Handwritten Documents from Turkish Archives on Crimean Khan Mengli Giray’s Activities
In Eurasia, especially in the northern Black Sea region, late 15th - early 16th cc. were a period of dynamic and strained international relations, arena for clashes of geopolitical interests of Ottoman Empire, Golden Horde, Crimean Khanate, Moscow principality (Russian state), Poland and Lithuania. Many of these events may clarify the meaning of today''s conflicts, the essence of which is rooted in those centuries. At the same time, there is a very small amount written evidence about the events of that epoch in this region. That’s why studying few documents of this period preserved in the archives is actual scientific task for each next generation of researchers, and disputes about the interpretation of each such document last for decades in the scientific community. In its turn, official correspondence of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate of this period contains a wealth of information about the history of both early Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire during the reign of Mehmed II Fatih and Bayazid II. The subject of my research is three letters of Crimean Khan Mengli Giray (1445 - ca. 1515) to Ottoman Sultans from the Topkapi Palace Archive, which are earliest sources on the history of the Crimean Khanate. Using textual and comparative methods in the framework of historical reenactment approach, I have traced the development of relations between the rulers of the two powers. They varied in different periods from independence during the Mengli Giray’s first reign to subjection to Sultan’s power during his second reign. At the same time, this does not mean belittling of the Crimean Khan position: firstly, as a vassal he could count on protection against enemies on the part of Istanbul. Secondly, the geographical and geopolitical situation of the Crimean Khanate made it for Sultan’s court a significant player (and additional military force) in relations with Golden Horde, Moldova, Poland, Lithuania and Russia. Thus, while agreeing with Anatoly Grigoriev’s dating of the third Mengli Giray’s bitiq (letter), I consider this document is not evidence of Khan’s full humiliated depending from Bayezid II, but the document drawn up by a clever and far-sighted politician in compliance with the norms of the Ottoman imperial etiquette into his own purely pragmatic purposes. The absence of such dependence is also confirmed by miniature ‘Bayazid II Receives Mengli Giray in Shah Pavilion during the Campaign against Moldova in 1484’ from the Hünername ( The Book of Skilled Body Movements, 1585-1588), which is also stored in the Topkapi Palace Archive. This Ottoman miniature depicts Mengli Giray as full of dignity ruler, almost equal in his power to Sultan Bayazid II. I paid special attention to political picture of Northern Black Sea coast region during late 15th - early 16th cc., and conclude that correspondence between Crimea Khan and Ottoman Sultans allows revealing pragmatic political goals of main regional actors, as well as circumstances and course of their military campaigns. This epistolary documents are vivid and detail manifestation of the struggle for power in the Crimean Khanate.