Gorskiy, Anton Anatolyevich. «Sil’nye voevody», «pervyi voevoda» and «inye voevody»: The denomination of the Mongol nobility in Russian sources

The study is supported by the Russian Scientific foundation grant No 24-18-00407 «The world’s conquest and the collapse of the global empire: the Mongol invasion in the fate of the Russian lands of the 13^th century»

The article examines the issue of designating representatives of the Mongol elite in Rus’ sources in the first decades after Batu’s invasion. In the tale of the Ipatiev Chronicle about the capture of Kiev in 1240, both, members of the khan’s family, Batu’s relatives, and military leaders who did not belong to the Chinggisid dynasty are called «voevoda». At the same time, Batu’s «brothers» are defined as «strong commanders», the best Mongol commander Subedei is defined as Batu’s «first governor», the rest of the military leaders are defined as «other commanders». A comparison of the terminology used in relation to the Mongolian and then Horde nobility in sources of the 13^th century, on the one hand, and later times, on the other, made it possible to establish that the hierarchy of Russian terms known from the sources of the 14^th–15^th centuries: khan, supreme ruler — «Caesar /tsar», members of the khan’s family (Genghisids, Juchids) — «princes», emirs (beks) — «princes», had not yet taken shape in the 13^th century. The Chinggisid members, as a rule, were mentioned without a title. During this period, the term ryadtsa could be used for people around the khan. Representatives of the Khan’s administration could be determined by position (baskaks). When the context of the sources’ messages was related to military operations, the term «voevoda» was preferred. Moreover, both members of the khan’s family and commanders who did not belong to the ruling dynasty could be called «voevoda». Thus, in the absence of developed Russian terminology to designate the nobility of the conquerors in the first decades after the subjugation of Rus’ to the power of the Mongol khans, the term «voevoda» was used as a universal definition.

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