Kazan

A holy fool cries: 'Tatars will not live here'

Editorial contextAmong the omens of Kazan's fall the author lists a Tatar holy fool who walked the streets shouting that Tatars would not live there, only Russians. The khan forbade killing him and had him shut in an empty house, but he broke out. The next chapters tell of a calf born in human shape that turned into an armed man, and a fish-net that brought up a live old man who urged surrender to Moscow.

A certain Tatar in Kazan, a holy fool, walking through the city, began suddenly to cry out and say without ceasing: 'Tatars will not live here, but Russian people.' The Tatars wanted to kill him; the tsar did not allow them to kill him, but ordered him shut up in an empty house.

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Нѣкто Татаринъ въ Казани уродивъ, по граду ходя, нача напрасно вопити и непрестанно глаголати: «не жить здѣ Татаромъ, но Рускимъ людемъ». Татарове же хотяху убити его; не повелѣ имъ царь убити его, но въ праздну храмину повелѣ затворити его.

About Kazan Tatars under Khan Safa-Girey

How Turks came to be called Tatars

Editorial contextKlaproth explains the mix-up. When Chinggis Khan's son was sent west, the steppes north of the Caspian and Black Sea were full of Turkic peoples (Cumans, Pechenegs, Bulgars), who became subjects of the Kipchak khanate. Its rulers were Tatars (Mongols) but its people mostly Turks. When the empire broke up into the khanates of Crimea, Kazan and Astrakhan, the khans were still descendants of Chinggis, so the states kept the name 'Tatar' even though their armies and people were Turkic. On the previous page he tells how Chinggis himself got his birth name from a captured chief of the 'White Tatars'.

Its rulers were Tatars, but its subjects mostly Turks. Towards the end of the fifteenth century this empire broke up into several small ones, of which those of Crimea, Kazan and Astrakhan were the most important. Their princes descended from [Chinggis Khan] and were Mongols or Tatars, but their armies no longer were … Nevertheless these khanates kept the name 'Tatar', because the khans were Tatars.

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Seine Herrscher waren Tataren, die Unterthanen aber grösstentheils Türken. Gegen das Ende des XV Jahrhunderts zerfiel dieses Reich in mehrere kleine, unter denen die von der Krym, Kasan und Astrachan die bedeutendsten waren. Die Fürsten derselben stammten von … ab und waren Mongolen oder Tataren, aber ihre Heere waren es nicht mehr … Dennoch behielten diese Chanate den Namen Tatarische bei, weil die Chane Tataren waren.

About Mongol (Tatar) khans ruling Turkic subjects in the Golden Horde and its successor khanates

Russian stoves, Tatar benches: a village house

Editorial contextLodging in a large Tatar peasant house, Haxthausen found it split into a men's half and a women's half. He noticed it looked much like a Russian house and honestly admits he cannot tell who borrowed from whom. The rooms mixed Russian stoves, Tatar sleeping benches, a samovar, European chairs and a Black Forest clock, with 'God is great' written over the door.

This was divided into two parts ; the right half is the dwelling of the men (our host lived with four of his brothers), the left that of the women and children. It bore much resemblance to Russian arrangements : whether the Russians borrowed of the Tatars, or the latter of the former, cannot be determined. In the rooms the stoves were Russian, the sleeping-benches Tatar

About Kazan Tatar villagers

Kazan's Tatar suburbs and their stone mosques

Editorial contextGeorgi describes the Tatars as a large part of Kazan's population, living in two suburbs (slobodas). The first had two fine stone mosques whose minarets, he says, were built in the same style as those among the ruins of Bolghar; the second had two wooden mosques and was founded about a century earlier by Tatars who preferred leaving Kazan to suffering restrictions on their worship.

The town Tatars live in two suburbs or slobodas … The first has two fine stone mosques, whose towers (minarets) are of the same style as those found among the ruins of Bolghar. … The second sloboda has two wooden mosques. It arose almost 100 years ago, when the Tatars felt their religious practice was being restricted and preferred to move out of Kazan rather than suffer it.

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Die Stadttataren wohnen in zwey Vorstädten oder Sloboden … Die erste hat zwey schöne steinerne Metscheden, deren Thürme (Mesgir) von der Bauart der unter den Ruinen von Bolghari befindlichen sind. … Die zweyte Slobode hat 2 hölzerne Metscheds. Sie entstand fast vor 100 Jahren, da sich die Tataren in ihren Religionsübungen beeinträchtigt glaubten und lieber aus Kasan ziehen, als leiden wollten.

About Kazan Tatars (town Tatars)

Ulu-Mehmed's new timber fortress, stronger than the old

Editorial contextAfter his 'ice town' at Belev melted in the sun, the exiled Golden Horde khan Ulu-Mehmed crossed the Volga and occupied empty Kazan, 'Sain's yurt'. The surviving Bulgars asked him to protect them, and he built a strong wooden town on a new site near the old Kazan that Russian armies had ruined. Settlers came from the Golden Horde, Astrakhan, Azov and Crimea. The builder, material and reason are all named.

And the tsar settled in their dwelling place and built himself a strong wooden town, on a new site, stronger than the old one, not far from old Kazan, which had been ruined by the Russian army. And many barbarians began to gather to the tsar from various lands, from the Golden Horde and from Astrakhan, from Azov and from Crimea

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Царь же вселися въ жилище ихъ и постави себѣ древяны градъ крѣпокъ, на новомъ мѣсте, крѣпчайше старого, недалече отъ старыя Казани разоренныя отъ Руския рати. И начаша збиратися ко царю мнози варвари отъ различныхъ странъ, ото Златыя Орды и отъ Асторохани, отъ Азуева и отъ Крыма

About Ulu-Mehmed, exiled khan of the Golden Horde, founder of the Kazan khanate

'Ask a Kazan Tatar if he is a Tatar'

Editorial contextKlaproth says that if you asked a so-called Tatar of Kazan or Astrakhan whether he was a Tatar, he would say no, and that he called his language Türki or Turuk, not Tatar. Remembering that his forefathers had been conquered by the Mongols or Tatars, he took 'Tatar' as an insult meaning robber. Klaproth concludes that Tatars must not be confused with Turks, rebukes the historian Schlözer for doing so, and adds that Chinese historians never called the Manchus 'Ta-ta', so the missionaries' phrase 'Tartar-Manchu' came only from their habit of calling every Central Asian a Tartar.

Ask, however, a so-called Tatar of Kazan or Astrakhan whether he is a Tatar, and he will answer no; just as he calls his language not Tatari but Türki or Turuk. Remembering that his forefathers were subjugated by the Mongols or Tatars, he considers 'Tatar' a term of abuse, which to him means the same as 'robber'.

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Man frage indessen einen sogenannten Tataren, von Kasan oder Astrachan, ob er ein Tatar sei, so wird er mit nein antworten; wie er denn auch seine Sprache nicht Tatari sondern Türki oder Turuk nennt. Eingedenk dass seine Vorältern von den Mongolen oder Tataren unterjocht worden, hält er Tatar für ein Schimpfwort, welches ihm mit Räuber gleich bedeutend ist.

About Volga Tatars of Kazan and Astrakhan

The sorcerer, the snakes and the dragon on Kazan's coat of arms

Editorial contextIn the same Tatar tradition, the site of the new Kazan was infested with snakes. A sorcerer gathered them all in autumn, piled wood on them in winter and burned them in spring, while pigs were driven off by setting the forest alight. A two-headed winged serpent, 'or rather a dragon', fled to Snake Hill and was finally killed by the sorcerer's arts; the khan took it for his arms, and Georgi notes it is still the city's coat of arms.

A sorcerer gathered all the snakes in one place in autumn, had wood carted onto them in winter and burned them in spring. … A two-headed winged serpent, or rather a dragon, fled to Dzhilantau (Snake Hill) and was terrible there, but it was finally killed by the sorcerer's arts and chosen by the khan as his coat of arms in remembrance.

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Die Schlangen versammlete ein Zauberer des Herbstes alle an einen Ort, lies im Winter Holz auf denselben führen und verbrannte sie im Frühlinge. … Eine zweyköpfige geflügelte Schlange oder vielmehr ein Drache entflohe nach dem Dshilantau (Schlangenberge) und war daselbst fürchterlich, sie ward aber doch endlich durch die Künste des Zauberers getödtet und zur Erinnerung vom Chan zum Wapen erwählt.

About Kazan Tatars (founding legend)

Welcomed at the Tatar village of Birna

Editorial contextAfter a near-fatal sledge accident, Chappe reached Birna, a Tatar village. Villagers came out a verst to meet him with signs of friendship, led him to their headman (chosen, he says, for his merit without any election) and gave him a meal of honey, butter and vegetables. Their houses were as clean as Siberian ones were dirty; they lived much like their neighbours except that they were Muslims.

At last I reached Birna; this village is inhabited by Tartars. Several had come out a verst from their village to meet me … They had prepared a kind of dinner for me consisting of honey, butter and a few vegetables. Their houses are as clean as those of the Siberians are not. For the rest, they live in much the same way, except that they are Mahometans.

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J'arrivai enfin à Birna; ce Village est habité par des Tartares. Plusieurs étoient venus au-devant de moi à un werst de leur Village … Ils m'avoient fait préparer une espece de dîner qui consistoit dans du miel, du beurre & quelques légumes. Leurs maisons sont aussi propres que celles des Sibériens le sont peu. Au reste, ils vivent à-peu-près de la même façon, excepté qu'ils sont Mahométans.

About Muslim Tatar villagers

The people of Kazan, rank by rank

Editorial contextWhen Kazan surrendered its boy khan Utemish-Girey and his mother Siuiumbike in 1551, the author lists everyone who submitted: mullahs, seyyids, sheikhs, hafizes and other Muslim clergy; ulans, princes, murzas, ichki (court nobles) and 'rear-court' Cossacks; and the subject peoples, Chuvash, Cheremis, Votiaks, Mordva, tarkhans and Mozhars. It shows Kazan as a Muslim state of many peoples, not a single 'Tatar' mass.

And the Kazan people, the mullahs, and seyyids, and sheikhs … and hafizes, and ulans, and princes, and murzas and ichki, and the rear-court Cossacks, and the Chuvash and Cheremis, and Votiaks, and Mordva, and tarkhans, and Mozhars, and all the Kazan land

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Казанцы же молны, и сеиты, и шихъ … и афызы, и уланы, и князи, и мурзы и ички, и задворные казаки, и Чюваша и Черемиса, и Отяки, и Мордва, и тарханы, и Можары, и вся земля Казанская

About Kazan clergy, nobility and subject peoples

A goose and a loaf on the table: 'the fearsome name of the Tatars'

Editorial contextGmelin admits the travellers had feared the very name of the Tatars. After a few days among them it sounded quite different: everywhere a gift was waiting, usually a plucked goose and a baked loaf, and at Ulga also honey and hazelnuts. He is honest that the courtesy had limits: one host hid rather than hand over his horses, and the soldiers found him and took them anyway.

On the whole we found them friendly people, and the name of the Tatars, once so frightful to us, now sounded quite different. Everywhere we came we found a gift already waiting for us on the table, usually a plucked goose and a baked loaf

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Wir haben sie überhaupt als leutseelige Leute befunden, und der uns ehemahls fürchterliche Name der Tataren kam uns nun ganz anders vor. An allen Orten, wo wir hinkamen, fanden wir auf dem Tische schon ein Geschenke vor uns, welches gemeiniglich in einer abgefederten Gans und einem gebackenen Brodte bestund

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan in 1714: a wooden city of Russians and Tatars

Editorial contextTulishen describes Kazan, the old Tatar khanate capital, as a Russian provincial seat: no stone walls but wooden palisades with eight gates, a ditch and wooden spikes, three public buildings of wood, five brick churches, and two-storey wooden houses for about 5000 families. The people were a mix of Russians, Tatars, Cheremis and Torghuts.

Instead of regular walls, Cazan is surrounded with wooden palisades. It has 8 gates … Within the city there is a market, three public edifices of wood, and five churches built of brick. The population consists of about 5000 families. The dwelling houses are all built of wood, and raised to the height of two stories. The inhabitants are a mixture of Russians, Tartars, Tzeremish, and Tourgouths.

About Kazan Tatars, Russians, Cheremis (Mari), Torghuts

Bulgars and Mongols merged into Tatars

Editorial contextHaxthausen explains who the Kazan Tatars are: a mixed people in whom the old Volga Bulgar population and the Mongol conquerors have blended. He quotes Herberstein calling them 'half Mongols', but his own description (oval faces, curved noses, light complexions) mostly contradicts a Mongol look, apart from the eyes.

The Kazan Tatars belong, both mentally and physically, to the nobler races of mankind ; they are a mixed people, and possess high mental qualities, but Mohammedanism only permits their development in a limited degree. The ancient Bulgarian and Mongol population has been completely merged in the Tatar. The aspect of the Tatars clearly indicates their consanguinity with the Mongols : Herberstein describes them as half Mongols.

About Kazan Tatars

Every Horde has one chief city

Editorial contextAn informant Possevino calls only 'N.' explains why Moscow could swallow Kazan and Astrakhan but not Crimea. The tsar's gunners fired from behind thick perforated planks fixed to carts, and each Tartar Horde had a single chief city or gathering place: take it and the rest submits. It is a neat description of the horde as a people centred on one capital.

For (he said) the Muscovite, against those Tartars he subdued, brought up very large cannon and had thick planks with holes in them fixed to carts, through which the musketeers fired their guns, to the sure ruin of the enemy while they themselves were hurt by no one: so it was easy to overwhelm men caught by a new kind of arms; besides which, since each Horde of the Tartars has one chief city (as I said), or gathering place, once that is conquered everything else comes under his power without difficulty.

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Cum enim (dicebat) Moscus aduersùs illos, quos edomuit, Tartaros, maximis tormentis adductis, crassos etiam asseres perforatos curribus præfigi iussisset, per quos Pyxidarij bombardas suas exonerabant, certa hostium pernicie, ipsi à nemine læsi: facilè fuit nouo armorum genere circumuentos opprimere; præterquàm quòd cùm vniuscuiusque Tartarorum Hordæ primaria vna (vt dixi) ciuitas sit, seu conuentus, quo deuicto, reliqua omnia sine difficultate in potestatem veniant.

About Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars; Crimean ('Precop') Tatars

Bulghar's ruins quarried for a village church

Editorial contextAt the stone ruins of Bulghar, Rose watched the site being dismantled: villagers took building stone from the old walls, and the village church was built entirely from the stones of the old city and local gravestones. He also saw a Tatar mullah praying in and before several ruins, because Tatar saints were said to be buried there. A clear case of ruins disappearing through reuse, not burial.

Unfortunately they are becoming ever less significant, since the peasants use the rubble stones from the old walls for their buildings, and even the village's stone church is built entirely from the building stones of the old city and the gravestones found in the area … Several Tatar saints are said to be buried in one of the buildings of old Bulghar, so the faithful still make pilgrimages to these ruins.

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Leider werden dieselben immer unbedeutender, da die Bauern sich der Bruchsteine aus den alten Mauern zu ihren Bauten bedienen, und auch die steinerne Kirche des Dorfes ganz von den Bausteinen der alten Stadt und den in der Gegend gefundenen Grabsteinen aufgeführt ist … In einem der Gebäude des alten Bulghars sollen mehrere tatarische Heilige begraben liegen, daher von den Gläubigen auch noch zu diesen Ruinen gewallfahrtet wird.

About Russian villagers; Tatar pilgrims

Ask a Kazan Tatar if he is a Tatar

Editorial contextIn a long footnote Klaproth explains that the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimea were called Tatar because their rulers descended from Chinggis Khan, even though their subjects were Turks. He adds that a so-called Tatar of Kazan or Astrakhan will deny being a Tatar, calls his language 'Turki', and hears 'Tatar' as an insult meaning brigand.

Yet ask a so-called Tatar of Kazan or Astrakhan whether he is a Tatar: he will say no; he will call the language he speaks Turki, and never Tatari. Not having forgotten that his ancestors were subjugated by the Mongols or Tatars, he regards that name as an insult equal to the word brigand.

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Qu'on demande, cependant, à un soi-disant Tatar de Kazan ou d'Astrakhan, s'il est un Tatar; il répondra négativement ; il appellera l'idiome qu'il parle turki, et jamais tatari. N'ayant pas oublié que ses ancêtres ont été subjugués par les Mongols ou Tatars, il regarde ce dernier nom comme une injure équivalente au mot brigand.

About Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars (Turkic speakers)

Kazan: wooden walls, a stone castle, and no Tatars allowed inside

Editorial contextStruys walked through Kazan, capital of the former Tatar kingdom. The town wall is only timber but the castle is good stone. Russians and Tatars both live there under a Russian governor, but Tatars are barred from the castle on pain of death. A sharp picture of a conquered Tatar capital more than a century after the Russian conquest of 1552.

Its walls are only of wood, but those of the castle are of good stone and reasonably thick … Its inhabitants are Muscovites and Tartars, who obey a governor appointed by the Great Tsar … From the guard of the castle the Tartars are excluded, and they would not dare enter it on pain of death.

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Ses murailles ne sont que de bois, mais celles du Château sont de bonne pierre & d'une épaisseur raisonnable … Ses habitans sont Moscovites & Tartares; lesquels obeïssent à un Gouverneur établi par le Grand Czar … Pour la garde du Château, les Tartares en sont exclus, & ils n'oseroient y entrer sur peine de la vie.

About Kazan Tatars under Russian rule

Hunting the vegetable lamb around Kazan

Editorial contextChappe searched everywhere around Kazan for the famous Borametz, the 'vegetable lamb' described in Abbe Lambert's natural history: a plant shaped like a lamb, with fleece, a little blood and flesh, that grazed the grass around it and died when the grass dried. He could not find it, nobody in Kazan knew it, and he calls it a ridiculous fable.

I searched everywhere around Kazan for the famous plant called Borametz, of which the Abbe Lambert speaks in his Civil and Natural History. … this plant resembles a lamb; it has all its parts, with a delicate fleece which women use to cover their heads. … Despite all my efforts I could never obtain this plant, which is unknown at Kazan.

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Je cherchai par-tout dans les environs de Cazan la fameuse plante nommée Borametz, dont parle M. l'Abbé Lambert dans son Histoire Civile & Naturelle. … cette plante ressemble à un agneau, elle en a toutes les parties avec une toison délicate, dont les femmes se servent pour couvrir leur tête. … Malgré mes soins je ne pus jamais me procurer cette plante inconnue à Cazan.

'Now we call Tatars our kin in Tobolsk, Kazan and Astrakhan'

Editorial contextThe answer Bichurin got from Turkestanis in Beijing, and his conclusion. It shows 'Tatar' as a name used by outsiders for particular Turkic communities under Russian rule, not the name of a vast state.

I asked them whom they call Tatars. Here is their answer: 'Now we call Tatars a people of the same stock as us, living in Tobol, Kazan and Astrakhan.' The Tatars themselves, on the contrary, assert that this name was given them by neighbouring peoples. … but now there is not a single people, nor even a clan, in Central Asia that calls itself by this name.

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я спрашивалъ ихъ, кого они называютъ Татарами? Вотъ ихъ отвѣтъ: „нынѣ мы называемъ Татарами единоплеменный съ нами народъ, обитающій въ Тоболѣ, Казани и Астрахани.“ Напротивъ, сами Татары утверждаютъ, что сіе названіе дано имъ отъ сосѣднихъ народовъ. … но только нынѣ нѣтъ ни одного не токмо народа, но и поколѣнія въ Средней Азіи, которое бы называлось симъ именемъ.

About Volga and Siberian Tatars, as seen by Turkestani Muslims

Clean Tatar rooms with two fireplaces and calf-skin windows

Editorial contextRiding east from Kazan through a string of Tatar villages, Gmelin lodged in Tatar houses. They had no 'black rooms' (smoky rooms without a chimney): every room had two fireplaces side by side, one for heat and one for cooking, and broad low benches laid with a carpet and a cushion for guests. The sentence that follows says that instead of window glass they stretched the outer skin of a calf's stomach over the frames.

The Tatars have no 'black rooms' [rooms without a chimney]; instead, in every room there are two fireplaces side by side, one used for heating and the other for cooking. Their rooms look very clean. There are very broad, low benches in them

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Die Tatarn haben keine Schwarz-Stuben, sondern in einer jeden Stube sind 2. Camine neben einander, in deren einem eingeheizt, und in dem andern Essen gekocht wird. Ihre Stuben sehen sehr reinlich aus. Es sind sehr breite niedrige Bänke darin

About Kazan Tatars

Europeans kept calling the Muslim Turks 'Tatars'

Editorial contextThe authors argue that after the Mongol conquests Europeans went on calling all the Muslim, Turkic-speaking peoples of Kazan, Astrakhan, the Crimea and Turkestan 'Tatars', which caused endless confusion. On the same page they conclude that the name lost all meaning in Asia and survives 'only in the European vocabulary', and that the Tatars of southern Russia are really Turks, Cumans or Pechenegs once ruled by the Mongols.

After the Mongol torrent had subsided, Europeans persisted in giving the appellation of Tatars to all those Mussulman nations originally of Turkish origin, that to this day occupy the territory of Kasan and Astrakhan, the Crimea and the region called Turcomania

About Turkic Muslims of Russia and Central Asia

The two-headed serpent of Kazan

Editorial contextBefore the town, 'many say', the site was a serpents' nest ruled by a huge two-headed serpent: one head a snake's, which ate people, cattle and beasts, the other an ox's, which ate grass. The khan's sorcerer drew a line around all the snakes, heaped hay, reeds and wood on them with sulphur and pitch and burned them, and the stench killed many of the army's horses and camels. Then the khan built Kazan there. The author reports it as hearsay.

there lived, having made its nest, a great and terrible serpent with two heads, one a serpent's head and the other an ox's head; with one it devoured people and cattle and beasts, and with the other head it ate grass; and other serpents of every kind lay around it and lived with it.

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живяше ту вгнездився змій великъ, страшенъ, о двою главу, едину имея змиеву, а другую главу волову; единою пожираше человѣки и скоты и звѣри, а другою главою траву ядяше; а иныя змія около его лежаша, живяху съ нимъ, всяцеми образы.

About 'Tsar Sain' and his sorcerer

A town on the khan's camping ground, for the tribute envoys

Editorial contextThe author explains why a Horde ruler built a town near Rus: after the Rus princes bought him off with gifts, 'Tsar Sain' decided to build a town at his nomad camping ground, for his own glory and as a stopping place for his envoys who rode to Rus every year to collect tribute. The book adds that Kazan was long called 'Sain's yurt' and that the khan often came to live there from his capital, Sarai.

And Tsar Sain gave up ravaging the Russian land, and wished to build a town near it at his nomad camping ground … for the glory of his name, and for the arrival and rest of his envoys going for tribute to Rus every year, and for the governing of the people of the land.

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И отстави царь Саинъ плѣнити Рускія земля, и восхотѣ близъ ея на кочевищѣ своемъ … поставити градъ, на славу имени своему и на пріѣздъ и на опочиваніе посломъ его, по дань ходящимъ на Русь на всякое лѣто и на земскую управу людскую.

About 'Tsar Sain' (Batu's epithet Sain Khan) of the Horde

Kazan Tatars farm and live in houses, unlike the steppe hordes

Editorial contextGuagnini opens his survey of the hordes with the Kazan Tatars, conquered by Moscow in 1552. He sets them apart from the 'Campestrian' Tatars because they till fields, live in houses rather than in the open steppe, and trade with Muscovites, Turks and other Tatars. At the end of the section he adds that the steppe Tatars proper 'have no houses' and live in bands across the plains.

These Kazan Tatars are cleverer and somewhat more civilised than the rest; they occupy themselves with farming and household affairs (in which they differ most from the others). They live in houses, not in the open steppe, and carry on trade and various exchanges with their neighbours the Muscovites, Turks and other Tatars

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Hij Tartari Cazanenses reliquis ingeniosiores, & aliquantulum humaniores sunt, circa agriculturam, remque domesticam (qua a caeteris maxime differunt) versantur. In domibus non in campestribus degunt, mercimonia rerumque permutationes varias, cum vicinis Moschovitis, Turcis & caeteris Tartaris exercent

About Kazan Tatars

Oak walls twenty-eight feet thick

Editorial contextUsing Professor Surovzov's 1778 study of the chronicles and of old gate sites, Erman reconstructs the Tatar city before 1552. It was nearly as big as the Kazan of his own day. Its walls were two parallel fences of very thick oak timbers, twenty-five feet apart, with the space between filled with stones and clay, and it had thirteen gates with towers.

The walls round the town measured in thickness twenty-eight feet, and were formed of two parallel wooden fences twenty-five feet asunder, and having the space between them filled up with stones and clay. The wooden fences, as well as the towers over the gates, were formed of oak timbers of extraordinary thickness. The gates, with their towers, were thirteen in number

About Kazan Tatars (the Khanate of Kazan)

Clean houses and full granaries: Tatar farmers

Editorial contextIn a short 'Note on the Tartars' written as he crossed from Yekaterinburg towards Kazan, Lesseps says the cleanliness inside Tatar houses astonished him after a year among Kamchadals and Koryaks. These Tatars, he stresses, were settled farmers, rich in grain and cattle, and Muslims.

I will only say of the latter that the cleanliness of the inside of their dwellings astonished me, no doubt because I had grown rather too used to the opposite fault among the Kamchadals, Koryaks and so on. These Tartars are settled, farmers, and rich in grain and cattle; they profess the Mahometan religion.

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Je dirai seulement de ces derniers, que la propreté de l'intérieur de leurs habitations m'a étonné, sans doute parce que je m'étois un peu trop familiarisé avec le défaut contraire parmi les Kamtschadales, Koriaques, &c. Ces Tartares sont sédentaires, agriculteurs & riches en blés & en bestiaux; ils professent la religion Mahométane.

About Muslim Tatars of the Urals and Volga region

The minaret of Bolgar, built by a vanished people

Editorial contextHaxthausen climbed the surviving minaret at Bolgar, which he credits to the old Bulgarian state destroyed by the Mongols and Tatars. The ruins stand beside a Russian church, Kazan Tatars still make pilgrimages to the saints' tombs there, and Alexander von Humboldt had scratched his name on the minaret wall.

The powerful and civilized Bulgarian people who founded this important city have quite disappeared, and the Russians, Tatars, Tchuvash, etc. have taken their place ; all trace of their physiognomy, customs, and language is lost. … We ascended the lofty minaret, which commands an extensive view over boundless forests.

About Volga Bulgars; Kazan Tatar pilgrims

Kazan's wall blown into the sky

Editorial contextA foreign engineer called 'Razmysl' had dug gunpowder mines under Kazan's walls. As the deacon in Ivan IV's camp church read the Gospel line 'there shall be one flock and one shepherd', the first mine went off 'like thunder': the tsar saw the wall torn out, earth and logs and people thrown high into the air. A second blast followed, and the army stormed the city.

and at once it was as though mighty thunder crashed: the earth shook greatly and trembled. The pious tsar stepped a little out of the church doors and saw the city wall torn out by the mine, and the earth, terrible to look upon, appeared like darkness and rose to a great height, flinging many logs and pagan people up into the air.

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и абіе якоже силный громъ грянулъ: и велми земля дрогну и потрясеся. Благочестивый же царь изъ церковныхъ дверей мало поступи и видѣ градскую стѣну подкопомъ вырвану, и страшна убо зрѣніемъ земля, яко тма, являшеся и на великую высоту въсходяще и многіе бревна и людей на высоту възметающе поганыхъ.

About Kazan Tatars under Khan Ediger-Mahmet; Ivan IV's army

Kazan in 1761: well-built wooden houses and honoured Tatars

Editorial contextChappe spent several days in Kazan fixing its position by the stars. He found a town that kept a remnant of its former wealth though its trade had nearly died, with houses mostly of wood but very well built. Tatars made up a large part of the population and, he says, far from being persecuted, were treated with great respect and were loyal to the empress.

It still keeps a remnant of its former opulence, although its trade is almost extinct. The houses, though mostly of wood, are very well built. … The Tartars make up a large part of the inhabitants of Kazan; but far from being persecuted there, they are treated with the greatest regard; and so they are very attached to their sovereign. They have kept the innocence of their manners, their probity, their good faith

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Elle conserve encore un reste de son ancienne opulence, quoique son commerce soit presqu'éteint. Les maisons, quoiqu'en bois pour la plupart, y sont très bien bâties. … Les Tartares forment une grande partie des Habitants de Cazan; mais loin d'y être persécutés, ils y sont traités avec les plus grands égards; aussi sont-ils très attachés à leur Souverain. Ils ont conservé l'innocence de leurs mœurs, leur probité, leur bonne foi

About Kazan Tatars and Russians

'If their religion be right, why do they not do right?'

Editorial contextHalf the labourers on Perry's canal were Mordva and Cheremis 'Tartars', long under Russian rule. Asked why they would not be baptized, they told him that images terrified them, because God is one and cannot be pictured, and he lives in heaven. They taunted Russians with the question, 'if their Religion be right, why do they not do right?' Perry adds that he found them more honest than the Russians.

…they say, that the Ruses using of Images, is a Terror to them to think of embracing their Religion; for that there is but one God, and that he cannot be pictured or described by Men; they look up towards the Heavens, and say, that he resides there, and of whom they are afraid to do Evil;

About Mordva, 'Morsie' and Cheremis (Mari), whom Perry calls Tartars

Tamerlane takes the Bolghar capital and a prince founds Old Kazan

Editorial contextAfter visiting the ramparts of Old Kazan (Iske Kazan), where he saw rubble stone and the gravestones of Tatar princes, Georgi gives a Tatar written account translated for him. It says Tamerlane took the Bolghar capital after a seven-year siege and killed its khan, and that the surviving prince found the old city too large and splendid to restore, so he built a smaller town on the Kazanka instead.

He also took the Bolghar capital Brechimova after a seven-year siege, capturing and killing the Bolghar khan Abdullah … but because Brechimova had been too large and splendid, the eldest prince, Altyn Bek, did not dare to restore it, and instead built a lesser place at Iske Kazan on the Kazanka.

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Er eroberte auch nach einer 7jährigen Belagerung die Bolgharische Hauptstadt Brechimowa, wobey er den Bolgharischen Chan Abdulah gefangen bekam und ihn tödtete … weil aber Brechimowa zu groß und prächtig gewesen, wagte sich der älteste Prinz Altyn Bek nicht an deren Herstellung, sondern erbauete im Iska Kasan einen geringern Ort an der Kasanka.

About Volga Bolghars and Kazan Tatars

Kazan's kremlin: Tatars not only may enter, they must

Editorial contextGmelin describes Kazan's stone fortress with its cathedral, a monastery founded by Ivan IV, and a stone arsenal. Anyone could go in, Tatars included; indeed they often had to, because the government chancery was inside. Nobody he asked had heard that Tatars were ever barred, as Olearius had written a century before. The next page adds that Tatars had their own shops in the stone merchants' hall, selling Persian silks.

Everyone is allowed to go into the fortress, the Tatars too. Indeed they sometimes have to go in against their will, because the government chancery is inside, before which they often have to appear. Nor did anyone we asked know that entry into the fortress had ever been forbidden to the Tatars, as Olearius claims for his time.

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Es ist jedermann erlaubet, in die Festung zu gehen, auch den Tataren. Ja sie müssen zuweilen wider ihren Willen hinein, weil die Regierungskanzeley darin ist, vor welcher sie sich öfters zu stellen haben. Es wuste auch niemand, den wir darüber befragten, daß der Eingang in die Festung den Tataren jemahls verboten gewesen wäre, wie Olearius zu seiner Zeit vorgiebt.

About Kazan Tatars under Russian rule

Gravestones of a princess and a man from Samarkand

Editorial contextThe journal prints some fifty epitaphs from Bulgary's grave mounds, copied in 1722 on Peter the Great's orders and translated into Russian by an akhun, a local translator and an Armenian (for the Armenian stones). Each begins 'The Lord is the living and immortal God' and gives a name and a Muslim year: a man 'from the city of Samarkand', a patriarch from Shirvan, a woman 'from the kingdom of Bulgaria', and this princess Sara, daughter of Achmet, who died in the year 670 of the Hijra (1271 or 1272). A translator's footnote notes that the year 623 (1226) appears most often and guesses there was an epidemic that year.

The Lord is the living and immortal God. This is the resting place of the most godly, very merciful, very beautiful, high-born and spotless, venerable and most faithful princess Sara, daughter of Achmet. She died in the year of Mohammed 670.

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Der Herr ist der lebendige und unsterbliche Gott. Dies ist die Grabstätte der überaus gottseligen, sehr barmherzigen, sehr schönen, hochgebornen und unbefleckten, verehrungswürdigen und vielgläubigen Fürstin Sara, Tochter Achmets. Sie starb im Jahr von Mahomed 670.

About Muslim inhabitants of medieval Bulgar (epitaphs in 'Tatar script')

Who destroyed Bulgary? Two stories

Editorial contextThe ruins of Bulgary on the Volga below Kazan were visited and measured by a student of Lepekhin's party, whose description the journal prints. It calls Bulgary 'an old Tatar town', turned by war from a famous city into a wretched village inside an earth rampart a whole mile round. The account notes that Russian writers and Tatar historians disagree about who destroyed it: the Tatars blame 'the Tatar robber Aisak Timir' (probably Aksak Timur, 'Lame Timur', that is Tamerlane), the Russians a Russian prince Yuri Dmitrievich, and the writer declines to decide.

As for the disagreement between the accounts of our writers and of the Tatar historians about the destroyer of Bulgary (for the latter ascribe its downfall to the Tatar robber Aisak Timir, the former to the [Russian] prince Yuri Dmitrievich), I can decide nothing here, since I do not know which of them is most to be believed.

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Was inzwischen die Verschiedenheit den Erzählungen unserer Schriftsteller und der tatarischen Geschichtschreiber, in Ansehung des Zerstörers von Bulgary, anlangt; (denn diese schreiben ihren Untergang dem tatarischen Räuber Aisak Timir, jene aber dem … Fürsten Jurjew Dmitrjewitsch' zu): so kann ich hier nichts entscheiden, indem ich nicht weiß, wem man von ihnen am meisten glauben soll.

About Volga Bulgars and Tatars (the old town Lepekhin calls Tatar)

Kazan's earth-filled timber ramparts

Editorial contextDuring the siege Ivan IV's clerk Ivan Vyrodkov built a siege tower six sazhens high opposite Kazan's Tsar's Gate and mounted guns on it. The chronicle explains how the Kazan defenders survived: at every gate beyond the moat they had great 'tarasy', timber cribs filled with earth, and they dug holes and burrows under the gates and walls and fought from them 'like snakes'. Kazan's defences were timber and earth, not stone.

And the pagans hid, digging pits and ditches under the city gates and under the wall, and burrowing holes under the tarasy (for at every gate, beyond the moat, they had great tarasy filled with earth), fighting every day from behind the tarasy and from the holes, like snakes

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Погани же крыющеся въ ямы и рвы копающе подъ врата градцкые и подъ стѣну и рыюще норы подъ тарасы, бѣ бо у нихъ у всякыхъ воротъ за рвомъ тарасы велики, землею насыпаны, изъ-за тарасовъ біющеся по вся дни и изъ норъ, якоже змѣи

About Kazan Tatars; Muscovite besiegers

'The dead are really dead': a Volga 'Tartar' on the afterlife

Editorial contextOlearius lodged at Kazan in the same house as a Cheremis man of about 45, and when talk turned to the resurrection the man laughed. The Cheremis, he writes, lived in poor huts, kept no churches, priests or books, sacrificed horses and hung the skins on poles, and feared spirits rather than a hell. They were Mari, a Finnic-speaking people, but to Olearius they were one more kind of Tartar.

and said to me, Those who are dead are really dead, and will never return again, no more than my Horses and Cows, which are long since rotten. I asked him whether he knew who Created this World, and made Heaven and Earth? his answer was, … The Devil may haply know.

About Cheremis (Mari), whom Olearius counts among the Tartars

Humboldt: Tatars are Turks, but the name first meant Mongols

Editorial contextIn a long footnote written for Rose, Humboldt explains that in the Russian Empire 'Tatars' always means a Turkic people (Crimean, Kazan and Tobolsk Tatars), not a Mongol-looking one. Among Asian writers, however, the name first belonged to the Mongols, and Ming-dynasty word lists in Peking translate 'Mongol' as Tata or Tataeul. He goes on to say the name passed to the Turks because Mongol conquerors ruled over them.

In the Russian Empire the name Tatars always stands for a Turkic race … the Tatars of the Crimea, of the government of Kazan and those of Tobolsk belong to the so-called Caucasian race. Tatars are Turks, but among Asian writers the name Tatars originally belonged to the Mongols. According to vocabularies made in Peking in the fifteenth century under the Ming dynasty, the word Mongol (Mogul) is translated as Tata or Tataeul …

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Im Russischen Reiche gilt die Benennung Tataren stets für einen türkischen Menschenstamm … die Tataren der Krimm, des Gouvernements Kasan und die von Tobolsk gehören zu dem sogenannten Caucasischen Menschenstamm, Tataren sind Türken, aber die Benennung Tataren gehörte ursprünglich bei asiatischen Schriftstellern den Mongolen an, Das Wort Mongol (Mogul) wird nach Vocabularien, die im funfzehnten Jahrhundert unter der Dynastie Ming in Peking angefertigt sind, durch Tata oder Tataeul … übersetzt

About Tatars of Crimea, Kazan and Tobolsk; Mongols

Given to the khan as a present: twenty years at court

Editorial contextThe author explains how he knew: for his sins he was captured by 'barbarians', taken to Kazan and given to the khan as a gift. The khan took him into his household to stand before him, and he stayed twenty years, until Kazan fell and he left for the Moscow tsar. He says he often questioned the wisest Kazan nobles and heard things from the khan's own mouth. Captives in service at a Tatar court were common.

For my sins it befell me to be captured by barbarians and taken to Kazan, and they gave me to the tsar of Kazan as a gift; and the tsar took me with love into his service, into his court, and set me to stand before his face. And having been there 20 years, after the taking of Kazan I left Kazan, in the name of the Moscow tsar.

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Грѣхъ ради моихъ случи ми ся плененну быти варвары и сведену быти въ Казань, и даша мя царю Казанскому въ дарехъ; и взятъ мя царь съ любовію къ себѣ служити, во дворъ свои, постави мя предъ лицемъ своимъ стояти. И бывъ тамо 20 лѣтъ, по взятіи же Казанскомъ изыдохъ исъ Казани, на имя царево Московсково.

About The anonymous author; the khan of Kazan

Who lived in the Kazan land: Bulgars, Cheremis and runaway Rostovians

Editorial contextThe author says the khan drove the Rus out of the district and brought in 'a fierce pagan people' from the Kama, the Bulgar commoners with their princes and elders, as savage, he adds, as the 'dog-headed Samoyeds'. He also claims the Cheremis, called Votiaks, were Rostov commoners who fled there to escape baptism. It shows a Russian view of Kazan as a mix of peoples under a Tatar ruler, with a dose of prejudice and folk etymology.

and he brought from the Kama a fierce, pagan people, the Bulgar commoners, with their princes and elders, much like in savagery and evil custom to the dog-headed Samoyeds. He filled that land with such people, that is the Cheremis, called Votiaks; these, they say, are the Rostov commoners who fled there from Russian baptism

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и наведе исъ Камы языкъ лютъ, поганъ, Болгарскую чернь, со князи ихъ и со старѣишинами ихъ, и много ему сущу убо подобну суровствомъ, обычаемъ злымъ, песьимъ главамъ Самоедомъ. Наполни такими людми землю ту, еже Черемиса, зовемая Отяки, тое жъ глаголють Ростовскую чернь, забежавши тамо отъ крещенія Русково

About Volga Bulgar commoners, Cheremis (Mari), Votiaks (Udmurts)

Kazan: Tartars who farm, trade and live in houses

Editorial contextHerberstein sets the Kazan Tartars apart from the steppe herders: their kingdom has a city and fortress on the Volga, an army of 30,000 largely made up of Cheremis and Chuvash archers, and settled farming and trade. He says Moscow controlled their kings largely through the river routes and trade they depended on.

The kingdom of Kazan, with the city and fortress of the same name, is situated on the further bank of the river Volga, nearly seventy miles below Lower Novogorod. … These Tartars are more civilized than the rest, in as much as they cultivate their lands, live in houses, and carry on various branches of merchandize.

About Kazan Tartars

Kazan: a wooden town with a stone castle Tatars may not enter

Editorial contextOlearius stopped at Kazan on the way down the Volga. The town was large but built of wood, houses, towers and ramparts alike; only the castle was stone. Russians and Tatars lived in the town, but the castle was all Russian and Tatars were forbidden to enter it on pain of death. He goes on to tell how Ivan IV took the city by mining its walls in 1552.

It is of a considerable bigness, but all its Houses, as also the Towers and Rampiers, are of wood. Only the Castle and its Fortifications are of stone … the Inhabitants, who are Muscovites and Tartars: But in the Castle they are all Muscovites, and the Tartars are prohibited entring into it upon pain of death.

About Kazan Tatars under Russian rule

Ruined Tatar towns along the Volga

Editorial contextOn the left bank of the Volga, Haxthausen says, the Tatars were not only nomads: they had fixed towns and farms, as shown by ruins and by place names. The Akhtuba valley where Sarai stood is covered with ruins for about 85 versts (roughly 90 km). When the Horde broke up, the towns were destroyed and the settlers driven off by Kirghiz and Bashkir raiders, leaving only ruins and broken mosques.

This is evident not merely from the ruins of cities (the whole district on the Akhtuba, where Sarai stood, for eighty-five versts, is covered with ruins), but the names of nearly all denote that the Tatars had fixed settlements here. When the Mongol-Tatar empire was dissolved, the cities were destroyed … only here and there a ruin or dilapidated mosque bore witness to their former existence.

About Tatars of the Golden Horde

Tatar songs 'like the Scottish Highlanders''

Editorial contextPallas dismisses Mongol music as wailing and inharmonious and claims the Mongols passed this 'corrupted taste' to the Crimean Tatars, outdone only by Nogai songs. By contrast, he says, the Kazan Tatars, the Bashkirs and the 'unmixed' Siberian Tatars have quite tolerable melodies, much like the songs of the Scottish Highlands. He adds that the Mongols can write down music in Tibetan letters with lines showing rising and falling notes.

the Mongols have passed on this same corrupted taste to the Crimean Tatars, whose miserable screeching is far surpassed by the Nogai songs, whereas the Kazan and Bashkir, and also the unmixed Siberian Tatars, have quite tolerable melodies, which very much resemble the songs of the Scottish Highlanders.

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eben diesen verdorbenen Geschmack haben die Mongolen den Krymischen Tataren mitgetheilt, deren elendes Geschrey, durch die Nogaischen Gesänge noch weit übertroffen wird, da doch die Kasanischen und Baschkirischen, wie auch die Sibirischen unvermischten Tataren ganz erträgliche Melodien haben, welche sehr nach den Gesängen der Schottischen Hochländer arten.

About Crimean, Nogai, Kazan, Bashkir and Siberian Tatars; Mongols

Kazan's wooden fortress burns

Editorial contextDuring a Russian campaign against Kazan, bribed Russians set fire to the Tartar fortress, which was built of wood, and it burned to the ground in sight of the Russian army. Herberstein, relying on soldiers' reports, scorns the Russian commander for letting the Tartars rebuild it. It is a clear statement that the Khanate's fortress in the 1520s was timber, not stone.

In the meanwhile the fortress of Kazan, which was built of wood, was set on fire by some of the Russians who had been bribed for that purpose, and was burnt to the ground under the eyes of the Russian army.

About Kazan Tartars; Russian army

Call a Kazan Tatar a 'Tatar' and he hears 'robber'

Editorial contextRitter, summarising the orientalist Julius Klaproth, explains that the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Crimea were called 'Tartar' because their khans descended from Chinggis Khan, although their people were Turks. The people themselves, he says, reject the name, call their speech Turki, and treat 'Tatar' as an insult meaning robber, because their ancestors had been conquered by the Mongols and Tatars. He adds that the same mix-up runs deep into Siberia past Tobolsk, Tomsk and Yeniseisk, and settles on the scholars' compromise term 'Turk-Tatar'.

But if you ask a so-called Tartar of Kazan or Astrakhan whether he is a Tartar, he will deny it, just as he himself calls his dialect Turki or Turuk, but never Tartari. Remembering that his ancestors were once subjugated by the Mongol and Tatar, he takes Tatar for a term of abuse, which to him means the same as robber.

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Aber, fragt man einen sogenannten Tartar von Kasan oder Astrachan, ob er denn ein Tartar sey: so wird er es verneinen, wie er selbst auch seinen Dialect Turki oder Turuk, niemals aber Tartari, nennt. Eingedenk, daß seine Vorfahren von den Mongol und Tatar einst unterjocht wurden, hält er Tatar für ein Schimpfwort, welches ihm mit Räuber gleichbedeutend ist.

About Turkic-speaking Tatars of Kazan and Astrakhan, and the 'Tatars' of Siberia

A prefabricated wooden town floated down the Volga

Editorial contextTo besiege Kazan, Ivan IV had a whole timber town made in advance upriver, carried it down the Volga on big Beloozero boats, and set it up quickly on a hill at the mouth of the Sviyaga, 15 versts from Kazan. The chronicle adds that churches, monasteries and houses were built inside. The fortress that ended the Kazan khanate was Russian-built and timber.

carrying with them a ready-made wooden town on great Beloozero boats, new that same year and skilfully made. And sailing … they came into the Kazan land to the river Sviyaga, to the place appointed for them

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везущи съ собою готовы градъ древяны на великихъ лодіяхъ Белозерскихъ, тово же лѣта новъ, хитръ сотворенъ. И плывше … придоша въ землю Казанскую на рѣку Свіягу, на мѣсто указное имъ

About Ivan IV's builders; Shah Ali of Kasimov and Muscovite voevodas

Kazan: stone ruins of a Tatar capital, now Muscovite

Editorial contextEvliya calls Kazan a former throne city of Chinggis Khan's line, now 'an ill-fated capital in Muscovite hands'. He says thousands of khans (caravanserais), mosques, madrasas, baths and shops lie as domed and arched ruins, while people now live in some three thousand houses roofed with rushes and reeds, with twenty churches and seven mosques for the many Nogay and Hashdek Muslims.

Formerly this too was the throne city of Chinggis Khan, passing from king to king; now in Muscovite hands it has become an ill-fated capital. The domes and Chosroes-like arches and fortresses of many thousands of khans, great mosques, charitable foundations, mosques, madrasas, dervish lodges, baths, shops and cloth-halls stand abandoned … Today there are some three thousand houses roofed with rushes and reeds.

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ماتقدم بودخی جنقیز خانك تخت‌گاهی ایمش نیجه ملوکدن ملوکه قالمش حالا دست مسقوده بر دارالملك منحوس اولمش نیجه بیك عدد خان وجامع وعمارت ومسجد ومدرسه وتکیه وحمام ودکاکینلر وبزازستانلرك قبابلری وطاق کسرالری وقلعه‌لری رایکان دورور ... حالا اوچ بیك قدر صاز وقامش اورتولی اولری

About Kazan Tatars ('Hashdek') and Nogays under Muscovite rule

The last stand at Kazan, 12 October 1552

Editorial contextFollowing the chronicles, Erman describes Ivan IV's mines blowing up two towers of the kremlin, a last charge by the Muslim clergy in front of a mosque, and the khan Yediger making his final stand. The defenders handed Yediger over and died fighting. The chronicle also says Yediger set a thousand beautifully dressed young women in the Russians' path to tempt them, without success.

They surrendered Yediger into the hands of the Russians, exclaiming, "Take our ruler, and treat him as befits his rank; but we die with arms in our hands." It happened as they said; not one of the warriors survived the fall of Kasan, and the independence of the nation terminated on the 12th of October, 1552.

About Kazan Tatars and the army of Ivan IV

A Kremlin wall 'built by the Tatars'

Editorial contextErman describes Kazan's fort, or kremlin, on a steep tongue of land between the Kazanka and the Bulak, 'still surrounded by the stone wall built by the Tatars'. On the next page he adds that inside it stood 'ruins of Tatar edifices, very solidly constructed of brick', beside Russian barracks, prisons and the cathedral.

Close to the steepest part of the bank lies the fort, or kreml, which is still surrounded by the stone wall built by the Tatars.

About Kazan Tatars (the former Khanate of Kazan)

Belt wrestling at the Tatar Sabantuy

Editorial contextRose and Humboldt were taken to the Saban, the Tatar festival held every year after sowing, when for a week people gathered on a meadow outside Kazan for games. He describes wrestlers who threw off their coats, looped their belts round each other's backs and tried to lift and throw the opponent. Winners were cheered and given small gifts by rich Tatars, who also served the guests kumiss in tents.

Through our longer stay we also had the opportunity to get to know the Saban, a rural festival of the Tatars which they celebrate every year after the sowing is finished. … The fighters had thrown off their usual outer garment, slung their belts round the opponent's back, and now tried by means of the belts to lift him up and throw him down.

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Wir hatten durch unsern längern Aufenthalt noch Gelegenheit den Saban, ein ländliches Fest der Tataren kennen zu lernen, das sie alljährlich nach beendeter Aussaat feiern. … Die Kämpfer hatten ihr gewöhnliches Oberkleid abgeworfen, ihre Gürtel um des Gegners Rücken geschlungen, und suchten nun denselben mittelst der Gürtel in die Höhe zu heben und umzuwerfen.

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan, a city of log houses, burned to the ground

Editorial contextArriving in June 1843, Haxthausen calls Kazan 'the gloriously situated old Tatar city', but finds it still in ruins from the great fire of 1842. His count is striking: only about one house in nine was stone, the rest were timber, and wooden plank walkways carried the flames from street to street.

Kazan still lay for the most part in ruins ; a great fire the year before had reduced the vast city to ashes. … Of 4500 houses in Kazan only about 500 were built of stone; the rest were log-houses. The streets, with few exceptions, were unpaved

About Russians and Kazan Tatars

A Tatar convert tears his beard

Editorial contextA lame Tatar from the Arsk district came to Kazan to be baptized, saying his legs were healed the moment he heard that the Moscow tsar had taken Kazan and filled it with churches. Warned not to return to his old faith, he tore out some of his beard and crumbled the hairs, saying he would sooner be crumbled like them. Later his kinsmen hacked him to death. It is a story of conversion and of Kazan Tatars' resistance to it.

The Tatar at once suddenly tore out with his hand part of the hair of his beard and crumbled it into small bits, saying: 'I have so understood the great power and mercy of your God that for his sake I am ready not only to suffer many sorrows, but even if I am crumbled like this, as I have crumbled my hairs, I will never renounce him.'

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Татаринъ же абіе рукою напрасно исторже часть власовъ своея брады и раздроби ихъ на малыя крупицы, глаголя: «Азъ тако уразумѣхъ великую силу и милость Бога вашего, яко его ради готовъ есмь не токмо многія скорби терпѣти, но аще и сицевъ раздробленъ буду, яко же раздробихъ власы моя, никако же не отвергуся его».

About A Tatar from the Arsk side, baptized Stefan

Graves boxed in logs, like little houses

Editorial contextAt the post village of Metyeshka, east of Kazan, Erman saw a Tatar burial ground. Each grave was covered by a man-length box about four feet high, filled with earth and built exactly like the dwelling houses, of rough-hewn logs laid one on another. The graves lay side by side, their long sides running east to west.

about the length of a man, and filled with earth. It is formed in the same manner as the dwelling houses, with rough-hewn posts laid one upon the other. The graves were in general parallel to one another, the longer sides lying nearly east and west.

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan, called 'Shahr-i Bolgar' by Turks and Tatars

Editorial contextIn a note on old place names, Strahlenberg observes that Turks and Tatars still call Kazan 'Schaire Bolgar', the Bolgar capital, although it was only taken by Tsar Ivan Vasilievich, and his father Vasily already bore the title 'lord of the Bolgars'. He uses this to argue that 'Bolgar' in Russian titles covered all the peoples living along the Volga.

since the city of Kazan is at present called by the Turks and Tatars 'Schaire Bolgar', that is, the Bolgar capital, though it was only taken by Ivan Vasilievich the Second, whose father Vasily Ivanovich already used the title 'Lord over Wolgarski'

Working translation

Original wording

da nemlich die Stadt Casan anjetzo von den Türcken und Tatern, Schaire Bolgar, d. i. die Bolgarische Haupt-Stadt genannt wird, selbe aber allererst von Iwan Wasiliowitz dem 2ten eingenommen, dessen Vater Wasili Iwanowitz aber bereits den Titul, Herr über Wolgarski, gebraucht

About Kazan Tatars; Volga Bulgars

Kazan means 'kettle'

Editorial contextGeorgi opens his description of Kazan with its name in several languages and a gloss: in Russian and Tatar a kazan is the cauldron from which a family eats. He then calls it the capital of the Tatar kingdom of Kazan conquered by Ivan IV in 1552. The previous pages tell the Tatar legend that the city was named after a servant's kettle that fell into the Kazanka.

Kazan (in Russian and Tatar a kettle from which a family eats), Kosan in Votyak and Chuvash, Oson in Cheremis, the capital of the Tatar kingdom of Kazan conquered in 1552 by the great Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich

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Original wording

Kasan (Rußisch und Tatarisch ein Kessel, aus welchem eine Familie speiset), Kosan Wotjakisch und Tschuwaschisch, Oson Tscheremissisch die Hauptstadt des 1552 von dem grossen Zaar Iwan Waßiljewitsch eroberten Tatarisch-Kasanischen Reichs

About Kazan Tatars

Gravestones in Turkish, Arabic and Armenian

Editorial contextRose reports what was known of Bulghar's gravestones from copies made for Peter the Great in 1722, since most stones had been built into the church. There were 27 in Turkish, 20 in Arabic and 3 in Armenian, each with a Quran verse, the name and lineage of the dead and a date. The oldest group, of 1226, gives the year by a chronogram meaning 'the coming of oppression', which Klaproth linked to an early Mongol raid.

Among the inscriptions are 27 in Turkish, 20 in Arabic and 3 in Armenian. They all contain a saying from the Quran … Most and at the same time the oldest inscriptions are from the year 623 of the Hijra, or 1226 of our era, but in these the year of death is given only by a chronogram meaning 'the coming of oppression'

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Original wording

Unter den Inschriften befinden sich 27 in türkischer, 20 in arabischer und 3 in armenischer Sprache. Sie enthalten alle einen Spruch des Koran … Die meisten und zugleich ältesten Inschriften sind aus dem Jahre 623 der Hedschra, oder dem Jahre 1226 unserer Zeitrechnung, aber das Todesjahr ist bei diesen nur durch ein Chronogramm, welches die Ankunft der Unterdrückung bedeutet, angegeben

About Muslim inhabitants of Bulghar under the Golden Horde

Bride price and wives in Tatar villages

Editorial contextIn the village he notes that women walked about unveiled, that village men rarely had more than one wife, and that a bride price (kalym, which he writes 'halim') was paid, sometimes 500 roubles even among peasants. He adds that the Tatars kept some village arrangements secret from Russian officials.

In the Tatar villages the men have rarely more than one wife ; in the towns, particularly among the rich merchants, bigamy frequently occurs, but to have more than two wives is very rare. The women are sold, and the halim paid for them, which even in the case of peasants frequently amounts to five hundred roubles.

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan Tatars who 'live all in houses'

Editorial contextBruce contrasts the Kazan Tatars with the nomads: they all lived in houses, farmed and supplied the south with food, which made them the most civilised of the Tartars in his eyes. He adds they were mostly Muslims, though many townspeople were Orthodox, and were forbidden to enter Russian fortifications. On the previous page he describes Kazan itself: wooden houses, a stone castle, and a population of Tatars and Russians.

The kingdom of Casan lies on the left side of the Wolga, and its inhabitants live all in houses, and subsist by agriculture : they supply the southern provinces with all sorts of provisions, and by this means they are the most civilized of all the Tartars.

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan: a noble city rising from its ashes

Editorial contextCochrane found Kazan still rebuilding after a great fire five years earlier. A cathedral had stood on the site of the ancient mosque, and the old palace had been destroyed by an explosion in the citadel. Wooden houses and even wooden street paving had fed the fire, and the emperor was now encouraging brick. Of about 40,000 people, he says 12,000 were Tatars, living mainly in the marshy suburbs, with many mosques.

It had formerly a cathedral on the site of the ancient mosque, as also a palace; both were destroyed by an explosion in the citadel. The destruction of the city was indeed nearly complete, and it is difficult to conceive how any vestige could remain, a high wind driving a mass of flame over houses built, and streets absolutely paved with wood.

About Kazan Tatars and Russians

The Cheremis: 'Tartars' who speak Russian

Editorial contextStruys files the Cheremis under 'Tartars' (his chapter title calls them 'Tartares nommés Czérémisses'), yet on this page he says their everyday language is Russian and that they only understand, and in places speak, Tatar. They were in fact the Mari, a Finno-Ugric people. He also calls them rough and stupid, a sample of the book's contempt.

These peoples are rough, coarse and stupid … Their ordinary language is Muscovite [Russian], but they understand Tartar and even speak it in some places. They have neither priests nor churches, nor do they celebrate any of the mysteries of the Gospel.

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Original wording

Ces peuples sont rudes, grossiers & stupides … Leur Langue ordinaire est la Moscovite, mais ils entendent le Tartare, & le parlent même en quelques endroits. Ils n'ont ni Prêtres ni Eglises, ni ne célèbrent aucun des mistéres de l'Evangile.

About Cheremis (Mari people), called Tartars

Old stone buildings of Bulgary, one turned into a church

Editorial contextThe survey lists 44 ruined structures inside and around Bulgary's rampart, most of them stone houses measured in fathoms, plus towers and two 'columns' (round buildings, one about 12 fathoms round and as high). Inside the Russian monastery that had grown up on the site, one old stone building had been consecrated as a church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, and four big round towers still stood. The survey credits the rampart to the town's 'former inhabitants' and treats all of it as the remains of an old Tatar town.

In the monastery the following old buildings are found: 29) A stone house which has been consecrated as a church in honour of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, … and three and a half fathoms high. Further, four large towers of the following measurements: 30) The first is seven and a half fathoms round and 2 fathoms high.

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Original wording

In dem Kloster finden sich an alten Gebäuden: 29) Ein steinernes Haus, so zu einer Kirche, zu Ehren des h. Nikol Wunderthäters, geweihet worden, … und drey und einen halben Faden hoch. Ferner vier große Thürme, von folgendem Maas: 30) Der erste hat 7 und einen halben Faden im Umkreis, 2 Faden in der Höhe.

About Volga Bulgars and Tatars (the 'former inhabitants' of the town)

Tsar Ivan counts his years from the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan

Editorial contextIvan IV's letter to Queen Elizabeth is dated not only by the year of the world and his reign but by his two great conquests of Tatar khanates: Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1554 to 1556). The seizure of these Tatar cities was so important to Muscovy that it became part of the Tsar's official dating and of his title.

the 23 yere of our Empire, since the wynning of Casane xvii yere, and of Astrecane XV yere.

About Former Tatar khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, now Russian

Inside a Tatar merchant's house in Kazan

Editorial contextHoping to see a 'genuine national household', Haxthausen is taken to the home of two merchant brothers and finds the rooms furnished in European style, with Chinese porcelain, mirrors, a Persian carpet and a stone bowl inscribed with Koran verses. He glimpsed a six-foot-wide family sleeping bench, but the women's rooms were closed to him.

I wished to see a genuine national household, but this no longer exists, at least in Kazan, as the people here too are already affected by European cultivation. The furniture of the rooms into which we were conducted was quite European … In one of the glass cases was a stone bowl, inscribed with texts from the Koran.

About Kazan Tatar merchants

Tatar log houses with a broad bench and a built-in cauldron

Editorial contextThe book says the houses of settled Tatars are built of logs and laid out like Russian ones. Inside, a broad bench (urunduk) serves as table, bed and chairs, covered with carpets for the rich and felt for the poor, and there is a hearth (chuval) with an iron cauldron built into it. It adds that the Tatars keep their very simple homes very clean. On the same page the author declines to count the Caucasus 'Mountain Tatars' as Tatars, saying their origin is too uncertain.

The houses of the settled Tatars resemble the Russian ones in being built of logs … Their rooms contain a broad bench (urunduk), which serves as table, bed and chairs and is covered with carpets among the rich and felt among the poor, and a hearth (chuval) with a built-in iron cauldron (tagan), and some chests with clothes, utensils and the like.

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Original wording

Die Häuser der ansäßigen Tataren gleichen in der Bauart von Blokwerk … den rußischen. Ihre Stuben enthalten eine breite Ruhebank, (Urunduk) die Tisch, Bette und Stühle vertrit und bey reichen mit Teppichen, bey armen mit Filzdecken belegt ist und einen Kamin (Tschuwal) nebst eingemauerten eisernen Kessel (Tagan) und einige Kasten mit Kleidern, Geräte u. d. gl. enthält.

About Settled Tatars of the Russian Empire (Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian)

Horseflesh, honey mead and the tea trade

Editorial contextKazan Tatars, Haxthausen reports, avoid pork as Muslims but prize horseflesh above all, brew mead, and control much of the tea trade. On the same page he admires Kazan leather boots embroidered with gold and silver and calls Tatar peasants excellent beekeepers.

They live principally upon animal food, avoiding pork, which is forbidden by the Koran ; horseflesh is considered by the common Tatars the choicest food. They are very fond of honey, and make good mead from it. The higher classes drink much tea ; and a large proportion of the tea-trade being in their hands, the best sorts are found among them.

About Kazan Tatars

Log houses with curtained windows

Editorial contextThe houses of Kazan's Tatar town were small plain log cabins like Russian village houses, but inside they always had window curtains, behind which the women hid when anyone passed. On the next page Erman notes the many wooden jetties the Tatars built over Lake Kaban for their ritual washing before prayer.

The houses of the Tatar town are small and unadorned, like those of Russian villages, constructed of rough logs, without exterior planking. But in their internal arrangements they differ from the Russian cabins; they have, for example, always window curtains, behind which the women are careful to conceal themselves when any one passes by.

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan taken, its khan seized alive

Editorial contextAfter the mines blew open the walls, the Russians stormed the city. The author describes the slaughter, the soldiers taking countless riches and leading away princesses, murzas' wives and children 'from the greatest to the simplest', and the capture of Khan Ediger-Mahmet, found on the wall and nearly killed before some Tatars cried out that he was their tsar.

And in the city the Christian people took uncountable riches, and into captivity a great multitude of princesses and murzas' wives and children; to put it simply, from the great down to the simple, they captured them all.

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Original wording

Во граде же христьянстіи люде взяша неисчетное богатество и въ полонъ многое множество княгинь и мурзиныхъ женъ и детеи, просто рещи, отъ великихъ даждь и до простыхъ всѣхъ плениша.

About Khan Ediger-Mahmet and the people of Kazan; Ivan IV's army

A Qing view of Russia: the White Khan took Kazan and Tobolsk

Editorial contextKlaproth translates the entry on Russia from the official Manchu imperial geography of China. It calls the Tsar the 'Tsagan khan' (White Khan, a Mongol title), places his residence at Moscow, and says the Russians seized the lands of Kazan and Tobolsk about 160 years earlier. It shows how the fall of the Tatar khanates looked from Beijing.

The king of the Oros [Russians] is the Tsagan khan; he lives in a town called Moscow, not very far from the north-western sea. … Their khans have reigned for twenty-three generations, over a period of more than three hundred and fifty years. It is a hundred and sixty years since they seized the territories of Kazan and Tobolsk.

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Original wording

Le roi des Oros est le Tsakhan khan; il réside dans une ville appelée Moskowa, qui n'est pas trop éloignée de la mer du nord-ouest. … Leurs khans ont régné pendant vingt-trois générations, durant une période de plus de trois cent cinquante ans. Il y a cent soixante ans qu'ils s'emparèrent des territoires de Kazan et de Tobolsk.

About Russians as seen by the Qing court; Kazan and Siberian khanates

Kazan, the 'cauldron' town of furs

Editorial contextBarbaro notes the turn of the tide: the Russians once paid tribute to the Tartar emperor, but Moscow had now subdued Kazan on the Volga. He calls Kazan a town of great trade, the source of most furs sent to Moscow, Poland, Prussia and Flanders, and says its name means 'cauldron'.

nowe they haue subdued a towne called Cassan (which, in our tonge, signifieth a cawldron), that standeth on the ryver Ledil, on the lefte hande as you go towards the Sea of Bachu … This is a towne of great merchaundise. From whense cometh the most parte of the furres that are caried to Musco and into Polonia, Prusia, and Flandres

About Kazan Tatars; Russians of Moscow

Tatar villagers with carpets and cushions

Editorial contextIn the Tatar farming villages beyond Kazan, Erman found people neatly dressed, the men with shaved heads under tight caps and trimmed beards, in contrast to the wild hair of Russian peasants. Their houses always had good carpets and cushions, and the women, in loose white gowns, never helped with rough work like harnessing horses.

Men and women here are neatly clothed. The smooth-shorn pate of the former, covered with the tight-fitting cap, and the precise cut of their beards, form a striking contrast with the savage head of hair, completely in a state of nature, which is usually worn by the Russians. Their houses are never without some good carpets and cushions to cover the seats and beds.

About Kazan Tatars

Queen Suyumbike, the rain-making enchantress

Editorial contextDuring the siege, the Russian soldiers in the trenches suffered from constant heavy rain, and everyone blamed the magic of the Tatar queen Sumbyeka (Suyumbike), 'celebrated as an enchantress', and the city's sorcerers. Inside Kazan, people hid in cellars and caves dug in the courtyards, and the defenders shot at their own captured kinsmen tied to the Russian palisades rather than surrender.

The Russian warriors who were stationed in the trenches without tents, suffered much from the constant heavy rains; and this annoyance was universally ascribed to the arts of the Tatar queen Sumbyeka, who was celebrated as an enchantress, and to the subordinate kolduni, or sorcerers of the city.

About Kazan Tatars

Fireproof cloth from a Tatar prince

Editorial contextThe traveller reports a quarrel between two Tatar princes of the Kazan region, father and son, which almost came to battle over a woman until Prince Golitsyn, governor of Kazan and Astrakhan, made peace. In thanks the Tatar prince gave Golitsyn a large piece of cloth that would not burn, said to be still made in Cathay between China and Bukhara. The traveller, who had himself once brought asbestos stone from Cyprus, received a piece.

whereupon the Tartar prince gave this arbitrator, among other things, a large piece of incombustible linen, of which Mr Poppe and I in turn received some from him. He told me that it was still actually made in Cathay, between China and Bukhara.

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Original wording

worauf der Tartarische Prinz diesem Scheids-Mann unter andern Sachen ein grosses Stück unverbrennlichen Leinwands schenket, wovon der Herr Poppe und ich wiederum von diesem etwas bekommen. Er sagte mir, daß es zu Katai, zwischen China und Bucharen, noch würklich gemacht würde.

About Kazan Tatar nobility

Pipes, Chinese tobacco and watermelon with Kazan's Tatar governor

Editorial contextOn arriving at Kazan Chappe was received by the governor, a Tatar prince. They sat round a table covered with a fine carpet; four long pipes and a porcelain jar of Chinese tobacco were set out, then local liqueurs, preserves, fruit and a watermelon so delicious that Chappe ate nothing else and took home seeds, which failed to grow in France.

I arrived at Kazan on the first of October. A Tartar prince was its governor … we sat down round a table covered with a fine carpet: four large pipes were placed on it and a porcelain jar full of Chinese tobacco; I smoked for a few moments. Then local liqueurs were served, preserves with fruit, and a watermelon

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Original wording

J'arrivai à Cazan le premier Octobre. Un Prince Tartare en étoit le Gouverneur … nous nous assimes autour d'une table couverte d'un beau tapis : on y plaça quatre grandes pipes & un vase de porcelaine rempli de tabac de la Chine : je fumai quelques instants. On servit aussi-tôt des liqueurs du pays; des confitures, avec des fruits & un melon d'eau

About a Tatar prince serving as governor of Kazan

Kazan and Astrakhan fall to Ivan IV

Editorial contextPossevino sums up how Ivan IV took the two Tatar khanates on the Volga. The king of Poland told him the Kazan Tatars were easy to storm because they were unused to bronze cannon. Astrakhan, 'no mean emporium of the East' on the Caspian, is called the capital of another Tartar Horde or kingdom, and its fall carried Muscovite rule to the Circassians.

He resolved to avenge the wrongs done by the Tartars and to set foot in Livonia. Attacking the people of Kazan with bronze cannon brought up, it was easy for him (as Stephen, King of Poland, told me) to storm men unused to that kind of arms or engines. Then he took Astrakhan, set at the mouths of the Volga, no mean emporium of the East on the Caspian Sea. Since it was the capital of another Horde (or kingdom) of the Tartars, he pushed the bounds of his realm as far as the Circassians.

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Original wording

vlcisci Tartarorum iniurias, & pedem figere in Liuonia statuit. Casanenses adortus, admotis æneis tormẽtis, facilè fuit ei (vt Stephanus Poloniæ Rex mihi narrauit) siue armorum, seu machinarum generi insuetos expugnare. Inde Astracanum ad ostia fluuij Volgæ situm cœpit, non ignobile Orientis emporium ad mare Caspium. Id cùm alterius Tartarorum Hordæ (seu Regni) esset caput; protulit ditionis suæ fines vsq; ad Circassos

About Tartars of Kazan and Astrakhan (the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates)

Once the rulers, now pushed to the suburbs

Editorial contextHaxthausen notes that the Tatars, who ruled Kazan before the Russian conquest of 1552, now live in their own quarter outside the Russian town proper. They are mostly traders, and he met rich merchant families among them.

The Tatars in Kazan live mostly together, in a separate quarter of the town. Formerly the ruling people, they have been driven into the suburbs, whilst the town proper is inhabited by Russians. They are traders rather than artisans ; among them are merchants of all the guilds.

About Kazan Tatars

Evening prayer at the Kaban Lake mosque

Editorial contextErman was allowed into the great mosque of the Tatar quarter by Lake Kaban for evening prayer. In the entrance hall stood old gravestones dug up nearby, before which worshippers prayed in silence. Inside the plain round hall, men in white sat 'as motionless as statues' while the imam chanted the Koran; then the visitors were politely asked to leave. Erman was deeply moved by the simplicity and piety.

We entered first into a wide quadrangular hall: along the walls are placed rows of tall grave-stones, dug up in the vicinity, and set up here to perpetuate the memory of some saintly characters. The Tatars, as they came in, stood for a little time in silent prayer before these stones.

About Kazan Tatars

Kazan's Tatars: clean, honest, better farmers

Editorial contextSauer found Kazan a well-built trading city of Russians, Tatars and Armenians, and at the governor's dinner on 6 January 1786 the Muslim chief priest sat at table with the Orthodox bishop and a Lutheran pastor. Riding east from the city, he praises the Tatar villagers: Muslims, clean, honest and hard-working, whose land yielded nearly twice what Russian farmers got from the same ground.

The Tartars are Mahometans, and very clean in their persons and habitations. The women are, in general, very handsome, and dress extremely neat. They are industrious, honest, and peaceable; and, under their management, a piece of ground of a given extent will produce nearly twice as much as the Russians obtain from an equal quantity. All the villages are built in vallies on the borders of rivers

About Kazan Tatars (Muslim Volga Tatars)

Kazan, 'capital of the Khan of the Dasht Kipchaks'

Editorial contextDescribing the lands north of Ferghana, Izzet Ullah says the Kazakhs and Karakalpaks there depend on Russia, and that the capital of the Khan of the Dasht-i Kipchak, 'Bulghar, now known by the name of Kazan', lies in Russian territory. He runs together two different Volga cities (old Bulghar and Kazan), but the line shows how the Tatar khanates were remembered in Central Asia.

To the north of the mountains of Andejan the country is a barren plain ; to the north of which are the tribes of Kazzaks and Kara Kalpaks, dependant on Russia. The capital of the Khan of the Dast Kapchaks, Bulghar, now known by the name of Kazan, is in the Russian territory.

About Kazakhs, Karakalpaks; the old khans of the Kipchak steppe

Where the Chuvash smear fat on the shrine

Editorial contextCaptain Woodroofe's journal calls the Chuvash 'the poorest and most wretched of all mortals', tributary to Russia and heavily taxed. He could not learn their beliefs, but saw that they stick part of their food over doors and windows, and that when they kill an animal the priest eats some of the fat, greases himself and smears their place of worship with it. He adds that the neighbouring Tartars eat horse meat.

We could not discover what notions the chuvashins have of religion, but observed when they dress victuals, they stick part of it over their doors and windows; and when they kill an animal, … their priest takes out the fat, and after eating some of it and greasing himself, he smears over their place of worship,

About Chuvash ('Chuvashin Tartars')

Kazan, old capital of a Tartar kingdom

Editorial contextBell wintered at Kazan. He describes the Russian brick citadel with its cathedral and palaces, and then the Muslim Tatars who live in a street or two of the suburbs as 'posterity of the ancient natives', free to practise their religion and some of them rich from trade with Turkey and Persia. He recalls that the city was the capital of a Tartar kingdom until Ivan the Terrible took it in 1552.

The suburbs are inhabited chiefly by mechanics, except a street or two possessed by Mahometan Tartars, the posterity of the ancient natives. … Cazan was anciently the capital of a part of Tartary, and the seat of government, where the royal family resided. It was taken from the Tartars by Czar Ivan Vasiloviz, in the year fifteen hundred and fifty two,

About Kazan Tatars

Bulghar, summer seat of the Golden Horde khans

Editorial contextRose summarises the history of Bulghar on the Volga: it suffered from 'Mongol-Tatar' raids, was conquered by Batu Khan in 1236, and then served the Golden Horde khans as their summer residence, with Sarai on the lower Volga as their winter seat. The next page adds that Marco Polo's father and uncle stayed there in 1261.

…was completely subdued in 1236 by Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, and incorporated into the Kipchak empire. The descendants of Genghis Khan in this empire, whom the Russians called the khans of the Golden Horde, chose Bulghar as their summer residence and Sarai on the lower Volga as their winter residence.

Working translation

Original wording

…von Batü Chan, dem Enkel von Dschingis Chan, 1236 völlig unterworfen und dem Kaptschakischen Reiche einverleibt wurde. Die Nachkommen Dschingis Chans in diesem Reiche, die von den Russen die Chane der Goldnen Horde genannt wurden, erwählten Bulghar zu ihrer Sommer-Residenz, und Serai an der untern Wolga zu ihrer Winter-Residenz.

About Volga Bulghars; Mongols of the Golden Horde

Tatar, the French of the East

Editorial contextHaxthausen was impressed that nearly all Kazan Tatars could read and write, that their village schools were run by mullahs, and that students went to Orenburg and Bukhara. In a footnote he claims their Turkic language worked as a common tongue from Persia to China and even Tunis.

The Tatar language occupies the same place in the East as the French in the West. Eastwards from Persia to China, westwards throughout all the Turkish countries, and even in Tunis, any one can make himself understood by means of it.

About Kazan Tatars and Turkic speakers generally

Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia conquered

Editorial contextIn his summing up of Ivan the Terrible's reign, Horsey lists the conquest of the Tatar 'kingdoms' of Kazan and Astrakhan and the peoples along the Volga to the Caspian, the end of tribute to the Crimean khan, and the conquest of the 'kingdom of Siberia'.

he conquered the kingdom of Casan and the kingdom of Astracan, and all the regions and great people of the Nagaie and Chercas Tartors, and many other of that kinde, inhabitinge above two thowsand miells of each side that famous river of Volga, sowthward eaven to the Mare Caspian Sea.

About Kazan, Astrakhan, Nogai and Circassian Tartars

Princes of Tartar origin

Editorial contextAmong his hosts in Kazan were Prince Davydov, head of the post, and Prince Tenishev, an army general; Cochrane notes that both princes were 'of Tartar origin'. He then explains that Russian titles of Tatar or foreign origin did not by themselves give noble rank. The passage is a reminder that many Russian noble families traced their roots to Tatar ancestors.

Both the princes are of Tartar origin, though their character and conduct would do honour to the proudest rank of polished society.

About Russian nobility of Tatar descent