Research objectives: To use historical monuments of Persian origin from the 14th c. as a possible source for the political, legal, and chancellery history in the Jochid Ulus and for specific features of the status of “emir of ulus”, a type of high official in Chinggisid states. Materials and methods of research: The basic materials are yarlighs included into the “Dastur al-katib” of Muhammad b. Hindushah Nakhchivani in its Persian original as well as in German translation by J. von Hammer-Purgstall. The present work also employs other medieval sources on history of the Golden Horde and Iran in the Hulaguid and Jalayir epochs. The methods of research are historical, diplomatic, historical, legal, and comparative historical analysis which amount to an interdisciplinary approach which allows to study historical documents with the highest effectiveness. Scientific novelty: This represents the first Russian translation of the first yarligh on the appointment of the emir of ulus from the “Dastur al-katib” which is studied as a historical source, an example of Mongol chancellery practices, and as a legal monument. Results of the research: The analysis of this document allows one to reconstruct the legal status of the emir of ulus as a high official in Chinggisid states, the requirements for candidates of this position, the rights and obligations of this official, while drawing parallels between similar positions in Iran and the Golden Horde. Comparative diplomatic analysis allows one to clarify similarities in the official paper work in uluses of Hulaguids and Jochids and to confirm the common roots of chancellery traditions in these states that were heirs of the Mongol Empire.

This article analyses the state policy of the medieval Turkic-Mongol khanates towards lost property. The authors introduce the first Russian translation of a yarligh on the appointment of bularguchi, an official who oversaw the search, storage, and return of lost property. The yarligh comes from the Dastur al-Katib Fi Ta’yin al-Maratib, a Persian-language treaty written in 1360s by Muhammad b. Hindushah Nakhchivani, an official at the service of the rulers of Mongol Iran. A complex interdisciplinary analysis of this document helps characterize the legal status of the bularguchi and the evolution of the state policy towards the lost property in the Turkic-Mongol states from the Mongol and Yuan Empires to the Crimean Khanate. The authors attempt to clarify the differences between the property which was lost and that which was recognized escheat after the death of its owner abroad. The authors establish that the rulers of the Turkic-Mongol states took measures to provide the rights of the owners of the lost property, but at the same time, officials abused their power to pass such property to the state treasury as it was a substantial part of the state revenue. The source base of the research includes legal acts, notes of contemporaries, and diplomatic correspondence. The authors also consider works of specialists who dealt with the bularguchi institution as well as questions on the fate of the lost property in the medieval Turkic-Mongol states.

This article analyzes Dr. Márton Vér's book dedicated to the study and publication of documentary sources related to the functioning of the postal service of the Mongol Empire. The pan-Eurasian network of couriers and postal stations, unprecedented in size and efficiency, became one of the most important imperial institutions of the Chinggisids. This book, published in the Berliner Turfantexte series, contains texts and English translations (with detailed commentary) of 63 ancient Uighur documents of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 18 of which are published for the first time.Mostly preserved in the Berlin Turfan collection, these unique texts were discovered in the Turfan region and in the vicinity of Dunhuang. Comprising a range of administrative records and other documents with links to the postal system, they provide multiple snapshots of its operation at local and regional level. Their study allows us to consider the postal system from new positions, since previously, when covering the history of the postal system, researchers focused on narrative sources. Documentation related to the postal service in the Turfan region was published in both Turkic (Uyghur) and Mongolian languages. Large differences in the form of Uyghur and Mongol decrees and orders of the end of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, according to the fair remark of Dr. Vér, indicate the parallel existence of at least two clerical traditions here. Studying the language of Uyghur documents allowed the author of the work under review to clarify the meaning of some key terms related to the postal service. The book ends with indexes, a bibliography, a list of abbreviations, concordances of published documents, and a table of measures and weights from the Mongol period.It was suggested that it would be appropriate to publish facsimiles of documents along with the typed Uyghur text in the future. Some shortcomings of the selected transcription and some inconsistency in the chronological characteristics of Uyghur sources were pointed out too.However, the comments made do not affect the scholarly significance of the peerreviewed work. The monograph will be of interest to specialists in the field of Turkology, Mongolian studies, medieval history of Eurasia, and especially to those investigating the history of the Mongol Empire. In particular, the conclusions and advances of the Hungarian scholar will be useful in analyzing Turkic documentary sources of the Golden Horde and post-Golden Horde times.

Research objectives: This article is dedicated to preliminarily research and the publication of the decree of the Kalmyk ruler, Donduk-Dashi Khan (r. 1741–1761), assigning to Mustafa Hajji the position of the mufti of the Muslims – people which were dependent on Donduk-Dashi Khan – as well as the position of the qadi and zaisang of the Nogays. Research materials: The decree (dated to 1750) reached us as a copy from the nineteenth century which was kept in the private archives of Abd al-Rahman Umerov – the Tatar religious leader and enlightener who was active at the end of nineteenth and beginning of twentieth century. Cartographic and lexicographic sources were used as well as works on Turkic and Mongolian diplomacy. Results and novelty of the research: The legal status of the representatives of Turkic-Muslim subjects of the Kalmyk rulers and the methods of their administration were not studied sufficiently up to the present. This is a result of the small number of the documentary sources which have been thus far introduced into scholarly circles. The publication of this decree of Donduk-Dashi Khan will fill the gaps in our knowledge of this problem.

Introduction. The article examines a yarliq from Dastur al-Katib (14th c. CE) and attempts to an insight into the principles of using the Mongol language in the 13th–14th century Persian records management system. Goals. The study provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the historical monument — a yarliq appointing a bakhshi (senior scribe) included in Dastur al-Katib fi Tayin al-Maratib (A Scribe’s Guide to Determining Ranks) compiled in the mid-14th century by Muhammad ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani, a financial statesman under the late Hulaguids and early Jalairids. To facilitate this, the paper shall: 1) translate the examined document into Russian, 2) characterize the latter as a valuable source on history of state, law and chancellery culture of Mongol Iran, 3) analyze the yarliq as an official act and a source of law, 4) identify the legal status of the Mongolian language in 13th–14th century Iran. Materials and methods. The study explores the yarliq proper and other materials of Dastur al-Katib, additional medieval sources on Mongol Iran and Genghisid states, including works by Rashid al-Din, Wassaf, etc., official documents of Genghisid chancelleries. The work employs a series of historical and legal research methods, such as those of source criticism, diplomatics analysis, comparative historical research, formal legal approach, historical legal and comparative legal analyses. Results. The paper introduces the yarliq appointing a secretary (bakhshi) from the medieval Persian treatise titled Dastur al-Katib into Russian-language scientific discourse and supplements it with a detailed interdisciplinary analysis. The work clarifies specific features of a bakhshi’s legal status as a senior scribe responsible for translating official edicts from Persian into Mongolian, his functions, rights, requirements for candidates. An attempt to identify the person to have been appointed scribe therein was made. Conclusions. The works concludes Mongolian had a status of the official language in records management system of Iran throughout the late 13th and 14th centuries, the former having been extensively used by nomadizing subjects of Hulaguid and Jalairid Ilkhans, including top-rank executives of Mongolian descent. This was reflected in the appointment of a special official responsible for articulating legal and other documents into Mongolian for nomadic elites and warlords. However, to extrapolate this conclusion onto other Genghisid states it is necessary to compare the researched document and additional information on Mongol Iran with similar sources from other heirs of the Mongol Empire, such as the Golden Horde, Chagatai Ulus, etc.