Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie (Sep 2016)
Raid of Islam Giray and Safa Giray on the “Bank” in Summer 1533 »
Abstract
The murder by Nogay Mirzas of the Crimean Khan Muhammad Giray I in Astrakhan in 1523 and the subsequent devastation by the Nogays of the Crimea violated the fragile balance of forces and interests of the Crimean influential clans and led to a long and bloody Crimean “zamyatnya” that lasted fifteen years. Objective: To analyze the raid of Islam Giray and Safa Giray on Russian lands in the summer of 1533. Research materials: acts relating to the history of Western Siberia, Russian chronicles, Lithuanian-Belarusian chronicles, books of noble families. Research results and novelty: during their military campaign, Islam Giray and Safa Giray did not only rely on the support of the Crimean aristocracy that had been split into hostile groups, but also on the aid of Istanbul, Vilnius and Moscow. The latter tried to use the Crimean dissension in their own interests playing off the warring Crimean “parties” and attempting to channel their energy outward, against their opponents. As a result, the previously purposeful foreign policy of the Crimean Khanate lost its integrity and become like a weather vane that was turning following breeze. Tactical considerations and the pursuit of short-term profits replaced relatively clear and confident foreign policy of Mengli Giray I and Muhammad Giray I. As a result, none of the neighbors of the Crimea was immune from a sudden attack of the Tatar “vlans, princes and murzas” and their people who felt the freedom and were willing to risk their lives for the sake of the rich booty, which could be seized in convenient opportunity from the neighbors caught by surprise. All these years, the clouds swirled constantly on the Russian-Lithuanian-Crimean borderlands and from time to time they bursted into thunder. One of those storms was the arrival of Islam Giray and his cousin Safa Giray on sovereign “Ukraine” in the summer of 1533.
