Dastan about Uraz-Muhammad Khan from the work of Kadyr-Ali bek as a source about the clans of the tatars of Kasimov

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Introduction. Neither in the historical memory of the Kasimov Tatars, nor in their family legends, nor in the acts and documents of management and record keeping of the Kasimovsky uyezd, there are practically no mentions indicating the presence of clans among the local Tatars. The only and therefore especially valuable source was a message from the work “Jami’ al-tawarikh” [41; 21; 22], written at the very beginning of the 17^th century by Kadyr-Ali bek. In the dastan about Uraz-Muhammad, Kadyr-Ali bek described in detail the ceremony of proclaiming Sultan Uraz-Muhammad as Khan in Kasimov in 1600. The dastan contains an image of the throne where the names of four beks, who stood on the right and left sides of the throne, are signed. These four beks were senior in the Kasimov Khanate, they were called Karachi-beks. The names of the clans are signed next to the names. One of the beks was the author of the work, Kadyr-Ali bek from the Jalair clan, who arrived in Kasimov together with Uraz-Muhammad. But who were the other beks? This image attracted the attention of researchers, but apart from the very fact of the presence of the institution of Karachi-beks in the Kasimov Khanate, no specific information about the personalities of other beks could be found. Noteworthy is the attempt to identify the remaining Karachi-beks, which was undertaken by D.M. Iskhakov. Using the translations of I.N. Berezin, V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov and M.A. Usmanov, D.M. Iskhakov in his work “From the medieval Tatars to the Tatars of the Modern times” suggested that the Chanyshev Tatars descend from the Argyn Chanysh, and the Semineevs from the Mangyt Samanay [20, p. 209]. Kypchak Tukay stayed with D.M. Iskhakov questionable – he admitted that the Tevkelev clan was connected with them [20, p. 209].

In our research, we set the task of checking these assumptions and finding any additional information related to the Karachi-beks from the dastan about Uraz-Muhammad Khan. Images of the throne are preserved in two lists of the composition: in St. Petersburg on sheet 155b and in Kazan on sheet 68– facsimiles of both lists were published in editions of 2022 [22, p. 163, 239; 21, p. 452, 294]. The main options for reading the names are given in the table (see Table 1). As will be shown below, the most appropriate is the spelling of names in the St. Petersburg list of Kadyr-Ali bek’s work, compiled in the first half of the 17^th century [50, p. 36]. And the closest was the translation by Z.A. Khisamieva: “On the left side – Argun Chanysh bek, Kypchak Tugay bek, on the right side – Jalair Kadyr-Gali bek, Isbay Mangut Simnay bek” [22, p. 141].

Table 1

Versions of reading the names of the Tatar beks on the image of the throne from the dastan about Uraz-Muhammad

The image of the throne from the St. Petersburg list and the reconstruction of the names of the Tatar beks are presented in the figure below (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Image of the throne of Uraz-Muhammad from the St. Petersburg list 
and the reconstruction of the names of the Tatar beks

In addition to the dastan about Uraz-Muhammad, the presence of Karachi-beks in the Kasimov Khanate is mentioned in the Crimean Ambassadorial Book in the letter of Ivan IV for 1568. This letter to the Moscow ambassadors A.P. Nagom and F.A. Pisemsky contained an invitation for the Crimean Khan to send his youngest son or grandson to the throne in Kasimov: “We have a yurt of the Muslim Kasimov-town in Meshchera ... in that yurt, there are karacheys and ulans, and knyazes, and myrza, and ichks, and all sorts of close people” [31, p. 138–140]. Despite the fact that the Crimean tsarevich did not happen to be in Kasimov, we mark such a condition. It was clarified that the Crimean tsarevich could bring up to 100–150 people from the Crimea alongside him, but without oppressing the local Tatars: “do not sweep out the tsar’s old close people there” [31, p. 138–140]. We can assume that in this way Ivan IV agreed to maintain his position, including the old nobility, including the Karachi-beks. This message testifies that if Uraz-Muhammad appointed his close man Kadyr-Ali bek from the Jalair clan as Karachi-bek, then the rest of the beks could be representatives of the local aristocracy.

Tatar beks in Russian sources were indicated with the title “knyaz”. According to the Horde traditions, which should have been preserved in the Kasimov Khanate, the presence of a bek (knyaz according to Russian sources) title meant that its bearer had certain powers that extended to a certain “el” (“yurt” or “ulus”) [5]. Unfortunately, the absence of any information does not give us a clear idea of what the Bek “els” were in Kasimov. It is possible that “el” was a certain subordinate group of the serving Tatar population while the Russian population in uyezds was under the jurisdiction of representatives of the Russian administration such as volost rulers or governors [6].

The main reliable source for searching for Karachi-beks or their descendants is various surviving lists of serving Tatars in the Kasimov uyezd of the 17^th century, as a rule, these are dozens (”desyatnya”), watched lists.

Kasimov representatives of the Argyn clan

Assuming that on the left side of the throne of Uraz-Muhammad there was a bek from the Argyn clan named Chanysh, we should look in the Russian-language lists among the Tatars for knyaz Chanysh or his descendants, whose name is indicated in patronymics or in family nicknames (future surnames). We could not find the knyaz himself. However, in the lists among the Kasimov Tatars, we were able to find the following entries:

– 1623, watched list [10]:

“Timoshka murza knyaz Denyshev (probably Chenyshev – authors’s note)”, Tsarev Dvor (“Tsar's Court“ – authors’s note), salary of 150 quarters;

“Emay murza knyazh Chenyshev”, newcomer (“novik”), positional salary of 100 quarters.

– 1643/44, watched list²:

“Timoshka murza knyaz Chenyshev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 150 quarters;

“Emay murza knyaz Chenyshev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 100 quarters³;

“Chernokay murza Timofeev son knyaz Tsenyshev”, newcomer, salary of 300 quarters⁴.

In these entries, the family nickname “knyaz Chenyshev” is written with the prefix “knyaz” or “knyazh”. This means that the ancestor of their carriers was knyaz Chenysh. This similarity allows us to assume that these Tatars were descendants of the Argyn Chanysh bek.

In the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, one of the family trees of the Kasimov Tatars has been preserved in the Miller collection. The family tree begins from knyaz Temgen, who had two sons, knyaz Chenysh and knyaz Sutush⁵. The family tree notes that the Chanyshevs descended from Chenysh, and the Sutushovs from Sutush (Suteshevs – authors’s note)⁶. The image of this family tree and its reconstruction are shown in the figure (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Image of the Chanyshev and Suteshev family tree from the Miller collection

Due to the discovery of knyaz Temgen, the information about Temgen and his son Chanysh from the old Tatar legend of the inhabitants of Bastanovo village published in the Shuro magazine in 1915⁷ looks remarkable. Bastanovo is an ancient Tatar settlement known since the beginning of the 16^th century (currently Bastanovo village in Sasovsky district of Ryazan region), but it was located outside the Kasimov Khanate in the neighboring Shatsky district, and nearby, on the opposite bank of the Tsna River, was located Temgenevo village (currently Temgenevo village in Sasovsky district of Ryazan region). During the 16^th-17^th centuries, the Tatars of the Shatsk uyezd were called Tsna Tatars. According to legend, Khan of Kasimov called for one of the most respected people of the Crimea named Temgen. Temgen allegedly dug a channel from the Crimea to Bastanovo and to Kasimov which was called the Crimean Road. People used to travel this way to the Crimea. Despite the certain whimsicality of the story about the channel, this message may reflect real historical facts. The fact is that the Tatar path across the steppe, which could be called the Crimean Road, ran through this area. However, in addition to the Crimean embassies, batches of Crimean or Nogai military could use the road. According to the reports of the Shatsk waywodes of the first half of the 17^th century, fortresses were set up near Shatsk on paths across steppes, and so that they could not be bypassed across the road, notches were made and ditches were dug [24, p. 101, 105].

More interesting is the fact that next to the modern Temgenevo village are the remains of an old settlement (Temgenevskoe settlement). Presumably, these are the remains of the Andreev town (“Andreev gorodok”) repeatedly mentioned at the beginning of the 16^th century in the Crimean ambassadorial books. According to archaeologists, the city was Russian [14]. The unexpected mention of Andreev town in the answer of the Moscow knyaz Vasily III to the request of Tsarevich Akkurt to grant one of the Tatar “yurts” in 1508. [40, p. 15] suggests that Andreev town could have complained to some of the noble Tatars earlier as a kind of “yurt”. The family tree of the knyazes Meshchersky connects Andreev town with the family of the Shirin knyaz Bakhmet Useinov [35, p. 275]. From the answer to Tsarevich Akkurt, it also becomes known that in 1508 the Andreev town was already in the possession of the Tsarevich of Kasimov, Janai [40, p. 15]. In Andreev town, as in a Tatar “yurt”, there could also be a certain group of Tatars, since the Tatar rulers, having received the town as an award, settled there with their entourage or a batch of Tatars. Often such settlements of serving Tatars formed a Tatar settlement within the boundaries of the granted town – Tatar settlements were in Kasimov [54, p. 64], in Zvenigorod [12, p. 280], in Romanov [18, p. 122]. Therefore, in 1508, such a group of Tatars could be under the control of the Kasimov ruler, knyaz Janai. During the raids of 1514–1515 Andreev town was destroyed by batches of the Crimean Tatars [40, p. 231]. If we recall the legend of the inhabitants of Bastanovo, then we can assume that it was these events that caused the Tatars to move to the other side of the Tsna in Bastanovo. This means that the Bastanov Tatars could still be subordinate to the Kasimov rulers for some time. It is curious that in 1558, Kocheulai Sengildeev’s son, who escaped from the Crimean captivity, was a resident of Bastanovo, because he was recorded as a “Bastanovi”, listed in the discharge books as a “Gorodets” Tatar– i.e. Kasimovsky [34, p. 167]. What is more interesting, in 1558, along with the annual voyevodes in Shatsk, a man with the Tatar name Kulak knyaz Temgenev, was shown [34, p. 166], who, judging by the name record, could be the son of Temgen from the Chanyshevs’s family tree. Thus, we will conclude that Tsarevich Janai, Tsarevich perhaps one of the subsequent Kasimov rulers-Chingisids, appointed his Karachi-bek from the Argyn clan as the Tatar governor over this region.

Genetic studies of the Y-chromosome of several representatives of the Chanyshev surname and the Crimean Tatar representatives of the Arginsky surname showed their close relationship to each other. The Arginskys and the Chanyshevs belong to the J1 haplogroup, subclade J-FGC7⁸. Almost all of the numerous genetic relatives come from Arab countries.

Crimean Tatars with the surname Arginsky are descendants of beks and murzas from the Argyn clan, who, after the liquidation of the Crimean Khanate, became part of the nobility of the Russian Empire [23, p. 101–104].

Given that, according to legend, Temgen came from the Crimea, we can assume that Chanysh bek was a descendant of representatives of the Crimean Argyn clan.

At the same time, it should be noted that a research on the genetics of the Kazakh Argyns showed that the descendants of the Argyns Akzhol (Dair-Khoja) and his sons Kara-Khoja and Somdyk belong to the G1 haplogroup [7], that is, they are not close to the Arginsky and Chanyshevs in direct male lines which are clearly of Arabic origin. Seeing such a contradiction, it is necessary to find an explanatory model. In our opinion, it consists in the following. According to the data of the Turkestan collection, a Sheikh (spiritual leader) of the Argyn clan was a certain Jeleladdin [48, p. 58]. It’s our opinion that this Jelaladdin is identical to Sheikh Jelal ad-Din from the Sufi tariqa of Ishqiya (Fergana). He had the following genealogy:

Jelal ad-Din, son of Seyid Jaffar, son of Seyid Naki, son of Seyid Muhammad, son of Seyid Taka, son of Seyid Ibrahim, son of Seyid Ahmed, son of Seyid Muhammed, son of Ali Zarbagysh, son of Makhdi (the twelfth Imam of the Shiites, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) [2, pp. 9–10].

Thus, this Jelal ad-Din was from the Sayid class and belonged to the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. At the same time, if we look at all the data on Majmu al-tawarikh, it turns out that the Argyns had close ties with this Jelal ad-Din. Akzhol (Dair-Khoja) and his son Kara-Khoja were murids in the tariqa of this sheikh [3]. As it is known, later, due to the earthquake in Fergana, part of the representatives of the tariqa were integrated into the tariqa of Naqshbandiyya.

It is quite possible that one of the descendants of Jelal ad-Din was able to integrate into the Argyn tribe whose ancestors served his ancestors. Thus, they (the hereditary sheikhs of the Argyns descended from the Arab Seyids and the 12^th Shiite imam Makhdi) acquired the Argyn identity in the Crimean and later Kasimov Khanates.

The ambassadorial books mention the name of another Argyn knyaz of Crimean origin, who was in Kasimov at the end of the 15^th century. Mengli-Giray in November 1491 asked Ivan III to return knyaz Mardan: “And they talked about Mardan the knyaz, so that the knyaz would grant him a great release, and Nurdovlat would not know the tsar” [39, p. 121]. Note that Mardan is mentioned with a title of knyaz, thus, we can consider him the ruler of the Argyn el in Kasimov under Khan Nur-Daulet. Apparently, he soon returned to the Crimea, since in 1501 he was mentioned in the list of Crimean nobles for paying “commemoration” [39, p. 352]. And, apparently, Mardan headed the Crimean el Argyns, since it is mentioned among the Karachi-beks who signed an agreement between Vasily III and Mengli-Giray in 1508 [40, p. 20].

Kasimov representatives of the Kypchak clan

The petition found in the Astrakhan Regional Archives to establish the noble origin of the Tatar Yusup Tonkacheev, filed in 1802⁹ contains an image of the Tonkachev family tree. Karachi-bek from the Kypchak clan in the ceremony of proclaiming Uraz-Muhammad Khan in 1600 was probably knyaz Tyugey, a representative of the Tonkachev family (see Figure 3). This unique family tree begins with knyaz Isen of Kipchak (“Isen Kipchatskiy”), probably belonging to the Kypchak clan. The name of knyaz Tyugey is found in the tree. Thus, we can reconstruct the ancient dynasty of the Kypchak knyazes Tonkachev in Kasimov (see Figure 4). The names of Tyugey’s ancestors indicated in the tree (Bulush, Saltanglych, Tankach) are historical figures, because mentioned in other sources [42; 28, p. 260; 39, p. 142].

Knyaz Tyugey in the painting is shown as the son of knyaz Bulush. On the image of the khan’s throne (golden felt) in “Jami al-Tawarikh”, the name of one of the Karachi-beks, located on the left side, was read by the researchers as “Tuqay bek”, “Tukey bik” (see Table 1). Considering that the Tatar sounds “g” and “k” in the text of the chronicle were transmitted by one letter of the Arabic alphabet kāf “”ک”, i.e. the word “Tügäy bek” in spelling did not differ from “Tükäy bek”, it can be assumed that this Karachi-bek was exactly Tyugey. Tyugey is suitable for the role of Karachi-bek in other ways. Firstly, according to the discovered genealogical table, he belonged to the Kypchak clan, because his ancestor was called Isen Kipchatsky, and secondly, he had the title of knyaz (bek). Knyaz Tyugey is found in the middle name of Ediger murza, mentioned in the lists of the Kasimov Tatars:

– 1642/43, watched list:

“Edigel murza knyaz Tyugeev son of Tolkachev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 300 quarters¹⁰;

– 1649, watched list:

“Ediger murza knyaz Tergeev son of Tonlachev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 300 quarters [11].

Figure 3. Fragment of the family tree of the Tonkachevs

Figure 4. Reconstruction of the family tree of the Tonkachev knyazes

The ancestor of the Tonkachevs (Tonkacheevs), as well as the Bulushevs, Alyshevs, Kikichevs, Emashevs, knyaz Tonkach, is a historical person, he is mentioned in the memory of Ambassador Ivan Loban who was instructed to report to the Crimean Khan Mengli-Giray on the results of the joint military campaign of the Kasimov, Kazan and Russian regiments led by the prince of Kasimov Satylgan against the Great Horde. From the text of “memory”, we learn that in the summer of 1491, having gone deep into the steppe, Tsarevich Satylgan sent forward a combined batch of knyaz Tonkach “from the Tatars and Rus” which was subjected to a sudden attack by the Great Horde murza Museka, the son of the ruler of the Mangyt ulus in the Great Horde, knyaz Azike (Hadjike b. Timur): “And Tonkach dispersed”. Tonkach’s batch suffered tangible losses: “some people were killed, and others were taken over”. Satylgan with regiments had to retreat, where he was forced to wait for the arrival of Kazan reinforcements from Khan Mukhammed-Emin [39, p. 142].

The name Tonkach, however, without a title of knyaz, is also mentioned in the message of the Crimean Khan Mengli-Giray. In 1493, he asked Ivan III to return his nephew to the Crimea: “Kobyakov is one of his sons, his name is Alei, he lives near Kiskach and Tonkach” [39, p. 174]. Most likely, we are talking about Tonkach, knyaz of Kasimov. There is reason to believe that Kiskach and Tonkach at that time, together with the Crimean Aley, lived in Kasimov. Firstly, Mengli-Giray asks to send for his nephew “to the tsar, my brother Nurdovlat” [39, p. 174], who was the ruler of the Meshchersky yurt. Secondly, the Tatar Kiskach (Kyskach), mentioned with Tonkach, earlier, in the spring of 1486, was sent to see off the Crimean embassy along with Kurchbulat-Ulan, who, in turn, in the message of January 1493, was indicated by the head of the Meshchera Cossacks [39, p. 176]. And it is important to note that Mengli-Giray’s nephew, who lived near Tonkach, was a representative of the same Kipchak clan, like Tonkach, since Mengli-Giray wrote about his father Kobyak in the autumn of 1493: “Kipchak, and Kobyak, was our brother, you have one of his sons now, as much as you have welcomed, you will send him, Kobyak knyaz’s son, to us” [39, p. 197].

The information about knyaz Tonkach does not fit in with the text of extracts from the Departure (“Vyezzhykh”) Books available in the case of the restoration of the nobility of Yusup Tonkacheev, according to which, in 1492/93, “close” knyaz Isen Kipchatsky¹¹, left the Golden Horde together with the Tatar tsars Khan Mukhamet and Khan Bar, Tonkach’s grandfather. But the historical Tonkach, as shown above, already lived in Meshchera during these years and participated in the campaign, commanding a regiment. This means that his grandfather, knyaz Isen, in fact, should have left earlier. Moreover, we admit that the real knyaz Tonkach, mentioned in 1491, was a fairly adult person, because he already had a title of knyaz, and the title of knyaz, according to the Tatar tradition, would be transferred to the oldest member of the family.

We believe that in this case, the lifetime of knyaz Isen Kipchatsky falls on the first half– the middle of the 15^th century. So far, the most probable khan, for whom Isen was a “close” knyaz, both by years of life and by the consonance of his name, could be Ulu-Muhammed. In Russian sources, he was also called as “Tsar Makhmet” without the prefix “Ulu” [29, p. 103, 107]. Of course, Ulu-Muhammed himself did not go to the service of the Moscow knyaz, but after the death of Ulu-Muhammed (he disappears from the sources after 1445), one of his “close” knyazes could well go there, for example, together with his sons and knyazes Kasim or Yakub, because the “Horde” knyazes also arrived with them [17, p. 140–142]. In all fairness, it should be noted that the name of Isen does not appear among the names of the knyazes of Tsarevich Kasim who left, with whom the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily the Dark concluded an agreement: “Prince Vasily Vasilyevich the Great, for your father, for Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich, ended with the tsareviches of the Kasymov knyazes, with Kobyak, with Aidarov’s son, and with Isak, with Akhmatov’s son” [17, p. 129]. Nevertheless, we are still inclined to consider knyaz Isen one of the former Karachi knyazes of Ulu-Muhammed. And the fact that there are records about him in the Departure Books of the Ambassadorial Order testifies to his historicity.

To obtain more in-depth information about the origin of the Tonkachev family (Tonkacheev, Tankacheev), DNA tests of the Y-chromosome of one of the Kasimov representatives of the Tatar family of the Tankacheevs were performed at the Family Tree DNA laboratory (Houston, USA). It is known about his ancestors that they lived in the village of Tonkachev, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan region. Tests have shown that the haplotype belongs to the haplogroup R1b-M73. Remarkably, the tested Tankacheev turned out to belong to the cluster, which is distinguished by the specific value of the STR¹² marker DYS390=19, which is characteristic of the R-Y14051 subclade. Let us clarify that we are talking about clarifying kinship only in the direct male line. This genetic line is found in various peoples of the Eurasian space from the regions of Western Ukraine and Moldova to Inner Mongolia [56; 45]. Its main feature is that it is present among many carriers of the ethnonym Kypchak. First of all, the presence of this lineage was noted in most representatives of the Kazakh clan Kara-kypshak [49], as well as in some representatives of the Karakalpak Kypchaks [36] and Bashkir Kypsaks [26], Crimean Tatar Kypchaks [25]. The evidence presented in this article allows us to conclude that the Golden Horde knyazes from the Kypchak clan also belonged to this genetic line. These circumstances do not exclude the possibility of the arrival of knyazes from the Kypchak clan to the western part of the Golden Horde, on the right bank of the Volga, together with Khan Tokhtamysh from the eastern regions of Desht-i Kypchak. Complete Y-chromosome sequence identified subclade
R-BY199373¹³. The question remains whether the ancestors in the direct male line of both the modern carriers of the ethnonym Kypchak and the Golden Horde beks from the Kypchak clan could be among the pre-Mongolian Kypchaks, who were called Polovtsy in Russian sources, and Cumans in European and Byzantine sources. The researchers, after analyzing the results of DNA testing, came to the conclusion that there is reason to give a positive answer to the question posed [37]. The key factor is the significant presence of R1b-M73 (DYS390=19) among the Kumandins [56]. The Kumandins are a Turkic people living in the Altai Territory, the Altai Republic and the Kemerovo Region of Russia. O. Pritsak and L.P. Potapov spoke about the connections of the ancestors of the Kumandins with the medieval Kypchaks [32]. Therefore, the Kimak state is considered the birthplace of the ancestors of the Golden Horde beks from the Kypchak clan. [55]. It is worth noting that paleoDNA from the Kimak burial also belongs to this subclade [15]. We add that Rashid ad-Din in his work “Collection of Chronicles” did not include the Kypchaks among the Mongol tribes of Chingis Khan, considering them descendants of Oghuz [33].

Kasimov representatives of the Isbai-Mangyt clan

The analysis of the names from the surviving archival lists suggests that knyaz Semenei (Seminei, Simenei) Nemichev could be the most suitable for reporting in “Jami al-Tawarikh” about Karachi-bek Simnai from the Isbai-Mangyt clan. He himself is not mentioned, but the names of his descendants are found in the lists of the 17^th century:

– 1623, watched list [10]:

“Sunyay murza knyaz Semineev”, newcomer (“novik”), salary of 200 quarters;

“Alei murza knyaz Semineev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 300 quarters

– 1642/43, watched list:

“Sunyay murza knyaz Semeneev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 200 quarters¹⁴;

“Alei murza Semeneev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 350 quarters¹⁵;

“Karslan murza knyaz Semeneev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 200 quarters¹⁶;

“Tenebek murza Semineev”, Tsarev Dvor, salary of 350 quarters¹⁷;

– 1646, census book of Kasimov [27]:

 “The courtyard of Tenibek murza knyaz Semineev son Nemichev”.

The fact that Semenei Nemichev could be a bek means that he was also the ruler of some kind of his own el.

Perhaps, knyaz Ivan Nemichev, who, according to the charter of 1587 on the release of the Tatars from various dues and duties, headed the Kasimov Tatars of the Tsar’s court [4, p. 230], was a baptized relative of knyaz Semenei Nemichev. This once again testifies to some special position of this kind among the Tatars of Kasimov. Knyaz Ivan Nemichev as a waywode is mentioned in the records for 1582/83 in Kasimov “according to the Nogai news”, in the same year “according to the Nogai news” he was in Alatyr “and there were Meshcherians with him” [30, p. 230].

V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov suggested (later D.M. Iskhakov supported this idea) that Isbay-Mangyt (“Isbay”) is the name of one of the divisions of the Mangyt clan [53, p. 434; 20, p. 209-210]. But what kind of subgenus could it be, which was noticeably different in its significance? It is known that in the first half of the 16^th century in the Muscovite state there were Mangyt murzas from the Great Horde branch, once hostile to Moscow and Crimea (descendants of Mansur b. Idegei) [47; 8; 20, p. 225], then in the second half of the 16^th century, the descendants of Idegei from the Nogai Horde were placed mainly in the Romanovsky, Yaroslavl and Rostov uyezds [9; 47]. According to V.V. Trepavlov, only those who were baptized eventually received the title of knyaz [47]. From this we can make the assumption that, despite the special position, the descendants of Idegei were unlikely to have their own el in Kasimov, which would have provided them with a bek title. It seems to us that the subgenus Isbay-Mangyt originates from the mangyt Asbay-bek (“Asbay”) mentioned in the work of Utemish-hadji [51, p. 62, 66, 208]. In other writings, his name was written as Esebiy, Esenei [46, p. 65; 1, p. 67, 83]. Utemish-hadji called Asbay-bek the uncle of Idegei [51, p. 62]. It is worth noting an important detail, Asbay was granted by Khan Toktamysh with his own el: “they gave a vilayat to Kylgychy Kury” [51, p. 62]. Utemish-hadji also reported that his grandson, Muhammad bek (Sheikh Muhammad beg– according to Abdulgaffar Kyrimi [1, p. 83]), distinguished himself as a supporter of Khan Ulu-Muhammed during the capture of Khan Barak [51, p. 78]. Here the grandson is named with the title “bek”, which means that a separate bek dynasty really went from Asbay-bek. Interestingly, among the Nogai (“Tatar”) tribes, in the summary of information from the “old letters” stored in the archive of the Astrakhan provincial government, one can also find a consonant subdivision of the “esebeymangyt kinship” [46, p. 502]. According to A.D. Grebenkin, collected in 1868, and among the Mangyts living near Samarkand and Katta-Kurgan were the Isabai and Issabai clans [19, p. 87].

Thus, the version about the origin of the Kasimov representatives of the Isbay-Mangyt clan from the legendary mangyt Asbay-bek does not look contradictory, given that Asbay’s grandson was among the supporters of Ulu-Muhammed, which means that his descendants could be among the close beks of Tsarevich Kasim, the son of Ulu-Muhammad.

However, the results of DNA testing of the Y-chromosome of the possible descendants of knyaz Semenei turned out to be strange. We studied samples of the representatives of the Simeneev family, who came from the village of Karaulovo (which now does not exist, it was located on the territory of the Yermishevsky district of Ryazan region).

 According to the “refusal” (“otkaznaya”) books of 1685, murzas Biryush, Mamet and Frol, the grandchildren of the aforementioned Kasimov’s Syunyai murza knyaz Semineev, were granted grandfather’s estates in the village of Karaulovo in the neighboring Kadom uyezd¹⁸. The children of Frol Murza are listed among the inhabitants of Karaulov village in the census book of 1723¹⁹. The results of the representatives of the Simeneevs showed the subclade J2b-Y12000, characteristic of the descendants of the local Tatar nobility of the Kadom uyezd, but not for the descendants of the Kasimov beks [38]. Despite the documentary authenticity of the origin of the Karaulov Semeneevs from Kasimov’s Syunyai murza knyaz Semineev, it should be recognized that they are unlikely to be genetically related to the direct male line.

It is worth noting here that DNA testing was carried out on other representatives of the Mangyt family. One of the princes of the Urusovs was tested for the full sequence of the Y-chromosome and completely coincided with the Karakalpak representative of the Kara-Mangyt family. They both belong to subclade C2-BY182928, with an estimated age of 950 years (range 800-1100 years)²⁰. This subclade belongs to the C2-starcluster, which also genetically includes representatives of other Nirun family. As you can see, the above Semeneevs did not genetically coincide with other representatives of the Mangyt family.

Conclusion

Summing up the results of the research, we note that we were able to identify all the clans whose names were indicated on the image of the throne of Uraz-Muhammad: the Tatars Chanyshevs and Suteshevs belonged to the Argyn clan, the Tonkachev Tatars belonged to the Kypchak clan, the Nemichev-Semeneev Tatars belonged to the Isbay-Mangyt clan. It turned out that more correct names are recorded in the St. Petersburg list of the compositions of Kadyr-Ali bek. Last publication and translation by Z.A. Khisamiyeva were the most accurate in the transfer of names.

We can assume that the representatives of the Argyn, Kypchak, Isbay-Mangyt clans were among the oldest clans in Kasimov. Probably, the Argyns came from Crimea and appeared in Kasimov with the advent of a new Crimean dynasty. But representatives of the Isbay-Mangyt clan could come to Kasimov together with Prince Kasim, the son of Khan Ulu-Mukhammed. Despite the very deep family tree, it is difficult to judge the time and circumstances of the arrival of the Kypchak clan.

Having carried out genetic studies of the modern descendants of these ancient and most noble Horde families, we can draw preliminary conclusions about their origin. Thus, the Kasimov and Crimean Argyns probably come from the Arab descendants of the sheikhs of the Sufi tariqa, who in Central Asia were spiritual leaders in the Argyn tribe, and subsequently, apparently, led them as beks. Horde beks from the Kypchak clan did not accidentally get such a name – they are genetically connected with the Kimak and Kypchak Khaganates.

¹ Readings by Ch.Ch. Valikhanov [‎52, p. 243] and R.G. Syzdykova [‎43, p. 170] coincide with the publication of I.N. Berezin and translation by V.V. Velyaminov-Zernov.

² Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 71.

³ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 71.

⁴ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 87.

⁵ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 199. Op. 1. №. 299. P. 8. D. 5. S. 2. Родословное древо рода касимовского князя Темгена (Family tree of the clan of Temgen, knyaz of Kasimov). Available at: http://portal.rusarchives.ru/evants/exhibitions/miller_
exp/725.shtml (Last access: 02.04.2022).

⁶ The duty book of 1613 indicates the name of a probable descendant of Sutush knyaz: “Burnash murza knyaz Suzteshev” [‎16, p. 17].

⁷ A fragment of a legend in the modern Tatar alphabet: “Янә шул әснадә Дусихан, Кырымнан Кырымның (“гаюр вә“, see Shuro magazine – authors’s note) могътәбәр әдәмләрдән Тимгән исемле кешене җәлеп итеп, ул да Кырымнан Бостанга хәтле, бәлки Ханкирмәнгәчә дә, канал казып килгән. Халә дә ул канав бар (сукалап бозарга да кайсыдыр падиша тарафыннан мәныг ителгән) «Крымская даруга» дип атала. Тимер юллар йөрмәс борын, безнең халык шул юл белән Кырымга күп йөрүчән булганнар. Баягы Тимгән шул җирдә (йирдә) истикамәт итеп, аның Чаныш дигән углы әүляды белән Бәләбәйгә күченгән. Халә Бәләбәйдә Чаныш фамилиясендә дворяннар бар. Монда Чанышевлар булса да, христиан динендә князьләр булып калганнар. Бостанның әүвәлге урыны Цна суының җәнүб гарби тарафында Тимгәндә булса да, бәгъзе бер кысынкылык сәбәпле, суның икенче тарафына күченеп, Бостан исеме биргәннәр. Тимгәндә фәкать христиан дине кабул иткәннәр генә калып, халә дә Тимгән атала. Ләкин йирләр әле дә булса Бостан милкеңдә күбрәк кыйсеме.” [‎44, p. 198–199].

Authors’s translation: “At this time, Dusikhan invited a man named Temgen from the Crimea from the respected Crimean people, and he dug a canal from the Crimea to Bastanovo, maybe even to Khankirman (Kasimov town – authors’s note). And now there is that channel (some tsar forbade it to be destroyed by plowing) called the “Crimean Road”. When there were no railways, our people traveled to the Crimea along this route. The aforementioned Temgen showed loyalty in that place, his son Chanysh and his family moved to Belebey (currently Belebey town in the Republic of Bashkortostan – authors’s note). Currently, nobles with the surname Chanysh live in Belebey. If the Chanyshevs are here, then only the knyazes who remain in the Christian religion. Although the original place of Bastanovo was located in Temgen (Temgenevo village – authors’s note) on the southwestern bank of the Tsna River, due to some overcrowdedness they moved to the other side of the river and named Bastanovo. Only those who adopted Christianity remained in Temgen, now they are still called Temgen. But most of the land there is still owned by Bastanovo”.

⁸ DNA testing is done in a FamilyTreeDNA laboratory (Houston, USA)

⁹ State Archive of the Astrakhan Region (GAAO). F. 375. Op. 1. D. 128. S. 9.

¹⁰ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 70.

¹¹ State Archive of the Astrakhan Region (GAAO). F. 375. Op. 1. D. 128. S. 9;  State Archive of the Saratov Region. F. 19. Op. 2. D. 1. S. 399.

¹² STR – short tandem repeats.

¹³ DNA testing is done in a FamilyTreeDNA laboratory (Houston, USA). YFull YTree v11.02.00. Available at: https://www.yfull.com/tree/R-Y163498/

¹⁴ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 71.

¹⁵ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 92.

¹⁶ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 93.

¹⁷ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 210. Op. 9. D. 184. S. 70.

¹⁸ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 1209. Op. 2. D. 6496. S. 158–163.

¹⁹ Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). F. 350. Op. 2. D. 1068. S. 576–577.

²⁰ YFull YTree v11.02.00. Available at: https://www.yfull.com/tree/C-BY182928/

About the authors

Maksum M. Akchurin

Author for correspondence.
Email: m-akchurin@yandex.ru

Cand. Sci. (History)

Zhaxylyk M. Sabitov

Email: babasan@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7186-156X

Ph.D. (Political Sciences), Professor of the Department of History; Director

References

Supplementary files

Financial Support: The work was financially supported by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (grant no. AP19579400)

Acknowledgements: The authors express their sincere gratitude for assistance in collecting materials to Takhir Abdurakhmanov, Mullanur Isheyev, Alexander Abdiyev, Dr. Sci. (History) Andrey Belyakov, Dr. Sci. (History) Radik Salikhov.