Iu.V. Seleznev’s Contribution to the Study of the Juchid ulus

Abstract

This article for the first time in scholarship surveys the contribution of Iurii Vasil’evich Seleznev of Voronezh State University to the study of Rus’-Tatar relations and the Juchid ulus, called the Golden Horde, during the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. The article contains analyses of five major monographs written by Seleznev dealing with Rus’-Tatar relations from 1385 to 1434, the composition of the elite of the Juchid ulus, military conflicts between Rus’ and the Horde during the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, (with Andrei Olegovich Amel’kin) the history and historical memory of the battle of Kulikovo Field in 1380, and the role of Rus’ princes as members of the Juchid ulus elite. The article identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each monograph. Finally the article attempts for the first time to draw connections among the conclusions of the five monographs. The strength of Seleznev’s work are his equal mastery of the societies on both sides of the Rus’-Tatar border. His employs the Rus’ sources and Russian translations of oriental sources in new and creative ways to extract hard data on previously unposed questions or on questions which have been previously posed but answered subjectively such as the parameters of Rus’ princely trips to the Horde or the frequency of Rus’-Tatar military conflicts. In addition he appreciates the complex evolution of Rus’ literary works such as those about the battle of Kulikovo Field in 1380. Seleznev also approaches questions of social history with an open mind inoculated against nationalist prejudices which would reject out of hand any possibility of Tatar influence on the Rus’ mentality or society. He is sparing in his use of anachronistic and biased terminology toward the Tatars. The weaknesses of his studies include a lack of familiarity with studies of the Mongol Empire and its successor states other than the Juchid ulus in Western languages which by and large precludes comparative analysis and results in an insular presentation of Rus’-Horde relations in isolation from the parallel experience of other sedentary societies subjected to Mongol rule. He has not himself integrated the results of his separate monographs, for example by addressing the contradiction between what must have been the enormous Rus’ expertise about the Horde with the often simplistic pejorative depiction of the Tatars in Rus’ sources. Seleznev had not as yet written a comprehensive study of Rus’-Tatar relations which would encompass the totality of Rus’-Tatar interaction, including for example institutional borrowing. Nevertheless the strengths of his research far outweigh the weaknesses. Seleznev’s ever-growing body of work makes a significant contribution to increasing historical knowledge of medieval Rus’ and the Tatars of the Juchid ulus