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.

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