Idigey: a Historical Personality and its Assessment in Russian Historiography

The purpose of the study is to show the dynamics of the assessment of the personality of the ruler of the Golden Horde Idigey in Russian science of the imperial and Soviet periods. Research materials: historical works of Russian historians who touched upon the assessment of the personality of Idigey in the 1840s – 1960s. Results and novelty of the study: it is shown that the process of studying the history of the Golden Horde and its political history was complex and tortuous. This was especially true of the personality of Idigey, as well as the folk epic dedicated to him. Since the beginning of the study of this epic, historians have become interested in the historical personality himself, the relationship of his fate with the hero of the epic. In Russian science, his personality did not attract much attention. The emerging Tatar historical science accused Idigey of extreme ambitions, considering him the culprit of the campaigns of Aksak-Timur and the collapse of the Golden Horde. In the first half of the 20th century. historians and folklorists were influenced by the ideas of class struggle and tried to present him as a folk hero fighting against feudal oppression, which was undoubtedly a distortion of the facts. In 1944, by a decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b), the Golden Horde was recognized as a parasitic state, and Idigey was recognized as the most "insidious and predatory Horde ruler." Since that time, such a point of view has become decisive and uncontested for almost half a century, which froze Russian science in understanding this period of history.