KYIVAN RUS AND THE MONGOLS

When Kyivan Rus first encountered the Tatars (Mongols, as they called them) in 1223, the local people had no idea who these nomads were, where they had come from, or, after they had defeated a joint Rus-Qipchak army, where they returned to. Tatar destructive power so greatly impressed the Rus that some wondered if they were the peoples of Gog and Magog, whose appearance marked the Apocalypse, a reaction common among other Christians and Muslims. It is no wonder that the Rus hoped that the Tatars would never return.

By Charles J. Halperin

Unfortunately for the Rus, the Tatars not only returned, but in swift campaigns from 1237 to 1240 they conquered Kyivan Rus and stayed for over two centuries. The impact of the Tatars on Kyivan Rus remains a very touchy subject, in part because of Eurocentric disdain for ‘Asiatic barbarians’. Scholarly consensus on the extent and nature of Tatar influence is sadly lacking. Two factors complicate the examination of this issue: the nature of the sources and the dominance of anachronistic terminology. There are major gaps in the sources, which make it impossible to formulate definitive theories. Moreover, the sources interpreted the Tatar incursion from a religious perspective, which distorts Tatar intentions and actions. Because the Inner Asian nomads with whom Kyivan Rus had such intimate relations before the arrival of…

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Medieval World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 2 - 2022

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