18
argues that Russia came under European influence during the Muscovite
period rather than Kievan period:
“
Even the founding of the Mongolian Empire had not provided any expansion
in the geographical horizon and according to the West, it put forth Russia’s
backwardness.
”
On the other hand, Richard Pipes argues that the Mongolian invasion
caused the Russians to turn their faces to the East.
“
Between the middle of the thirteenth and the middle of the fifteenth
century, Russia was effectively separated from Europe and integrated into
the oriental world.
”
42
However, as previously discussed, considering the effect of nomadic
Turkic tribes, Syctians and Sarmatians over eastern Slavs, Russia had
already been intertwined with the East both geographically and ethnically.
Unlike his statement above, Pipes has also stated that
“
Until the fifteenth century, Russia had indeed been a terra incognita, a part
of legendary Tartary, the home of Scythians and Sarmatians, about whom
Europeans knew no more than about the inhabitants of the continents in fact
newly discovered by the great maritime explorers of that age
.”
On the other hand Frye claims that before the Mongol invasion, it is
hard to believe that there was a Russian sense of their position between the
East and the West. In addition, the Russians might have looked down upon
both Busurman (Muslim) and Nemets
43
(German) as they perceived both as
42
Richard Pipes. Introduction to Giles Fletcher’s Of the Russe Commonwealth.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 2.
43
Nemets which means German is derived from the verb nemet’ meaning to
become speechless. Therefore nemoi means dump.
19
barbarians one from the East and the other from the West.
44
However, it
may be argued that Christianity making its way among Eastern Slavs might
have founded the basis of future perceptions that Russia was different than
and superior over the East.
45
There is of course the negative side of the Mongol invasion of Russia
apart from the positive aspects. The brutality of the invasion, and the
Mongols raging and raiding the Russian cities were depicted in detail in
written records including the works of Carpini covering the years 1245-1246.
Carpini tells about countless human corpses and that the number of
households in Kiev dropped to 200:
“
While passing through Kiev we saw countless bones and skulls belonging to
corpses lying around. Once Kiev was a very big crowded city, but now there
is nothing left as there are only 200 houses and their inhabitants have
turned into slaves. Passing from here, Mongolians have destroyed whole
Russia
.
”46
Similar witness accounts can be found in other documents as well.
47
Riasanovsky states that the Mongolian invasion between 1237 and 1241 has
been the most traumatic event experienced in Russian history, as it was the
44
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, pp. 31-32.
45
Ibid., p. 32. For more information about the impacts of Mongol yoke in Russian
cultural life, see Halperin, op. cit., in note 27, p. 120-126., and Yu. V.
Krivoshyeyev, Rus i Mongoly: Issledovanie Po Istorii Severo-Vostochnoy Rusi XII-
XIV Vv. Sankt-Peterburg: Izdatelstvo S.-Peterburgskogo universiteta, 2003.
46
Carpini, Giovanni de Plaona. "The Mongol Mission."Edited by Christipher Dawson.
New York: Sheed & Ward, 1955, p. 29.
47
Zenkovsky, op. cit., in note 29, pp. 196 – 207; Dietrich, op. cit., in note 36, pp.
59-61.
20
first and last time the whole Russia had surroundered to an outside power.
48
Smirnov also states that ideas and comments on Islam first appeared in
Russian texts in the 11
th
century and these were supported by the journeys
of Russian travelers to Istanbul, Athens and Palestine. Smirnov argues that
during the 13
th
century the Mongolian invasion nearly made it impossible to
conduct these kinds of journeys. So, the Mongolian invasion had an
inevitable impact on the production of written documents as well and this
may help explain the lack of Russian memoirs on the outside world during
the period.
49
So, it has become extremely difficult to examine the Mongol invasion
period due to the lack of Russian literature on the subject. However, while
some argue that Mongol invasion is the reason why there was no literary
tradition in Russia at the time. Pushkin also argued that the Mongol invasion
was the reason why Russia missed Renaissance; it is also argued that even
before the Mongol invasion Russian literary culture was much lower than
Western Europe and not comparable to the Islamic world.
50
Until that period
all commercial activity and relations were conducted from the East to the
West. Therefore while the Eastern merchants visited Russia, the Russians
who would happen to be in Eastern lands would mostly be prisoners of wars
48
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky. A History of Russia. New York: Oxford University Press,
1993, pp. 72 – 76.
49
Smirnov, op. cit., in note 28, p. 14.
50
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, p.32.
Dostları ilə paylaş: |