Did Grand Duke Vasily III kill the Kazan Khan Abdul-Latyf? Investigation Results
In the previous publication we touched upon the context and prologue of the “forgotten” detective story from stories The Rurik dynasty, about whom no poems, operas, paintings, or historical novels have been written. We've examined the path of the Tatar prince Abdul-Latyf, from political refugee to Kazan Khan, and then to Moscow's disgraced and imprisoned ruler. It's time to conclude our hero's story and conduct a brief investigation: how well-founded are the accusations against Grand Duke Vasily III Ivanovich of the prince's murder?
Second disgrace
Let us recall that in 1512, the so-called Ten Years' War between the Russian state and Lithuania, supported by Crimea, began. At this time, our hero was in the service of the Grand Duke of Moscow and was feeding Kashira. Amidst yet another round of confrontation between Moscow and Bakhchisarai, Abdul-Latyf, who was related through his mother to the Crimean Girays, once again fell out of favor with the Russian sovereign. Kashira was taken from the prince and he was arrested.
The Siege of Smolensk in 1514. Miniature from the Illustrated Vault
However, sources do not directly link Abdul-Latif's disgrace to the outbreak of the Russo-Lithuanian-Crimean War. The explanation for Abdul-Latif's guilt is limited to the laconic "for his untruth." Later, in 1515, the Grand Duke refused Queen Nursultan's request to temporarily release her son for a joint pilgrimage to Mecca and a trip to Crimea.
However, in the same year, Vasily III wrote to Nursultan: “We ordered Tsarevich Abdulletif to come to us and we ordered him to travel for his amusement.”
It turns out that Abdul-Latyf was finally released from custody and brought back into the court. Soon, new prospects loomed before him.
On the harm of beating babies
In 1516, an embassy led by Shah Hussein Seyit arrived in Moscow from Kazan, along with "Prince" Shah Yusuf and secretary Buzek. The reason for the visit was the serious illness of the Kazan Khan Muhammad Emin, who had left no male heirs.
The Kazan chronicler describes the symptoms of his illness:
And for this crime of the Tsar of Kazan, God struck him with an incurable wound from the head, and he fell ill fiercely, lying on a bed for 3 years, boiling with pus and worms, and doctors and sorcerers were unable to heal him from this wound, neither the queen who deceived him, nor his greater ranks, because of the stench of evil emanating from him.
This "case history," while not allowing doctors to make a precise diagnosis of the khan, clearly alludes to the case of Herod the Great and warns of the harm to the body and soul of the massacre of the innocents. The latter are the Muscovite merchants massacred by the Kazan people in the khanate in 1505.
The ambassadors allegedly brought rich gifts to the Grand Duke:
300 good horses... with golden saddles and bridles, with scarlet coverings, and a sword, and a spear, and a golden shield, and a bow.
Muhammad-Emin not only apologized for his past betrayals of Moscow but also asked Vasily III to release his younger brother, Abdul-Latyf, and recognize him as heir to the Kazan throne. Queen Nursaltan and the Crimean Khan, Mehmed Giray, made a similar request to the Grand Duke. They all swore that Abdul-Latyf would henceforth be a loyal friend of Moscow.
The Grand Duke gave his approval, but on one condition. Muhammad-Emin and "the entire Kazan land" were required to swear in writing that no khan would be installed on the throne without Moscow's knowledge and approval. The Kazan people first made such a commitment in 1487, after Ivan III captured Kazan and established the first Russian protectorate. But following the war of 1505–1506, the Kazan people had somewhat strengthened their position, and this clause of the agreement remained pending approval. Now the Moscow sovereign had an opportunity to "return the favor."
The march of Russian troops on Kazan in 1506_Cavalry and naval forces_Miniatures of the front vault
The Kazan side agreed to the terms put forward; the relevant documents were drawn up by Moscow diplomats and brought to Kazan by Shah Hussein Seyit. Russian ambassadors also arrived, taking an oath from the khan and the ruling elite to uphold the agreements stipulated in the charter. Upon the embassy's return to Moscow, Abdul Latif was again granted the city of Kashira.
Then Muhammad Giray very "timely" reminded the Grand Duke of Moscow of Tsarina Nursultan's long-standing request to temporarily allow her youngest son to go to Crimea. In response, Vasily III politely asked the Crimean Khan to join the queue. The Grand Duke explained:
The entire land of Kazan sent to us to petition for the same thing... to give them Abdul Latyf as king of Kazan... And if something happens between us and our brother Magmet Amin as king and with the entire Kazan land, then you, our brother, will know about it.
At the same time, Vasily Ivanovich informed Nursaltan that he had released Abdul Latyf and returned Kashira to him for “feeding.”
Perhaps Muhammad Giray's attempt to lure Abdul-Latyf to Crimea was a ruse to prevent the prince from returning to Moscow and install him on the Kazan throne under the Crimean leadership. But this is merely speculation.
In the meantime, Abdul-Latyf was still not allowed to leave the Russian state, although he was recognized as the heir to the Kazan throne.
The prince fell ill
Alas, our hero was not destined to return to the Kazan throne: on November 19, 1517, Abdul-Latyf died unexpectedly in the prime of his life, a year before the death of his older brother.
In the year 7026. In the month of November, King Abletif, brother of the Kazan King Magmedemin, died, and they took him to Kazan, laid him there,
— the chronicle briefly reports. Neither brother left male heirs, and the Ulu Muhammad dynasty was broken. Vasily III understood that this would not strengthen the already chilled Russo-Crimean relations, and hastened to explain. The Grand Duke notified Crimea of the death of the Tsarevich, who had "fallen ill." The deceased's servant, Betey, who had once come to Abdul-Latif from Crimea, was sent to Bakhchisarai as a witness. In his letters, Vasily Ivanovich assured the deceased's grieving mother, Queen Nursaltan, of his intention to maintain friendly ties with the Kazan Khan, Muhammad Emin. Given the latter's terminal illness, this must have sounded somewhat ironic.
The Crimean side refused to hear anything about the Tsarevich's natural death. Muhammad Giray publicly declared that Vasily III had ordered the unfortunate prince's murder. Many researchers still agree with this accusation. They claim that the candidacy of the disgraced Abdul-Latyf was categorically unacceptable to the Grand Duke, who sought to sever Kazan's dynastic ties with Crimea.
Could Vasily III have killed Abdul-Latif?
Was this Vasily Ivanovich's well-choreographed "Volga Gambit": to force the people of Kazan to swear the required oath in exchange for Abdul-Latyf's release, and then quietly eliminate the unwanted candidate? This brings to mind the words of the film's Sherlock Holmes: "Unproven, my dear professor, unproven." Sources provide only the Grand Duke's possible motive, but no evidence. Let's speculate, purely hypothetically, about whether the Russian sovereign could have resorted to such a trick.
Psychological profile of the suspect
Vasily Ivanovich grew up in an atmosphere of intrigue and betrayal. Like the Turkish shehzades, he spent his entire childhood and adolescence fearing for his life. And he had good reason to be. Had Dmitry Vnuk's (Ivan III's grandson) "party" prevailed, the unenviable fate of his political opponent, who died in prison in 1509, would have awaited Vasily himself.
Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich - Engraving from the late 16th century by the French traveler and explorer André Thevet
Whether he wanted to or not, the Tsar learned to masterfully weave intrigues and not shy away from, to put it mildly, controversial actions. Consider his prohibition of his brothers from marrying and having children until he himself had an heir, in order to deprive his relatives of their appanages and avoid future disputes over the throne.
His methods of combating the appanage system in the territories recaptured from Lithuania also come to mind. Their rulers were accused of intending to flee to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were harshly punished without much trial. For example, in 1523, Prince Vasily Shemyachich of Novgorod-Seversk was arrested in Moscow. Not long before, Metropolitan Daniel himself had sworn on the cross that Shemyachich was in no danger. As a result, the appanage prince died in captivity.
The Russian sovereign even exploited the death of his own sister, Elena, who was also the wife of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander, for political purposes. A play was staged about the poisoning of the poor Elena by Lithuanian voivodes, which became the formal prelude to yet another border war.
Some authors categorically call Vasily III an unprincipled, greedy, and cunning man. Well, if we give credit only to crystal-clear and merciful rulers, then the Millennium Monument of Rus' in Veliky Novgorod should look like a bare bell, devoid of a single sculptural image. One can have varying opinions on the actions of Ivan the Great's successor, but they were always motivated by state interests—the further centralization and strengthening of Moscow.
Moreover, such a "shot from the hip" approach doesn't quite jibe with Vasily III's previous rather cautious, if not soft, Kazan policy. After the war of 1505–1506, the Grand Duke somewhat relaxed his control over the Volga Khanate, trying not to interfere too much in its internal affairs. Vasily Ivanovich didn't physically eliminate unwanted claimants to the Kazan throne who fell into his hands, but simply baptized them into Orthodoxy and married them to one of his relatives or boyars. This is precisely what he did with Kudai-Kul, the brother of the deposed Kazan Khan Alegham, as well as the two sons of the unfortunate Tsarevich Melik-Tagir. In the eyes of their compatriots, they instantly became apostates and collaborators, and their path to the throne was barred in any case. Vasily himself, however, kept his hands clean. Nobody even thought about re-baptizing Abdul Latyf, which meant that the prince still remained a “reserve player” in the Kazan game.
The consequences of Abdul-Latif's death, or was there a motive?
Let us reiterate that the Ulu Muhammad dynasty had finally come to an end. An embassy from Kazan once again arrived in Moscow with a request to appoint a new tsar. Vasily III, as if pulling an ace from his sleeve, immediately informed the people of Kazan that he was "giving them Tsar Shigaley, the son of Shikhovriyarov, the prince, to reign in Kazan."
So who is this dark horse? The Kasimov prince Shah Ali was the nephew of the Sarai Khan Akhmat and belonged to the very same branch of the Genghis Khanate whose representatives had once driven the founder of the Kazan dynasty, Ulu-Muhammad, from the throne of the Great Horde. The Great Horde were also mortal enemies of the Crimean Girays: Taurida had long fought with Sarai for dominance in the post-Golden Horde space.
A popular theory in historiography is that Vasily III deliberately selected a figure who had no claim to the throne and was unpopular with all Kazan and Crimean residents. An unpopular ruler would be unable to find support in aristocratic circles, meaning he would be forced to seek Moscow's support for every little thing.
Taurida attempted to profit from the dynastic crisis in Kazan. Before the ailing Muhammad-Emin had even surrendered his soul to Allah, the Crimean Khan proposed elevating his brother, Sahib Giray, to the throne. After the death of the Kazan Tsar, Crimea once again launched its "propaganda campaign."
To thwart all these Crimean encroachments on Kazan, on March 8, 1519, the Grand Duke sent his ambassadors to the khanate's capital, who placed Shah Ali on the throne. Significantly, the oath of allegiance swore by the local feudal lords was not to the Khan, but directly to Vasily III. A separate agreement on peace, friendship, and loyalty was concluded between Moscow and Shah Ali himself. In his correspondence with the Lithuanians, the Grand Duke was completely unashamed to refer to the new Kazan tsar as his "direct servant."
Shah Ali on the Kazan throne. Miniature from the chronicle
With the accession of Shah Ali, the Russian voivode, who commanded a considerable contingent of warriors, established his headquarters in Kazan. The khan's person was guarded by direct subjects of the Grand Prince—the Kasimov Tatars. After a recent period of relative liberties, the dominance of Muscovite warriors provoked widespread resentment in the capital, playing into the hands of opponents of Russian influence.
In Russian-Crimean relations, Shah Ali's rise to power in Kazan marked the point of no return and marked the beginning of the conflict's heated phase. However, in 1519, the internal political situation in Crimea escalated sharply, and Muhammad Giray was forced to "bolt down" his shaky throne. Soon, the Crimean ruler defeated his internal enemies and once again turned his attention to the Volga region.
The rebellious princes of Kazan weren't idle either: they established contact with the Crimean court and began secret negotiations regarding the accession of Prince Sahib Giray to the khanate. Lithuanian ambassadors also took part in this dialogue. They informed their Grand Duke that, while preparations for the coup were underway, a joint Kazan-Crimean-Lithuanian military operation against Moscow was being discussed.
We have twenty thousand of our fathers' children, and with Cheremesh and Mordvins there is no count,
— the Kazan residents allegedly stated. As one might expect, the Volga Tatar population was greatly exaggerated. Despite all previous Lithuanian attempts to organize similar events, Sigismund I refrained from making a hawkish noise this time. The Lithuanian nobility was already exhausted by constant wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
Although the "Triple Alliance" failed to materialize, Kazan and Crimea began to jointly develop a plan to invade Moscow. Muhammad Giray skillfully concealed all preparations, pretending to be, if not a friend, then at least a partner of the Russian state. In 1520, Crimea even requested military assistance from Vasily III against the Khan of Astrakhan. The Grand Duke responded to this "friendly" request, allocating "seven cities of naval power" (nobles from seven service city corporations).
Meanwhile, in April 1521, the brewing coup finally took place in the Volga Khanate, during which “the Kazan seits, lancers, and princes… took Tsarevich Sap-Girey from Crimea as Tsar to Kazan, and sent Tsar Shigaley and his Tsarina out of Kazan, and kept the Grand Duke, having robbed the guests, in their possession.”
As reports from Azov to Vasily III indicate, the Crimeans were simultaneously planning a planned invasion of Moscow. However, this campaign failed due to an attack on Taurida by Muhammad Giray's dear relatives, the princes Gemmet and Saidet Giray. The Crimean ruler had to expend considerable effort to defend Perekop from the unexpected guests. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire disapproved of its vassal's aggressive aspirations toward Moscow. But the "rider on the red horse" was no longer intimidated by anything. And the fact that, with the expulsion of Shah Ali, the Volga Khanate had transformed from a Moscow-based territory into a Crimean one further fueled the Giray brothers' warlike ardor. As a result, in the spring of 1521, a devastating invasion of the Crimean-Kazan troops into Russian territories took place, which, thanks to the historian Zimin, received the poetic name "the Crimean tornado."
The Crimean-Kazan invasion of the Russian state in 1521 (the Crimean tornado). Miniature from the Illustrated Collection.
Why did Vasily Ivanovich so underestimate the risk of his Kazan policy? The Grand Duke clearly understood that any khan was not a fully-fledged "Sovereign of all Kazan" and could not slam his fist on the table to rally a general militia or suppress a major rebellion without the support and loyalty of local aristocratic circles. Let's recall once again the Nogai conspiracies and attacks, when the Kazan Tsar was constantly forced to seek outside help. So, deliberately choosing a figure lacking internal support among the pro-Russian local nobility seems like a shot in the foot for his protégé. Surely he couldn't send troops from Moscow to Kazan to rescue the khan every year. In short, whether the Grand Duke truly had a motive for Abdul-Latyf's death remains an open question.
"I have no other khans for you."
What if Vasily III really did intend to fulfill his "part of the bargain," but Abdul-Latyf's sudden illness threw a wrench into his plans? Yes, two brothers dying at the same time seems suspicious, but life does have its share of more tragic coincidences. Moreover, constant disgrace and even a period of imprisonment in the Beloozero blockhouse clearly didn't improve our hero's health.
Vasily Ivanovich could have played for time and kept the Tsarevich's situation a secret until the very last moment, hoping for his recovery. The Grand Duke understood that a holy place abhors a vacuum: the Crimeans would immediately propose their own candidate as soon as they learned of Abdul-Latyf's illness.
The subsequent enthronement of Shah Ali was not necessarily a pre-planned operation. When the Ulu Muhammad dynasty collapsed, the power vacuum in Kazan needed to be filled with a loyal Muscovite protégé of Tatar descent and Muslim faith. In this regard, the Kasimov Khan, a vassal of Moscow, seemed like the only emergency option. To paraphrase Comrade Stalin, "I have no other khans for you." Moreover, in 1467, attempts had already been made to install Kasim, the founder of the very same Kasimov Khanate, on the Kazan throne "at Moscow's behest." As for the dislike of the Greater Horde Chingizids in Kazan, Vasily III probably thought: "Well, you'll get used to it."
On the other hand, the Grand Duke might have dared to replace the Kazan ruling dynasty, underestimating Crimea's resolve to fight for the Volga Khanate. Previously, the Crimeans had not resorted to such a crude military intervention in Kazan affairs.
Unfortunately, a definitive verdict regarding Vasily Ivanovich's guilt or innocence in Abdul-Latyf's death is impossible due to the lack of evidence. The Grand Duke may indeed have had a hand in the death, but the key word here is "may."
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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