Written source · Ottoman Turkish

Rosebud of the Khans: a Crimean prince's history of his own dynasty

Biographies of the Giray khans of Crimea, 1441 to 1783, written in 1811 by an exiled member of the family.

Full title Rosebud of the Khans: biographies of the Crimean khans from Haci Giray to Sahin Giray, Ottoman print Istanbul 1911 (A. Cevdi, Istikbal matbaasi); also BULAC manuscript of his collected works, 1827

گلبن خانان

Halim Giray (1772-1823), Crimean prince

Read the 4 passages Open the original book

Halim Giray (1772 to 1823), a prince of the Giray dynasty that ruled the Crimean khanate, wrote Gulbun-i Hanan ('Rosebud of the Khans') in 1811 while living in Ottoman exile after Russia annexed Crimea in 1783. It is a chain of short biographies of every khan from Haci Giray to Sahin Giray, compiled from Crimean and Ottoman chronicles. The main corpus copy is the Istanbul 1911 print, whose publisher added footnotes from other writers (Evliya Celebi and European authors) and the text of the 1774 Kucuk Kaynarca treaty; a manuscript of Halim Giray's collected works (1827) is also held. The OCR is badly garbled, so passages were read from the page images.

How they knew: Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here: The Crimean Tatars and the Nogay hordes of the Kuban, Budjak and Yedisan steppes: the Muslim, Turkic-speaking subjects of the Giray khans, who were descendants of Genghis Khan. 'Tatar' is an ordinary ethnic and military label here, not a mysterious empire.
Why read it: It is the Crimean khanate's history told from the inside by one of its own princes, and its notes show Bakhchysarai as a real town of mosques, baths, madrasas and a palace built by named khans.
Watch out: A late compilation (1811) that depends on earlier chronicles; the 1911 print mixes Halim Giray's text with an editor's footnotes, which are marked here. Dates in the notes can be misprinted, and the corpus OCR is unusable, so every quote was transcribed from the page image.

What it says: 4 passages

Cities Bakhchysarai1501 onward

Bakhchysarai: founded 1501, partly burned by the Russians

Editorial contextAn editor's note, citing a writer it calls Brzhinski, gives a short history of the khans' capital: its story begins in 1501, Greeks ('Rum') lived there before the Tatars came into Crimea, a Russian army burned about a quarter of it in a war, and the khans' first palace was at Salacik nearby. The note goes on to say that the one old monument left there is the tomb by the monastery gate, rebuilt in 1510 by Mengli Giray in his father's name. So the town is presented as a dated foundation of the Giray khans on a site with earlier Greek inhabitants.

The history of Bakhchysarai begins in the year 1501. Before the Tatars entered Crimea, there were Greeks (Rum) there. In the war with the Russians in (1786), about a quarter of Bakhchysarai burned. The first palace of the Crimean khans is at Salacik.
Working translation
Original wording
باغچه سرای تاریخی ( ١٥٠١ ) سنه سندن باشلار . تاتار قریمه کیرمه دن اول اوراده ( روم ) لر واردی . باغچه سرایک ( ١٧٨٦ ) ده روسلرله اولان محاربه ده ، همان ربعی یانمشدر . قریم خانلرینک ایلک سرایی صلاجقده در .

Editorial footnote in the Istanbul 1911 print of Halim Giray's Gulbun-i Hanan, quoting a writer it names as Brzhinski

See the original page (p. 16)

About Crimean Tatars

Keep in mind

The printed '1786' is very likely a misprint for 1736, when a Russian army under Munnich burned Bakhchysarai; Crimea was already Russian in 1786. This is the 1911 editor's note, not Halim Giray.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled).

Buildings Bakhchysaraireign of Sahib Giray, 1532 to 1551

A khan who built a hundred mosques

Editorial contextHalim Giray credits Khan Sahib Giray with building a mosque and a bathhouse beside the khan's palace in Bakhchysarai, and about a hundred mosques in other districts. The editor's footnote on the page before adds madrasas, shops, double bathhouses and the fortress at Or Qapi (Perekop) that guarded the isthmus. The builders named are the Tatar khans themselves, and the buildings are ordinary Islamic ones: mosque, bath, madrasa, palace.

Sahib Giray, just as he had a mosque and a bathhouse built beside the khan's palace in Bakhchysarai, also built about a hundred mosques in other quarters, and so succeeded in having his name remembered with blessing in the world.
Working translation
Original wording
صاحب کرای ، باغچه سرای ده ، خان سرایی یاننده جامع ، حمام یاپدردیغی کبی سائر محللرده دخی یوز قدر مسجد بنا ایتمک صورتیله نامنی دنیاده خیر ایله یاد ایتدرمکه موفق اولمشدر .

Halim Giray, Gulbun-i Hanan (main text of the Istanbul 1911 print)

See the original page (p. 48)

About Crimean Tatars (Giray khans)

Keep in mind

Written about 260 years after the events from earlier chronicles; 'about a hundred' is a round figure.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled).

Daily life Kabarda (North Caucasus)about 1708 (Kaplan Giray's Kabarda campaign)

Circassian 'fault-fines' paid in goods and slaves

Editorial contextDuring the khan's war with the Kabardians, the main text says the Circassians in the khan's own army secretly told the Kabardians to attack the Tatars by night and promised to change sides. A footnote explains a custom of the khanate's relations with the Circassians: when they committed an offence, they paid the khan a fine called 'ayiplik' in goods, slave girls and slaves. It shows tribute, law and the slave trade in the khanate's frontier politics.

When the Circassians committed an offence, they used to present to the khans, under the name 'ayiplik' (fault-fine), goods, slave girls and slaves according to their offence.
Working translation
Original wording
چرکسلر بر قباحت ایشله دکلری زمان ( عیبلق ) نامیله خانلره قباحتلرینه کوره اموال ، جواری و کوله لر تقدیم ایدرلردی .

Editorial footnote in the Istanbul 1911 print of Halim Giray's Gulbun-i Hanan

See the original page (p. 143)

About Crimean Tatars and Circassians

Keep in mind

An explanatory footnote in the 1911 print; the custom is described in general terms without a date.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled).

The name Crimea1774

'The Tatar peoples' in the 1774 treaty: free, and ruled by Genghis's line

Editorial contextThe 1911 editor prints Article 3 of the Kucuk Kaynarca treaty between Russia and the Ottomans. It lists the 'Tatar peoples' by name, the Crimeans and the Nogay hordes of Budjak, Kuban, Yedisan, Jamboyluk and Yedichkul, and declares them independent, governed by khans of 'the line of Genghis' chosen by the Tatars themselves. Here 'Tatar' is a legal and diplomatic name for real, named peoples north of the Black Sea, and their rulers claim descent from the Mongol conqueror.

The tribes of Crimea, Budjak, Kuban, Yedisan, Jamboyluk and Yedichkul, and all the Tatar peoples without exception, shall be recognised and accepted by the two states as free and entirely independent, subject to no foreign state. Their own khans, elected and installed from the line of Genghis by the common vote and agreement of all the Tatar peoples …
Working translation
Original wording
قریم وبوجاق وقوبان ویدیسان وجانبویلق ویدیچقول قبائل وبالجمله طوائف تاتار بلا استثنا دولتین طرفندن سربستیت وبغیر تعلق مستقل وجوهله اجنبی بر دولته تابع اولمامق اوزره اعتراف وقبول اولنه لر . طوائف تاتار بالجمله رأی واتفاقلریله آل جنکیز صویندن انتخاب و نصب اولنان کندی خانلری …

Editorial footnote in the Istanbul 1911 print of Halim Giray's Gulbun-i Hanan, giving the Ottoman text of Article 3 of the Kucuk Kaynarca treaty (1774)

See the original page (p. 205)

About Crimean Tatars and Nogays (Budjak, Kuban, Yedisan, Jamboyluk, Yedichkul)

Keep in mind

An official treaty text reproduced by the 1911 editor; the 'independence' it granted was the first step to Russian annexation in 1783, as the main text goes on to say.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled).

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

retrospective compilation from Crimean and Ottoman chronicles by a member of the dynasty, written 1811 in exile after the Russian annexation

Research notes

Late compilation depending on Seb'u's-seyyar (Seyyid Mehmed Riza) and Umdet ul-ahbar; Turkish National Library catalogue lists several manuscripts (Schefer, E.H. 1442, H.O. 218, Or. 11164) as catalogue-only leads.