History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus

The paper analyses unique data concerning the history of the North Caucasian peoples of the 15th - early 16th century, first of all Adygs and Abazins, contained in the source from the collection of Süleymaniye Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi (Istanbul), the second volume of the anonymous manuscript entitled al-'Uqud al-jawharyya fi al-mahasin al-dawla al-Ashrafiyya al-Ghawiyya (Precious necklaces in the virtues of the state of al-Ashrafiyya al-Ghawiyya), which has not been published and has not been used by Russian Caucasologists before, praising the Mamluk sultan of the Burji dynasty (1382-1517), al-Ashraf Kansukh al-Ghawiyya (1501-1516). The source text provides information about the territorial and political structure of Circassia - the Circassian ‘countries’ or ‘lands’ - Karmuk, Kabak, Kabarda and their social structure, the origin and feuds of Circassian princes and their foreign policy contacts, the ethno-cultural and confessional situation in the North-West Caucasus and Central Pre-Caucasus in the 15th century. The manuscript testifies to the formation of Kabarda under its own name, reflected in Arabic - قبردا [Qabarda], already at least by the early 40s of the 15th century. To date, the anonymous work is the only source that so fully reveals the issues of the formation of this Circassian principality, the genealogy of the first generations of Kabarda princes, the social structure (mainly the aristocracy) and the organisation of power in Kabarda in the XV century. The present work is devoted to the analysis of the last block of questions.