The initial period of the "great tumult in the horde" in Russian chronicles

Russian chronicles are one of the sources for the history of the Golden Horde, including one of the least studied periods of the «Great Tumult». The specifics of the contacts of Russian princes with the Golden Horde khans (in particular, in terms of the tradition of confirming investiture while changing khans) allowed the Russian chronicles recording in great detail the disintegration of the western wing of the Golden Horde into several independent uluses, which makes them one of the most relevant manuscript database. The author aims at examining the events of 1359-1361 years in the Golden Horde via the Russian chronicles’ analysis, as well as at reconstructing the Russian chroniclers’ views on the events of the initial period of the «Great Horde» that later resulted in the centralization of the Russian princedoms and became the beginning of the extended crisis of the Nomadic Ecumene on the southern borders of North-East Russia. In the course of the study, the author makes a cross-analysis of different vernacular chronicle traditions. The research for the first time allowed justifying absolute legitimacy of Khans Kulpa, Nauruz and Hyzr, revealed by the Russian chroniclers. The latter did not record the interruption of the Batuid dynasty, which shows that either the dynasty was not interrupted, or the khan power was not dynastic in the opinion of the chroniclers (the attitude to the advent of Hyzr-khan from the Shibanid dynasty is rather a proof of the second assumption). The conclusion is also made about the fall of the status and importance of the label to the «Great Reign» after 1361. The research is unique due to the reenactment of events of the initial period of the «Great Tumult» based on different vernacular chronicles and an attempt to reconstruct the Russian chroniclers’ viewpoint on the events in Sarai in 1359-1361.