The cultural transmission of Mongol institutional models in late medieval and early modern Moscow

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In my proposed research, I intend to delineate how institutional models derived from the Qipchaq Khanate ('GoldenHorde') influenced Muscovite rulers' modes of governance, from the reigns of Vasilii I (1389-1425) to Vasilii III (1505-33).Starting from Allsen's framework of 'cultural transmission' - in which the Mongols figure as active agents of exchange - Iwill investigate the range of extant secular and monastic charters, dating in particular from the late fourteenth centuryonwards, to explore how far the grand princes appropriated the khans' administrative structures. My work will comprisethree strands of enquiry. First, I will utilise the charter evidence to trace Muscovite institutional evolution, focussinginitially on Ostrowski's assessment of the 'dual' civilian-military administrative system, and the shared attributes of iqtalandholding with pomest'e; subsequently, I will also explore fiscal transmission, through the evolution of the tamga, andthe extent of Qipchaq influence on judicial practice. Second, I will integrate these administrative developments withMuscovite ideological currents, to evaluate how far Mongol models were employed in ideologically distinct ways. Third, Iwill situate Muscovite processes within the wider interplay of nomadic and sedentary societies in western Eurasia: I amespecially interested in comparing Moscow with the Mamluk Sultanate, as spheres of cultural transmission less initiallyobvious than the Ilkhans or Yuan China.