Editing Golden Horde (section)

=== Influence ===

Aristocratic Russians responded more uniformly to Mongol rule but the same cannot be said with certainty for the peasantry. There is not much evidence for Mongol influence on the Russian peasantry, whose direct contact with the Mongols was mainly through slavery or forced labor. Russian sources generally tend to focus on military encounters with the Mongols but the literary prose betrays a greater Mongol impact on Russian society than accepted at face value. There was a great deal of familiarity with the Mongols among writers, who recorded the name of virtually every Mongol prince, grandee, and official they came into contact with. The ''[[Galician–Volhynian Chronicle]]'' recounts the words of Tovrul, a captured informant at the [[Siege of Kiev (1240)]], who identifies the Mongol captains by name. Russian sources contain a list of the khans of the Golden Horde as well as more detail on their careers during the time of Great Troubles than Arab-Persian sources. Even the names of numerous lesser ranked Mongols are mentioned. The Mongol khan was called ''tsar'', a title also used for the ''[[basileus]]''.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=91}}{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=118–119}} It is evident that the writers expected their audience to be familiar with the names of individual Mongols and their attributes despite their pervasive hostility.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=125}}

While the Mongols generally did not directly administer all of the Eastern European lands they conquered, in the cases of the [[Principality of Pereyaslavl]], [[Principality of Kiev]], and [[Podolia]], they removed the native administration altogether and replaced it with their own direct control. The [[Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia]], [[Principality of Smolensk]], [[Principality of Chernigov]], and [[Principality of Novgorod-Seversk]] retained their princes but also had to contend with Mongol agents who enforced recruitment and tax collection. The [[Novgorod Republic]] was exempt from the presence of Mongol agents after 1260 but still had to pay taxes. The Mongols took censuses in 1245, 1258, 1259, 1260, 1274, and 1275. No further censuses were taken after that. Some places such as the town of [[Tula, Russia|Tula]] became the personal property of individual Mongols such as the Khatun Taidula, the mother of [[Jani Beg]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=214}}

The Russian aristocracy had to familiarize themselves with the workings of Mongol high society.{{efn|"Clearly, the Russian bookmen's posturing notwithstanding, the Mongols were anything but an unknown and unknowable people. The Tatars, as an abstraction, were loathed on principle, but to the Russian elite their Tatar counterparts were far from being nameless, faceless enemies. Indeed, Russian aristocrats were probably more familiar with the higher levels of Mongol society than with the society of the Russian peasantry."{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=124–126}}}} The prince had to receive a patent for his throne from the khan, who then sent an envoy to install the prince on his throne. From the time of [[Öz Beg Khan]] on, a commissioner was appointed by the khan to reside at each of the principalities' capitals. Mongol rule loosened in the late 13th century so that some princes were able to collect taxes as the khan's agents. By the early 14th century, all the grand dukes were collecting taxes by themselves, so that the average people no longer dealt with Mongol overlords while their rulers answered to Sarai.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=222}}

Aristocratic familiarity with Mongol customs did not result in adopting Mongol culture. Any partiality shown towards Mongol customs could be dangerous, although in one instance they did adopt Mongol military attire. After visiting Batu's camp in 1245, [[Daniel of Galicia]] was visibly influenced by the Mongols, and equipped his army in the Mongol fashion. [[Austrians|Austrian]] visitors to his camp remarked that only Daniel himself dressed according to the custom in Rus', with a coat of Greek brocade with gold lace, green leather boots, a gilded saddle, and gold-encrusted sword.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=146}} Mongols that moved into Russian society shed their former customs as they adopted [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] and despite the numerous mentions of Mongol atrocities, some more honorable portrayals do exist. In ''[[The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan]]'', the Mongol Batu exhibited chivalric courtesy to the Russian noble [[Evpaty Kolovrat|Evpaty]] by allowing his men to carry him off the field in honor of his bravery. Russian nobles also fought alongside the Mongols as allies at times.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=107–109}}

Intermarriage did happen but was rare. [[Theodore the Black|Theodore Rostislavich]], [[Yury of Moscow]], and Gleb Vasilkovich married Mongol princesses. Gleb Vasilkovich spent his entire career among the Mongols in the steppes. [[Urus Khan]]'s mother may have been a Russian princess.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=247}}{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=111–113}} Such intermarriage ceased after the Golden Horde Mongols converted to Islam until the 15th century when the weakened Horde's Mongol grandees moved into Muscovite territory. Most of them entered into the service of grand princes, married aristocracy, converted to Christianity, and became assimilated. It is uncertain how much Mongol Tatar blood entered the Russian aristocracy. Some Mongols might have changed their names after converting while Russians took on Mongol nicknames as patronyms. The nobles of [[Ryazan]] and the Godunov clan of prince [[Chet (murza)|Chet]] claimed Tatar descent. Mongol ancestry was considered as prestigious as German, Latin, and Greek ancestry in the 16th century, although such views declined dramatically after the [[Time of Troubles]].{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=111–113}} There was also intermarriage with their other subjects, such as between [[Berke]] and a Seljuk princess, and Jöge (eldest son of [[Nogai Khan|Nogai]]) and a [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] princess.{{sfn|Mirgaleyev|2017|p=347}}{{sfn|Spinei|2017|p=405}}

==== Russian Orthodox Church ====

During early Mongol rule, the ''[[basqaq]]s'' collected taxes imposed by the Mongols, with only Russian clergy being exempt from the taxes, in a system known in Russian as ''baskachestvo'' ({{langx|ru|баскачество}}).{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|pp=475–476|loc=...the basqaqs (the institution called baskachestvo in Russian), collected the taxes instituted by the Mongols, and only the Russian clergy was tax-exempt}} In the privilege charters given to Russian clergy, the terms ''dan'' and ''poshlina'' are given, which, by the second half of the 13th century, primarily came to refer to the Tatar tribute.{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=476}}

The Mongols required the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] to pray for the health of the khan and in return they looked after the church's health and fostered its growth. A bishopric was established in [[Sarai (city)|Sarai]] for Russians and to act as an intermediary between the Golden Horde and both the Russian Church and Byzantium. The khans granted the Church significant tax privileges which enabled it to recover from the invasion and prosper even more than before. It was during the 14th century that the Church made decisive inroads into the pagan countryside, possibly due to the attraction of economic benefits bestowed upon Church lands that incentivized peasants to settle. The "Tale of Peters, tsarevich of the Horde" was written in the 14th century. It tells of how the Mongol Peter, a descendant of [[Genghis Khan]], converted and founded the Petrov monastery. Peter's descendants used their ties to the khans to protect the monastery from the Rostov princes and the neighboring Russians who desired the fishing rights to that land. The depiction of Mongols by Church was mixed and awkward. It portrayed them as a disaster and their caretaker. This contradiction can be seen in the khans' portrayals in Church texts. Where the khans' names would have been in the [[missal]]s, there was a blank space for the name to be read aloud orally. There was also a careful delineation between khan and "Tatars". Hagiographers sometimes absolved the khans from their role in killing Russian princes. After the khans' power began to wane in the 14th century, the Church gave its full backing to the Russian princes. However even after Mongol rule ended, the Church still invoked the Mongol model as an example of how they should be treated. In the 16th century, churchmen circulated a translated Mongol ''[[Jarlig|yarlyk]]'' that granted tax immunity to the Church.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=113–115}}

==== Administration ====

The historian Charles Halperin cautioned: "To analyze the Mongols' administration of Russia requires meticulous examination both of the extant sources individually and of the larger picture they present. Many of the references to Mongol officials occur in unreliable texts from later periods, showing obvious signs of interpolation."{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=50}} Although it is evident that the Mongols started collecting taxes in the principalities as early as 1245 (shortly after they subdued them during or after the invasion of 1237), this appears to have been a localised affair with ''baskaki'' (singular ''baskak'' or ''[[Darughachi|basqaq]]'', a Turkic word used in early sources meaning a local Mongol official who was primarily responsible for collecting tribute and conscripting troops),{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=50–51}} appointed per village, town or city, rather than a simultaneous imposition of a uniform taxation system.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=50–51}}

During the first half of the 14th century, the ''basqaqs'' disappeared and the Russian princes themselves began to gather the total sum of taxes following a number of revolts at the end of the 13th century, leading to the princes to act as governors on behalf of the khan. The handling of Russian affairs was moved to Sarai, where various ''[[darugha]]s'' supervised the Russian principalities. Along with the ''darugha'' of Moscow, other ''darughas'' may have existed with the same level of authority over other Russian territories such [[Ryazan]] and [[Tver]].{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=476|loc=other darughas may have existed with the same authority over other subjected Russian territories, such as Tver’ and Riazan’}} By the 14th century, the other ''drughas'' likely disappeared as the [[grand prince of Moscow]] assumed the role of collecting and presenting the taxes from all the Russian principalities. As the Horde became politically weakened and the grand princes of Moscow grew in power, it was possible for the tribute to be withheld, such as in 1372–1382 and 1396–1408. Ultimately, [[Ivan III of Russia|Ivan III]] stopped paying tribute in 1472–1476, leading to a [[Great Stand on the Ugra River|standoff in 1480]] which ended without military confrontation.{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=476}}

Moscow adopted the Mongol tax system and continued to collect tribute after they stopped passing it onto the Golden Horde. The Muscovite grand princes replaced the Mongol ''[[Darughachi|basqaq]]'' with officials called ''danshchiki'' who collected tribute known as ''dan'', which was probably modeled after the Mongol tribute system. The Russians adopted the Mongol word for treasury, ''kazna'', treasurer, ''kaznachey'', and money, ''den'ga''. The Muscovites used the Mongol customs tax system called ''tamga'', from which the Russian word ''tamozhnya'' (customs house) is derived from.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|pp=89–91}} The ''[[Yam (route)|yam]]'' postal system was adopted by Russia in the late 15th century as the peasants had already been paying a ''yam'' tax for centuries. The practice of ''poruka'', collective responsibility of a sworn group, became more common in Russia during the Mongol period and may have been influenced by the Mongols. The Mongols may have spread the practice of beating the shins as a punishment from China to Russia, where this punishment for non-payment of debts was called ''pravezh''.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=93}} When the grand princes of Moscow collected the tribute, the term ''vykhod'' became more common instead of ''dan''.{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=476}}

The existence of a double taxation system led to the increased exploitation of the Russian peasants and the gradual enrichment of the treasuries of the Russian princes; in addition, the tax obligations were greater for those who were poorer. The Russians also attempted to evade the yearly tribute, taking advantage of Tatar infighting, while at the same time also continuing the collection of tribute. The Tatar taxation system was exploitative for the Russian principalities during the 13th century, but by the 14th century, the grand principality of Moscow experienced uninterrupted economic growth starting from the reign of [[Ivan I of Moscow|Ivan I]].{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=476}} The grand princes of Moscow also manipulated the ''vykhod'', which was made up of various taxes and tolls, allowing them to increase their revenue by imposing larger sums than was necessary, while the Tatar tribute was typically a negotiated sum. The most credible estimates put the amount of tribute between 5,000 and 7,000 [[ruble]]s per year between 1380 and 1472, falling to 1,000 rubles after 1480. The tribute to the Horde decreased and was at times interrupted during the 14th and 15th centuries as a result of its political decline and the strengthening of Russian and Polish–Lithuanian authority.{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=477}}

==== Military ====

Some of the Mongols' subjects adopted Mongol military accoutrements. In 1245, [[Daniel of Galicia]]'s army was dressed in the Mongol fashion after a visit to [[Batu Khan]]'s camp. [[Austrians|Austrian]] visitors to Daniel's camp remarked that with the exception of Daniel himself, all the horsemen dressed like Mongols.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=146}} Muscovite cavalrymen were equipped in a similar fashion to the Mongols as late as the 16th century, when they were depicted using a Mongol-style saddle with Mongol stirrups, wearing a Mongol helmet, and armed with a Mongol bow and quiver. European observers mistook them for Ottoman dress. Muscovite armies also deployed in a similar fashion to the Mongols with the right guard ranked above the left (due to a shamanist belief). The emphasis on cavalry declined in the 16th century as warfare increasingly involved sieges in Eastern Europe than on the steppes with nomadic horsemen.{{sfn|Halperin|1987|p=91}}