Structure of Political Elite of the Crimean Khanate according to the Materials of Reports of Russian Embassies in Crimea in 1613–1616

Abstract

Research objectives: This article investigates the alignment of forces in political elite of the Crimean Khanate in 1613–1616. Research materials: A wide range of published and archived sources – books and ambassadorial documents of the Russian state. Results and novelty of the research: The author discusses the little-studied period of diplomatic relations between the Russian state and the Crimean Khanate in 1613–1616, after the accession of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov: the stay of the embassy of A. Lodyzhensky and P. Danilov in Crimea from autumn 1613 to July 1614, the preparations and implementation of an embassy congress and exchange near Livny in August 1614, the stay of the embassy of Prince G.K. Volkonsky and P. Ovdokimov in the Crimea from August 1614 to June 1615, the preparation and implementation of the embassy exchange near Valuyki in July 1615, and the stay of the embassy of I. Speshnev and B. Nesterov in Crimea from July 1615 to May 1616. The author shows the central role of the political elite of the Crimean Khanate, meaning the most influential people in the government of Janibek Giray Khan, in establishing peaceful relations between the Russian state and the Crimean Khanate in the framework of their parallel military-political confrontation with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The article also discusses the role of individual clans of the Crimean nobility in the implementation of diplomatic relations between the two states.

Keywords

• crimean khanate
• janibek giray khan
• ambassador prince grigory konstantinovich volkonsky
• ambassador isaak speshnev
• bek ahmed-pasha jashlavsky – “prince suleshev”
• ibragim-murza jashlavsky
• mussabek-aga
• bek bogatyr giray “diveev”
• urak-murza – prince petr araslanovich urusov