Khan’s wife Jan – the Kabardinian and Kalmyk Princess

Internecine clashes between Noyons were not uncommon in the Kalmyk Khanate. Sometimes they became quite violent. Such was the civil strife of the early 40s of the XVIII century. A Kabardian woman, princess Jan, the wife of Khan Donduk–Ombo who died on March 21, 1741, played a major role in its duration and character. The events of this feud were touched upon in some pre–revolutionary historical works. They were covered even less during the Soviet period. Meanwhile it was an important stage in Kalmyk history. Suffice it to note that the events that took place in the khanate attracted, to put it mildly, the not entirely sympathetic attention of neighboring peoples who were not yet part of Russia. The most important thing is that by the end of the 18th century, attempts to fight for the independence of the ruling elite of the Kalmyks had ended, and some of them chose the path of leaving Russia in 1771.The purpose of the article is to expand the specific knowledge about events, which is necessary and to understand the behavior of people resulting from the logic of events or from ignoring, misunderstanding of this logic by people. To achieve this goul archival material was mainly used for the first time which was introduced into scientific circulation, taken from the fund 36 «Foundation for Kalmyk Affairs under the Astrakhan Governor» of the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. For a long time the figure of Kabardian and then Kalmyk Princess Jan did not attract much attention from historians studying Kalmyk history. The revival of interest in her, that is, in the biography of Princess Jan has occurred in recent years. In this regard, the works of M. Batmaev, A. Tsyuryumov, I. Toropitsyn, L. and B. Kokov should be mentioned here.