Pages: 39-48

The concept of the substantial influence of the Mongol conquest on the political system and political culture of the Medieval Rus’ was designed in the second half of the 20th century. It derives the special features of the Russian Tsardom of the 16th century (Muscovy) from the political system of the Mongol Empire of the 13th century and the Golden Horde of the 14th — 15th centuries. However, it is impossible to find any evidence of this theory in the Russian historical sources. The image of the Horde of the Tatar Khans was unequivocally negative. The Russian state was built on the idea of invention of the legitimacy through the victory over the Horde, rather than on the idea of the continuity from the Horde. Relations between Russian Princes were founded on the categories of Christian ethics, which were common for the European Middle Ages. Of course, the Horde had an influence on the political culture of the Medieval Russia. But its character was more complicated than the concept of the “continuity of the Eastern despotism”.

Keywords: Rus’, the Golden Horde, political continuity, categories of political culture, political institutions.

Information about author:

Alexander Filyushkin (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Saint Petersburg State University . Universitetskaya Emb., 7/9, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]