Jagoldai | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1438–c. 1500 | |||||||||||
 Map showing Tatar principalities in the 15th century, including Jagoldai | |||||||||||
| Status | Vassal state | ||||||||||
| Capital | Unknown (possibly nearStary Oskol) | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Tatar,Ruthenian | ||||||||||
| Religion | Islam, laterEastern Orthodoxy | ||||||||||
| Government | Tumen (principality) | ||||||||||
| Prince | |||||||||||
• c. 1438 – ? | Jagoldai Sarayevich | ||||||||||
• ? – c. 1493 | Roman Jagoldaevich | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Medieval | ||||||||||
• Founded byGolden Horde Tatars | c. 1438 | ||||||||||
• Absorbed into Lithuania / transferred to Moscow | c. 1500 | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||
Jagoldai (Tatar:Җагалдай,Cağolday,Cağalday;Polish:Jaholdaj, Jahołdajewszczyzna;Russian:Яголдаева тьма,Yagoldayeva t'ma; pronunciation:jaɣolˈdaj ordʒaɣalˈdaj) was a smallTatartumen (territorial and military-administrative unit) in what is nowKursk Oblast andBelgorod Oblast ofRussia, as well as parts ofSloboda Ukraine. It existed as avassal state of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania during the 15th and early 16th centuries.
The principality was founded between 1428 and 1438 by Tatars who had defected from theGolden Horde during a period of internal strife and plague.[1] The Russian designationt'ma (тьма, literally "darkness") derives from thetumen, a Mongol-Tatar administrative unit theoretically representing 10,000 households or soldiers.[2]
The period between 1428 and 1430 was marked by severe instability in theGolden Horde. According to theNikon Chronicle, there was "strife and great turmoil" (Бысть брань и замятия вели) among the Tatars, accompanied by an epidemic ofplague that killed large numbers of people.[1] This chaos prompted many Tatars to seek refuge in neighbouring territories.
Jagoldai, the principality's founder and namesake, was the son of Saray, anemir who served the powerfulbeklarbekEdigu and participated in the 1408 campaign againstMoscow.[3] Ayarlig (decree) from theCrimean KhanMeñli I Giray later referred to the territory as "the tumen of Jagoldai, son of Saray" (Сараева сына Егалтаеву тму), confirming the transmission of the territory to the Grand Duke of Lithuania.[3]
Jagoldai became a vassal territory of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, serving as a buffer zone between Lithuania and the remnants of the Golden Horde. The principality may have functioned as a military-administrative unit within the largerPrincipality of Mansura, another Tatar vassal state ruled by descendants of the Golden Horde commanderMamai through theGlinski family.[4]
The Polish historian Stefan Kuczyński, who wrote one of the most detailed studies of Jagoldai, localised the principality to the upper reaches of theOskol River, connecting it with a settlement called "Jagoldai gorodishche" (Jagoldai fortified town) that existed in the 17th century.[4][5]
In the second half of the 15th century, the principality was ruled by Roman Jagoldaevich, who was either the son or great-grandson of the founder Jagoldai Sarayevich.[1] Roman's daughter married PrinceYuri Borisovich Vyazemsky. Around 1494, Prince Vyazemsky and his wife fled toMoscow, and Jagoldai briefly became part of the domain lands of the Lithuanian Grand DukeAlexander Jagiellon.[1]
According to aprivilege dated 19 March 1497, the territory was divided among fourKievboyars: Debr Kalenikovych, Mikhail Gagin, Fedko Golenchich, and Kuntsa Senkovich.[1] By the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the territory passed to Moscow as a consequence of Prince Vyazemsky's change of allegiance from Polish-Lithuanian service to Muscovite service.[2]
The Tatar settlers in Jagoldai gradually mixed with the localSlavic population and adoptedEastern Orthodox Christianity. This process of assimilation contributed to the formation of theSevryuki, a localCossack population group that emerged in the region.[6]
A 1600 survey mentioned that in 1570, there were "Oskol Cossacks" (оскольские казаки) in the region.[2] The 17th-century document known as the "Register of Polish Roads" (Росписи польским дорогам) described the route to "Jagoldai gorodishche" fromLivny, indicating that the memory of the Tatar settlement persisted long after the principality's political dissolution.[5]
Archaeological excavations in theStary Oskol area have revealed traces that can be associated with the population of the Jagoldai tumen, though much about the principality's material culture remains unknown.[3]
51°18′N37°50′E / 51.300°N 37.833°E /51.300; 37.833
