The Mongol census and decimal organization in Rus’ lands

Abstract

Despite its gradual transformation and adaptation to local conditions, the Mongol military-administrative system based on decimal organization continued to function for a long time. The widespread view that there is a lack of information about the Mongol temniks and thousanders operating in the Rus’ lands after the censuses of the taxable population in the mid-13th century calls for a revision, since it is not supported by data of the Golden Horde and early Crimean documents. The division of the taxable population into tumens (t’my), thousands, hundreds and tens reflected the general approach of the Mongol administration, developed during the period of the unified empire and combining military needs with the need for effective tax collection. The decimal organization was a flexible instrument adapted to the various conditions and tasks facing both the empire and its successor states. Rus’ chronicles, silent about the recruitment of soldiers for the khan’s armies, do not give a complete picture of the military exploitation of Rus’ lands by the Mongols. At the same time, the yarlyqs of the Golden Horde rulers of the 14th century, reconstructed from surviving Russian copies, contained appeals to Mongol military leaders of various ranks, including temniks and thousanders, which indicates their direct participation in controlling the territories and ensuring transit. A comparison of these documentary sources with chronicle references to “tems” (t’my) — territorial-administrative districts that existed in North-Eastern Rus’ in the 14th century, supports the conclusion about the division of Rus’ lands into tumens controlled by the Mongol administration. An analysis of early Crimean documents that preserved the tradition of Jochid office work reveals not only adherence to traditional protocol formulas, but also the preservation, albeit in a rudimentary form, of ideas regarding the military-administrative organization of Rus’ lands dating back to the era of the Mongol Empire.