Influence of Islamic and Tatar Coins on the Russian Monetary System
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Eric R. Schena |
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The Dirham, the Kuna and the Beginnings of Rus Coinage |
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Source and Comments |
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The work by Eric R. Schena brings an excellent overview of the Türkic influence on the historical development of the Russian monetary system from the pelt-based economic exchange of the pre-Mongolian time to the rise and expansion of the Moscovite Duchy. The work is based on the Russian sources, and relies on the Russian official historiography that artfully skips the period of the Vikings (Varangians) service in the Khazarian Kaganate and the Viking feudal expansion into the Khazarian and Bulgarian states. |
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Illustrations |
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Fig. 1 Samanid dirham from Kiev Fig. 2 Abbasid dirhams from Kiev Yaroslav srebrenik 1016-1024 AD Khazarian coin from Tmutarkhan Fig. 3 Kuna (low weight dirham) Fig. 4 Tatar dirham struck in Bulgar Fig. 5 Tatar dirham struck in Sarai-Berke Fig. 6 Dengas of Dimitri Donskoi ca. after 1380 Fig. 7 Denga of Vasilii I (1389-1425) Fig. 8 Tatar dirham countermarked with Ryazan tamga Fig. 9 Tatar dirham countermarked with Russian inscription (1427-1456) Fig. 10 Vasilii II denga with pseudo-Arabic inscription and no Russian inscription Fig. 11 Last bilingual Tatar-Rus coin struck in Novgorod 1470s-1480 |
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An Introduction |
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For centuries, Islamic coins formed the backbone of the Rus monetary system. In the earliest days of the Slavic participate, imported Abbasid and Samanid dirhams were the main circulating coins in Kiev. After the Mongol conquest of 1237-1240, Ulus Juchi (Kipchak Khanate, Tataria) coinage became firmly established within Rus and influenced later independent Rus coins. This is a brief survey of the role the Islamic and Tatar coins had to play in the development of the Rus (south-east) and Slavic (north-west) monetary system. |
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The Dirham, the Kuna and the Beginnings of Rus Coinage |
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Beginning in the late 7th century-early 8th century AD, the Varangians, a Viking people, migrated from Scandinavia south to the Black Sea, establishing many trading towns and stations along the way. According to Rus chronicles, a Varangian warrior by the name of Rurik (Hrorekr) led an expedition to the site of modern-day Staraya Lagoda (near Novgorod) and occupied the city in ca. 862 AD. However, recent archaeological evidence indicates that Scandinavian tribes had occupied the region as early as 750 AD. The Varangians moved southward and settled in present day Ukraine, wrestling Bashtu (Kiev, now Kyiv) from Khazars, and soon began trading with the local Slavic peoples, and, in particular, with the neighboring Volga Bulgars and the Khazars who had access via trade with the vast silver wealth of the Samanids in Central Asia. Samanid dirhams consequently flowed westward, where the Varangians were eager to haul them back to Scandinavia through Kiev. Through this trade route, Samanid dirhams (Fig. 1) have been found in substantial quantities in and around Kiev, all the way up to Scandinavia, where numerous large hoards have been found. The earliest Islamic dirhams found in Kiev are Abbasid dirhams (Fig. 2), though older, heavily worn Sassanian silver drachms of the 4th through the 7th centuries AD of the Hunnic, Bulgar and Khazar periods have also been found in hoards along with the more common Islamic coins. The dirhams that were brought into Kiev and its environs became the principal coin circulating in medieval Russia for several hundred years.
Alongside Abbasid and Samanid dirhams, other dirhams are occasionally found, including locally produced coins. Anonymous Abbasid style coins were produced by the Khazars c. 830-840, bearing the mint name of Ard al-Khazar (see Album J1481). The Volga Bulgars themselves struck dirhams based on contemporary Samanid dirhams. The Volga Bulgars’ coins are from the period after adoption of Islam in 922 AD, and bear the mint name of either Suwar (Suvar), or Bulgar, or Baltavar (Russ. Poltava) of the pre-949 AD. In 895 the capital of Bulgaria was transferred from Baltavar to Bulgar. The coins were produced in the names of the local rulers: Mikhail bin Ja’far (930-943) and Talib bin Ahmad (976-981). Anonymous dirhams imitating Samanid coins were also struck by the Volga Bulgars, many times bearing tamgas, as well as the keeping the original dates and mint names of their Samanid prototypes (see Album N1481-Q1481). In addition, Abbasid and Samanid dirhams have also been found with graffiti of variations of Kievan princely tamgas and other symbols. Dirhams provided the weight standard by which the earliest Kievan coins, the silver srebreniks, were struck. Srebreniks were first struck in the late 10th century by Vladimir, the Great Prince of Kiev and are the earliest purely Rus coins. In 988, Christianity was introduced to Kievan Rus by Vladimir. Many aspects of Rus culture changed with Christianity’s introduction as well, including the coinage. Around the same time, Byzantine coins make their first appearance in coin hoards in the form of silver miliaresia among hoards of dirhams, though not in substantial quantity. The imported Byzantine coins provided a stylistic foundation upon which Kiev could build an independent coinage, while their weight was roughly consistent with dirhams. However, many of the srebreniks were debased. Although over a hundred different die pairs have been identified, currently very few of these coins are known (Spasskii and Sotnikova identify a total of 335 srebreniks of any type). It is thought that the issue was probably quite large, but because the coins were made of debased silver, they were unpopular compared to the high fineness of Islamic dirhams and were soon removed from circulation. East of Crimea, heavily debased imitations of Byzantine miliaresia were produced for a brief time in Tmutarkhan.
Despite the early experiments with a purely Slavic coinage, dirhams remained the primary medium of exchange, and as a consequence, an entire system of accounting was developed around them. The numerous terms of account that were in use in medieval Russia and are known through primary literary sources, principally the Povest’ Vremennykh Let ("Tales of Bygone Years" - frequently referred to as the Rus Primary Chronicle), as well as birch bark receipts and letters discovered in archaeological contexts. The two basic units of account used were grivna and kuna.
The kuna was applied to any silver coin in current use, in particular, Abbasid and Samanid dirhams. The grivna had two different uses, one as a unit of account and another as a unit of specie. Initially, large quantities of kuna were reckoned in terms of grivnas. Besides the grivna and kuna, the rezana and the veksha (or veveritsa) were used to describe cut portions of a kuna. The ratios to one another in the tenth to the twelfth centuries are as follows:
By the middle to late 10th century, the influx of dirhams into Rus appears to have come to a halt. The exact cause or causes of the "silver famine" are not fully known, and there is even debate as to whether or not the silver famine actually occurred. It is believed that Varangian trade with the Volga Bulgars, Khazars and the Samanid dynasty in Central Asia caused dramatic outflow of fine silver coin out of the silver rich Panjhir Valley. Although the mines were prolific, the quantity of silver being exported through trade was on a vast scale. Beginning around the early to mid 10th century, the Samanids, their vassals the Banijurids, and their successors the Ghaznavids (Gaznevids), started issuing huge debased silver multiple/oversize dirhams, rather than fine silver "normal" dirhams at some mints. As a result, comparatively few new coins of good fineness and weight entered Kievan Rus', eventually generating greater demand for better quality dirhams with high silver content. Contemporary chronicle entries and writings begin mentioning two different terms of account: the nogata equating to one high quality, full weight dirham, and the traditional kuna now equating to a low weight dirham, either by heavy circulation wear or clipping (Fig. 3), possibly reflecting the increasing scarcity of good coin in Russia. Fig. 3 Kuna (low weight dirham) In the 11th century, the grivna of silver (in the form of an ingot weighing approximately 160-200 grams) was introduced. However, from the outset a grivna ingot had a different weight than a grivna of kuna. By the 12th century, 1 grivna of silver was the equivalent of 4 grivnas of kuna and the ratios changed thus:
These terms of account continued in wide use into the 15th century. Before his death in 1015, Vladimir divided his lands (known as Kievan Rus’) into ten separate principalities, one for each of his sons, with the head of Kiev retaining the title of Grand Prince. Kievan Rus’ was then thrown into a period of internecine strife upon the death of Vladimir. One son, Svyatopolk, seized Kiev for himself and killed three of his brothers in order to reduce the number of competitors, earning him the epithet of “the Damned”. Vladimir’s oldest son Yaroslav, with the assistance of Scandinavian mercenaries, took Kiev from Svyatopolk in 1019 and divided Kievan Rus’ between himself and his only remaining brother, Mstislav. This marked the beginning of the decentralization of authority in the Kievan state and it soon entered a period of decline. In 1169, 72 years ahead of Mongolo-Tatars, the Prince of Suzdal Andrei Bogoliubskii sacked Kiev, then moved the seat of the Great Prince to Vladimir, the capital of Suzdal. What little trade was conducted in the 12th and 13th centuries, long after the Varangians left, came to a violent end with the Mongolo-Tatar invasion of 1237-1240. The Kipchak Khanate and the Denga With the rise of Chingiz Khan to the east, a Mongol tide began to sweep over the steppes and into Kievan Rus’. This new threat won the first encounter in the Kipchak territory in 1223, after Rus murdered the Tatar peace embassy including the son of the general Subetey. A joint Kipchak and Rus armies unsuccessfully attacked the Mongol avantguard army, and were decimated. It was not until after Genghis Khan’s death that the Mongol Khanate made its presence known. A large army led by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Batu Khan, first subdued the Bulgar Khanate, and then struck at Ryazan in 1237, eventually sacking and destroying Kiev in 1240, ending Kiev’s power and influence once and for all, spelling the end of the Bulgar and South Slavic independence in the region. After the conquest of Kiev in 1240, Rus became a series of vassal states answerable to the Great Khan of Juchi Ulus. Novgorod was spared the Mongol wrath only by submitting to the power represented by the Great Khan of Juchi Ulus without fighting. In 1253, a winter capital was built at Sarai (in present-day Kazan) from which the Great Khan of Juchi Ulus could administer his ulus. The principality of Vladimir-Suzdal was selected as the focal point of Rus. Every other prince was required to answer to the Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal, who in turn responded to the Ulus Juchi Great Khan’s emissaries. Although fearsome and autocratic, the Kipchak Khanate, as a general rule, left local affairs to each respective prince, so long as the tribute payments were adequate and on time. The period of Kipchak rule, now called by invented in the 17-th century derogatory label of Mongol or Tatar Yoke, insulated Russia from the rest of Europe, with the notable exception of Novgorod. Because of its advantageous location near the Baltic Sea, Novgorod secured commercial treaties with many western European states, including the Hanseatic League. For over two hundred years, the Kipchak Khanate ruled over Russia. However, internal feuds and factional disputes within the Khanate diluted their power over time. As this occurred, local princes strove to gain control over their neighbors. One principality succeeded in this better than the others, Moscow. Captured from the local Finno-Ugrian people and ruled by the 1147 by Yury Dolgoruky (Long Limbs), Moscow gradually became favored by the Tatars, attaining the powerful role as a tax collectors for the Khan. Numismatically, the period of the Tatar rule is known as the “coinless period”. No native coins were struck. Once the Kipchak Khanate established themselves over Russia, some Tatar dirhams and copper puls were struck at mints throughout Russia, including Bulgar (Fig. 4) and Sarai-Berke (Fig. 5), near the Caspian Sea. Grivna ingots, however, continued to be cast for large transactions. Because of the mandatory tribute to the khan, a substantial quantity of wealth was shipped east to Sarai-Berke, draining the region of money.
Gradually throughout the 14th century, the power of the Tatar Khan in Russia diminished. Emboldened, Dimitri Ivanovich “Donskoi” (1359-1389) as a loyal vassal of the Tatar Khan, led a joint Tatar-Rus attack against the rebellious pretender for the throne Mamai, and won a dramatic, albeit symbolic, victory at Kulikovo Polye in 1380. In 1382, Ghiyath al-Din Toqtamish Khan (1376-1395) restored the submission by sacking Moscow, but the Rus’ victory was not forgotten. The striking of small silver coins, called dengas, commenced (Fig. 6), thus ending the “coinless period”. The word denga is derived from tanka/tenga, a Tatar and Central Asian silver coin denomination in common use in the 15th and 16th centuries. The first coins of Moscow were probably struck as a result of Dimitri Donskoi's victory at Kulikovo. All coins of Dimitri Donskoi carry an Arabic inscription on the reverse, usually with the name of the reigning Khan Tokhtamish signifying the continued subservience (Fig. 6). However, there is no direct indication in any source that attests this was done at the orders of the Khan. It is likely that after the raid of 1382, Dimitri wished to pay homage to the Khan to avoid further punitive expeditions against Russia. Initially, 200 dengas equaled 1 ruble in weight, however, over time, the weight of the denga gradually fell, causing the standard to change to as much as 260 dengas to the ruble. Later, fractions of the denga were also introduced, the silver polushka and chetveretsa, as well as the copper pul(or pulo). A later multiple of the denga was the altyn (Turk. “six”, ie six polushkas), originally valued at 3 dengas. With the introduction of the denga came a new system of reckoning: Fig. 6 Dengas of Dimitri Donskoi ca. after 1380 with name of Khan Tokhtamish
The pul/pulo supplanted the Tatar bronze coin of the same name. The value of the pul also appears to have been different depending on the city of issue, hence the wide variation in its value in regards to the denga. Where there is overlap of the new reckoning system with the old, 1 denga equaled 1 nogata. The polushka is occasionally referred to as a poludenga in some contemporary sources. Some Tatar design influence can also be seen on many Rus dengas from the period. On many dengas of Dimitrii Donskoi and Vasilii I Dimitrievich (1389-1425), there are some design elements that bear close similarity to some designs found on contemporary dirhams from neighboring Khanates (Fig. 7). Fig. 7 Denga of Vasilii I (1389-1425) Beginning in the mid to late 14th century, Ryazan began to countermark Kipchak Khanate dirhams with its tamga (Fig. 8). The majority of the dirhams countermarked were those of Toqtamish, though this countermark has also been seen on coins of other khans. Later, Tatar dirhams served as flans for a transitional type of denga, this time bearing both the tamga countermark, and a raised inscription on the reverse naming the Great Prince Ivan Fyodorovich (1427-1456), with a square surrounding the negative impression of the obverse countermark (Fig. 9). On these coins, there are no traces of the undertype.
In some instances, the Islamic legends become garbled and even become mere crude representations of an Islamic inscription. One issue of Vasilii II Vasilievich “the Blind” has only a pseudo-Arabic inscription on the reverse and no Russian inscription (Fig. 10). Fig. 10 Vasilii II denga with pseudo-Arabic inscription and no Russian inscription Most bilingual dengas, including those with blundered or pseudo-Arabic legends, were struck in the principalities in the east. In Serpukhov, dengas citing Toqtamish were struck under Vladimir Andreevich (1358-1410) and Semyon Vladimirovich (1410-1426). In the principality of Dmitrov, dengas with blundered/crude Arabic legends were struck under Peter Dmitrievich (1389-1428). In the principality of Suzdal/Nizhnii Novgorod, Vasilii Dmitrievich Kirdyapa (1387-1391) as prince of Nizhnii Novgorod struck dengas citing Toqtamish. Tver, Moscow and Suzdal dengas (1389-1461)
Because of Moscow’s privileged position towards the Kipchak Khanate, the Great Princes were able to begin to slowly unify the Rus principalities and consolidate their power without drawing much notice. In 1456, Novgorod and Ryazan became dependencies of Moscow. By the time Ivan III Vasilievich “the Great” assumed the throne as Great Prince of Moscow in 1462, the rule of the Great Khan over Russia was symbolic, at best. Ivan set out to complete the unification of the various principalities (often referred to as “the Gathering of the Russian Lands”) and once and for all throw off Tatar dominion. Ivan soon grew bold enough to stop sending the 7,000 ruble annual tribute to the Khan in Sarai-Berke, precipitating two failed punitive expeditions in 1465 and 1472 by the Kipchak Khanate. In 1480, Sayyid Ahmad Khan attempted to re-establish his dominion, but while facing a Rus army on the Ugra River, a Rus attack on Sarai-Berke forced the Khan’s army to retreat. Ahmad died soon thereafter during a period of internal strife, hastening the dissolution of the Kipchak Khanate and transfer of the leadership to the separatist Khanate of Crim. The last bilingual Arab-Russian coins were struck in the 1470s-1480s and are of two types, one was struck in Novgorod and bears the word “Ivan” on the reverse (Fig. 11), the other bears the legend “This is a denga of Moscow” on the reverse (Fig. 12). Thereafter, all Russian coins bear purely Russian legends.
Although much of the medieval Russian monetary system was eliminated by the reforms of Peter I Alexievich “the Great” beginning in 1700, there are still vestiges of the Tatar inspired coins. Even now, the plural form of denga, dengi, is still the Russian word for money. REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY: Album, Stephen, A Checklist of Islamic Coins, 2nd Edition, 1998. Anaszewicz, Gerard,Early Coinage of Moscow, article in Perspectives in Numismatics – Studies Presented to the Chicago Coin Club, 1986 & 1996 – available on the Internet at:http://www.ece.iit.edu/~prh/coins/PiN/ecm.html Dobrovolskii, I.G., Dubov, I.V., & Kuzmenko, Yu.K.,Klassifikatsiya i interpretatsiya graffiti na vostochnikh monetakh (kollektsiya Ermitazha) [The Classification and Interpretation of Graffiti on Oriental Coins (collection of the Hermitage)], article in Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha XXI, 1981. Gaidukov, P.G., Medniye Russkiye monety kontsa XIV-XVI vekov [Copper Russian Coins at end of the 14th-16th century], 1992. Kalinin, V.A.,Monety Ivana III s Russko-tatarskimi legendami [Coins of Ivan III with Russo-Tatar Legends], article in Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha XXI, 1981. Mitchiner, The Multiple Dirhems of Medieval Afghanistan, 1973. Oreshnikov, A.V., Russkiye monety do 1547 goda [Russian Coins to 1547], 1896 (reprinted in 1996). Petrov, V.I., Katalog russkikh monet / Catalogue des Monnaies Russes, 1899. Line drawings from Petrov, V.I., Catalogue des Monnaies Russes, Akademishce Druck, Graz, 1964. Sotnikova, M.P., & Spasskii, I.G., Tysiacheletiye drevneishikh monet Rossii, 1983. Spasskii, I.G., Russian Monetary System, 1967. This is the English translation of Russkaya monetaya sistema, which has been printed in Russian in several editions. Historical/Documentary: Dmytryshyn, Basil, Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850-1700, 1990. Riasanovsky, Nicholas V., A History of Russia, 1993.
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Terminology. Following the Russian sources, the author uses the adjective "Russian" to describe both the Russian language and the events prior to the emergence of the Russian state in the 15-th century AD. While the term "Russian language" is customarily projected to the Kievan Rus time, when the language has not yet differentiated from the Southern Slavic language, application of the term Russian to the Rus principalities distorts the historical picture. In the above narrative, I used the term "Rus" instead of the "Russian" where the events precede the appearance of Russia. Ever since the Rus Grand Prince Yaroslav II went to the Sarai Batu to submit in vassalage and obtain the protection from the Teutonic advance, the Russian colloquial name for the Ulus Juchi, and later for theKipchak Khanaate, was the "Golden Horde" (Türk. "Altyn Orda"). In the Western Europe, it was known as the Kipchak Khanaate or Tatar Khanaate. Under the influence of the Soviet works, the moniker "Golden Horde", with the negative connotations that replaced the Russian transcendence of the previous centuries, lately started penetrating the English vocabulary. I am using the English "Kipchak Khanaate" to render the "Golden Horde" used by the author. 1. русск. золот. монета = 10 рублям с 1897 сначала приравнена 15 кредитн. рубл., затем уменьшена на 1/3 в
весе и равна 10 рубл., содержит золота 2 зол. 69,36 гр. пробы 900: 1000: Чеканились 1755-1805 и с 1885. |
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