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Mamai

Mamai (1335, Solkhat – 1380, Kafa) — a Crimean emir, temnik (military commander) and beglerbeg of the Golden Horde from the Polovtsian Kiyat clan; the de facto ruler of the southern part of the Horde in the 1360s–early 1380s. He was born, lived, and died in Crimea; his name later became a legendary symbol of the Cossacks (see Kozak Mamay).

Overview

Mamai came from the Kiyat clan, which had held the lands of the Northern Black Sea region, the Azov Sea coast, and Crimea since the 1220s. Mamai's great-grandfather Tuluk-Timur was the first known ruler of Crimea from this clan, and his father Alibek ruled Solkhat (present-day Staryi Krym) in 1356. Under Khan Janibek, Mamai became a dignitary, and in 1359 Khan Berdibek appointed him beglerbeg — the highest office in the Horde after the khan's. In 1361 Mamai proclaimed himself khan, but the title was not recognized, since only a Chinggisid could be khan.

According to an article by Valerii Verkhovsky (2018), Mamai was born in Kafa (a Genoese colony), lived in Crimea, and died in Crimea; his relations with Europeans turned out better than with his "compatriots from the Kipchak." According to unconfirmed yet also uncontested data, in Kafa he received Catholic baptism.

Mamai relied on an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: in 1362, together with Algirdas, he routed the Horde forces at the Syni Vody (Blue Waters) and seized Azov; in 1380 he concluded a treaty with Jogaila. That same year at Kulikovo Field (September 8, 1380), according to the traditional narrative, Mamai suffered defeat by the Moscow prince Dmitrii, and two weeks later he was defeated by Tokhtamysh on the Kalka River and fled to Kafa, where he died (according to various versions — killed by the Genoese or by Tokhtamysh's envoys). Mamai's descendants founded the Hlynske Principality in the Poltava region (the Mansur-Kiyat and Oleksa-Oleksandr lines) and moved to Perekop (the Skider line), giving rise both to the Ukrainian Cossacks and to Crimean Tatar clans.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Origin and office: the Polovtsian Kiyat clan, beglerbeg of the Golden Horde (from 1359), de facto ruler of the southern Horde; born in Kafa (Genoese colony), lived and died in Crimea.
  • Alliance with Lithuania: 1362 — Algirdas and Mamai against the Jochids; seizure of Azov; rout at the Syni Vody (Blue Waters). 1380 — treaty with Jogaila; in Mamai's camp were also Prince Oleg of Ryazan and the Genoese.
  • The Algirdaites and the "Mamai Massacre": Algirdas's sons Andrii and Dmitrii — on Dmitrii Donskoi's side; Jogaila (favored son, heir to the throne of the GDL after Algirdas's death in 1377, not the elder Andrii) was late in coming to aid the "Mamaiites." About ~5 years later Jogaila concluded the Union of Krewo with Poland — the "European choice" for Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Verkhovsky describes the event as a squabble of ambitious heirs ("East European game of thrones").
  • Kulikovo Field / historiographical criticism: the imperial myth — supposedly the 1380 battle ended the enslavement of Rus' and united the appanage principalities into "russians." The sources contradict one another. European sources: a battle in 1380 or not in 1380 in the locality of Blauwasser (Syni Vody / Blue Water); the victors — the Lithuanians.
  • Death: rout on the Kalka, flight to Kafa; death in 1380 (versions — the Genoese did not let him into Kafa, or he was killed by Tokhtamysh's envoys).
  • Burial: according to one version — the village of Aivazovske (formerly Sheikh-Mamai) near Feodosia, the kurgan-grave was discovered by I. K. Aivazovsky; according to another — the Kemal-ata hill near Staryi Krym.
  • The Mamai-Hlynskys and the division of the clan: Mamai's son Mansur-Kiyat founded the Hlynske Principality (1380–1392) with centers at Hlynsk, Poltava, and Hlynnytsia. His son Oleksa (Oleksandr) and his subjects adopted Orthodoxy and became Ukrainians, while his brother Skider with his people moved to Perekop and became an ancestor of the Crimean Tatars.
  • Heraldic tradition (Tarak-tamga): the coat of arms of the Hlynskys (the Kyrkor arms — a tamga on a red field) is identical to the national coat of arms of the Crimean Tatars, whose name derives from the city of Kyrk-Or (Chufut-Kale).
  • Connection with the Cossacks: Prince Bohdan Fedorovych Hlynsky (Cherkasy voivode 1488–1495), signing with the surname Mamai, created the first Cossack detachments and in 1493 took Ochakiv (on other campaigns against Ochakiv and the formation of the Cossacks, see also Bernard Pretvych).
  • Crimean Khanate / "Shield of Ukraine": the first Crimean khan Hajji I Giray (1441) was a vassal of the Lithuanians (like Mamai), and fought for Crimea's independence from the Horde in alliance with the GDL.

Contradictions and Open Questions

  • Place of death and burial: two main versions — death/burial near Kafa (Aivazovske, Sheikh-Mamai) or near Staryi Krym (Kemal-ata hill); not finally established.
  • Khan title: Mamai proclaimed himself khan in 1361 but was not a Chinggisid, so the title was not officially recognized by his contemporaries.
  • Date, place, and outcome of the "Battle of Kulikovo": the traditional narrative (Buket et al.) — Mamai's defeat by Dmitrii at Kulikovo Field on September 8, 1380. Verkhovsky (2018) questions the imperial myth of "victory" and the "birth of the russians": East Slavic sources are contradictory and legendary; European ones ("Chronica Novella," "Wandalia") — a battle in 1380 or not in 1380 in the locality of Blauwasser (Syni Vody), the victors — the Lithuanians; Italian notarial acts (per Brylova) record a spike in Slavic slaves after 1380, which contradicts the image of a "decisive victory."
  • Role of Lithuania / Muscovy as part of the GDL (1373–1382): Verkhovsky asserts that both "victories" of Dmitrii Donskoi (Vozha 1378, Kulikovo 1380) fell in a period when Muscovy was part of the GDL; the Lithuanians were on both sides (Andrii and Dmitrii Olgerdaites — with Donskoi; Jogaila — was late to Mamai). This is a framework absent from Buket's biographical article.
  • Place of birth: Buket — Solkhat (1335); Verkhovsky — Kafa (Genoese colony). Possible difference of emphasis (family seat vs. birthplace) or contradiction of sources.
  • Catholic baptism in Kafa: unconfirmed yet uncontested data (Verkhovsky); not mentioned by Buket.
  • Poltava Region and Crimea. Two Histories of Ukrainian Statehood — an article by Oleksandr Dziuba ("Krymska svitlytsia," 2017, No. 2); the history of the founding of the Hlynske Principality by Mansur-Kiyat, the division of Mamai's clan into Oleksa and Skider, tarak-tamga and the Kyrkor arms.
  • Mamai. A Crimean Zaporozhian — an article by Yevhen Buket in the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia" (2016, No. 42); biography, the Mamai-Hlynskys, the Cossacks.
  • Mamai — a veteran of the Battle of Kulikovo — an article by Valerii Verkhovsky ("Krymska svitlytsia," 2018, No. 13); criticism of the imperial myth of Kulikovo, Blauwasser, GDL, slave trade/Brylova, Hajji Giray as a "shield."
  • Hlynske Principality — an appanage autonomous state in the Poltava region, founded by Mamai's son Mansur-Kiyat.
  • Bohdan Fedorovych Hlynsky — Cherkasy voivode of the Mamai-Hlynsky clan, founder of the early Cossacks and victor at Ochakiv (1493).
  • Tarak-tamga — a common heraldic sign of the Crimean Khanate and the Hlynsky princes (the Kyrkor arms).
  • Hajji I Giray — founder of the Crimean Khanate, whose state-building proceeded in parallel with the Hlynske Principality.
  • Bernard Pretvych — Bar starosta, involved in the formation of the Cossacks and preemptive campaigns against Ochakiv.
  • Kozak Mamay — a folk painting and cult of the ancestor-founder of the Cossacks, associated with the name of Mamai and Prince Bohdan Hlynsky.
  • Chufut-Kale — the cave fortress of Kyrk-Or, capital of Hajji I Giray, which gave its name to the Hlynsky arms "Kyrkor."
  • Feodosia Art Gallery named after Ivan Aivazovsky — Aivazovsky, who engaged in archaeology, discovered the Mamai kurgan.
  • Andrii Shchekun — chief editor of the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia," where the sources were published.
  • Ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars — context of the Golden Horde and the formation of the Crimean Tatar people.
  • Khan's Ukraine — a later period of the Ukrainian-Crimean state alliance.