WHO ARE THE TATARS?
Origin of the Tatars—Original common stock of the Mongol,
Toungous, Turk, and Ugrian groups of nations—Short account
of each of these—The Tatars belong to the Turk race—Their
royal race, the Gerays, descendants of Zingis Khan, through
Tóktamish—Discord in the kingdom of Kiptchak for one
hundred years—Kingdom of Crimea founded by Mahomet II.—Held
tributary to Constantinople till conquest by the Russians—The
conditions—Popular notion that the Gerays are next heirs to
the throne of Constantinople—Selim Geray—Constitution of
Crimea—Power of the Khans with the Grand Sultan—The Sultans, or
royal family, of the Gerays—The wives of the Khans—Character of
the Tatars—Their manner of living—Their fidelity.
After the account given in the last chapter of the capital of the Tatars,
it will be perhaps interesting to inquire a little into the history of
this people, who have established themselves for so many hundred years
in the Crimea, who still form the bulk of its population, and, although
their former warlike spirit seems quite to have disappeared, are now
rendering our army important assistance by bringing it provisions.
To gain a clear idea of their antecedents, we must for a few moments
travel back into very early times.
There seems to have been in a prehistoric period of time some common
stock from which four great groups of nations have descended, the Mongol,
the Tungousian, the Turk, and the Ugrian, called also the Finn, or Tchud.
The Mongols occupied a comparatively small territory till the time of
their national hero Zingis Khan, when they first occur in history. Even
in his armies and those of his successors, most of his soldiers were
Turks, while the captains were Mongolians.
They are now confined principally to the country northward of the Great
Wall of China, and westward of the Mandshu country.
The Tungusians extend on the east from the Yenisei to the Sea of Okhotsk,
and on the north from the coast of the Icy Sea, between the Yenisei and
the Lena, to the Yellow Sea on the south-east. Of this race, the only
division which has exercised an influence on the history of the world is
that of the Mandshus, the present rulers of China.
The Turks, the most widely extended of the four races, and one of the
most considerable of the families of the world, occupy as a continuous
population the vast extent of country from the neighbourhood of Lake
Baikal, in Siberia, near the northern frontier of China, to the eastern
boundaries of the Greek and Slavonic countries in Europe, and along the
northern coast of Africa to the vicinity of the Pillars of Hercules. One
isolated tribe, that of the Yakuts, dwell in the remote east, upon the
river Lena, and the coasts of the Icy Sea.
The Ugrians left the great eastern plateau of Asia, and settled in the
north-west of Asia and the north of Europe, at a period long antecedent
to all historical documents. They extend as a continuous population from
the Yenisei on the east to Norway on the west. The eastern branches of
this race are the Voguls and the Ostiacks, between the Ural Mountains
and the Yenisei, inhabiting the country formerly called Ugrien, Jugrien,
or Jugoria, and the most important of the western portions of them are
the Finns and the Lappes. The Magyars of Hungary are also members of the
Ugrian race, and, in the ninth century of the Christian era, descended
from the southern part of the Uralian Mountains, and settled on the
plains of the Lower Danube. They called themselves Magyars, but the
Russians gave them the name of Ugri, and this is the name which has been
corrupted into Ungri and Hungary. The Magyars are the only people of
the Ugrian race who have exercised any influence upon the history of the
world.
From the third of these races (viz., the Turkish) are sprung the
Tatars[68] of Crimea, who are a remnant of the great nation which overran
a large part of Asia and Europe in the thirteenth century; and the
princes of the House of Geray, who ruled the Crimea down to the time of
the Russian conquest, and several branches of which still exist in Russia
and Circassia, are the lineal descendants of the great conqueror, Zingis
or Gengis Khan. This mighty potentate, who, at the age of thirteen, was
left as the chief of a small tribe dependent on the kingdom of the Niu
Tchè Tatars in the northern portion of China, and whose name was then
Temouchin, commenced his career by defeating the rebellious nobles of
his tribe, and boiling the principal malcontents in seventy cauldrons
filled with hot water. By his large views, and his skilful use of the
superstitious tendencies of his people, he induced the chiefs of the
neighbouring tribes to obey him, and a holy hermit saluted him as the
master of the world, by the name of Zingis Khan.[69] He conquered China,
upset the flourishing kingdom of the Seljuk Turks in Khaurism, and then
his generals advanced by Derbend and the shores of the Caspian, and
defeated the Russian princes at the battle of the Kalka, near Mariopol,
on the Sea of Azof (1224). They pursued the flying Russians to the
Dniepr, and then returned to Zingis Khan in Great Bukharía.
Ten years after the death of Zingis Khan in 1227, Batou Khan, his nephew,
conquered the whole of Russia (1237), and the country remained subject to
the Tatars for about 150 years, till at the celebrated battle of Koulikof
on the Don (1380) the Russians made the first step towards throwing off
their subjection, and the black standard of Dmitri Donskoi waved over the
slaughtered hosts of the Khan Mamai.[70]
The empire of Zingis Khan had been divided at his death, and Tamerlane
now ruled over the two Bukharías. Russia depended on the kingdom of
Kiptchak, which, soon after the battle of Koulikof, fell to the lot of
Tóktamish, a general of Tamerlane,[71] who gained it by defeating Mamai,
at another famous battle in the vicinity of Mariopol. The celebrated
kingdom of Kiptchak comprehended the Steppes which extend between the
Caspian and Black Seas, between the Caucasus and the Don in one part, and
between the Volga and the Emba in another.
Tóktamish was conquered afterwards by the Ouzbeg Idekou (1395), another
general of the great Tamerlane, against whom the khan of Kiptchak had
revolted, and from Tóktamish descend the Gerays of Crimea, and from
Idekou the khans of the Nogai Tatars. Nearly a hundred years of civil
war followed in Kiptchak after the victory of Idekou, and at the end
of it we find Mengli Geray seated on the throne of Crimea (1478),
which he consented to hold tributary to Mahomet II., the conqueror of
Constantinople. The kingdom of Crimea was therefore the remnant of the
kingdom of Kiptchak, as this latter was only a small portion of the vast
empire of Zingis Khan. At the time of the interference of Mahomet II.
there was terrible disorder in the affairs of Little Tatary, and the
state was on the verge of ruin. Three khans reigned at once, and Mengli
Geray, who had the best right to the throne, was dispossessed and obliged
to retire to Mangoup, which at that time was in the possession of the
Goths and the Genoese. Mahomet fearing lest the latter people, who were
masters of the greater portion of the Crimea, and the Muscovites, who
had already seized several provinces of the empire of Kiptchak, should
unite to divide the rest of it, wished to assist the Tatar princes, and
to put an end to the dissensions which must have brought about the total
destruction of the monarchy. He, therefore, drove the Genoese from the
Crimea, took from them the cities of Mangoup and Caffa, and brought
prisoner to Constantinople the dethroned khan, Mengli Geray, whom he
afterwards restored on the following conditions:
1st. The khan swore for himself and his descendants submission and
inviolable fidelity to the Porte; and he consented that the khans should
be placed on the throne and removed by the Grand Sultan at his pleasure,
and that they should make peace and war for the interests of the Ottoman
empire.
On the other hand, the Sultan conceded—1st. That only a prince of the
race of Zingis Khan should be placed on the throne of Little Tatary.
2nd. That he would never, under any circumstances, put to death any
prince of the house of Geray.
3rd. That the Gerays should never be obliged to deliver up refugees who
took shelter in any of their dominions.
4th. That the khutbah or prayer of the khan should be read in the mosques
after that offered up for the Grand Sultan.
5th. That, if the khan made a particular request to the Porte, it should
not be refused.
6th. That the khan should carry five tails on his standard when he went
to battle, which was one less than the Grand Sultan himself, and two more
than the highest rank of pashas.
Lastly. That in time of war the Porte should allow 120 purses, or about
12,000_l._, for each campaign, towards the expenses of the khan’s guard;
and 80 purses, or nearly 10,000_l._, for the Kapikouli Mirzas, or the
immediate vassals of the khan, who were not of noble birth.
There was a fixed opinion in Peyssonel’s time, and it exists down to the
present hour, that the family of Geray are the next heirs to the throne
of Constantinople, should the family of the Sultan become extinct; but
Peyssonel questioned upon this point the khan himself, and his ministers,
and the learned men, and they all agreed in saying that no such right
existed, and that the opinion took its rise in a vulgar error.
It is probable that it originated in the following manner:—Hadji Selim
Geray Khan reigned at the end of the seventeenth century, and was a great
prince—great as a king, a general, a soldier, and a man. This prince,
having beaten in a single campaign the Germans, the Poles, and the
Muscovites, saved the standard of the faith when it was on the point of
being taken, and supported the falling fortunes of the Ottoman empire.
Upon this the Janissaries wished to raise him to the throne, but he
thanked them, and declared himself incapable of violating the engagements
to the Porte, which his ancestors had contracted for him, and that he
should consider himself unworthy of them if he mounted the throne of
Turkey by treachery. Having appeased the seditious Janissaries, he asked
but one favour, and that was to be allowed to visit Mecca. He was the
first Tatar prince to whom this favour was accorded, for their birth was
considered so illustrious, that the Sultans were afraid of their rousing
the people of Arabia, and declaring themselves the successors of the
Khalifs.
Selim Geray[72] was so much respected in Turkey, that the Sultan called
him his father, and, in gratitude, declared that the throne of Tatary
should be filled by princes of his branch of the Geray family alone. The
khans of Crimea used to feel the irksomeness of their dependence on the
Porte, which kept its ascendant by the favour of the nobles, who were
very powerful in Crimea, and by the religious feeling of the people,
who recognised the Grand Sultan as the successor of the Khalifs and the
depositary of the keys of Mecca.
The power of the khans of Crimea was by no means unlimited, and rather
resembled a constitutional monarchy than a despotism. They drew no
revenue from the land nor from their subjects, and could not alter the
privileges of the nobles; and, by the fundamental constitution of the
monarchy, no noble could be punished without the participation of the
beys, or heads of the great houses assembled in council. Bengly Geray,
after having punished the nobles who were concerned in the revolt of
Shireen Bey, and contributed to the expulsion of Seadet Geray, wished to
diminish the power of the nobles, and formed a plan for removing the Beys
from their great hereditary offices, and making his vizir chief of all
the nobility. The nobles of the Crimea and of the Nogais all opposed this
proposition, and the khan seeing his danger, abandoned his intentions.
The influence of the khan with the Porte was very great, particularly in
time of war. When Devlet Geray was at Adrianople, and had taken leave
of the Grand Sultan, and was preparing to mount his horse, he suddenly
stopped, with one foot in the stirrup and the other on the stone that
helped him to mount, and the Sultan in surprise asked him what delayed
his departure. He received for answer, that the khan would not mount his
horse till the head of Baltagi Mehemet Pasha, the grand vizir, with whom
he was greatly displeased on account of the treaty he had made on the
Pruth, was brought to him. The minister, as well as the reis effendi,
were executed, and their heads sent to the khan.
The khan was sometimes sent for to Constantinople to consult with on
affairs of state, and he was then received like a king. The vizir and all
the grandees went out to receive him, he sat down and took his coffee
with the Sultan, and, like him, wore the aigrette, and received the
homage of the Janissaries.
His forces were very considerable, and he could easily raise an army of
200,000 men. This he could do, although his revenues were very small, and
did not exceed 160,000_l._ a year, because as the nobles marched with
their vassals, and each soldier carried with him provisions for three
months, the support of his army cost him very little.
His style in writing to foreign powers, except the Sultan, was—Geray,
by the grace of God, Emperor of the Tatars, the Circassians, and the
Daghestan.
All the princes of the reigning house had the title of Sultan, and were
not shut up, but enjoyed complete liberty. Some held great charges in the
kingdom, and others lived in Roumelia on lands granted to them by the
Porte. There were generally some in Circassia, which was the country to
which they often fled when they had any cause for discontent, and where,
by raising the warlike population of the mountains, and marching against
the khan, or making excursions on the Russian territory, they sometimes
caused the khan much annoyance. They all received pensions from the
Porte, and were greatly respected by the whole nation of the Tatars.
The family was divided into two branches, of which the one are the
descendants of the good prince Hadji Selim, and the other are a distant
branch, called Tchoban Gerays, or the Shepherd Gerays. It used to be
the custom of the khan, and of all the princes of the house of Tatary,
always to choose as their wives Circassian slaves, and on this account
the mothers of the khans were little respected, even by the prince
himself, and after the death of their husbands they lived in the hareems
of their sons, and were not admitted to their table, and even remained
standing till they received permission to sit down.
The Tatars in the days when they were a formidable people are described
by a French officer who served in Poland against them, as of middle
stature, strong, with thick limbs, short neck, broad face, their eyes
small, but very black, and opening wide, their complexion tawny, hardened
to all sort of labour and pains from their very infancy. They were
dressed in sheepskins, and carried with them on their journey a steel to
strike fire, and a mariner’s compass and a sun-dial to guide them through
the desert plains where there is no beaten way or path. “They ride very
short,” says the officer, “like all the Eastern nations, and their
horses, which they call bac-mates, were long, lean, and ugly, with the
hair of their neck thick, and great tails, which hang down to the ground;
but they are swift and indefatigable in travelling, being able to carry
their riders whole days’ journeys without drawing bit; and they will feed
at all times, and when in winter the earth is covered with snow, which
is the time when the Tatars make their incursions, they live either upon
what is under the snow, or upon the branches or sprouts of trees, pine
tops, straw, or anything they can find.”
The Tatars hardly ever used bread, but made a pottage of millet, and
ordinarily ate horse-flesh, boiled when they were at leisure, but just
heated under their saddles and eaten raw when on a march, and the only
sauce they had was the froth of the flesh from this primitive way of
cooking it. They always had extra horses with them for food.
They had the highest character for integrity, and very few nations were
to be found less vicious. Besides their continence, they were extremely
sincere and faithful, and had no thieves or false witnesses amongst them;
they did little injustice or violence, and lived in union and great
tranquillity. The marvellous fidelity of the captive Tatars in Poland was
celebrated. They never failed to return when they were released on their
parole, and the Polish gentlemen rather trusted the young Tatars in their
service with the keys of their money and jewels than any others of their
household.[73]
The Tatars can hardly now be said to form a nation. After the conquest
of Crimea by the Russians, all those who did not wish to stay under the
Russian sceptre were allowed to emigrate, and many availed themselves of
the permission and retired into Turkey, so that there are now scarcely
any remaining in the country west of the Dniepr, and their number has
much diminished in the Crimea.
The influx of fashionable people to the southern coast of the Crimea, and
the wealth they have brought there, has corrupted the lower orders of the
Tatars, and made the nobles shrink in haughty seclusion to the mountains.
There the poorer classes, unlike the Tatars of the southern coast and the
plains, retain their rough and primitive independence, and the rich can
peaceably pass their lives without being shocked by the sight of their
masters.
I will conclude this chapter by borrowing the account given by Madame
Hommaire de Hell of her visit to the Princess Adel Bey, a celebrated
Tatar beauty, who still lives near Baktchéserai. She rode for several
hours from the latter place through a lovely country, intersected with
streams, valleys, and numerous orchards, to Karolez, the village of the
princess, lost in the mountains, in the valley of the same name. It is
situated near Mangoup, whence there is a glorious view of the mountainous
parts of the Crimea and Sevastopol, and Balaclava, and the sea shining
beyond them; and the abundance of its waters, and the mountains that
encompass the valley with a line of battlemented walls, make it a
favourite spot with the lovers of natural beauty.
Here Madame de Hell and her husband were received at the guest-house of
the princess by a double line of richly-dressed servants, drawn up in the
vestibule to receive them, and they were conducted into a saloon arranged
in the fashion of the East, with gaily painted walls and red silk divans.
Thus far an ungrudging hospitality received every distinguished guest
alike, but Madame de Hell was allowed an interview with the princess in
her own apartments, a favour which has been permitted to very few ladies.
From her account it appears that Eastern beauty still deserves its
reputation, and that the ancient manners and dress are still to be found
unaltered in the mountains of the Crimea. Admitted into a fairy apartment
looking out on a terraced garden, “a curtain was suddenly raised at the
end of the room, and a woman of striking beauty entered,” says Madame
de Hell, “dressed in a rich costume. She advanced to me with an air of
remarkable dignity, took both my hands, kissed me on the two cheeks, and
sat down beside me, making many demonstrations of friendship. She wore
a great deal of rouge; her eyelids were painted black, and met over the
nose, giving her countenance a certain sternness, which nevertheless
did not destroy its pleasing effect. A furred velvet vest fitted tight
to her still elegant figure, and altogether her appearance surpassed
what I had conceived of her beauty. After some time, when I offered
to go, she checked me with a very graceful gesture, and said eagerly,
‘Pastoi, pastoi,’ which is Russian for ‘Stay, stay,’ and clapped her
hands several times. A young girl entered at the signal, and by her
mistress’s order threw open a folding-door, and immediately I was struck
dumb with surprise and admiration by a most brilliant apparition.
Imagine, reader, the most exquisite sultanas of whom poetry and painting
have ever tried to convey an idea, and still your conception will fall
far short of the enchanting models I had then before me. There were
three of them, all equally beautiful and graceful. Two were clad in
tunics of crimson brocade, adorned in front with broad gold lace; the
tunics were open, and disclosed beneath them cashmere robes, with very
tight sleeves terminating in gold fringes. The youngest wore a tunic of
azure blue brocade, with silver ornaments: this was the only difference
between her dress and that of her sisters. All three had magnificent
black hair escaping in countless tresses from a fez of silver filagree,
set like a diadem over their ivory foreheads; they wore gold embroidered
slippers, and wide trousers drawn close at the ancle. I had never beheld
skins so dazzlingly fair, eyelashes so long, or so delicate a bloom of
youth. The calm repose that sat on the countenances of these lovely
creatures had never been disturbed by any profane glance. No look but
their mother’s had ever told them they were beautiful; and this thought
gave them an inexpressible charm in my eyes. It is not in our Europe
where women, exposed to the gaze of crowds, so soon addict themselves
to coquetry, that the imagination could conceive such a type of beauty.
The features of our young girls are too soon altered by the vivacity of
their impressions to allow the eye of the artist to discover in them
that divine charm of purity and ignorance with which I was so struck in
beholding my Tatar princesses. After embracing me they retired to the
end of the room, where they remained standing in those graceful Oriental
attitudes which no woman in Europe could imitate. A dozen attendants,
muffled in white muslin, were gathered round the door, gazing with
respectful curiosity. Their profiles, shown in relief on a dark ground,
added to the picturesque character of the scene. This delightful vision
lasted an hour. When the princess saw that I was decided on going away,
she signified to me by signs that I should go and see the garden; but
though grateful to her for this further mark of attention, I preferred
immediately rejoining my husband, being impatient to relate to him all
the details of this interview, with which I was completely dazzled.”[74]