Muslim Employees of Posolskij Prikaz

Due to the necessity for continuous contacts between the Russian principalities, the Golden Horde khans, and the khan’s administration, in the 13th century specific structures designed to serve them were created. They partly survived even after the Moscow principality gained independence and were engaged in organizing diplomatic missions with neighboring states. The most stable element of these services were the Tatar servicemen of the Grand Prince. In the earliest period they were called Ordyncy [members of the Horde] and Delyus. With the creation of the Posolskij Prikaz, they become servant Tatars and Cossack inhabitants of a stanitsas of the Foreign Ministry and initially interpreters and translators from oriental languages were recruited among them. The status of the Ordyncy as personal servants of the Grand Prince allowed them to enjoy certain privileges, in particular, they had mosques in the places of their concentrated residing. Archival documents contain sporadic mentions of their imams. At first, the number of such Tatars could reach several hundreds. However, their number gradually decreased. Tatars lost the privilege to be the interpreters and translators of the Foreign Ministry, although descendants of the translators of the Posolskij Prikaz, who in some cases remained Muslims, continued to serve in the Collegium and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time one can trace their mosque in the Zamoskvorechye District of Moscow as far back as the 18th century

Ancient history · Christian ministry · Diplomacy · Islam · Orthodoxy · Political science · Politics · Servant · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Law

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  Andrey V Belyakov•Vostok Afro-Aziatskie obshchestva…•2021

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