Crimean Khanate, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian State in 1524–1571: The Diplomatic Correspondence from the Archive of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

• Published in: Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie = Golden Horde review Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 866 - 920
• Main Author: Erusalimskiy K.Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: State Institution «Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences 01.01.2017
• ISSN: 2308-152X; 2313-6197
• DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2017-5-4.866-920

The manuscript of the Czartoryskis’ Library in Krakow № 2893 contains, among other sources, the correspondence of the Crimean-Kazan Gireys with the kings of Polish Crown and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Ruthenian translation (“prosta mowa”). The collection of letters springs from the Radziwills’ archive and can be dated back to 1524–1571 based on the reasons outlined in this article. The manuscript from the Warsaw Main Archive of the Ancient Acts (Radziwills coll., part II, № 3294) contains a part of the same correspondence, which is present in the Czartoryski manuscript № 2893. The author reinterprets the historical context of the Warsaw manuscript. The senders of the letters are Sahib-Giray (to Sigismund I, 1st: ca. 1521–1524, 2nd: June–July 1530, 3rd: September–October 1537), Safa-Giray (two letters to Sigismund I, spring or summer of 1524), Amin-Giray-Saltan (a letter to Sigismund I, September–October 1537) and Poland’s King Sigismund I the Old (to Khan Sahib-Giray at end of December 1537 or the beginning of January 1538). The latest-dated part of the Polish-Lithuanian and Crimean-Kazan correspondence in the Czartoryski manuscript contains the materials of Devlet-Giray’s diplomatic correspondence with Sigismund II Augustus, which sheds a new light on the Crimean march against the Muscovite state in 1571. These materials are contextualized and studied with respect to the new information they may provide on the history of Russian-Crimean relations (letter to Sigismund II ca. April 5, 1571 and Ardy-Berdey’s embassy ca. July 5, 1571). The author found a list of 27 towns devastated by the khan during the war against Moscow recorded in the embassy accounts of the Polish Royal Treasury at the Warsaw Archive. It was composed as a means of propaganda, but it reflects the marching route of the Crimean troops to Moscow and the ravaging of other Russian districts after Moscow had been burned on May 24, 1574.