What role did the Tatars play in the development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania?

November 24, 2018

In the XV-XIX centuries, many Tatars lived in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. What brought them here and what role did they play in the history of the principality?

How did the Tatars appear in the lands of the Litvin?

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, a struggle for power began among the Tatars. Many of the representatives of the khan’s births were ravaged, and not being able to continue the struggle, sought refuge in other countries, including in the Principality of Lithuania, writes litvin.pl.

The Grand Duke Vitovt favored the refugees, accepted them and gave them land. Approximately 50 thousand Tatars moved to the territory of the Grand Duchy during civil strife in the former Golden Horde in the 14th century. Another part of the Tatar population of the Lithuanian lands was made up of captives brought during the campaigns of Prince Vitovt to the Golden Horde. The first Tatar settlements were located near the cities of Grodno and Trakai.

The position of the Tatars in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The rulers and the population of Lithuania favored immigrants. They were given a plot of land for making    their economy. Lithuanians treated the faith and customs of the Tatar population with respect. They were allowed to build mosques and attend them, marry Lithuanian women, raise Muslim children and observe other national traditions and rituals. In addition, the Tatars withdrew the obligation to pay taxes.

The main role in the Tatar settlements was played by the imams, who decided all public affairs, dealt with disputes.

In exchange for all good, the Tatars were obliged to perform military service. Together with the Lithuanian troops, they protected state borders and defended  cities from attacks. At the same time, Tatar warriors had to have their own horse, to acquire weapons and military equipment for personal savings.

The military Tatars quickly adopted the local language and customs, while preserving the religion of their ancestors. During the military campaigns they had to meet with their fellow Crimean Tatars. However, they did not consider them as such. The Tatars said that Allah does not order to rob and attack others, and they cannot be ungrateful towards the host country.

In the middle and the end of the 17th century, many of the Tatars lost their lands and were in the service of the king or the magnates as mercenaries.

Culture of Lithuanian Tatars

The Tatars who settled in the Lithuanian principality brought with them a distinctive culture and national traditions. Gradually, features of local customs were added to it, giving an unusual flavor.

Soon after the resettlement, the Tatars began to speak Lithuanian, Polish and Belarusian. These languages ​​were used in the territory of the Commonwealth. The reasons that the Lithuanian Tatars soon forgot their native language were as follows:

• Marriages with women from the local population.
• Distance from home places.
• The need to communicate with the residents of Lithuania in their language.

The preservation of Islam did not contribute to the preservation of the language, for the reason that the Quran was written in Arabic. In the same language, services were performed in mosques.

In the second half of the 16th century, translations of Muslim religious books into Belarusian, and later Polish, appeared. Their need was due to the fact that the Arabic texts were completely incomprehensible to the Lithuanian Tatars. Initially, only isolated passages of the Koran – Sura were translated, and during the Reformation, the entire book was translated into Polish.

The translation of the Koran into Polish made it possible for the local population to familiarize themselves with the content and teachings of Islam.

In turn, some Lithuanian books were translated in Arabic. Subsequently, the well-known Slavist, Karsky, studied them a lot. According to him, these manuscripts are very valuable for studying the peculiarities of the Belarusian language in the XVI-XVII centuries. From them you can find such nuances that are not noticeable when reading books written in ordinary spelling.

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania there was a Religious Union of Muslims,  it  published periodicals covering events from the life of the Tatar population:

Tatar life

The role of the Tatar population in the life of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was enormous. Mingling with the local population, the Lithuanian Tatars, on the one hand, adopted its customs and language, and, on the other hand, enriched the local culture with new features.

Some new words in the Belarusian language were also borrowed from the Tatars: ataman, arshin, halva.

The Tatars meant a lot to the military power of the principality, because they accounted for a large share in the army. In the sources of the XVIII century there are references to the presence in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of several cavalry regiments, which consisted solely of the Tatars. They were engaged in intelligence, pursued the enemy. This was easily accomplished by lightly armed and maneuverable Tatar cavalry. It is obvious that the Tatars, who constantly fought in their homeland, were experienced fighters and could transfer their art to the local population.

In the XVIII century, on the basis of the Tatar cavalry, the lancers of the lions began to form. The name of the ulans received from the surname of a famous commander, Tatar Alexander Ulan. In the XIX century, the Russian Empire, Austria and Prussia divided the territory of the Commonwealth. Tatars continued military service in the troops of these states.

Among immigrants from the Tatar population there are quite a few figures who have contributed to the development of science and art. For example, the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz, known for his novels: “Quo Vadis,” “The Flood,” and others, came from a Tatar family who converted to Catholicism.

From the noble Tatars subsequently originated the famous magnate families. According to some reports, the ancestors of the Glinsky clan were Crimean Tatars from the Girey clan. This confirms the almost complete identity of the coats of arms of these two genera.

So far, the so-called “Kitaby” – monuments of the Tatar alphabet. They contained some surahs of the Qur’an, stories about the life of the prophet, and also recipes for medicines.

A special contribution was made by the Tatar population in the architecture. Some mosques still remain on the territory of modern Lithuania, Belarus and Poland as monuments of culture and architecture.

Naturally, the local population could take  any dishes from the Tatar recipe. Thus, the Lithuanian Tatars played a significant role in the history of the Lithuanian principality.

charter97.org