Heritage Inherited from Steppe Culture and Golden Horde Khanate: Tribal Aristocracy and Karachu Beys in the Crimean Khanate

Abstract

The tribal aristocracy in The Golden Horde Khanate and its successors, shaped by the steppe culture, developed with the elements inherited from the ancient heritage of geography. Since the Asian Hun State, the legacy of four numbers, which has come to the forefront in political, military and social life, has found its place in the name of the Four Beys System / Four Karaçu Beys. The four beys system has become one of the essential elements of the administration in addition to the Khanate position in the Crimean Khanate. The beginning of this system is based on the 4000 soldiers given to Cuçi in the land and tribal division made by Genghis Khan to his sons and the Kıyat, Seycut, Kinhit and Hüşin tribes to which they belong. Although the Mongolian tribes, which were a few in number in the ancient Turkish homeland of Cumania, they tried to keep the rule under the leadership of the Kıyat, and lost their authority after the silence of the Ak Orda (White Horde) dynasty. With the leadership that changed hands between the Mangit and the Sirins, the intertribal balance of power was transferred to the Sirin, Barın, Argin, Kipchak and Mangit tribes under the leadership of the Sirins, who played an active role in the establishment of the Crimean Khanate. The Tribes played an active role in both, internal and external affairs of the Crimean Khanate under the chief Karaçu of the Sirin tribe. After the Crimean Khanate came under the Ottoman protection, the Karachu beys, on the one hand, became the assurance of the Genghisids to hold the throne, on the other hand, they became the control element of power of the Genghisids. The Karachu beys’ keeping the interests of their tribes above everything, has turned the relations in the north of the Black Sea into a slippery ground where the balances were constantly changing.