Translate this page:
Please select your language to translate the article


You can just close the window to don't translate
Library
Your profile

Back to contents

History magazine - researches
Reference:

Gagin I.A. Rus’ in the 11th–12th centuries and its eastern neighbours in the international politics of the early Middle ages

Abstract: The article examines the significant, but little studied in Russian historiography problem of the methods used by the rulers of Old Rus’ in concluding treaties with their Eastern neighbours. In the first place, this topic pertains to the Polovtsy and Volga-Bulgars, who were the immediate neighbours of the North-Eastern and South-Eastern principalities in the 11th–12th centuries. Based on examples, the author shows that the most basic method was the reinforcement of friendly pacts by the arrangement of marriage unions between the elites of both sides. The author substantiates the theory that the very term “marriage” (brak), translatable as “union” (from “birak” – “joining”, “combination”), is taken from the Turkish language and it originally referred to princely matrimony with a wife precisely from the Cuman people. The Bulgarian relations with the steppe were rather complicated, which is confirmed by scholars from Tatarstan and archaeological material. Upon the discovery of Khan burial vaults in the ancient capital of Volga-Bulgaria, Mordovian and Mari women were found buried there, wives of Bulgarian dignitaries. Based on the regulations of the civic laws of the Medieval era, it can be asserted with certitude that they could only have become the wives of Bulgarian elites through the conclusion of mutually advantageous unions. Russian chronicles recorded information of similar agreements between the Russian and Bulgarian elites.


Keywords:

Polovtsian steppe, Rus’, Volga-Kama Bulgaria, prince, Medieval elite, Polovtsy, matrimony, marriage, Russian chronicles, family law


This article can be downloaded freely in PDF format for reading. Download article


References
1. Anninskii S. A. Izvestiya vengerskikh missionerov v XIII–XIV vv. o tatarakh v Vostochnoi Evrope // Istoricheskie arkhivy. 1940. ¹ 3. S. 71–112.
2. Grekov B. D. Kievskaya Rus'. M.: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1953. 568 s.
3. Gagin I. A. Normy obychnogo prava pri zaklyuchenii mezhdunarodnykh politicheskikh dogovorov v period rannego Srednevekov'ya // Vestnik Akademii prava i upravleniya. 2001. ¹ 1. S. 51–55.
4. Gagin I. A. Volzhskaya Bulgariya: ocherki istorii srednevekovoi diplomatii (X – pervaya tret' XIII vv.) / Pod red. R. Kh. Barieva. Ryazan': Ryazanskii oblastnoi institut razvitiya obrazovaniya; SPb.: Sankt-Peterburgskii gosudarstvennyi universitet, 2004. 236 s.
5. Gagin I. A. Rus', Bulgariya i Polovetskaya step' (o znachenii brachnykh soyuzov pri zaklyuchenii politicheskikh dogovorov v epokhu rannego Srednevekov'ya) // Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra RAN. 2009. T. XI. ¹ 6 (32). S. 7–12.
6. Gagin I. A. V. N. Tatishchev i rossiiskaya istoriografiya o pokhode knyazya Vladimira na bolgar v 985 g. // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. 2009. Seriya 2. Istoriya. Vyp. 1. S. 45–52.
7. Gagin I. A. Idei bulgarizma i svod «Dzhagfar Tarikhy» v rossiiskoi i zarubezhnoi istoriografii // Voprosy istorii. 2011. ¹ 4. S. 164–170.
8. Garkavi A. Ya. Skazaniya evreiskikh pisatelei o khazarakh i Khazarskom tsarstve. Vyp. 1. SPb.: Tipografiya Imperatorskoi akademii nauk, 1874. 172 s.
9. Golubovskii P. V. Pechenegi, torki i polovtsy do nashestviya tatar. Istoriya drevnerusskikh stepei v IX–XIII vv. Kiev: Universitetskaya tipografiya I. I. Zavadskogo, 1884. 254 s.
10. Drevnie kul'tury i etnosy Samarskogo Povolzh'ya / Pod red. M. A. Turetskogo. Samara: FGUP izdatel'stvo «Samarskii dom pechati», 2007. 265 s.
11. Ivanov V. A. O zapadnykh predelakh rasseleniya drevnikh tyurok // Etnicheskaya istoriya tyurkoyazychnykh narodov Sibiri i sopredel'nykh territorii. Omsk, 1984. 215 s.
12. Knyaz'kii I. O. Rus' i step'. M.: Rossiiskii nauchnyi fond, 1996. 132 s.
13. Kovalevskii A. P. Posol'stvo khalifa k tsaryu volzhskikh bulgar // Istoricheskie zapiski. 1951. T. 37. S. 189–214.
14. Kovalevskii A. P. Puteshestvie Akhmeda ibn-Fadlana na Volgu v 921–922 gg.: Stat'i, perevody i kommentarii / Otv. red. B. A. Shumeiko. Khar'kov: Izdatel'stvo Khar'kovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 1956. 343 s.
15. Kudryashov K. V. Polovetskaya step': Ocherki istoricheskoi geografii. M.: OGIZ – Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo geograficheskoi literatury, 1948. 170 s.
16. Pashuto V. T. Vneshnyaya politika Drevnei Rusi. M.: Nauka, 1968. 474 s.
17. Pletneva S. A. Polovtsy. M.: Nauka, 1990. 208 s.
18. Prozorovskii M. N. O rodstve Svyatogo Vladimira po materi // Zapiski Imperatorskoi akademii nauk. SPb., 1864. T. 5. Kn. 1. S. 17–26.
19. PSRL. T. II. M.: Yazyki russkoi kul'tury, 1998. 638 s.
20. Russkaya entsiklopediya // [Elektronnyi resurs] – URL: http://www.traditio-ru.org/wiki/Brachnyi_soyuz (data obrashcheniya: 01.12.2014)
21. Skazkin S. D. Istoriya mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii i diplomatiya v Srednie veka (stenogramma lektsii). M., 1945. 27 s.
22. Suleimenov Olzhas. Az i Ya. Kniga blagonamerennogo chteniya. Alma-Ata: Zhazushy, 1975. 304 s.
23. Khakimzyanov F. S. Yazyk epitafii volzhskikh bulgar. M.: Nauka, 1978. 184 s.
24. Khalikov A. Kh. Mordovskie i bolgaro-tatarskie vzaimootnosheniya po dannym arkheologii // Etnogenez mordovskogo naroda. Saransk: Mordovskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo, 1965. S. 152–167.
25. Khalikov A. Kh. Volzhskaya Bulgariya i Rus' (etapy politicheskikh i ekonomicheskikh svyazei v X–XIII vv.). Kazan': Tatarskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo, 1996. 189 s.
26. Chlenov A. M. Iz istorii rannikh russko-bulgarskikh politicheskikh svyazei // Iz istorii rannikh bulgar. Kazan': Tatarskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo, 1981. S. 69–82.
27. Shcherbatov M. M. Istoriya rossiiskaya ot drevneishikh vremen. T. 1. SPb.: Imperatorskaya akademiya nauk, 1794. 398 s.
28. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar' / Pod red. prof. I. E. Andreevskogo. Izdateli: F. A. Brokgauz, I. A. Efron. T. 8 (IVa). SPb.: Tipolitografiya F. A. Brokgauza, 1891. 940 s.