secure support for the actions of False Dmitry I from the Crimean Khan, but Gazi-Girey II, with the approval of the Sultan, took a hostile position towards the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, considering it as an ally of the Habsburgs. In 1606-07, the Crimeans attacked the southern lands of Poland.

The gradual weakening of the Crimean Khanate led to the fact that in the 17th and 18th centuries it pursued a less active foreign policy. Relations between the Crimean Khanate and the Russian state throughout the 17th century developed in line with the already established forms and traditions of diplomatic relations. The practice of annual exchange of embassies continued; until 1685 inclusive, the Russian government paid the Crimean khans an annual tribute (“commemoration”), the amount of which reached 14,715 rubles (finally abolished by a special clause of the Peace of Constantinople of 1700). Correspondence with the king in the Tatar language was carried out by the khan, kalga and nuradin.

In the 1st half of the 18th century, the Crimean khans were generally on friendly terms with Russia. However, individual raids in the 1730s and the 1735 campaign of Khan Kaplan-Girey I to Persia through the territories of the Russian Empire led to military operations of the Russian army in the Crimean Khanate during the Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39.

Annexation of the Crimean Khanate to Russia. During the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, after the first victories of the Russian army, the Yedisan Horde and the Budzhak (Belgorod) Horde in 1770 recognized the suzerainty of Russia over themselves. The Russian government unsuccessfully tried to persuade the Crimean Khan Selim-Girey III (1765-1767; 1770-71) to accept Russian citizenship. 14(25).6.1771 Russian troops under the command of General-in-Chief Prince V.M. Dolgorukov (from 1775 Dolgorukov-Krymsky) began an assault on the Perekop fortifications, and by the beginning of July they took the main strategically important fortresses of the Crimean Peninsula. Khan Selim Giray III fled to the Ottoman Empire. In November 1772, the new Khan Sahib-Girey II (1771-75) concluded an agreement with Russia recognizing the Crimean Khanate as an independent state under the patronage of the Russian Empress. According to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774, which fixed the independent status of the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Sultan reserved the right of the spiritual guardian (caliph) of the Crimean Muslims. Despite the attraction of part of the Tatar elite to Russia, pro-Turkish sentiments dominated in Crimean society. The Ottoman Empire, for its part, tried to maintain political influence in the Crimean Khanate, the northwestern Black Sea region, the Azov region and the North Caucasus, including the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea. 24.4 (5.5). 1777 Shagin-Girey, loyal to Russia, was elected Crimean Khan with the right to transfer the throne by inheritance. The tax policy of the new khan, the abuse of taxation and the attempt to create a court guard on the Russian model provoked popular unrest throughout the Crimean Khanate in October 1777 - February 1778. After suppressing the unrest due to the continued threat of a Turkish landing on the peninsula, the Russian military administration withdrew all Christians (about 31 thousand people) from Crimea. This measure had a negative impact on the economy of the Crimean Khanate and caused, in particular, a reduction in tax revenues to the Khan's treasury. The unpopularity of Shagin-Girey led to the fact that the Crimean nobility elected the protege of the Ottoman Empire Bahadur-Girey II (1782-83) as khan. In 1783, Shagin-Girey was returned to the Crimean throne with the help of Russian troops, but this did not lead to the desired stabilization of the situation in the Crimean Khanate. As a result, on April 8 (19), 1783, Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto on the annexation of Crimea, the Taman Peninsula and the lands up to the Kuban River to Russia.

The annexation of the Crimean Khanate to Russia significantly strengthened the position of the Russian Empire on the Black Sea: prospects for the economic development of the Northern Black Sea region, the development of trade on the Black Sea and the construction of the Russian Black Sea Fleet appeared.

Lit.: Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire du Khanate de Crimée - Materials for the history of the Crimean Khanate. St. Petersburg, 1864 (text in Tatar); Kurat A. N. Topkapi Sarayi Мüzesi arsivindeki Altin ordu, Kinm ve Türkistan hanlarma ait yarlikl ve bitikler. Ist., 1940; Le Khanat de Crimée dans les archives du Musée du palais de Topkapi. R., 1978; Grekov I. B. Ottoman Empire, Crimea and the countries of Eastern Europe in the 50-70s of the 16th century. // Ottoman Empire and the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in the XV-XVI centuries. M., 1984; From the history of regions: Crimea in the geopolitical fault lines of Eastern Europe. Heritage of the Golden Horde // Domestic History. 1999. No. 2; Trepavlov V.V. History of the Nogai Horde. M., 2001; Khoroshkevich A.L. Rus' and Crimea. From alliance to confrontation. M., 2001; Faizov S. F. Letters of the khans Islam-Girey III and Muhammad-Girey IV to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and King Jan Casimir: 1654-1658: Crimean Tatar diplomacy in the political context of the post-Pereyaslav time. M., 2003; Smirnov V.D. The Crimean Khanate under the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte. M., 2005. T. 1: Until the beginning of the 18th century.

A. V. Vinogradov, S. F. Faizov.

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 (Cumans) 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 Chersonesus. 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. The Crimean city of 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. A large number of 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

On January 6-12, 1711, the Crimean army left 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 Kiev.

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 Treaty of Prut, Russia lost access to the 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 the 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 to live in 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 of 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. The khan's younger brother or another relative was appointed to this position. 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.

Kaymakans - in the late period (end of the 18th century) governing 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.

Public 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

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