Qasim Khanate or Kingdom of Qasim or Khanate of Qasım ( tt-Cyrl, Касыйм ханлыгы/Касыйм патшалыгы; russian: Касимовское ханство/Касимовское царство, ''Kasimovskoye khanstvo/Kasimovskoye tsarstvo'') was a Tatar-ruled

khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...

, a vassal of Russia, which existed from 1452 until 1681 in the territory of modern Ryazan Oblast in Russia with its capital Kasimov, in the middle course of the

Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its ...

. It was established in the lands which Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow (reigned 1425–1462) presented in 1452 to the Kazan prince

Qasim Khan Qasím Khan (or ''Qasim of Kasimov'') (died 1469) was the first khan of the Tatar Qasim Khanate, from 1452 to his death in 1469. He was the son of Kazan khan Oluğ Möxämmäd. He participated in the battles of Belyov in 1437 and of Suzdal in ...

(d. 1469), son of the first Kazan khan

Olug Moxammat Ulugh Muhammad (1405–1445; ; tt-Cyrl, Олуг Мөхәммәт, translit=Oluğ Möxəmmət; written as Ulanus by orientalists) was a medieval Tatar statesman, Gengisid, Khan of the Golden Horde (before 1436), ruler of Crimea (1437), and the ...

Pre-history

The original populations were Finnic tribes

Meshchyora The Volga Finns (sometimes referred to as Eastern Finns) are a historical group of indigenous peoples of Russia living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the ...

and Muroma, Mordvins. The land was under Kievan Rus' and Volga Bulgaria's influence. Local tribes were tributaries of

Ruthenia Ruthenia or , uk, Рутенія, translit=Rutenia or uk, Русь, translit=Rus, label=none, pl, Ruś, be, Рутэнія, Русь, russian: Рутения, Русь is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin as one of several terms ...

n dukes. Later, the area was incorporated into Vladimir-Suzdal. In 1152, Duke of Vladimir Yuri Dolgoruky founded Gorodets-Meshchyorskiy. After the Mongol conquest, the territory was incorporated into the territory of the Golden Horde. Turkic settlers appeared in those areas, and most of them accepted

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

under influence from the Volga Bulgars. The semi-independent principality Mishar Yurt was founded by Hordian Mohammad Shirin beg. From 1393, the area became part of

Muscovy Muscovy is an alternative name for the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 * Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and Domes ...

. After the battle of Suzdal in 1445, Olug Moxammad claimed to return those lands to the Tatars. According to some historians, such as Khudyakov, Vassily executed the claim and Moxammat's son Qasim was crowned as a ruler of Meshchyora lands. The area and capital were renamed after him. Another version is that Qasim came into Russian service and was granted those lands to create a buffer state between

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...

and the Khanate of Kazan. However, the Khanate was a vassal of Russia. From the beginning, Khans governed the Khanate's territory, but the outer politics were controlled by Russia.

Population

The land was inhabited mainly by Mordvins, some of them as well as other Finnic peoples like Meshchyora and Muroma have been assimilated by Tatars and became Mishar Tatars. Later, the land was settled by the Russians. Some

Kazan Tatars The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars ( tt-Cyrl, татарлар, tatarlar) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are Russia's second-largest ethnicity after t ...

resettled to Qasim lands, and were called ''Qasim Tatars''. The most of Qasim Tatars served at the khan's palace or served in the khan's military. This group had been assimilated into the Mishar Tatars, but nearby 1,000 Qasim Tatars are still living in the city of Kasimov. The noble families were the Manghyt (Manğıt), Arghyn (Arğın), Jalair (Cälair), Qipchaq (Qıpçaq). Moscow's administrators elected the khans from ruling families of the Tatar khanates: Khanate of Kazan, the Crimean Khanate, and the Siberia Khanate.

History

Qasim khans with their guard participated in all of Moscow's raids into Kazan (1467–1469, 1487, 1552). Qasim khan

Şahğäli Shah-Ali (or Shahghali; ; ; also known as Shig-Aley; russian: Шиг-Алей; 1505–1567) was a khan of the Qasim Khanate and the Khanate of Kazan. He ruled the Qasim Khanate for much of his life and three times tried to rule the Khanate of ...

(1515–1567) was three times crowned as Kazan khan with the aid of Muscovy. After the

conquest of Kazan The siege of Kazan in 1552 was the final battle of the Russo-Kazan Wars and led to the fall of the Khanate of Kazan. Conflict continued after the fall of Kazan, however, as rebel governments formed in Çalım and Mişätamaq, and a new khan wa ...

, the self-government of the khans was abolished and the khanate came to be governed by Russian

voyevoda Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the m ...

s. However, khans still reigned. One of the khans, Simeon Bekbulatovich, was baptised and proclaimed Grand Duke of Moscow in 1574. He never really reigned and was used for a short period by Russian Tsar

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

as a puppet head of state. At the reign of

Sayed Borhan Sayed Borhan Khan (1624 – c. 1680) was a Khan (title), khan of Qasim Khanate from 1627 to 1679. He was a son of Arslanghali and Fatima Soltan. After the death of his father he was crowned as a khan of Qasim. Sayed Borhan's regents were Fatim ...

khan (1627–1679) Russia started a policy of Christianization. Begs, who had a status equal to Boyars, were switched to

Serving Tatars Serving Tatars ( tt-Cyrl, йомышлы татарлар, translit=Yomışlı Tatarlar; russian: Служилые татары) were a class of ethnically Tatars state servants in Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovy and Russia in 14th–18th centur ...

, equal to

Dvoryans The Russian nobility (russian: дворянство ''dvoryanstvo'') originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population) in the Russian Empire. Up until the February Revolution ...

. This policy provoked a Tatar revolt in 1656. After the death of khanbika (queen)

Fatima Soltan Fatima Soltan (died 1681) was a sovereign ''khanbika'' (queen) and last ruler of Qasim Khanate from 1679 until 1681. She was a daughter of Agha Muhammad Shah Quli Sayyid and a wife of Arslanghali khan. After the death of her husband in 1627 ...

in 1681, the Khanate was abolished.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links