Death in Kashira: Did Grand Duke Vasily III kill the Kazan Khan Abdul-Latyf?
В stories The House of Rurik has been the subject of many detective stories worthy of the pens of Umberto Eco and Leonid Yuzefovich. Some have been widely circulated by historians, poets, and artists, while others are virtually unknown to the general public. We will attempt to uncover one of these "forgotten" episodes—the mysterious death of the Kazan prince Abdul-Latyf in Kashira in 1517, for which many still blame the Moscow Tsar Vasily III.
It would seem simple: Moscow's relations with Crimea had already cooled, a rivalry for influence over Kazan was brewing, and the victim—the stepson of the recently deceased Crimean Khan Mengli Giray and, concurrently, the leading claimant to the Kazan throne—was, by a twist of fate, in the Grand Duchy of Moscow. And so he suddenly dies at 42, just as his older brother, the Kazan Khan Muhammad-Emin, is dying and asks the Grand Duke to allow Abdul-Latyf to return to his capital. But is everything so clear-cut? Did Vasily Ivanovich actually have a motive, and how convincing are the accusations against him? We'll move on to the investigation itself in the next part of this publication; for now, let's delve into the context and background of our detective story.
Abdul-Latif on the Kazan throne. Miniature from the Illuminated Vault
Kazan's "Game of Thrones"
As early as the 60s, the Grand Duke of Moscow devoted more attention to Kazan than to his decrepit "master," the Great Horde. Gradually, direct control over the Volga Khanate became the idée fixe of the eastern policy of the growing Russian state.
Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilievich
The Kazan rulers were quickly forced to abandon their "Batu" ways and cling to the established parity with Moscow. However, this balance of power proved fleeting: while the sons of Ulu Muhammad, the founder of the Kazan dynasty, had sent their insatiable Baskaks to the White Stone Empire after the Battle of Suzdal in 1445, his great-grandsons would have to submit to yesterday's tributary.
The capture of Grand Duke Vasily II at the Battle of Suzdal in 1445. Miniature from the front vault
At the same time, at least two aristocratic "parties" were already emerging in Kazan by the late 70s: the Eastern (hostile to Moscow and oriented toward an alliance with the Great Horde and Nogai Hordes, interested in the trade in Russian slaves) and the Pro-Russian (favoring an alliance with a strengthened Moscow and peaceful trade). However, this is merely a common historiographical construct, and no party membership cards from that time have survived to researchers.
In 1479, Khan Ibrahim died, immediately triggering a series of internal turmoil in the khanate, in the best traditions of Dumas's works or "Game of Thrones." Ibrahim left behind several sons from various wives: the eldest, Alegam (Ali Khan), Melik-Tagir and Kudai-Kul from Fatima, and Muhammad-Emin (Muhammad-Amin) and our hero, Abdul-Latyf, from Nursaltan. Two contenders for the throne immediately emerged, and, as usual, a faction of Kazan nobility formed around each.
Khan Muhammad-Emin. A sculptural image based on the khan's skull.
Muhammad-Emin's supporters mostly belonged to the pro-Russian "party." The tsarevich's mother even maintained a friendly correspondence with Ivan III, considering him her main ally. Alegham, on the other hand, was actively supported by the Nogais and the Eastern aristocratic bloc.
The factional struggle was exacerbated by the fact that the Kazan succession system had, for the first time, malfunctioned and produced a "fatal error." On the one hand, Queen Nursaltan was considered the main khan. Before her marriage to Ibrahim, she had been the wife of his older brother, Khalil, who inherited the throne from his deceased father in 1467 but immediately followed him to meet Allah. This gave her some grounds for naming her son (Muhammad Emin) as the legitimate heir to the Kazan throne. But Alegham was the eldest of Ibrahim's remaining offspring, which further substantiated his claim to power.
Ultimately, Alegam's "team" prevailed, and he ascended the throne "on Nogai sabers." Nursaltan was forced to flee the khanate with her children. The elder Muhammad-Emin was immediately sent to Moscow with a letter drafted in the boy's name, in which he requested assistance in the fight against his brother Alegam and addressed Ivan III as his father (in diplomatic parlance, a patron or overlord). Ivan III welcomed the tsarevich with open arms and even officially recognized him as his adopted son. The sovereign's new relative was granted a place to feed. "the strong town of Kashira", where Muhammad-Emin lived for almost ten years and actually grew up.
The Grand Duke's generous gesture was not due to an excess of paternal love, but rather to purely practical considerations. For him, Muhammad-Emin was the most convenient figure as ruler of Kazan, as the Tsarevich's widowed mother also maintained close ties with Crimea, at that time Moscow's key ally.
In 1485, the queen married the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray and left with Abdul-Latif for Bakhchisaray. For a time, Nursaltan became a sort of mediator in the Russo-Crimean alliance, which for a time proved 100% effective. Moscow and Bakhchisaray successfully opposed the Great Horde, which was ultimately defeated by its allies, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Kazan, however, had not yet become a bone of contention between the allies. On the contrary, when Ivan III became the first Russian ruler to capture the khanate's capital in 1487 and installed Muhammad-Emin, the stepson of the Crimean ruler, as his own successor, the alliance seemed to have only strengthened. Although the timer for the "Kazan tug-of-war" had already started, let's not get ahead of ourselves and move on to the turning point in our hero's life.
Khan Alegham surrenders to Ivan III's commanders in 1487. Miniature from the chronicle.
How the "Kalimetovtsy Circle" let a goat into the garden and elevated Abdul-Latyf to the throne
In March 1492, Ivan III, in a correspondence with Nursultan, inquired, among other things, whether Abdul-Latyf would like to travel from Crimea to Kazan or another city, and promised the young prince protection. The following year, at his mother's request, our hero arrived in Moscow, where he was warmly received by the Grand Duke and even granted Zvenigorod as an appanage. Muhammad Emin, however, curbed his brotherly feelings and decided he did not want to see Abdul-Latyf in Kazan.
so that evil people would not cause evil deeds between them and their brother and so that our brotherhood would not be destroyed.
And such fears were not unfounded. In 1497, a group of seditious Kazan "princes," led by Bek Kalimet (Kel Akhmet), conspired with the Siberian and concurrently Nogai Tsar Mamuk of the Sheibanids and attempted to overthrow the pro-Moscow government in Kazan. Muhammad-Emin was forced to flee to the White Stone Empire. According to S. Kh. Alishev, the conspirators relied primarily on the murzas and other service people dissatisfied with their subordination to Moscow. Commenting on the coup, Ivan III reported to Tsarina Nursultan in Crimea that her son had fled. "not trusting their people"It turns out that the khan feared not so much Mamuka as traitors among his own subjects. Mamuka, after all, was the project's face and the legitimate Chingizid, who would occupy the throne only nominally.
In reality, instead of a "pocket" khan, the conspirators got an insatiable goat in their own backyard. Having declared himself ruler of Kazan, Mamuk immediately jacked up taxes and duties, and then simply began robbing merchants, city dwellers, and zemstvo residents, seizing estates (suyurgals) from service men. Moreover, Mamuk, accustomed to Siberian simplicity, had no intention of delving into the intricacies of Kazan's complex state administration. "Karachi," "council of the divan"—all these words remained empty words for Sheibanid.
It's no surprise that that same year, the conspirators cunningly drove out Mamuka and repented before Ivan III, who, while not their father, turned out to be the lesser of two evils. The ambassador from the seditious Kazanites, Barash Seit, explained that the cause of the coup was the unbridled behavior of Muhammad-Emin, who committed "great violence and dishonor to our katuns". That is, the khan allegedly violated Islamic norms of treatment of women. So that no one in the future "I didn't ask Gulchatay to show her face", Kazan residents begged not to return Muhammad Emin to the throne.
Ivan III likely merely chuckled at such a ridiculous justification for treason, but he nevertheless acceded to the Tatar princes and fulfilled their request. In May 1497, our hero, Nursaltan's youngest son, Abdul-Latyf, became the new Kazan Khan. By that time, he had already been living in the Grand Duchy of Moscow for four years, where he "fed" Zvenigorod and Kashira.
Kashira. Modern photo
Like his older brother, the new khan swore allegiance first to his overlord—the Grand Prince—and only then to the people of Kazan. Muhammad-Emin, however, received a consolation prize: the cities of Serpukhov, Kashira, and Khatun as "feeding." Things also went well for Kalimet, who became the de facto head of the Kazan "government" under Abdul-Latif.
Abdul-Latif on the throne
Before the young khan and his "Kalimetovites" had time to properly warm up their new territory, the second part of the Nogai-Siberian epic began. In 1499, Mamuka's brother, Prince Agalak, decided to attack Kazan. He was spurred to this step by Kalimet's former comrade, Prince Urak, who had fled to Siberia. The Kazanians learned of the danger in time and requested assistance from Moscow. Prince F. I. Belsky marched with an army to the banks of the Kazanka River. Upon learning of the approach of a large Moscow army, Agalak and Urak turned around and retreated back to Siberia.
Once again, in all such situations, the Kazan Khan appears as a rather helpless figurehead. He truly had few real military forces—except perhaps his own court. But he lacked the influence to mobilize. To somehow strengthen Abdul-Latyf's position, the governors P. Ryapolovsky and M. Kurbsky arrived in Kazan. They became both the Khan's guards and advisors. Essentially, the governors were to control him like a puppet and report to the White Stone Khanate on everything that was happening in the Volga Khanate. In case of further external invasions or internal unrest, the Moscow advisors brought military contingents with them.
The khan truly needed additional security. Taking advantage of the moment when Moscow was engaged in yet another border war with Lithuania, the Nogai beys Musa and Yamgurchi approached the khanate's capital in 1500. No help arrived from the White Stone Empire, and Kazan was forced to fend off the intruders on its own. Additional temporary fortifications were quickly erected around the city, which would later develop into permanent fortifications for the settlement. As the chronicle records, in 1500 "King Ablethif ordered the fires to be lit", that is, to erect towers. This is perhaps one of our hero's greatest achievements as the Kazan Khan.
Every day, the capital's defenders launched sorties into the enemy camp. Ultimately, the Nogais were unable to replicate Ivan III's success and take Kazan, although the city's environs suffered greatly. After three weeks of "revelry" in the Kazan countryside, the Nogais retreated back to their steppes with rich booty and captives.
Apparently, the young Abdul-Latif personally participated in organizing the capital's defense. However, this did not help him remain on the throne.
The ordeal has begun
As early as 1501, Bek Kalimet personally traveled to Moscow to complain about the 25-year-old khan. As reported by the "head of the Kazan government," the khan
He began to lie and did not take into account the administration of any affairs, and he also took into account the evil that befalls the Kazan land.
Later, Ivan III wrote something similar to Abdul-Latyf’s mother, Queen Nursaltan, commenting on the disgrace of her son.
And he, for the sake of which he gave us wool, lied to us in everything, began to do everything wrong, and taught the people, both Rus' and Moslems, to do great things, and taught the whole land of Kazan to be hard; and it was already impossible to endure hardship from him.
It is unknown whether the Kazan Bek and the Moscow Grand Duke actually spoke the same language, or whether the scribes put the same passages into the mouths of both.
One way or another, in 1502 the Moscow sovereign ordered the capture of Abdul-Latyf and "chained in irons and sent to Moscow", which was carried out in January by Voivode V. Nozdevaty and Clerk I. Teleshov. The very wording "shackled in irons" sounds menacing: this was not the honorable imprisonment of a noble captive (in such cases, the term "nyatstvo" was used), but a shameful arrest and confinement in shackles. Then the poor fellow was thrown into the dungeon in Beloozero.
It's unclear exactly what Abdul-Latif did to so anger both Moscow and the pro-Russian Kazanites. He was clearly accused of something more serious than threatening the burqa of some noble "katun," as his older brother had been accused of. Apparently, Abdul-Latif fell under the influence of the Kazan aristocracy's Eastern bloc and began acting contrary to the pro-Russian "party." Perhaps they began robbing Russian merchants in Kazan. Muhammad Emin would later engage in the same activity after his return to the Kazan throne.
According to some versions, opponents of Moscow's influence even persuaded Abdul-Latyf to refuse to participate on Moscow's side in the Russo-Lithuanian War that began in 1500.
The Battle of Vedrosha between Muscovite and Lithuanian troops in 1500. Miniature from the Illustrated Collection
The fact is that one of the conditions of Moscow's protectorate was the Kazan people's assistance to the Grand Duke in his military campaigns. In 1489, for example, Muhammad Emin sent 700 bagaturs to assist Ivan III during the conquest of the Vyatka land. Since Vyatka had previously been within the Kazan sphere of influence and even paid tribute to the Volga Khanate, such military assistance to Moscow cast a shameful shadow on Muhammad Emin's reputation in the eyes of many of his compatriots.
According to another version, by St. Petersburg historian Mikhail Nesin, the reason for Abdul-Latif's disgrace was, on the contrary, his participation in the Muscovite war, namely the campaign against Livonia in 1501. Allegedly, our hero "distinguished himself" so much in the devastation of Livonian lands during the battle with the Dorpat army near Helmed that he ended up in the chopping block. The chronicles do indeed mention a certain Tatar king regarding this campaign.
Despite Ivan III's harsh temperament, such punishment for military failure seems draconian. One can recall numerous examples from Russo-Kazan relations alone, where the gatherer of Russian lands did not punish his commanders in any way after clearly disastrous campaigns. This is the unsuccessful campaign of the vassal khan Kasim, Ivan Obolensky and Danila Kholmsky to the capital of the khanate, and The Kazan operation of Konstantin Bezzubtsev and Ivan Runa in 1469, and others. So, the version of Abdul-Latif violating the terms of the protectorate established in 1487 and refusing to send troops to Lithuania seems more plausible at first glance.
Muhammad-Emin returned to the Kazan throne. But he, too, soon "repaid his Moscow "father" with evil for kindness": he too fell under the influence of the pro-Eastern bloc and initiated an anti-Russian policy in Kazan. This, in turn, led to the Moscow-Kazan War of 1505–1506, which ended in Moscow's military defeat but also its political victory. Russian protectorate over the Volga Khanate was restored, albeit in a somewhat weakened form.
The Russian-Crimean-Kazan bogeyman
The fate of Abdul-Latyf negatively impacted relations between Moscow and Bakhchisarai. In 1502, their sworn common enemy, the Great Horde, disappeared from the scene. With its disappearance, Russian-Crimean relations began to resemble a protracted divorce, and Kazan gradually became a child the former spouses were unwilling to share. The period from 1507 to 1521 can be considered a cold, or even latent, stage of the conflict between the former allies. Of course, local Crimean raids and clashes on Russian territory did occur, but large-scale wars had not yet erupted.
Mengli I Gerey (center) with his son and heir Mehmed Gerey (left) and the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (right)
But let's return to the story of Abdul-Latif. In 1503, the Crimean Khan issued an ultimatum to Ivan III to release the prisoner and return him to his service. Otherwise, Mengli threatened to sever diplomatic relations and cancel all alliance agreements. Under pressure from Taurida, the Russian sovereign somewhat softened his decision regarding Abdul-Latif. His imprisonment was replaced. house arrest in the Kremlin, and that was enough to neutralize the conflict. The allies still weren't ready to really fight over Kazan.
Mengli Giray even chose not to directly intervene in the aforementioned Russo-Kazan War of 1505–1506. Moreover, Taurida attempted to play the role of mediator in this conflict. Looking ahead, in 1509, Vasily III, who succeeded the deceased Ivan III, wrote to the Crimean ruler that he had fulfilled his request and "for you and King Magmed-Amin have made peace"Although Mengli made no secret of his staunch support for the Volga Khanate and considered the Grand Duke an aggressor, Crimea began to ostentatiously develop relations with Lithuania to exert diplomatic pressure on Moscow. But for now, this seemed like an attempt to inflate its own standing by provoking jealousy.
Both sides continued to rely on each other in their struggle against external enemies even after the fall of the Great Horde. Ivan III still hoped for an alliance against Lithuania, while Mengli Giray hoped for Moscow's assistance against the Astrakhan Khanate. In 1508, he wrote in a letter to Vasily III:
And now whoever is my enemy is your enemy: the Astrokhan Akhmetev and Makhmut children, the tsars. God willing, when spring comes, we will seek them out, with God's mercy and power, for three months, until the rye ripens, otherwise the matter will be settled; and when the rye ripens, we too, with God's mercy, will carry out the work of Zhigimont, the queen.
That same year, ambassadors from Mengli Giray, Nursultan and Muhammad Emin, vouched for Abdul-Latif, and Vasily Ivanovich finally released him from Kremlin custody. On December 29, he was granted Yuryev as a grant, and the prince gave him a bribe for his faithful service to the Grand Duke. Soon, Abdul-Latif was also granted Kashira as a grant. During the aforementioned embassy, Mengli Giray also asked Vasily III to allow his stepson to visit his mother in Crimea, but this request was never granted.
This interest in the fate of the unfortunate prince was explained not only by Nursultan's concern for her youngest son. Abdul-Latif was perceived by Crimea as a "backup player" who would, if the opportunity arose, assume the Kazan throne. Firstly, through his mother, he was related to the Crimean Girays. Secondly, during his brief reign in the Volga Khanate, he had proven himself to be a rather weak and driven figure. Furthermore, his subsequent captivity in Moscow did not enhance his loyalty to Moscow. Accordingly, with the right approach, he could have been used to strengthen Crimea's position in Kazan. Most likely aware of this Crimean calculation, Vasily III was in no hurry to favor the prince. Gradually, his disgrace became yet another destabilizing factor in Russian-Crimean relations.
And Lithuanian diplomacy constantly added spice to the mix. From the time of Vasily III, the so-called "Crimean auction" began, with Lithuania competing with Moscow to see who could send the most votive offerings (diplomatic gifts) to the Khan of Taurida and pit him against his rival. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania would become the clear favorite in this race only after the death of Mengli Giray (1515), but diplomatic and military incidents had begun to occur even earlier. In 1507, Crimea supported Lithuania in a brief war with Moscow. However, this incident was quickly hushed up, and the alliance was renewed. Later, in 1509, the Moscow ambassador, Vasuk Grigoriev, wrote to the Grand Duke about the "warm" reception he received at the court of the Crimean Khan:
Kudoyar Murza took the bleached fur coat from the courtier. And Yaz, sir, went to the Tsar's door, and the Yasauls, sir, dropped their staffs and began to speak to the interpreter: "Give me the taxes..." And Apak Murza, sir, said to me: "Don't indulge him, go straight to the Tsar."
This short message from the ambassadorial book is extremely pithy and contains the quintessence of relations between the two states at that time. Some Crimean nobles, such as Apak Murza, mentioned by the ambassador, still gravitated toward an alliance with Moscow and lobbied for its interests at court. Others, such as Murza Kudoyar, who was greedy for "white fur coats," were sharply hostile to the Russian state. They had already decided to befriend Lithuania, since its homages (as diplomatic gifts were called in Lithuania) seemed more lavish to them than those of Moscow.
This report also describes one of the most humiliating procedures to which the Grand Duke's ambassadors in Crimea were regularly subjected—the staff tax. No, it has nothing to do with the staff tax imposed on land in the Russian state in the 16th and 17th centuries. Murzas would throw a staff at the diplomats' feet and demand payment for the right to step over it. A similar tradition likely dates back to the Golden Horde. Ambassadors were forbidden to pay this "tax," even under penalty of death. If an audience with the khan was impossible without it, diplomats were ordered to abandon their mission and return to Moscow.
In the same year of 1509, the Grand Duke complained to the Crimean Khan that the ambassador, boyar Konstantin Zabolotsky "they committed violence" by the Nogai bey Yamgurchi and [i]"children" Crimean Khan, "Tsarevich Akhmat-Kirei, and Tsarevich Feti-Kirei...".
Saint Basil and Grand Duke Vasily III. Icon
And in 1512, the diplomatic confrontation again escalated into a military one: Crimea supported Lithuania in the war that had begun against the Grand Duchy of Moscow and raided Russian territories.
Read about how this affected our hero's future fate in the next publication. We'll also discuss the Tsarevich's death and conduct a brief investigation into whether Vasily III Ivanovich had a hand in it.
Literature and sources
This article is based on Pavel Kanaev's book "Kazan and Moscow: The Origins of Ivan the Terrible's Kazan Wars." St. Petersburg, 2024.
Sources:
Nikon Chronicle // Complete collection of Russian chronicles. T.13. M., 1965
Continuation of the Resurrection Chronicle // Complete collection of Russian chronicles. T.8. M., 2000
The story of the Kazan kingdom. Kazan chronicler // Complete collection of Russian chronicles. T. 19. M., 2000.
Monuments of diplomatic relations of the Moscow state with the Crimean and Nogai Hordes and with Turkey. Vol. 1 // Collection of the Imperial Russian Historical Society. St. Petersburg, 1884. Vol. 41.
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