Книга Легитимация власти, узурпаторство и самозванство в государствах Евразии. Тюрско-монгольский мир XIII - начала XX века - Роман Почекаев

The book Legitimacy of Power, Uzurpers and Impostors in States of Eurasia: The Turko-Mongol World, 13th – beginning of the 20th cent. by Roman Pochekaev gives the evolution of factors of legitimacy in fi ght for power, history of usurpations and impostures in the states of Chinggisids and their successors since the beginning of the Mongol Empire in the 13th cent. to the last attempts of creating of independent Turko-Mongol Khanates in the fi rst half of the 20th cent. We could say that the history of these states was in fact the history of usurpations and (to a smaller extent) impostures. Nevertheless, author doesn’t tell the “sequential” history of Turko-Mongol usurpers and impostors as chain of political biographies, but attempts to fi nd certain tendencies of claims to throne at dif erent stages of the Turko-Mongol history, to discover types of usurpations and impostures, their legal substantiations.

Undoubtedly, such claims were daring challenges to the rightful monarchs and claimants for the throne. That’s why dif erent types of usurpations as well as impostures were dif erent challenges to the “Golden Blood Line” of Chinggisids.

The part I, “Factors of Legitimacy in Imperial Epoch”, gives the examples of usurpations in the Mongol Empire and its immediate successive states of the imperial type – Golden Horde, Yuan Empire, Ilkhanate, Chagatay state by representatives of Chinggisid ruling family in 13–14th cent. (with some typical examples of the post-imperial period of 16–17th cent.). It could seem strange because each descendant of spear side of Chinggis Khan dynasty had right to become a khan. Nevertheless, a lot of them could be characterized as usurpers as they attempted to get the throne with legal abuses.

The chapter 1, “References to Law and Testament”, describes cases of usurpations in the 13th cent. As laws of Chinggis Khan after his death still were solid, all attempts to obtain a power should be justifi ed by legal rules. So, each pretender had to fi nd rightful substantiation for his claims. It was easier to fi nd them during the periods of interregnum, that’s why many attempts of usurpation were made after death of one khan and before election of his successor; the most ef ective became reference to law or testament of previous monarch which could be interpreted in the interests of concrete claimant. Another type of usurpation took place when two (or more) pretenders were elected as it should be in accordance with law: they became usurpers in opinion of their competitors, and only victory in war made one of them “legal monarch” and another subsequently, “rebel”.

In the chapter 2, “From the Empire to Empires: New Arguments in Claims for Power”, new political conditions are analyzed as well as new substantiations of fi ght for power in the Golden Horde, Yuan Empire, Ilkhanate and Chagatay state. Reference for law and testament were no longer ef ective and pretenders claimed the throne as elder representatives of the dynasty, or of cial co-rulers (and heirs) of former khans. If pretender couldn’t fi nd such argument he accused legal monarch and in this case transformed from rebel to legal claimant who defended law and order. Sometimes such accusations had strange consequence: all descendants of accused (and condemned) monarch also were deprived of right to ascend the throne and, thus became “usurpers by origin” if still dared to fi ght for power.