Moscow: Publishing house firm "Vostochnaya literatura", 2001. 752 p.

The reviewed monograph is based on the classic model for Russian and world historical science: the actual research part is preceded by an extensive introduction. It consists of two parts: "Historiography of the Nogai" (p. 3-25) and "Sources about the Nogai and Nogai Horde" (p.26-49). In the first part, the author introduces the reader to the history of Nogai studies in Russia and abroad, and as a result of a thorough analysis of both published and unpublished works on the Nogai Horde, he comes to the conclusion that "the history of the Nogai Horde is generally known, but not yet written. Our book is an attempt to fill this gap" (p. 25). I think that the gap is now filled and, most likely, forever, and future works on this problem for a long time will be only comments (in the genre of addenda et corrigenda) to this folio. The second part of the introduction is a brief description of the sources used (and left out of consideration) on the topic. However, V. V. Trepavlov's statement that "not much is known" about historical works written in the Crimean Khanate (p.39) needs to be corrected. There are just enough of them known, but not all of them have been preserved and not all of them have been published satisfactorily. Perhaps Trepavlov's research would benefit even more if he used the materials of the Prime Minister's archive in Istanbul, some of which were available until recently in the publications of A. N. Kurat and French Turkologists. Throughout the 1990s, the documents of this archive (for example, the series ) were actively published and continue to be published in facsimiles in Ankara ^.1 The Nogai theme sounds quite clear in these materials.

The research part of V. V. Trepavlov's book is divided into two sections that are not equal in volume: "The formation and disintegration of the Nogai state "(pp. 51-452) and "Nogaica" (pp. 457-647). The first section is an exemplary study of the political history of the Nogai State, supported by impeccable chronological and genealogical calculations. For the first time in the world, the author used a huge documentary material to describe in detail the Trans-Volga nomadic empire of the XV-XVII centuries, which left a deep mark on the history of the steppe belt of Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan.

"Nogaica" is a series of essays (Territory, Population, Economy, Statehood, Culture, Relations with Russia), each of which, due to the specifics of the genre, is an independent finished work.

The author is distinguished by an excellent knowledge of archival material, because it is Moscow archival documents, most of them unpublished, in the words of the author himself, - "the main storehouse of information". The rare combination of excellent development of Russian material with an equally brilliant analysis of Eastern sources makes the book unique: the history of the Nogai Horde, a large medieval state, is recreated as if from different sources.

¹ For example: Ankara, 1993. For more information about recent publications of these and other Ottoman documents, see: New publications of materials of the Ottoman Archives / / At the time in captivity. In memory of Sergey Sergeyevich Tselniker. Moscow: Publishing house firm "Vostochnaya literatura", 2000, pp. 90-98.

(c) 2003

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parties (resp. truthfully and fully). Unfortunately, there are not so many examples of such happy combinations in Russian historical science (one can recall, perhaps, only the works of A. E. Krymsky). As a rule, a Turkologist rarely knows Russian material as well as the data in his field, and a Russian scholar almost always depends entirely on translations.

The result of many years of V. V. Trepavlov's Nogai studies is impressive. The author actually filled in a large gap on the medieval map of Eurasia. "The purpose of our book," he writes, "is to cover all the most important aspects of the history of the Nogai Horde" (p. 3). I must say that this goal has been successfully achieved. From now on, it will be difficult to imagine any serious book on the history of medieval steppe Eurasia without taking into account the work of V. V. Trepavlov. The Nogai Horde received its own Karamzin, and the reader (a Russian historian and orientalist) received a first-class study, the importance of which for the future study of the history of the Jochid states and the eastern direction of Russia's foreign policy cannot be overestimated.

In view of the lack of serious material for criticism, I will make only a few comments. In my opinion, it would be necessary to explain to the reader some Eastern terms and names (after all, the book is addressed not only to Orientalists, but perhaps even not so much). So in the description of the route of Nogai pilgrims, the city is called "Shamsharif" (p. 566), which can only mean Sham-i Sherif - " glorious (or holy) Damascus". In connection with the dramatic events of the spring of 1523 (the campaign of the Astrakhan Nogais and Mangyts deep into the Crimean Peninsula), Kyrk-Er is mentioned. It should be said that this is the residence of the Crimean khans, the modern dead city of Chufut-Kale near Bakhchisarai. There are other flaws in the work that I will attribute to typing errors, for example: Ikri-Tug (p. 127) instead of Ikri-Tub. However, these remarks are rather minor quibbles.

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