Despotic supreme power in the Golden Horde belonged to the khan, who was elevated to the ruling throne by kurultai. As a rule, they should have been the eldest son of the former khan or another relative along the line of Genghis Khan. Khan was the sole manager and owner of all state lands, which he could distribute to various officials and his relatives. Also, the khan was the head of the Horde military forces and could appoint and remove all senior officials without anyone's approval. On behalf of the khan (but more often by the khan himself) all foreign policy actions were carried out. Such as the declaration of hostilities or the conclusion of a peace treaty. The Khan's will was considered law in the Horde.
kurultay- a regional body in which the relatives of the khan, as well as temniks, noyons, emirs, widows of khans, etc. participated. Military issues were resolved at this council, as well as the most pressing disputes and strife between the ruling feudal lords. Kurultai were convened occasionally and always took place in a solemn atmosphere.
Also in the Golden Horde, a peculiar administrative system was formed, many of whose features were borrowed from such despotic eastern states as China, Persia and the Central Asian khanates. At the end of the thirteenth century, sofas (offices) were created, which were responsible for doing business in various branches of government. These sofas were in charge of senior officials appointed by the khan. There was no clear demarcation of the scope of sofas by industry.
Vizier- was the highest official in charge of the state treasury.
Beklyari-bek- the state military administration, which directed the military activities of temniks, emirs, as well as thousands of thousands. Quite often, Beklyari-bek is called the main main emir under the khan.
Bukaul- in charge of armament and supply of the army, as well as accounting for military booty and its distribution at the direction of the khan and senior officials.
As we see the basis of the statehood of the Golden Horde was a military organization. Many state nobles were also commanders of military units.
Thousands and Temniks were the highest command staff, which consisted exclusively of noble warriors and representatives of the line of the son of Genghis Khan.
Judicial power in the Horde was not separated from the administrative.
The Golden Horde had no clearly defined borders. Its power extended not so much to the territory, but to the peoples and tribes that were at different stages of the socio-economic and cultural development who professed various religions. The capital of this state was first Sarai-Batu, and then Sarai-Berke in the lower reaches of the Volga. Gradually, the Mongols mixed with the Turkic peoples and tribes, and the Turkic language became official. The Mongols themselves among the conquered peoples received a double name - the Mongol-Tatars (from the name of one of the most numerous Mongolian tribes - the Tatars). Subsequently, some people began to call Tatars Mongolian origin peoples of Siberia, the Volga region, the Caucasus, the Crimea. It became their national name. Over time, the Mongol-Tatars converted to Islam.
social order. The social structure of the Golden Horde was complex and reflected a motley class and National composition this robber state. There was no clear class organization of society, similar to that which existed in Russia and in the Western European feudal states and which was based on hierarchical feudal ownership of land, here. The status of a citizen of the Golden Horde depended on the origin, merit to the khan and his family, on the position in the military administrative apparatus. In the military-feudal hierarchy of the Golden Horde, the dominant position was occupied by the aristocratic family of the descendants of Genghis Khan and his son Jochi. This numerous family owned all the land of the state, it owned huge herds, palaces, many servants and slaves, innumerable riches, military booty, the state treasury, etc. Subsequently, the Jochids and other descendants of Genghis Khan for whole centuries retained a privileged position in the Central Asian khanates and in Kazakhstan, secured for themselves the monopoly right to bear the title of sultan, to occupy the khan's throne. The khan himself had the richest and largest ulus of the domain type. The Jochids had a preferential right to occupy the highest government posts. In Russian sources they were called princes. They were awarded state and military titles and ranks.
The next step in the military-feudal hierarchy of the Golden Horde was occupied by noyons (in eastern sources - beks). Not being members of the Jochid clan, they nevertheless traced their genealogies from the associates of Genghis Khan and their sons. Noyons had many servants and dependent people, huge herds. They were often appointed by khans to responsible military and state positions: darugs, temniks, thousanders, Baskaks, etc. They were awarded tarkhan letters, freeing them from various duties and responsibilities. The signs of their power were labels and paizi.
A special place in the hierarchical structure of the Golden Horde was occupied by numerous nukers - warriors of large feudal lords. They either were in the retinue of their seniors, or occupied middle and lower military administrative positions - centurions, foremen, etc. These positions made it possible to extract significant income from the population of those territories where the corresponding military units were located or where they were sent or where the nukers occupied administrative positions .
From among the nukers and other privileged people in the Golden Horde, a small layer of tarkhans emerged, who received tarkhan letters from the khan or his senior officials, in which their holders were granted various privileges.
The ruling classes also included numerous clergy, primarily Muslim, merchants and wealthy artisans, local feudal lords, tribal and tribal elders and leaders, large landowners in settled agricultural areas. Central Asia, Volga, Caucasus and Crimea.
The working people - the peasantry of agricultural regions, urban artisans, servants - were in varying degrees of dependence on the state and feudal lords. The bulk of the working people in the steppes and foothills of the Golden Horde were Karacha - nomadic cattle breeders. They were part of clans and tribes and were forced to unquestioningly obey the clan and tribal elders and leaders, as well as representatives of the military-administrative authority of the Horde. Fulfilling all household duties, Karachu at the same time had to serve in the army.
Feudally dependent peasants worked in the agricultural regions of the Horde. Some of them - sabanchis - lived in rural communities and cultivated, in addition to the plots of land allocated for them by the feudal lords, they carried natural and other duties. Others - urtakchi (share sharecroppers) - bonded people, cultivated the land of the state and local feudal lords for half the harvest, carried other duties.
Artisans driven from the conquered countries worked in the cities. Many of them were in the position of slaves or dependent on the Khan and other rulers of the people. Small merchants, servants also depended on the arbitrariness of the authorities and their masters. Even wealthy merchants and independent artisans paid taxes to the city authorities and carried various duties.
Slavery was quite common in the Golden Horde. First of all, captives and inhabitants of the conquered lands became slaves. Slaves were used in handicraft production, construction, as servants of feudal lords. Many slaves were sold to the countries of the East. However, the majority of slaves, both in cities and in agriculture after one or two generations they became feudally dependent or received freedom.
Political system. The state mechanism of the Golden Horde ensured the exploitation of its workers, the robbery of conquered peoples. This was achieved by the establishment of a terrorist regime, in which the subordination of the younger to the elders was unconditional and thoughtless. At the same time, both the remnants of the former tribal organization and the new military-feudal principles were used.
The supreme, despotic in essence, power in the state belonged to the khan, who was enthroned by the kurultai. As a rule, it was the eldest son of the previous khan or another closest relative of the Genghisids. Often the struggle for the khan's throne was fierce, accompanied by intrigues, secret or open assassinations of applicants.
First of all, the Khan was the supreme owner and manager of all lands in the state, which he distributed to relatives and officials. He was the head of the armed forces, made appointments and removals of all senior officials. The khan himself or on his behalf carried out foreign policy actions, including the declaration of war and the conclusion of peace. He was the supreme judge, his will was considered law.
There was also a collegial body in the Golden Horde - kurultai, in which the sons of the khan, his closest relatives (princes), widows of khans, emirs, noyons, temniks, etc. participated. the tops, the borders of the uluses were revised, the decisions of the khan on other issues were announced. The will of the khan, his decision at the kurultai were final and irrefutable. Kurultai were convened episodically and were held in a solemn atmosphere.
A peculiar system gradually developed in the Golden Horde central authorities management, many features of which were borrowed from the eastern despotic states (China, Persia, Central Asian khanates). So, at the end of the XIII century. sofas (offices) appeared for doing business on various industries management. Numerous secretaries and scribes (bitakchi) worked in them. The sofas were subordinate to the highest officials appointed by the khan, carried out their instructions, gave them various information about the state of affairs in a particular branch of government or in the field. There was no clear delimitation of the competence of sofas by branches of management.
The highest officials included, first of all, the vizier, who was in charge of the khan's treasury and general management affairs of the state on behalf and on behalf of the khan. The vizier appointed Basques, divan secretaries and other officials to positions. Military administration in the state was concentrated in the hands of the beklyari-bek, who directed the military activities of the emirs, temniks and thousanders. Beklyari-bek in the sources is often called the senior, chief emir under the khan. In addition, there were two more emirs in the capital who carried out the orders of the khan and his vizier, and a bukaul, who was in charge of supplies, weapons, and allowances. military units and garrisons, taking into account military booty and its delivery and distribution according to the instructions of the khan and senior officials.
Other officials and representatives of local authorities were constantly in the central apparatus, who carried out the instructions of the center for population registration, collection of taxes, suppression of resistance of subjects and dependent peoples, organization of military campaigns, etc. Such positions included Darugs, Baskaks, temniks, centurions, etc.
The uluses were ruled by members of the khan's family, the Jochids-princes, the most authoritative noyons (they were often called emirs). Darugs, thousanders and centurions were appointed to separate regions, cities, settlements. All these rulers were subordinate to many officials who were involved in the census, collecting taxes and taxes, attracting the population to perform various duties (supplying horses, vehicles, supplying officials and military units with various allowances, billeting troops, etc.). Each local ruler has always relied on garrisons or mobile troops.
The military organization of the Golden Horde was the basis of its statehood. Many carriers state power were the commanders of the respective military units.
Numerous cavalry, consisting of Mongol-Tatars, Kipchaks and other nomadic tribes and peoples, formed the basis of the military power of the Golden Horde. In certain periods of its history, the Golden Horde could field 150 or more thousand cavalry. built by decimal system, mobile cavalry could quickly gather in a place indicated by the khan or his command into a huge army for offensive operations, or instantly disperse over vast spaces, transfer from one area to another, make sudden raids and raids, keeping the subjects of the Golden Horde and subject peoples in constant fear .
The highest commanding staff - temniks, thousanders - consisted of representatives of the Jochid-princes and noble noyons. Nukers and other representatives of the tribal nobility were usually appointed centurions and foremen. All commanders were connected with each other by peculiar seigneur-vassal relations. Therefore, the transition from one darkness, thousands or hundreds to another was strictly forbidden. Such a transition was seen as a betrayal of his unit and its commander. The most severe discipline was maintained in the army. For any disobedience, failure to comply with the order, severe punishment threatened, up to the death penalty.
Even Genghis Khan, attaching exceptional importance to obtaining all kinds of information about the alleged enemy, organized an intelligence service. The khans of the Golden Horde - Batu, Berke and their successors obliged their military commanders to conduct reconnaissance through scouts, traitors, merchants, to obtain information about the number and weapons of the enemy, his commanders, moods, strife, etc. Subsequently, the secret service was established for its own state apparatus, it covered significant sections of the population, including the feudal elite. All secret information was delivered to the beklyari-bek, the vizier and reported to the khan.
Judicial power in the Golden Horde, as in other states, was not separated from the administrative. Khan, other state bodies and officials themselves administered justice in all cases - criminal, civil, etc. However, due to the steady Islamization of the Golden Horde at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th centuries. Qadi Islamic courts were established, headed by the supreme qadi of the state. These courts dealt mainly with cases related to the violation of the requirements of the Qur'an, i.e. religious and marriage and family. In addition, special yarguchi judges were appointed in the cities to deal with civil cases. The Qadis and Yarguchis levied official duties from the disputing parties, and also resorted to arbitrary requisitions.
The nomadic peoples of the Golden Horde had traditional courts of tribal elders-biys.
Judicial and administrative arbitrariness, extrajudicial reprisals were characteristic features judicial system of the military-feudal state of the Golden Horde.
Relations with Russia. After the devastating conquests of the khans of Batu and Berke, the Russian principalities fell into vassal dependence on the Golden Horde khan for a long time. The most severe Mongolian yoke. The relations of vassalage were not fixed by any agreement, but were simply dictated by the conqueror. Russian princes had to be approved for reign in the Horde, receiving a label from the khan. The princes of Vladimir received a special label from the khan. The special commissioners of the Golden Horde Khan put on the throne of the Grand Duke. Receiving khan's labels in the Horde, as well as when summoning princes to the Horde, was necessarily accompanied by the presentation of rich gifts. One of the main vassal duties of the Russian principalities was the payment of tribute to the khan - a tenth of all income from the population of the principality. Only the Russians were exempt from this levy. Orthodox Church. In addition, the population had to provide horses and carts, pay special trade and craft duties, provide food (food), satisfy the requirements of the Horde and its officials.
The Golden Horde ordered tributes and requisitions from the Russian principalities to be carried out by specially authorized darugs and Baskaks, who came to the principalities with a large retinue of counters, weighers and guard cavalry detachments. In Vladimir there was the main Baskak, to whom the Baskaks of other principalities - Ryazan, Murom, Smolensk, Tver, Kursk, etc. were subordinate.
To intimidate the Russian population, as well as to further enrich the Horde, the Mongol-Tatars systematically raided the principalities. At the same time, many people were taken into captivity, cities and villages were ruined and burned.
The Russian people never put up with the Mongol-Tatar yoke and, together with other peoples, offered stubborn resistance to the invaders. With the rise of the Moscow Principality, the Russian people, under the leadership of Grand Duke Dmitry, dealt the first crushing blow to the hordes of the Golden Horde in 1380 in the great battle on the Kulikovo field. The Russian people achieved the final liberation from the invaders in the 15th century.
The Mongol-Tatar conquests delayed the socio-economic and cultural development of Russian society for centuries.
Right. The weak study of the law of the Golden Horde due to a lack of sources limits the possibility of any detailed presentation of it. The source of law in the Horde was primarily the Great Yasa of Genghis Khan, compiled in 1206 as an edification to his successors, consisting of 33 fragments and 13 sayings of the Khan himself. Yasa contained mainly the rules of the military organization of the Mongolian army and the norms of criminal law. It was distinguished by the unprecedented cruelty of punishments not only for crimes, but also for misdemeanors. The norms of customary law of nomadic peoples were also sources of law. With the Islamization of the Golden Horde, Sharia began to operate in it. It was used mainly in cities and in areas with a settled population.
Oral and written orders and instructions of the khans were for subjects, including the feudal nobility, supreme law subject to immediate and unquestioning execution. They have been put into practice government agencies Golden Horde and the highest officials of the state.
The law of the Golden Horde is characterized by extreme cruelty, legalized arbitrariness of feudal lords and state officials, archaism and formal uncertainty. Even the Yasa of Genghis Khan became known to us not as a single written act, but from individual references and excerpts contained in various non-legal sources. Only the norms of Shariah were written and in this respect favorably differed from other legal sources.
Property relations in the Golden Horde were regulated by customary law and were very confused. This applies especially to land relations - the basis of feudal society. The ownership of the land, the entire territory of the state belonged to the ruling khan family of the Jochids. In the conditions of a nomadic economy, the inheritance of land was difficult. Therefore, it took place mainly in agricultural areas. The owners of the estates, of course, had to bear various vassal duties to the khan or the local ruler appointed by him.
In the khan's family, power was a special object of inheritance, and political power combined with the right of ownership of the land of the ulus. The youngest son was considered the heir. Under Mongolian law, the youngest son generally had priority in inheritance.
The family and marriage law of the Mongol-Tatars and the nomadic peoples subject to them was regulated ancient customs and to a lesser extent sharia. The head of the patriarchal polygamous family, which was part of the village, clan, was the father. He was the owner of all the property of the family, disposed of the fate of the family members subject to him. Thus, the father of an impoverished family had the right to give his children for debts into service and even sell them into slavery. The number of wives was not limited. Muslims could have no more than four legal wives. The children of wives and concubines were legally in an equal position, with some advantages of sons from older wives and legal wives among Muslims. After the death of the husband, the management of all family affairs passed into the hands of the eldest wife. This continued until the sons became adult warriors.
The power of a husband over his wife was established by marriage, one of the forms of which was the actual or ritual kidnapping of the bride. At the conclusion of marriage, the family or clan of the groom redeemed the bride from the family or clan of the latter. In turn, the bride's relatives were obliged to give her a dowry. The size of the ransom and dowry, the costs of marriage celebrations were determined by the social and property status of the relatives of the spouses.
The criminal law of the Golden Horde was characterized by exceptional cruelty. This stemmed from the very nature of the military-feudal system of the Golden Horde, the despotic power of Genghis Khan and his successors, the severity of relations, low common culture inherent in a nomadic pastoral society, which is in the very initial stage of feudalism. Cruelty, organized terror were one of the conditions for establishing and maintaining long-term domination over the conquered peoples. According to the Great Yasa, the death penalty was relied upon for treason, disobedience to the khan and other feudal lords and officials, unauthorized transfer from one military unit to another, failure to provide assistance in battle, compassion for the captive in the form of helping him with food and clothing, for advice and assistance from one of the parties. in a duel, lying before elders in court, appropriation of someone else's slave or an escaped captive. It was also relied on in some cases for murder, property crimes, adultery, bestiality, spying on the behavior of others, and especially the nobility and superiors, magic, slaughtering cattle in an unknown way, urinating into a fire and ashes; even those who choked on a bone were executed. The death penalty, as a rule, was made publicly and in ways characteristic of a nomadic lifestyle - by squeezing on a rope suspended from the neck of a camel or horse, dragging by horses. It was also possible to slaughter a person “like a ram”.
Other types of punishments were also used, for example, for domestic murder, a ransom was allowed in favor of the relatives of the victim. The amount of the ransom was determined by the social status of the victim. Nomads were required to pay tenfold ransom for stealing horses and sheep. If the perpetrator was insolvent, he was obliged to sell his children and thus pay a ransom. At the same time, the thief, as a rule, was mercilessly beaten with whips.
Witnesses were involved in the criminal process during the interrogation, oaths were pronounced, cruel torture was used. In the military-feudal organization, the search for an undetected or hidden criminal was assigned to a dozen or a hundred, to which he belonged. Otherwise, all ten or one hundred were responsible.
Lecture 4
The Golden Horde was feudal state developed Middle Ages. supreme power in the country belonged to the khan, and this title of the head of state in the history of the entire Tatar people is associated mainly with the period of the Golden Horde. If the entire Mongol Empire was ruled by the dynasty of Genghis Khan (Genghisids), then the Golden Horde was ruled by the dynasty of his eldest son Jochi (Juchids). In the 60s of the XIII century, the empire was actually divided into independent states, but legally they were considered uluses of Genghis Khan. Therefore, the system of government, laid down under him, practically remained until the end of the existence of these states. Moreover, this tradition continued in the political and socio-economic life of those Tatar khanates that formed after the fall of the Golden Horde. Naturally, some transformations, reforms were carried out, some new state and military positions appeared, but the entire state and social system as a whole remained stable. Under the khan there was a divan - a state council, consisting of members of the royal dynasty (oglans-princes, brothers or other male relatives of the khan), large feudal princes, high clergy, and great military leaders. Large feudal princes are noyons for the early Mongol period of the times of Batu and Berke, and for the Muslim, Tatar-Kipchak era of Uzbek and his successors - emirs and beks. Later, by the end of the 14th century, very influential and powerful beks with the name “Karacha-bi” appeared from the largest families Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak (these noble families were also the highest feudal-princely elite of almost all Tatar khanates that arose after the collapse Golden Horde). The divan also had the position of bitikchi (scribe), who was in essence the secretary of state, who had considerable power in the country. Even large feudal lords and military leaders treated him with respect.
The bodies administering justice in the Mongol Empire were: the court of the Great Khan, the court of kurultai - the congress of representatives of the ruling family and military leaders, the court of specially appointed persons - judges-dzarguchi. All these bodies also operated in the Golden Horde. As in the Mongol Empire, the highest court was the rulers of the Golden Horde, who in the second half of the XIII century. first received actual, and then official independence and took the title of khan. Justice as one of the functions of the Khan's power was inherited by the Mongols from the ancient Turks: already in the Turkic Khaganate in the VI-IX centuries. The khan is the highest court.
The central government in Mongolia recognized the right of the actual founder of the Golden Horde - Batu (Batu, ruled in 1227-1256) to trial the noyons and officials subordinate to him, however, with the proviso that "Batu's judge is a kaan." The subsequent khans of the Golden Horde also actively carried out judicial functions. It was under Mengu-Timur, the grandson of Batu, in 1269. The Golden Horde officially became an independent state, and its rulers became sovereign sovereigns, one of the inalienable signs of whose power was the exercise of the function of the supreme judge.
The main source of law in the Mongol Empire and the Chingizid states were the so-called yases (laws) of Genghis Khan (collectively referred to as the Great Yasa) and his successors - the great khans. The Great Yasa of the founder of the empire and the Yasa of his successors constituted the main source of law for all bodies that administered justice, including the khan. Other sources should not have contradicted the yasas. The Great Yasa of Genghis Khan, compiled in 1206 as an edification to his successors, consisted of 33 fragments and 13 sayings of the Khan himself. Yasa contained mainly the rules of the military organization of the Mongolian army and the norms of criminal law. It was distinguished by the unprecedented cruelty of punishments not only for crimes, but also for misdemeanors.
Another important source is the labels of the khans themselves. A label was any document that was issued on behalf of the supreme ruler - the khan and had certain characteristics (had a certain structure, was supplied with a scarlet seal - tamga, was addressed to persons who were lower in position than the person who issued it, etc.). Oral and written orders and orders of the khans were for the subjects, including the feudal nobility, the highest law, subject to immediate and unquestioning execution. They were used in the practice of state bodies of the Golden Horde and the highest officials of the state. Not all labels were sources of law that guided the administration of justice. For example, labels-messages, which were not legal, but diplomatic documents, could not serve as sources of law for khans (and lower ulus judges); labels were not sources for the court either - letters of commendation and safe conduct, which were issued in large numbers to diplomats and private individuals.
In addition to labels, there was a system for issuing so-called paizi. Paiza is a gold, silver, bronze, cast-iron, or even just a wooden tablet, also issued on behalf of the khan as a kind of mandate. A person who presented such a mandate on the ground was provided with the necessary services during his movements and trips - escorts, horses, carts, premises, food. It goes without saying that a golden paizu was received by a person who was higher in his position in society, a wooden one - by a simpler one.
Khan, being the creator of law (he confirmed or canceled the decisions of his predecessors, issued his own labels and other normative and individual acts), was not bound by any norms. In making decisions, the khans were guided not only by their will, but also by written documents - yas and labels of Genghis Khan and his successors.
The law of the Golden Horde is characterized by extreme cruelty, legalized arbitrariness of feudal lords and state officials, archaism and formal uncertainty.
Property relations in the Golden Horde were regulated by customary law and were very confused. This applies especially to land relations - the basis of feudal society. The right of ownership to the land, to the entire territory of the state belonged to the ruling khan family of the Jochids. In the conditions of a nomadic economy, the inheritance of land was difficult. Therefore, it took place mainly in agricultural areas. The owners of the estates, of course, had to bear various vassal duties to the khan or the local ruler appointed by him. In the khan's family, power was a special object of inheritance, and political power was combined with the right of ownership of the land of the ulus. The youngest son was considered the heir. Under Mongolian law, the youngest son generally had priority in inheritance.
The family and marriage law of the Mongol-Tatars and the nomadic peoples subject to them was regulated by ancient customs and, to a lesser extent, Sharia. The head of the patriarchal polygamous family, which was part of the village, clan, was the father. He was the owner of all the property of the family, disposed of the fate of the family members subject to him. Thus, the father of an impoverished family had the right to give his children for debts into service and even sell them into slavery. The number of wives was not limited (Muslims could have no more than four legal wives). The children of wives and concubines were legally in an equal position, with some advantages of sons from older wives and legal wives among Muslims. After the death of the husband, the management of all family affairs passed into the hands of the eldest wife. This continued until the sons became adult warriors.
The criminal law of the Golden Horde was characterized by exceptional cruelty. This stemmed from the very nature of the military-feudal system of the Golden Horde, the despotic power of Genghis Khan and his successors, the severity of the attitude of the low general culture inherent in the nomadic pastoral society in the very initial stage of feudalism.
Cruelty, organized terror were one of the conditions for establishing and maintaining long-term domination over the conquered peoples. According to the Great Yasa, the death penalty was relied upon for treason, disobedience to the khan and other feudal lords and officials, unauthorized transfer from one military unit to another, failure to provide assistance in battle, compassion for the captive in the form of helping him with food and clothing, for advice and assistance from one of parties in a duel, lying to elders in court, appropriation of another's slave or an escaped captive. It was also relied on in some cases for murder, property crimes, adultery, bestiality, spying on the behavior of others, and especially the nobility and superiors, magic, slaughtering cattle in an unknown way, urination into fire and ashes; even those who choked on a bone were executed. The death penalty, as a rule, was carried out publicly and in ways characteristic of a nomadic lifestyle - by strangling on a rope suspended from the neck of a camel or horse, dragging by horses. Other types of punishments were also used, for example, for domestic murder, a ransom was allowed in favor of the relatives of the victim. The amount of the ransom was determined by the social status of the victim. Nomads were required to pay tenfold ransom for stealing horses and sheep. If the perpetrator was insolvent, he was obliged to sell his children and thus pay a ransom. At the same time, the thief, as a rule, was mercilessly beaten with whips. Witnesses were involved in the criminal process during the interrogation, oaths were pronounced, cruel torture was used. In the military-feudal organization, the search for an undetected or hidden criminal was assigned to a dozen or a hundred, to which he belonged. Otherwise, all ten or one hundred were responsible.
Priests and, in general, representatives of the clergy in the Golden Horde, according to the records of labels and Arab-Persian historical geography, were represented by such persons: mufti - head of the clergy; sheikh - spiritual leader and mentor, aksakal; sufi - a pious, pious, free from evil deeds person or ascetic; qadi - a judge who decides cases according to Sharia, that is, according to the code of Muslim laws.
major role in the political and social life The Golden Horde state was played by Baskaks and Darukhachs (Darukh). The first of them were military representatives of power, military guards, the second - civilians with the duties of a governor or manager, one of the main functions of which was to control the collection of tribute. The position of baskak was abolished at the beginning of the 14th century, and darukhachs as governors of the central government or heads of administrations of the darug regions existed as early as the period of the Kazan Khanate. In the Ulus of Jochi there was a special position of a military bukaul, which was engaged in the distribution of troops, the dispatch of detachments; he was also responsible for military maintenance and allowances. Even ulus emirs obeyed Bukaulu - in war time temniks. In addition to the main bukaul, there were bukauls of separate regions.
Under the Baskak or under the Darukhach, there was the position of a tributary, that is, their assistant in collecting tribute - yasak. He was a kind of bitikchi (secretary) for yasak affairs. In general, the position of bitikchi in the Ulus of Jochi was quite common, it was considered responsible and respected. In addition to the main bitikchi under the khan's divan-council, there were bitikchi under the ulus divans, who enjoyed great power in the localities. They could, for example, be compared with the volost clerks of pre-revolutionary Russia, who performed almost all government work in the outback.
In the system of state officials there were a number of other officials who are known mainly by the khan's labels. These are: “ilche” (envoy), “tamgachy” (customs officer), “tartanakchy” (tax collector or weigher), “totkaul” (outpost), “guard” (watch), “yamchy” (postal), “koshchy” (falconer), "barschy" (barsnik), "kimeche" (rook or shipman), "bazaar da torganl[n]ar" (guardians of order in the bazaar). These positions are known from the labels of Tokhtamysh of 1391 and Timur-Kutluk of 1398.
Various types of duties that were levied on the nomadic and sedentary population, as well as various border duties: “salyg” (poll tax), “kalan” (tire), “yasak” (tribute), “kharazh” ("kharaj" - an Arabic word meaning a 10% tax on Muslim peoples), “burych” (debt, arrears), “chygysh” (exit, expense), “yndyr khaky” (fee for a threshing floor), “barn small” (granary duty), “burla tamgasy” (wheat tamga), “yul khaky” (road fee), “karaullyk” (guard fee), “tartanak” (by weight, as well as import and export tax), “tamga” (tamga duty ).
In the most general view administrative system The Golden Horde was described as early as the 13th century. G. Rubruk, who traveled the entire state from west to east. His sketch of a traveler contains the basis of the administrative territorial division Golden Horde, defined by the concept of "ulus system". Its essence was the right of nomadic feudal lords to receive from the khan himself or another large steppe aristocrat a certain inheritance - an ulus. For this, the owner of the ulus was obliged to put up, if necessary, a certain number of fully armed soldiers (depending on the size of the ulus), as well as to perform various tax and economic duties. This system was an exact copy of the structure of the Mongolian army: the entire state - the Great Ulus - was divided according to the rank of the owner (temnik, thousand's manager, centurion, ten's manager) - into destinies of certain size, and from each of them, in case of war, ten, one hundred , a thousand or ten thousand armed warriors. At the same time, uluses were not hereditary possessions that could be passed from father to son. Moreover, the khan could take away the ulus completely or replace it with another. In the initial period of the existence of the Golden Horde, there were apparently no more than 15 large uluses, and rivers most often served as the borders between them. This shows a certain primitiveness of the administrative division of the state, rooted in the old nomadic traditions.
Further development of statehood, the emergence of cities, the introduction of Islam, a closer acquaintance with the Arab and Persian traditions of government led to various complications in the possessions of the Jochids with the simultaneous death of Central Asian customs dating back to the time of Genghis Khan. Instead of dividing the territory into two wings, four uluses appeared, headed by ulusbeks. One of the uluses was the personal domain of the khan. He occupied the steppes of the left bank of the Volga from its mouth to the Kama. Each of these four uluses was divided into a certain number of "regions", which were the uluses of the feudal lords of the next rank. In total, in the Golden Horde, the number of such "regions" in the XIV century. was about 70 in number of temniks. Simultaneously with the establishment of administrative-territorial division, the formation of the state administration apparatus took place.
Khan, who stood at the top of the pyramid of power, for most of the year was in a roaming headquarters surrounded by his wives and a huge number of courtiers. Only short winter period he spent in the capital. The moving khan's horde-headquarters, as it were, emphasized that the main power of the state continued to be based on a nomadic beginning. Naturally, it was quite difficult for the Khan, who was in constant motion, to manage the affairs of the state himself. This is also emphasized by the sources, which directly report that the supreme ruler “pays attention only to the essence of the matter, without entering into the details of the circumstances, and is content with what is reported to him, but does not seek details regarding the collection and spending.”
The entire Horde army was commanded by a military leader - beklyaribek, that is, the prince of princes, Grand Duke. Beklyaribek usually exercised military power, often being the commander of the khan's army. Sometimes his influence exceeded the power of the khan, which often led to bloody civil strife. From time to time, the power of the Beklyaribeks, for example, Nogai, Mamai, Edigei, increased so much that they themselves appointed khans.
With the strengthening of statehood in the Golden Horde, the administrative apparatus grew, its rulers took as a model the administration of the state of Khorezmshahs conquered by the Mongols. According to this model, a vizier appeared under the khan, a kind of head of government, who was responsible for all spheres of the non-military life of the state. The vizier and the divan (state council) headed by him controlled finances, taxes, and trade. foreign policy the khan himself was in charge with his closest advisers, as well as the beklyaribek.
The rights of the great khan as head of state included military, legislative and administrative power. The idea of the unity of the supreme power in the first decades of the existence of the empire was reflected in the coinage. Coins issued in the cities of different uluses, including Central Asian ones, as a rule, were anonymous, much less often they placed the name and personal tamga of the great khan.
The heyday of the Horde state was marked by the highest level and quality of life in Europe at that time. The rise took place almost during the reign of one ruler - Uzbek (1312 - 1342). The state took upon itself the obligation to protect the lives of its citizens, to administer justice, to organize social, cultural and economic life. All this testifies to the well-coordinated state mechanism of the Golden Horde with all the attributes that are necessary for the existence and development of a large medieval state: central and local government, judicial and tax system, customs service and a strong army.
As a result aggressive campaigns As part of the Mongol empire founded by Genghis Khan, three of its western uluses developed, which for some time depended on the great Khan of the Mongols in Karakorum, and then became independent states. The very separation of the three western uluses within the Mongol Empire created by Genghis Khan was already the beginning of its disintegration.
The ulus of Chagatai, the second son of Genghis Khan, included Semirechye and Maverannahr in Central Asia. The ulus of Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, became the lands of modern Turkmenistan, Iran, Transcaucasia and the Middle Eastern lands up to the Euphrates. The separation of the Khulagu ulus into an independent state took place in 1265.
The largest western ulus of the Mongols was the ulus of the descendants of Jochi (the eldest son of Genghis Khan), which included Western Siberia (from the Irtysh), Northern Khorezm in Central Asia, the Urals, the Middle and Lower Volga regions, the North Caucasus, Crimea, the lands of the Polovtsians and other Turkic nomadic peoples in the steppe spaces from the Irtysh to the mouth of the Danube. East End ulus of Jochi ( Western Siberia) became the yurt (destiny) of the eldest son of Jochi - Orda-Ichen - and later received the name of the Blue Horde. The western part of the ulus became the yurt of his second son, Batu, known in Russian annals as the Golden Horde or simply the Horde.
The main territory of these states was the countries conquered by the Mongols, where there were favorable natural conditions for nomadic pastoralism (lands in Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Northern Black Sea region), which led to their long-term economic and cultural stagnation, to the replacement of a developed agricultural economy by nomadic pastoralism, and together with and to a return to more archaic forms of the socio-political and state system.
Socio-political system of the Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was founded in 1243 upon the return of Batu Khan from his campaign in Europe. Its original capital was built in 1254, the city of Sarai-Batu on the Volga. The transformation of the Golden Horde into an independent state was expressed under the third khan Mengu-Timur (1266 - 1282) in the minting of a coin with the name of the khan. After his death, a feudal war broke out in the Golden Horde, during which one of the representatives of the nomadic aristocracy, Nogai, rose to the occasion. As a result of this feudal war, that part of the Golden Horde aristocracy that adhered to Islam and was connected with the urban trading layers won the upper hand. She nominated the grandson of Mengu-Timur Uzbek (1312 - 1342) to the khan's throne.
Under Uzbek, the Golden Horde turned into one of the largest states of the Middle Ages. During the 30-year reign, Uzbek firmly held all power in his hands, cruelly suppressing any manifestation of the independence of his vassals. The princes of numerous uluses from the descendants of Jochi, including the rulers of the Blue Horde, implicitly fulfilled all the requirements of Uzbek. The military forces of Uzbek numbered up to 300 thousand soldiers. A number of raids of the Golden Horde on Lithuania in the 20s of the XIV century. temporarily stopped the advance of the Lithuanians to the east. Under Uzbek, the power of the Golden Horde over Russia was further strengthened.
The state system of the Golden Horde at the time of its formation was of a primitive nature. It was divided into semi-independent uluses headed by the Batu brothers or representatives of local dynasties. These vassal uluses had little to do with the khan's administration. The unity of the Golden Horde rested on a system of cruel terror. The Mongols, who formed the core of the conquerors, soon found themselves surrounded by the vast majority of the Turkic-speaking population they conquered, primarily the Polovtsians (Kipchaks). Already by the end of the XIII century. the Mongolian nomadic aristocracy, and even more so the ordinary mass of the Mongols, became so Turkicized that the Mongolian language was almost ousted from the official documentation by the Kypchak language.
The administration of the state was concentrated in the hands of the Divan, which consisted of four emirs. Local government was in the hands of the regional rulers, directly subordinate to the Divan.
The Mongolian nomadic aristocracy, as a result of the harsh exploitation of serfs, nomads and slaves, turned into owners of huge land wealth, livestock and other valuables (their income of Ibn Battuta, an Arab writer of the 14th century, determined up to 200 thousand dinars, i.e. up to 100 thousand rubles), the feudal aristocracy by the end of the reign of Uzbek again began to exert a huge influence on all sides government controlled and after the death of the Uzbek took the most Active participation in the court struggle for power between his sons - Tinibek and Dzhanibek. Tinibek ruled for only about a year and a half and was killed, and the khan's throne passed to Janibek, who was more acceptable as a khan for the nomadic aristocracy. As a result of court conspiracies and turmoil at the end of the 50s, many princes from the Uzbek clan were killed.
The decline of the Golden Horde and its collapse
In the 70s of the XIV century. as a result of the process of feudal fragmentation, the Golden Horde was actually divided into two parts: in the regions west of the Volga, the temnik Mamai ruled, and in the eastern regions, Urus Khan. The temporary restoration of the unity of the Golden Horde took place under Khan Tokhtamysh in the 80s and 90s, but this unity was also illusory, since in fact Tokhtamysh became dependent on Timur and his plans for conquest. Timur's defeat of Tokhtamysh's troops in 1391 and 1395 and the sack of Saray finally put an end to the political unity of the Golden Horde.
The complex processes of feudal fragmentation led in the second half of the 15th century. to the final disintegration of the Golden Horde into the Kazan Khanate. The Astrakhan Khanate, the Great Horde proper, and the Crimean Khanate, which since 1475 became a vassal of Sultan's Turkey.
The collapse of the Golden Horde and the formation of the Russian centralized state created all the conditions for the complete elimination of the heavy Mongol-Tatar yoke and its consequences.
B.A. Rybakov - "History of the USSR from ancient times to late XVIII century." - M., "Higher School", 1975.
The GOLDEN HORDE, the Mongol-Tatar state, was founded in the early 1240s by Khan Batu, the son of Khan Jochi. The power of the Golden Horde khans extended over the territory from the lower Danube and the Gulf of Finland in the west to the Irtysh basin and the lower Ob in the east, from the Black, Caspian and Aral Seas and Lake Balkhash in the south to Novgorod lands in the north. The Golden Horde included Western Siberia, Khorezm, Volga Bulgaria, the North Caucasus, Crimea, Desht-i-Kipchak, the steppes of the Northern Black Sea and the Volga region. The native Russian lands were not part of the Golden Horde, but were in vassal dependence on it, the Russian princes paid tribute and obeyed the orders of the khans. The center of the Golden Horde was the Lower Volga region, where under Batu the capital was the city of Sarai-Batu (near modern Astrakhan), in the first half of the 14th century the capital was moved to Sarai-Berke, founded by Khan Berke (1255-1266) (near modern Volgograd).
The Golden Horde was in many ways an artificial and fragile state formation, with a motley population. Volga Bulgars, Mordovians, Russians, Greeks, Khorezmians lived in settled areas. The bulk of the nomads were the Turkic tribes of the Polovtsians (Kipchaks), Kangly, Tatars, Turkmens, and Kirghiz. The level of social and cultural development of the population of the Golden Horde also differed.
After the end of the period of conquests, accompanied by monstrous destruction and mass casualties, the main goal of the Golden Horde rulers was to enrich themselves by robbing the enslaved population. The main part of the lands and pastures was concentrated in the hands of the Mongol nobility, in whose favor the working population was liable. Handicraft production of the nomads of the Golden Horde took the form of home crafts. In the cities of the Golden Horde, various craft workshops operated with production for the market, but, as a rule, craftsmen who were taken from Khorezm worked in them, North Caucasus, Crimea, as well as alien Russians, Armenians, Greeks. Many cities in the conquered lands were devastated by the Mongols, were in decline or disappeared altogether. Sarai-Batu, Sarai-Berke, Urgench, the Crimean cities of Sudak, Kafa (Feodosia), Azak (Azov) on the Sea of Azov were major centers of caravan trade.
Khans from the house of Batu were at the head of the state. In especially important cases of life, kurultai were convened - congresses of the nobility headed by members of the ruling dynasty. Beklyare-bek (bek bekov) was a kind of head of the executive power, viziers were in charge of separate areas of government. Local power was exercised by darugs, whose main duty was to collect taxes and taxes. Often, along with the darugs, commanders - Baskaks - were sent to the places. The state structure was semi-military in nature, military and administrative positions, as a rule, were not separated. The most important positions in the army were occupied by members of the ruling dynasty - oglans (princes), who owned destinies in the Golden Horde. From among the beks (noins) and tarkhans, a cadre of military leaders was formed - temniki, thousanders, centurions, as well as bakauls (officials who distributed the maintenance of the troops, military booty).
The fragile nature of the state, the growth of the liberation struggle of the conquered and dependent peoples became the main reasons for the collapse and death of the Golden Horde. Already during its formation, the Golden Horde was divided into uluses that belonged to the numerous sons of Jochi. Although the Batu brothers recognized his supreme power, they were largely independent. Decentralizing tendencies were clearly manifested after the death of Khan Mengu-Timur (1266-1282), when a war broke out between the princes of the house of Jochi. Under the khans Tuda-Mengu (1282-1287) and Talabuga (1287-1291), the Temnik Nogai became the de facto ruler of the state. Only Khan Tokhta (1291-1312) managed to get rid of Nogai and his followers. Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) managed to stop the new turmoil; Under him and his successor, Khan Dzhanibek (1342-1357), the Golden Horde reached the peak of its power. The Uzbek army numbered up to 300 thousand people. After the assassination of Dzhanibek, a new period of instability of power began. In 1357-1380, more than 25 khans were on the throne of the Golden Horde. In the 1360s-1370s, the de facto ruler of the state was the temnik Mamai. In the early 1360s, Khorezm fell away from the Golden Horde, the lands in the Dnieper River basin fell under the rule of Lithuania, and Astrakhan became independent. In Russia, a powerful union of principalities was formed, headed by Moscow. In an attempt to weaken the Moscow princes, Mamai, at the head of a huge army, went on a campaign against Russia, but was defeated by the united Russian troops in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). Under Khan Tokhtamysh (1380-1395), the troubles ceased, the khan's power again began to control the main territory of the state. Tokhtamysh defeated the army of Mamai on the Kalka River (1380), in 1382 he carried out a successful campaign against Russia, captured Moscow by deceit and burned it down. During this period, Timur acted as a dangerous opponent of the Golden Horde. As a result of a series of devastating campaigns, Timur defeated the troops of Tokhtamysh, captured and destroyed the Volga cities, including Saray-Berke, and robbed the cities of Crimea. The Golden Horde was dealt a blow from which it could no longer recover.
In the early 1420s, the Siberian Khanate was formed, in the 1440s - the Nogai Horde, the Kazan Khanate (1438) and the Crimean Khanate (1443) became independent, in the 1460s - the Kazakh, Uzbek, Astrakhan Khanates. In the 15th century, the dependence of Russia on the Golden Horde significantly weakened. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, which for some time became the successor of the Golden Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended in failure and the Russian people finally freed themselves from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The Great Horde ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.