Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The relationship of the Mongols with Rus′ is one of those controversial topics that finds no consensus among scholars. On every major point and most of the minor ones, there is ardent and passionate disagreement. Yet, one interpretative framework, for metahistorical reasons, has tended to dominate the historiography. In this chapter, I discuss first what I consider to be the factual background of Mongol-Rus′ relations. Other historians with different views would no doubt emphasize different evidence and would dispute the importance of the evidence I present, but it would be incorrect to say that such evidence does not exist. Then I discuss eight main paradigms that I see as having been applied to explaining Mongol-Rus′ relations. Finally, I draw some conclusions that are applicable to the present and future of studying those relations. In the process, I hope to provide the reader with an understanding of why such divergent opinions exist in the scholarly literature.The Mongols first made their appearance in the western Eurasian steppe in 1222. Following the death of the defeated Khwarezmshah Muhammad on an island in the Caspian Sea, the pursuing Mongol expeditionary force continued on around the west coast of the Caspian, through the Caucasus Mountains, and into an area that is also known as the Qipchaq steppe (Desht-i-Qipchaq).After wintering near the Crimean peninsula, this expeditionary ... log in or subscribe to read full text