Established in 2019 and dedicated to publishing occasional collections of articles on different topics.
Vilniaus universiteto leidykla / Vilnius University Press
Copyright (c) 2014 Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Thoughts on the Importance and Responses of the International Karaite Symposium in Bilecik
Šiame straipsnyje pristatomas tarptautinis karaimų simpoziumas, vykęs Biledžiko universitete, Turkijoje, 2010 m. balandžio 5–8 d. Šis renginys buvo skirtas garsiausiam karaimų lyderiui Abrahamui Firkovičiui atminti, jame dalyvavo daugiau nei 50 pranešėjų. Jų pranešimai turkų, anglų, rusų ir ukrainiečių kalbomis buvo sinchroniškai verčiami, kad būtų suprantami visiems dalyviams ir klausytojams. Dėl nuoširdžios Biledžiko universiteto paramos užsimezgęs kultūrinis ir emocinis ryšys tarp pranešėjų ir klausytojų paliko neišdildomą įspūdį karaimų bendruomenės nariams, susirinkusiems iš viso pasaulio. Šiame simpoziume pristatyti pastarųjų metų karaimų kultūros ir civilizacijos tyrimai buvo publikuoti Biledžiko universitete. Dviejų svarbių asmenų dalyvavimas simpoziume suteikė renginiui išskirtinę dvasią ir reikšmę. Vienas jų buvo Stambulo karaimų bendruomenės pirmininkas Michailas Orme, o kitas – Lietuvos karaimų bendruomenės pirmininkas Markas Lavrinovičius. Bendruomenių pirmininkai pristatė svarbias idėjas, atskleidžiančias karaimų ateities gaires. Pagrindinis dėmesys straipsnyje skiriamas šių dviejų primininkų pranešimams, kiti pranešimai pristatomi trumpai.
Documentary materials on the Lithuanian tatars in collections of the National historical archive of Belarus in Grodno (2nd–4th decades of the 19th century)
The article is devoted to the possibilities of the documentary materials that are poorly known among scientific society but, on the other hand, they do reflect the social and legal standing of Polish and Lithuanian Tatars in the Russian Empire in the 2nd–4th decades of the 19th century. The main purpose of the research was to introduce into transaction scientifical manuscripts gathered in the city of Grodno National Belarus Historical Archives’s funds. All the work that refers to the preparation of documents’ texts for publication was implemented by their transcription, scientific and archaeographic elaboration (composing the titles, legends, notes and dating of manuscripts if necessary) and textological work based on xerocopies that were passed to the Head Archive Office attached to the Cabinet Council of the Republic of Tatarstan by the State Committee of Archives Clerical Correspondence of the Republic of Belarus. Six documents in the Russian language, composed in 1817–1838, became the main point of consideration. As for specific association, all of them turn up to be record keeping materials of three types: 1) authority correspondence; 2) internal documents; 3) deprecatory documents. The first type is represented by four documents: 1) a report of civil servants of Tatar origin superscript to the Grodno district leader of nobility Carl Mikhailovich Borzhevsky (?), composed on the 2nd of March 1832; 2) the Grodno governor’s recommendation sent to the military governor of Vilnius on the 6th of May 1832 on the Tatar population, its rights, privileges, duties, and occupation; 3) a letter about Lithuanian Tatars, which was also written before the 6th of May 1832 by Ivan Tugan-Baranovski; 4) the report by the chairman of the Fiscal Office to the civil governor of Grodno, dated the 4th of July 1838. We can also include into the second group two so-called “lists” of Tatars of the towns of Slonim, Zdzentsele, and Molchazd of the Slonim district, which emerged before the 6th of May 1832. A deprecatory document dated 1817 of the assessor of the Grodno county’s civil lower territorial court, Ivan Tugan-Baranovski, refers to the third group. The informational value of these materials, which are published for the first time, is primarily defined by the reflection of Tatars’ social and legal standing in the hierarchic structure of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian state and also their content of retrospective information about the rights, privileges as well as directions of the Tsar government and decrees of the Governing Senate given to this social category. Secondly, the source value of these documents lies in the fact that they do reflect a new phase in the history of Lithuanian Tatars – their inclusion or introduction into the social and legal field of the Russian Empire. These documents also allow us to judge about the Tsar government policy features and about the fact that Russian laws had a legal relationship with this category of population. They do help to introspect the “conflict” in the legal sphere that had emerged in the first decade of the 19th century and its constructive solution in the fourth decade of the same century. Finally, these documents give information about mental features of Lithuanian Tatars.
One document from the correspondence of hetman Branicki and Ottoman commanders of Khotyn
During Russian–Turkish wars, Khotyn, being a boundary fortress, was almost always grasped by the Russian army. Just after the fortress capture, Russian armies took out its archives. It was connected, first, with the valuable prospecting information contained in the correspondence among the Turkish authorities of Moldova, and second, because the correspondence between Polish Great Hetman and sultans of the Ottoman Empire was also conducted through Khotyn. From papers of the commandant it was possible to take documents and data which could have a diplomatic value and which could be used, for example, in solving the Polish question. Besides, according to messages of Turkish sources, part of the grasped manuscripts was sold to Jewish merchants for the purpose of getting profit. The Ottoman archives captured during Russian–Turkish wars were regularly taken out to Russia where they were stored in archives. Unfortunately, there was no special research of these documents. Therefore, these archives and the documents presented to them are an important but almost unused source for studying the Russian–Turkish and international relations of the 18th century. A considerable part of these documents consists of archives of commanders of captured Ottoman fortresses, for example, the archive of the Khotyn commander Iljas Kolchak-pasha, captured in 1738 by the Russian army. Another considerable part of the Ottoman correspondence with the possessors of the European and Muslim countries was probably stored in regional museums. Especially, part of unpublished and unknown correspondence of hetman Yan Klemens Branicki was preserved in the Ethnographical Museum of the Rostov the Great region. Basically, the correspondence is presented by letters of the economic content, on some aspects of relations between Poland and the Ottoman Empire. It is not known how these letters got to the stores of the Rostov museum, because earlier all correspondence of Branicki had been considered to be stored in the department of manuscripts of the Russian National Library in St.-Petersburg. The purpose of the present work is reading, translating and commenting on of one of the unpublished letters of the pasha of Khotyn to the hetman Branicki, voivode of Krakow.
The Beginning of Karaimes’ Settlement in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania According to Karaim Written Sources in Hebrew Language
Straipsnyje nagrinėjama spėjamo karaimų atvykimo į Lietuvos Didžiąją Kunigaikštystę laiko problema. Pagrindinis straipsnio tikslas – pateikti trumpą karaimų tradicijų apžvalgą, turint omenyje tai, kaip jos atsispindi rašytiniuose šaltiniuose hebrajų kalba. Iki XIX a. pabaigos Lietuvos karaimai bendruomenės vidaus gyvenime vartojo dvi kalbas – kasdienė šnekamoji kalba buvo jų gimtoji karaimų kalba, tačiau rašto tradicijoje pageidautinesnė buvo hebrajų kalba. Straipsnyje pateikiami keli kontroversiški šaltiniai, kurie rodo, kad karaimai įsikūrė LDK tarp 1218 ir 1398 m. Pirmiausia – tai J. Leonovičiaus laiškas M. Tenenboimui, 1865 m. paskelbtas Lvove laikraštyje „Ha Nesher“. Laiške cituojama dalis šaltinio, kurį J. Leonovičiaus tėvas nurašė kažkuriame Lvovo archyve. Pagrindinė šio straipsnio išvada: karaimai, kaip ir kitos LDK rytietiškos mažumos – totoriai ir armėnai – siekė įrodyti, kad jie labai seniai įsikūrė šiame regione. Šį tikslą jie bandė įgyvendinti pateikdami įvairias įsikūrimo tradicijas. Veikiausiai jos buvo tos pačios kilmės ar turėjo bendrą su totoriais tradiciją, nes karaimai susiejo save su tokiu įžymiu valdovu kaip Vytautas, tačiau paankstino jo valdymo laikotarpį, teigdami, kad Vytautas kariavo Kryme 1218 m.
A “Bektashi” – Prayer from a Private Collection of Lipka Tatar Manuscripts
Šio tyrimo objektas yra nedidelės apimties rankraštis, rastas Baltarusijos totorių rankraščių privačioje kolekcijoje. Jame yra tik vienas trumpas tekstas, todėl šio rankraščio negalime priskirti nė vienam iš žinomų totorių rankraščių tipui. Tekstas parašytas turkų osmanų kalba ir panašus į ilgą maldą. Kai kurie kalbos ypatumai leidžia teigti, kad galutinė teksto redakcija buvo atlikta asmens, kuriam turkų kalba nėra gimtoji. Maldos turinys yra ne mažiau įdomus ir aiškiai rodo alevitų bektašių tradicijų, kuriose pasitaiko ir sunitų islamo elementų, įtaką. Šis junginys rodo, kad autorius ne itin gerai išmanė kai kuriuos religinius aspektus. Šis požymis ir kalbos ypatumai leidžia daryti išvadą, kad tekstas buvo ne tik nurašytas, bet, veikiausiai, sudarytas arba kompiliuotas iš skirtingų atskirų fragmentų ne Anatolijoje, bet teritorijose, kur islamas nebuvo vyraujanti religija, o turkų kalba – ne kasdienio gyvenimo kalba. Pavyzdžiui, tai galėjo būti Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė, kurios buvusioje teritorijoje neseniai buvo rastas šis rankraštis. Kai kurie asmenys, minimi tekste (Koyun Baba, Ali Koç Baba) priklausė aleivtų bektašių tradicijai ir buvo labiausiai garbinami Balkanuose. Šis faktas leidžia daryti prielaidą, kad kai kurios teksto dalys yra balkaniškos kilmės, taip pat pasekti kultūrinės ir religinės įtakos, kurią patyrė totoriai lipkos, gyvendami beveik visiškoje izoliacijoje nuo pagrindinio musulmonų pasaulio, kelius.
Oriental documents in the manuscript department of Vilnius university library: jarlyks of khans and letters of border pashas
Three important manuscript collections were preserved in Vilnius in the interwar period. One of these collections, which contained documents of the uttermost importance, which witnessed political and diplomatic relations between the Crimea, the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was preserved in the Manuscript Department of Vilnius University (further VU) Library. Another collection of Oriental manuscripts, which belonged to the muftiate, was for the most part lost in 1944. The third collection, which consisted of the Karaim museum fund and library, was presented to the state in 1941 by Seraya Shapshal. In his letter to the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, S. Shapshal mentioned all three collections and their scientific value. S. Shapshal encouraged to compile a catalogue of the aforementioned manuscripts and print jarlyks of Crimean khans and letters of Turkish pashas. However, no such attempt was made. This article analyses the Oriental material stored in the Manuscript Department of the VU Library: jarlyks of khans and letters of border pashas. The condition of the documents, as well as their palaeographic qualities, content and possibility of preservation are discussed. Jarlyks of khans and letters of border pashas are stored in the Manuscript Department of the VU Library, fund No. F 5-A25-4506 – F 5-A25-4526, 12 items in total. Two documents (Nos. F 5-A25-4508 and F 5-A25-4519) cannot be fully attributed neither to jarlyks nor to pashas’ letters. One of them has a list of lost goods, while the other contains a tax register. After comparing the original documents of jarlyks and letters of border pashas stored in the VU Manuscript Department collection with copies preserved in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and S. Shapshal fund No. F 143–909, it has been discovered that four documents found among copies cannot be obtained among the original documents. Additionally, the jarlyk of Kaplan Giray, written on the 4th of March 1734 to Jan Branicki, the castellan of Krakow, is presented in this article. The jarlyk’s text has been transliterated and translated into modern Turkish and Russian. The authors plan to publish the remaining documents, alongside with the translation and commentary in Russian / Lithuanian in the nearest future.
Lithuanian Karaims Hachan – Mark Lavrinovičius’s Contribution to the Studies and Survival of the Karaim Language Trakai dialect
Straipsnyje pristatoma išskirtinė Lietuvos karaimų religinės bendruomenės asmenybė Markas Lavrinovičius. Markas Lavrinovičius (1938 m. gruodžio 26 d.–2011 m. gruodžio 24 d.) – Lietuvos karaimų aukščiausias dvasininkas hachanas, Lietuvos karaimų religinės bendruomenės pirmininkas, technikos mokslų daktaras, inžinierius, mikroelektronikos specialistas. Markas Lavrinovičius buvo plačios erudicijos ir inteligentiškas žmogus, puikus karaimų kalbos mokovas ir aktyvus karaimų visuomenės veikėjas. Jis buvo sumanus organizatorius, siekiantis tikslo dėl bendruomenės gerovės, be to, savo tėvynainių ir už bendruomenės ribų buvo laikomas dideliu autoritetu. Pagrindinis straipsnio tikslas – supažindinti su Marko Lavrinovičiaus įnašu į karaimų kultūros paveldo išsaugojimą ir apžvelgti jo darbus. Pirmiausia straipsnyje apžvelgiama Lietuvos karaimų kilmė, religijos pagrindai ir autentiškumas. Sąvoka „karaimas“ reiškia ir tautybę, ir religijos pavadinimą. Karaimai (sav. karaj vns.; karajlar dgs.) – etniniai tiurkai, kalbantys viena iš tiurkų kalbų – karaimų. Karaimų religijos pagrindas yra Šventojo Rašto Senasis Testamentas, be jokių papildymų ir komentarų. Pamaldos vyksta ir liturginiai tekstai skaitomi karaimų kalba. Karaimų kalba priklauso tiurkų kalbų Altajaus šeimos vakarų chunų šakos kipčiakų grupės kipčiakų polovcų pogrupiui. Svarbu pabrėžti, kad Lietuvos karaimai per ilgus amžius išlaikė savo kultūrą, kalbą, identitetą. Daugiau nei 600 metų trukusi karaimų kalbos Trakų dialekto izoliacija nuo kitų tiurkų kalbą vartojančių tautų leido jai išsaugoti archajišką kalbos būseną. Šia nepakitusia kalba Lietuvos karaimai kalba iki šiol. Straipsnis pristato Marko Lavrinovičiaus darbus ir publikacijas karaimikos tema. Markas Lavrinovičius laisvai kalbėjo gimtąja karaimų kalba, kruopščiai tyrė karaimų kalbos Trakų dialektą ir daug nuveikė, siekdamas išsaugoti šį dialektą. Markas Lavrinovičius sudarė ir spaudai parengė karaimų kultūros, kalbos ir literatūros paveldo rinkinį „Bir Bar Ėdi“, surinko ir į karaimų kalbą išvertė 25-ių brolių tiurkų kalbų tautų 94 liaudies pasakas „Karyndašlarymyznyn Chaznasy“, karaimų kalba parašė Biblijos sakmes „Aziz Jazyšnyn Jomachlary“, taip pat parašė „Avaldan Kieliasigia“ (Iš tolimos praeities į ateitį). Apžvelgdamas karaimų kalbą, Markas Lavrinovičius ją siejo su kumanų / poloviečių kalba, akcentavo, kad Lietuvos karaimai supranta garsiojo kumanų kultūros, kalbos ir literatūros paminklo „Codex Cumanicus“ kalbą. Be to, jis sudarė ir kompiuterizavo „Rusų–karaimų kalbų žodyną“, kuriame pateikti 36 597 rusų kalbos leksikos vienetai ir 13 165 karaimų žodžiai bei žodžių junginiai, kurių didžiausia dalis yra Trakų tarmės. Markas Lavrinovičius parašė karaimų kalbos gramatiką, kurioje aprašė karaimų kalbos žodžių darybos algoritmizaciją, taip pat parengė karaimų kalbos vadovėlio „100 karaimų kalbos pamokų“ elektroninę ir spausdintą versijas. Jis skleidė žinias apie karaimų religiją, istoriją, kultūrą ir kalbą. Išsaugoti ir perduoti karaimų kalbą, išmokyti jos jaunimą buvo jo svarbiausias uždavinys. Šiuo metu Marko Lavrinovičiaus šeima spaudai rengia dar neišleistus jo darbus. Apibendrinant svarbu paminėti, kad Markas Lavrinovičius buvo mokslo žmogus, jis daug nuveikė karaimų kalbos išsaugojimo, kalbos ir kultūros atgimimo labui. Lietuvos karaimų aukščiausias dvasininkas hachanas Markas Lavrinovičius, be abejonės, buvo viena iš reikšmingiausių XX a. pabaigos ir XXI a. pradžios asmenybių.
Birth Traditions of Lithuanian Tatars and Anatolian Turks: a Comparative Study
Turkijos visuomenei yra mažai žinomi Lietuvoje, Lenkijoje ir Baltarusijoje gyvenantys totoriai. Tačiau Turkijos turkologai turėtų nagrinėti ir analizuoti Lietuvos, Lenkijos ir Baltarusijos totorių arabiškais rašmenimis parašytus religinius tekstus, jų papročius ir tradicijas. Straipsnyje autorius nagrinėja folklorą. Šio mokslinio darbo dėmesio centre yra Lietuvos totorių tradicinė gyvensena ir kultūra, kuri analizuojama lyginant Lietuvos totorių ir Anatolijos turkų gimimo tradicijas. Lietuvos totoriai yra XIV a. iš Krymo į Lietuvos Didžiąją Kunigaikštystę atvykusių totorių palikuonys. Todėl yra naudinga palyginti totorių grupių, kartu gyvenusių Aukso ordoje, gimimo tradicijas. Ši lyginamoji analizė apsiriboja Krymo totorių tyrimu. Rengiant straipsnį teko remtis negausiais duomenimis, pateiktais lietuvių, lenkų ir rusų kalbomis. Pažymėtina, kad istoriografijoje rasta informacija yra panašaus pobūdžio. Pagrindinė medžiaga, leidusi atlikti Lietuvos totorių ir Turkijos turkų gimimo tradicijų lyginamąja analizę, yra Stanislovo Kričinskio veikalas „Tatarzi litewscy. Próba monografii historyzczno-etnograficznej“, išleistas 1938 m. Varšuvoje. Be šios knygos, Lietuvos ir Lenkijos totorių tradicinė gyvensena minima dar dviejų mokslininkų, Jakovo Grišino ir Mareko M. Dziekano, darbuose. Mus pasiekusi negausi informacija leidžia suprasti, kad Lietuvos totorių ir Anatolijos turkų vaiko gimimo tradicijos daugiausia yra panašios. Šiame straipsnyje, kurio rezultatus riboja šaltinių stoka, parodyta tik dalis šių panašumų. Lietuvos totoriai ir Anatolijos turkai išpažįsta tą pačią religiją ir turi bendras šaknis, todėl jų tradicijų panašumai yra savaime suprantami. Skirtumus galima būtų paaiškinti istorija, geografine aplinka, politine įtaka, santykiais su gretimomis visuomenėmis ir tradicijos galia. Lietuvos totorių, šimtmečius gyvenusių krikščionių apsuptyje, tradicijų kismas ir diferenciacija yra natūralus reiškinys. Vienas iškalbingiausių pavyzdžių – Lietuvos totoriai (beje, kaip Krymo, Kazanės ir Dobrudžos musulmonų turkų bendruomenės) nėra tokie preciziški apipjaustymo atžvilgiu. Stalą ir daiktus ant stalo per vardo suteikimo ceremoniją galime laikyti slavų įtaka Lietuvos totoriams, kurie į šią ceremoniją kvietė imamus. Turkijos turkologai turėtų daugiau tyrinėti tradicinę Lietuvos totorių kultūrą. Nauji tyrimai galėtų apimti ne tik rašytinius ir istorinius, bet ir žodinius šaltinius. Turkijos mokslininkai, kurie gali peržengti kalbos barjerą, turėtų vykti į Lietuvos totorių gyvenamąsias vietas ir patys rinkti žodinę medžiagą. Išsamus rašytinių ir žodinių šaltinių tyrimas leistų geriau suprasti kultūros kaitą ir transformaciją, be to, suteiktų daug aktualios informacijos apie tradicinę Lietuvos totorių gyvenseną.
International relations of the Lithuanian Karaims
In the long run, there were many investigations on the Karaim language as well as on the ethnology, culture and history done by foreign and Karaim scientists. But even in these cases Karaim scientists did not represent the Karaim community as such. During the Soviet period, to speak about the culture of ethnic minorities openly and widely was not allowed. The situation in Lithuania has changed during the movement of Sąjūdis and especially after 1990 when Lithuania gained its Independence. Then the possibility opened for Lithuanian Karaims not only to have contacts with other Karaim communities in the Crimea, Poland or in France, but also to be in touch with the wider Turkic world, with other Turkic nations. Representatives of the Lithuanian Karaim community started to participate in different events in other countries, representing there themselves, presenting their own history, investigations on different topics. They found themselves in the space of the Turkic world and culture, they noticed attention from the authorities and scholars of Turkey and other countries. I have described this situation very clearly in the World Turkic forum in Istanbul in 2010: “It is a great honour for me to be here today with you as a representative of Karay (Karaylar) – the smallest Turkic nation in the world. Since the ancient times we belong to the Turkic world as descendants of Kipchaks. When in 1997 the Director of the Turk Dil Kurumu listened for the first time to our mother tongue, he expressed his surprise by saying: “You are speaking as Turks in the 11th century”. The same thing was said in 1929 by the well-known Turkologist from Poland Professor Tadeusz Kowalski: “The Karay language is saved through the ages as a small insect in a piece of amber”. Although this comparison is very nice, it is important to underline that we are not lifeless insects. In reality, we are still alive, and we are proud to say that during the long ages, being a very small nation and living always among people of different and not Turkic nationalities, we managed to preserve our language which belongs to the Turkic family, we preserved our national identity, our traditions and habits, our objective to be together, closer to each other, to all Turkic world as well”. So we hope that lessons of the Karaim language recently started to be organized in the summer schools, in the academic programs of different universities and in the virtual space will be very fruitful for everybody who wants to learn the language or to use this knowledge in their investigations and will keep us undoubtedly in the space of the Turkic culture.
Is There Only One Homeland? Forming the Image of Troki (Trakai) and the Crimea in the Self-Identity of Karaites in the 19th–20th Century
Straipsnyje analizuojamas tėvynės konceptas karaimų kolektyvinėje savivokoje. Lenkijos ir Lietuvos karaimų istoriniame mite, kuris šiame tekste suprantamas kaip vyraujantis, nuleidžiamas „iš viršaus“ ir didžiosios dalies visuomenės nekvestionuojamai priimamas kryptingas tautos istorijos pasakojimo būdas, iškeliantis vienos tautos vaidmenį istoriniuose procesuose, pabrėžiama Trakų kaip kultūrinio ir dvasinio centro, reikšmė. Tuo pat metu Krymas (ir jo miestai, dab. Senasis Krymas ir Čiufut Kalė) vaidino svarbų vaidmenį karaimų bendruomenės istorijoje, tačiau šiame straipsnyje koncentruojamasi ne į šių dviejų vietovių reikšmę aptariamos grupės istorijai, bet į jų įvaizdį karaimų savivokoje bei raišką bendruomenėje XX a. pirmoje pusėje. Siekiama atskleisti, kaip naratyvo vaizdiniai aktualinti ir įtvirtinti bendruomenės sąmonėje. Teigiant, jog gyvenimas diasporoje darė lemiamą įtaką dvinariam tėvynės konceptui karaimų bendruomenėje, kartu atkreipiamas dėmesys, kad abi šios vietovės turėjo skirtingas reikšmes karaimų savivokoje. Atvykimo į Trakus legenda Lietuvos ir Lenkijos karaimų bendruomenėse atsirado anksčiau nei Krymo vaizdinys, tačiau, nepaisant to, nesugebėjo įgyti didžiojo istorinio pasakojimo statuso, o išliko vietos tradicijoje ir negalėjo konkuruoti su Krymo, kaip karaimų kilmės vietos, vaizdiniu, veikiausiai dėl netolygaus karaimų pasiskirstymo regione – Kryme buvo susitelkusi kur kas gausesnė jų dalis nei Lietuvoje ir Lenkijoje. Dvinaris Tėvynės vaizdinys tam tikra prasme buvo kompromisas tarp dviejų karaimų bendruomenėje egzistavusių naratyvų, nors jų reikšmė nebuvo vienoda. Karaimų bendruomenės lyderis S. Šapšalas, kuris savo pastangomis stiprino Krymo kaip Rytų Europos karaimų kilmės vietos įvaizdį, tapęs Lenkijos karaimų vyriausiuoju dvasininku, negalėjo jo pamiršti. Jo iniciatyva tiek Trakai, tiek Krymas tapo įrankiais formuojant didįjį karaimų istorinį pasakojimą, kuris buvo pasitelktas konstruojant modernią, kolektyvinę bendruomenės savivoką XX a. pirmoje pusėje.
Kahin? Shaman? Sorcerer? How to become a faldjey (according to the khamail of Aleksandrovich)
Faldjey (fałdżej) was one of the most emblematic figures in the social and religious life of the Polish-Lithuanian Tatars in the past. However, in the study of Tatars, to faldjeys a relatively little space was devoted, and the available information is primarily of descriptive or historical nature. This research is an attempt of the analysis of the nature of faldjey in comparison with other personalities of this sort (heales, sorceres, etc.) in Slavonic, Arabic, and Turkic traditions. The starting point will be the description of faldjey-initiation from the handwritten khamail of Aleksander Aleksandrowicz from Asmolava (Navahrudak district) (19th century). The copy of the khamail is kept in the library of the University of Warsaw of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. This study is devoted to faldjeys, also known as “siufkacz”. It was them – both men and sometimes women – who dabbled with “sorcery”, healing or even charlatanry and prophecy. Their first name comes from the Turkey word “fortune-teller” falcı (from arab. fal = [good] prophecy + tur. a prefix indicating an occupation). The second name has an onomatopoeic origin – from a specific type of blowing (“siufkanie”) used in magical practices, often accompanied by spitting. Both should be regarded as complementary, but also as stressing the two most important aspects of their practices. The first function of a faldjey was to make divinations (“otwieranie fału / opening the fal”). Among the most important of the fals is the Holy Script fal, but also seven and twelve planetary fals. Faldjeys also practiced different forms of fals, such as ornitomancy. Hitherto done research regarding faldjeys is limited to valuable descriptions made by Stanisław Kryczyński and Mustafa Aleksandrowicz, dating back to the interwar period. Basing on these records, as well as on the description of the procedure of “how to become a faldjey” from Aleksandrowicz’s khamaił, I will conduct an analysis of this phenomenon from the perspectives of both ethnology and religious studies. Who was a faldjey? It seems that a straight answer to this question is impossible. As ambiguous as is the literature of the Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, and as their Islam and the whole of their culture, the same can be said with regard to the faldjey/siufkacz. He is characterized by the features of “otherworldly” figures that can be found among many cultures connected in various ways with the Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, but he cannot be identified with any of them. His initiating ritual – verified in new cultural circumstances – had its origin among shamans, his fortune-telling abilities, and their connection with symbolic charlatanry came from pre-islamic, Arabic kahins, while the features common to a shaman, kahin, fortune-teller, charlatan and even sorcerer came from the Slav environment. By adding the “prophetic medicine” and “Quranic healing” he assimilated the elements which gave birth to a syncretic character different from all the others, but at the same time virtually indistinguishable from them. He turns out to be, just like other aspects of the Polish-Lithuanian Tatar culture, an original and internally varied local religious and ethnographic phenomenon which is now merely part of the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarussian Islam’s history.
Islam in a diaspora (the case of tatars-muslims of the Grand Duchy Of Lithuania)
Since the late 14th century, which marked the beginning of their presence in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), Tatars have constituted a Muslim community living in a diaspora dispersed among the indigenous inhabitants of the GDL and distinguished by their origin, culture, language, religion, etc. Depending on the period, they were a population of several thousand to several dozen thousand people. Usually, the life of such a diaspora is conditioned by many factors, both internal and external, as well as by assimilation and dissimilation tendencies. Therefore, the fact that the Tatar ethnic and cultural community has survived six centuries in the GDL and remained fully aware of their otherness despite being dominated by a totally different culture, language, and religion is a real historical phenomenon. Although the Tatars have become enculturated within these six centuries, thus forgetting their native language and their steppe habits, customs and traditions, they have saved until today the value of utmost importance – Islam, the religion of their fathers. Not only does this paper discuss various aspects of the enculturation of Lithuanian Tatars, but it also presents the history of similar minorities in other communities and cultures, such as the Spanish Moriscos, the Albaninan Bektashi or the Bosnian Muslims.
Religious writing of Belarusian tatars in the postwar period: the end of the tradition?
The meaning of the religious writing was very great for the Tatar-Muslim community of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the past: it not only performed the function of the conservation and translation of the religious knowledge but also was an important culture-forming factor. The manuscript tradition continued during all the 20th century and lived till the 21st century, although it underwent some transformation. The cardinal changes of the social political and cultural conditions in the 20th century have led to the gradual reduction of the manuscript tradition. The expansion of the print editions was the main reason in the West Belarus which was part of Poland; in BSSR, it was caused by the antireligious struggle. Only some categories of the manuscripts (khamails, hramatkis, and dalawars) continued to be copied at this time. The number of the believers who could read texts written with the Arabic letters significantly reduced after the Second World War. In the 50s–60s, the Muslim learning semi-legally existed only in Iwye on the territory of Belarus. Therefore, the manuscript tradition was maintained here. The majority of the Tatar copyists (both men and women) of the second half of the 20th century come from Iwye. Many copied for themselves small personal prayer-books (khamails) and the great number of the hramotkis which were saved as amulets, and dalawars used in the funeral ritual. The use of the saffron ink had a special meaning in the handwriting practice. Its recipe in the second half of the 20th century likely greatly differed from the recipe used in the past because of the inaccessibility of some ingredients. Some informants said that cultivated saffron by themselves. The revival of the religious life in the 90s of the 20th century did not promote a new rise of the handwriting tradition because of some reasons. The many-century tradition, which played a huge role in the preservation of the ethno-cultural and confessional identity, is on the verge of the total extinction in the beginning of the 21st century.
The main subject of our study is a book of Ahd-i Atik, which is mentioned as “willingly read” by Karaims, had been made ready for publishing by Mykolas Firkovichius and published in Turkey. Because of the frequent changes of their cultural environment and religion in time, the Turks have translated all of the holy books of religions which they accepted. For some religions, they have used their own language as the praying language. This situation is seen from the Uyghur era commonly. In the Karahanli era, Turks accepted the Islam and translated the Quran, Kipchaks accepted the Christianity and used Turkish in their churches, Karaims accepted Judaism and translated the holy scripts into their own language. In all of those translated texts, there are parts of idioms and religious terminology the same as in Kokturk texts. In the known eras of the history of Turkish culture, there are two main frequently changing elements which can directly change the national culture. The first one is religion, and the second one is the writing system, the alphabet, which mostly has tight relations with religion. There are lots of reasons to frequently and easily change these two elements. But, in our opinion, the two main reasons are the change of the environment and the talent of adaptation. The change of the environment is an obstruction to the result of the settled life: “accumulation”. Therefore, things that come from external ways find more acceptances. The easy change of these mentioned elements mostly brought negative results such as cultural discontinuities, and in further stages they cause assimilation. The history of Eastern Europe contains many examples of this situation.
Linguistic Features of Mirajname Texts in Manuscripts of the Lithuanian Tatars
Totoriai, kurie pradėjo kurtis Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės žemėse XIV a. pabaigoje, sugebėjo išsaugoti savo tapatybę ir religiją. Vis dėlto dėl tam tikrų priežasčių Lietuvos totoriai negalėjo išsaugoti savo gimtosios kalbos. Lietuvos totoriai prarado kalbą XVI–XVII a., jos vietą užėmė slavų kalbos, vartotos šiame regione. Nors Lietuvos totoriai prarado savo gimtąją kalbą, jie nepamiršo savo musulmoniškos tapatybės ir jautė būtinybę išversti su islamu susijusius tekstus, kad jie tenkintų jų religinius poreikius. Taip susiformavo totorių rankraščių tradicija – arabiškais rašmenimis rašyti islamiški tekstai. Lietuvos totorių rankraščiai skirstomi į keturis tipus: kitabas, tefsiras, chamailas ir tedžvidas. Kitabai ir chamailai yra svarbūs dėl turkų kalbos. Šiuose rankraščiuose, rašytuose arabiškais rašmenimis, maldos, sąvokos ir kai kurios religinės istorijos yra parašytos turkų kalba. Viena tokių istorijų, įrašytų kitabuose turkiškai, yra Miridžname. Turkų literatūroje nuo XIV a. atsirado daug Miridžname variantų. Tačiau šios istorijos atsiradimas Lietuvos totorių rankraščiuose yra įdomus atvejis. Po kiekviena Miridžname teksto eilute kitabuose yra pateiktas vertimas į slavų kalbas. Šiame straipsnyje siekiama analizuoti turkiško Miridžname teksto, aptikto Lietuvos totorių kitabų rankraščiuose, kalbinius bruožus ir šį tekstą lyginti su analogiškais, parašytais senąja Anatolijos turkų kalba.
Historical review of the first interlinear Koran translations (on the material of Turkic languages)
We study these texts not as a scholar on the Islamic or Koranic studies but as a linguist. These texts contain very important elements of the history of Turkic languages. In other words, for us, turkologs, from the point of view of comparative-historical grammar, these unique sources (translations of the Koran) are most convincing. The problem of translation of the Koran became a subject of fierce discussions among Muslim scientists. By the 10th–11th centuries, there was a situation when non-Arab Muslims began to give less attention to the knowledge of the Arabic language or did not consider it necessary to study it at all in connection with the falling power and influence of the Caliphate. There was an imperative need of translations of the Sacred Book, comments to it in clear languages. Let’s remind that the first recorded translation into the Persian language of the comment is considered to be the one which was carried out by a group of scientists-theologians on the command of Mansur I (350–366/961–976), the Samanid ruler of Khorasan and Transoxiana, the text “Tafsir” of al-Tabari. Based on this decision, Mansur b. Noah gathered all the famous theologians of Bukhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Fergana and other places and chose those most educated and knowledgeable to create the translation. As we have already noted, for the first time the Koran was translated into Farcy in the first half of the 4th century on a calendar “hijri” on the initiative of Transoxiana’s scientists. The same scientists translated the Koran also into the ancient Turkic language. Thus, the translation of the Koran into Farcy and ancient Turkic was carried out either at the same time or with a small gap in time. It is very curious that almost at the same time with the falling of the translational tradition in Anatolia, there was an interlinear translation of the Koran into Slavic languages. It is possible to assume that the influence of the cultural space Anatolia (i.e. Ottoman-Turkic) could get to the East European territory by means of the Tatar people after disintegration of the tradition of interlinear translations in Anatolia. There are a lot of questions concerning the degree and intensity of communications between Anatolia and Eastern Europe. Could Anatolia be a source of this interlinear method? To learn the truth, it is necessary to answer the following questions: 1. First, it is necessary to compare works from the point of view of transfer equipment and then to establish the degree and intensity of influence. We know that the source of the first Turkic translations was Persian; and what language was the source of Slavic translations? 2. Are there similarities between errors of translation in Turkic and Slavic texts? 3. Can we in Slavic translations find any traces of sects of Islamic origin, and do these traces coincide with similar Turkic texts? Sunni or Shia? Then we can learn about the source of translation into a Slavic language. If there are any traces of a sect, the hypotheses “translate directly from the Arab” (P. Suter) will be unreasonable.
Children of Ismael: attitude to muslims in the anti-christian polemic of Karaim Issak Troki “Strengthening of faith” (Chizuk emunah )
The aim of the article is to reconstruct the image of Muslims in Karaite and, in a broader sense, Jewish community by examining the anti-Christian polemic treatise composed in the 16th century by Issak Troki – one of the most specific sources that appeared in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). It is expected to develop a very limited research of the attitude of the society of the GDL to the Tatars and Islam, even when using Christian sources. One can assume that a unique type of coexistence in a multi-religious society was the reason to include Tatars into the Jewish–Christian polemics, to expand the range of questions usually raised in such polemics, and, finally, to create new theological discourses, which was not typical of other European regions. The broad context of religious polemics in the GDL allows to state that different attitudes were often based on a different interpretation of excerpts of the Holly Script, the discussion on the need of one or another religious ritual or the form of its performance. At the same time, Issak Troki was not interested in the everyday life of Tatars. In his polemics, a conceptual Tatar was acting (mostly like a theological prototype) as not related to the Tatar community in the GDL.
Linguistic Methods Used in Creating Muslims’ Image in the Polish Renaissance Religious Polemics
Tyrimo objektas yra Lenkijos Renesanso laikotarpio religinės polemikos tekstų kalba. Šie tekstai yra retorinio pobūdžio. Juose pateikiama daug argumentų, kuriais bandoma įtikinti kitus, kad egzistuoja viena tiesa. Straipsnyje nagrinėjami šių argumentų lingvistiniai rodikliai. Paaiškėja, kad jie atlieka įtikinimo metodo funkciją ir, svarbiausia, sukuria kontrastą tarp idealizuoto krikščionio vaizdinio ir išpažįstančių kitas religines doktrinas. Kontrastas sukuriamas nepagarbiai vaizduojant priešininką, neigiant jo atstovaujamas vertybes, rodant jo menkumą moralės, mąstymo, bendruomeniškumo, kultūros ir kitais aspektais. Tam buvo naudojami tinkamai parinkti lingvistiniai rodikliai.
Similarities in Some Language Strategies of Muslim Bosnians and Lithuanian Tatars
Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjami bosnių ir Lietuvos totorių slavų kalbų panašumai. Abi bendruomenes sieja tam tikri bruožai, iš kurių svarbiausi yra islamo religija ir slavų kalbos, nors bosniai pagal kilmę yra slavai, o Lietuvos totoriai – tiurkų kilmės. Skirtingos buvo ne tik jų etninė kilmė, bet ir socialinė bei politinė padėtis. Nepaisant to, abiejų bendruomenių rytietiškų komponentų inkorporavimo į slavų kalbas strategijos buvo panašios. Nors slavų kalbos, kuriomis jie kalba, yra gana tolimos – bosnių kalba yra pietų slavų kalba, o Lietuvos totorių vartojamos baltarusių ir lenkų kalbos atitinkamai yra rytų ir vakarų slavų kalbos, daugybė konstrukcijų, kurioms darė įtaką rytietiški komponentai, yra panašios ar net identiškos. Dviejų tautų slaviškose kalbose naudojamus rytietiškus komponentus sudaro vardai, titulai ir religinis žodynas. Skirtumas yra tas, kad bosniai vartoja labiau paplitusius rytietiškus žodžius nei Lietuvos totoriai. Abiejų bendruomenių praktikoje kai kurie rytietiški žodžiai buvo pritaikyti slavų kalboms, bet, kita vertus, rytietiški žodžiai paveikė žodžių tvarką ir kai kuriais atvejais nėra linksniuojami.
Muslim Tatar Communities of the Inter-War Republic of Lithuania
Musulmonų bendruomenė, kurios narių daugumą sudarė etniniai totoriai, tarpukario Lietuvoje buvo menkai žinoma etnokonfesinė mažuma, kuriai tačiau teko dideli iššūkiai. Visų pirma, apie pusę tūkstančio metų gyvenę kaip viena bendruomenė buvusios Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės totoriai, atsidūrę kelių priešiškų nacionalinių valstybių teritorijose, turėjo adaptuoti ar net perkurti savo tapatybę, kad prisitaikytų prie naujos sociopolitinės realybės. Taip susiformavo Lietuvos totorių tapatybė, kitokia nei Lenkijos ir Baltarusijos totorių tapatybės. Deja, kuriant naują tapatybę, kaip rodo išlikusi archyvinė medžiaga, pačių Lietuvos totorių dažnai perdėtai pabrėžtinai būdavo menkinami kitose nacionalinėse valstybėse likę bendratikiai tautiečiai. Tas ypač pasakytina apie Lenkijos, kuriai tuo metu, beje, priklausė ir Vilniaus kraštas, totorius. Taigi, dviejų nesutariančių valstybių tarpusavio santykių kompleksiškumas tiesiogiai persikėlė į platesnės totorių bendruomenės vidinių santykių lygmenį. Antra, istoriškai vietinėms bendruomenėms buvus savarankiškoms ir realiai nepavaldžioms jokiai vietinei ar išorinei valdžiai, Lietuvos Respublikoje likusios vietinės provincijų bendruomenės bet kokia kaina siekė išlaikyti savo nepriklausomybę taip žlugdydamos laikinojoje sostinėje naujai suformuotos musulmonų organizacijos Lietuvos musulmonų bendruomenių vienijimo pastangas. Tuo pačiu metu išryškėjo ne tik totorių nutautėjimo (asimiliacijos), bet ir prasidėjęs jų atšalimo nuo religijos procesas – esama archyvinė medžiaga leidžia pajusti, kad Lietuvos musulmonų bendruomenės tarpukariu ne(be)buvo religiškai uolios – net naujoji Kauno mečetė neturėjo pastovaus imamo, tad penktadieniniai meldimaisi vykdavo nereguliariai, o kitomis savaitės dienomis mečetė net nebūdavo atidaryta, o per karą apniokota Vinkšnupių mečetė taip ir nebuvo suremontuota.
The contacts of Volga–Ural muslims with Polish–Lithuanian muslims in the first third of the 20th century: cultural, religious, and socio-political ties in Russia’s muslim umma
This article is devoted to the issue of the character and channels of communication within the Muslim umma during the first third of the 20th century in the Russian Empire and in the state entities that arose after its collapse. What ties existed between the Volga–Ural and Polish–Lithuanian Muslims in this period? Was it the matter of episodic contacts or was there a long-term and permanent communication? Did Volga–Ural and Polish–Lithuanian Muslims sense themselves to be part of a unified Muslim umma, or was their regional identity stronger? How informed were they about each other’s problems, interests, history, and culture? Which tendencies were stronger: centrifugal or centralizing (uniting)? These questions will serve as the research tasks. In this interaction, we can distinguish several stages: 1. The beginning of the 20th century, especially 1905–1913. At this stage, students became the main facilitators of the idea of interaction, as well as various capital-city cultural, educational and benevolent organizations in which they took part (Dzhemil Aleksandrovich). 2. 1914–1917. During the First World War, refugees with their own problems emerge as the chief factor for integration. 3. 1917–1920. The revolutionary period and the civil war, during which many public figures and soldiers of the Polish–Lithuanian Tatar origin operated in the orbit of revolutionary events (at the eastern extremes of the former empire, i.e. in the Crimea, the Volga region, and Azerbaijan, among others; the Krichinski Brothers, Aleksandr / Iskander Talkovskii, Matvei Sulkevich, and others). 4. The 1920s and 30s. In the west of the former empire, the Tatars were divided among three independent states: the USSR, Poland, and Lithuania. At this stage, the ideological emigration of Russian Muslims was a factor; these included such prominent examples as Gayaz Iskhaki, Gayan Vaisov, and others who were in the Baltic States and Poland. As for the contacts within Muslim society, another peculiarity deserves mention: for the most part these contacts were formed by the efforts of specific personalities. That is, one can speak of a rather high level of personification of these contacts, especially at the beginning of the 20th century. Therefore, in this work, each of these stages will be characterized through the biographies and fates of actual historical figures: Dz. Aleksandrovich, Al. Akhmatovich, Gayaz Iskhaki, and Gayan Vaisov. As to the contacts between Volga–Ural and Polish–Lithuanian Muslims in the first third of the 20th century, one should note the following basic tendencies. The empire’s vast territorial extent and the poor mobility of its population were the most important factors impeding the establishment of close and long-term ties within the Russian umma. The situation changed fundamentarily with the advent of the First World War when western Tatars who were forced to flee the occupation of their lands by the enemy found themselves in the eastern portions of the empire and became acquainted with their co-religionists from these regions. These processes were strengthened and received a new impulse during the revolution and the civil war. On the whole, we see that the Tatars from the empire’s western regions were actively included in the social and political life of Muslims at the imperial level as a whole. They played an important role in the national movement and in the creation of national state formations, such as the Tatar Autonomy in the Crimea, the independent Azerbaijani state, and in attempts to create an independent state in the Volga–Ural region (Leon Krichinski, the Akhmatovich father and son, and Matvey Sulkevich, among others). In the 1920s and 30s, many of them returned to their homelands where there were Volga–Ural Tatars who had been forced to emigrate. As a result, with the creation of independent states with sometimes unfriendly relations (Soviet Russia and Poland), normal communications among regions of the formerly united empire became practically impossible. However, within the Polish state which included a portion of the Lithuanian lands and the city of Vilnius, not only Polish–Lithuanian Tatars but also émigrés from the eastern territories of the empire (Gayaz Iskhaki and Gayan Vaisov, among others) played an important role in the life of the Muslim community.
Materials about the Lithuanian muslims in the tatar periodical press at the beginning of the 20th century
The article examines materials of the Tatar periodical press until the year 1917, which covers the history of Muslims in Lithuania and Poland. The first text we would like to pay attention to was written in Tatar and signed by Djamaletdin Alexandrovich. It was published in February 1906 in two issues of the “Kazan mohbire” (Kazan bulletin) newspaper. The article headlined “The origins of the Lithuanian (Polish) Muslim Tatars. A page from history” was a basis of the well-known treatise “The Lithuanian Tatars” by Dj. Alexandrovich, published in 1926. The value of the discovered materials lies in the fact that Kazan Tatars had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the opinion of the authoritative researcher 20 years before the majority of Russian readers got an access to the book. In the “Shura” magazine, which was published under the editorship of the prominent scientist and theologian Rizaetdin Fakhretdin (1856–1936), there were a number of observable articles about Muslims in Lithuania: Yusuf Akchura and R. Fakhretdin were covering the subjects such as the Battle of Grunwald, Grand Duke Vytautas and Tokhtamish khan, Fatikh Karimi wrote about the Tatar village Studzyanki in Poland. The author G. F. on the basis of some historical facts drew the conclusion that the Lithuanian Tatars in the Russian Empire were “the examples of loyalty, kindness, and civic consciousness”. R. Fakhretdin informed the readers of the magazine “Shura” in the issue No. 20 of 1915 that a group of Lithuanian Tatars came to Orenburg as refugees persecuted by the First World War. “The wish of local population to learn more about the history of these Muslims dressed as Russians and speaking the Russian language is quite normal”, noticed R. Fakhretdin in his article. At first, he gave an extensive information about Lithuania as a territory stretched over several Russian provinces, about Lithuanians, their language and religion. Further, the author recounted some facts about the “Tatar regiment” in the army of the Grand Duke Vytautas, later called “Ulan”. R. Fakhretdin advanced the theory that the Lithuanian Tatars emerged as a result of blending of the Volga and Crimean Tatars. He reasoned that Karaims who moved from the Crimea to Poland managed to preserve their native language because they had a chance to migrate with their families, while Muslim Tatar warriors came to the Lithuanian territory as single men and then married local women, what led to the loss of the ability to speak the Tatar language. Speaking about the living conditions of the Lithuanian Tatars at that time, R. Fakhretdin brought up the urgent problem: muftiyats and religious boards of the Russian Empire did not pay enough attention to the troubles of Lithuanian Tatars. This discussion was continued by the “Vakit” newspaper which was pleased to inform that the Orenburg Tatars themselves organized medjlis (treating) for the Lithuanian Tatar refugees. Tatar journalists did not conceal their joy that their fellow-countrymen welcomed cordially Tatar congeners who were spilled over the foreign territories, and after 400 years of being separated the meeting of brothers in blood and religion at last occurred.
Tatar land ownership in Vilnius province in the second half of the 19th century
The development of land ownership by Tatars in the second half of the 19th century was not subject to restrictions imposed after the 1863 uprising. The ordinance of the 10th of December 1865, which prohibited the nobility of Polish origin from acquiring land in nine western provinces, did not apply to Tatars. Tatars managed to negotiate this exemption from the government by reminding it of its merits and declaring allegiance to the emperor of Russia. After collecting information about the number of Lithuanian Tatars, their material situation, lifestyle and reliability, it was decided to separate Tatars from “Polish landowners”, withdraw the contribution imposed on them, ensure the loyalty of Tatars, and finally to resolve the “Tatar issue”. On the 22th of July 1867, the Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution granting the same privileges to Lithuanian Tatars in the area of land ownership as those granted to Russians and Protestants. The political aspect of ethnic differentiation provided conditions for Tatars to improve their material situation and for some of them to become large landowners. Army officers and government officials of Tatar descent purchased larger estates in Vilnius Province. Tatars from the Ašmena area were particularly active in the land market. Throughout the entire second half of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century, landowners of Tatar descent consistently bought estates. Transactions typically involved medium and small size estates or just parcels of land. The structure of land ownership among Lithuanian Tatars was very similar to that of other nobility where small-scale land ownership dominated. The land that was acquired in the second half of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century changed the rural area inhabited by Tatars very little. It remained quite traditional, because Tatars tried to buy estates and land inhabited by their fellow Tatars.
Perspectives of researches in the bipartite relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Ottoman empire
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in the 14th–16th centuries was a broad territorial unit which reached the Black Sea coast. Territorial contacts between the GDL and the Ottoman Empire were conditioned by the geopolitical situation in the 15th century. In spite of the obvious political and trade contacts of these two countries, in historiography this topic is still generally unknown. The aim of this article is to analyse the GDL and Turkey historical relations and to highlight a potential research perspective in this field. Relations of the GDL with other countries – Moldavia, Crimean Khanate, and Muscovy – are densely involved with this particular topic. Obviously, this research will cover a wide sphere of other urgent historical problems. The historiographical heritage in this particular research field is analysed firstly with the main authors and their work. It has become clear that the GDL is usually mentioned in the common historical context when international contacts among Poland, Turkey, Moldova and other countries are reviewed. There are no clear researches of the GDL policy in the Black Sea region; this is why this political unit is usually mentioned fragmentarily in common analyses. With this article, the author is trying to stimulate the rise of new historical researches in the field. Secondly, the main historical documents are reviewed. There is no wide document base, indeed, especially in the field of published sources. On the other hand, there is information about unpublished documents in different archives. To sum up all the above, the GDL and Turkey historical relations are an actual and promising historical research field, and it still is waiting for the attention of scholars.
Incorporation of the western uluses of the Golden Horde into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th–15th centuries (political, geographical, socio-economic and demographic aspects)
This article analyses Turkic people in Lithuanian state. The history of relations between the peoples of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) and people of the steppe is in many ways a unique phenomenon. This uniqueness consists of two components: the GDL had a great impact on the Golden Horde, and the big part of the steppe (European part) people due to migration settled in the GDL. The article reveals two demographic processes. First, defeated part of nomads sought the protection in the GDL. The best example is khan Toktamysh. Second, the GDL annexed territories of the Golden Horde with Turkic inhabitants. This process could be illustrated by the example of “Simeon’s people” – Tatar group of the “Samara–Orelja” ulus, which was incorporated into the GDL by Simeon the prince of Kyiv in 1455.
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