Source analysis of «Letters from Sygnak»

Abstract

The article provides a source study analysis of the complex of sources, referred to in source science as «Diplomas from Sygnak». An analysis of the articles of the form allows us to conclude that the khan’s labels were issued in the towns near Syrdarya until the 17th century. Of the four labels issued in the southern cities of Kazakhstan – Sygnak, Sairan and Turkestan: two are serving-tarkhan, one is soyurgal, one is vakuf. In essence, these documents contain, in a specific form, mixed elements of the actual tarkhan labels with the soyurgal and vakuf labels. But the combination of individual articles and turns in the form allows you to establish their belonging to specific types of labels. The significance of this study lies not so much in the historical interpretation of sources, but in the collection and identification, disclosure of the evolution of these unique sources based on changes in parts of the labels (diplomatic analysis) and their classification.

The article applies interdisciplinary research methods to the written sources of the nomadic civiliza- tion. Extracting historical information from them is impossible without the involvement of new research methods. A thorough source analysis will allow to extract from medieval sources belonging to the Gold- en Horde and post-Golden Horde states, a number of valuable information about the social structure and land relations of the period under study.

Key words: labels, abstract formulary, oral historiology, autochthonous sources, diplomacy, sources of the Golden Horde, formulary reconstruction, tarhanism, soyurgal, vakuf label.