Journal «Филология и культура. Philology and Culture»

This article discusses additional defense constructions in the settlements located on the territory of the Middle Volga in the tenth-sixteenth centuries. Here, we identify all types of design, which are divided into several groups and emphasize their importance for the whole defense complex of medieval settlements. We also analyze the methods of construction and functional characteristics of these fortifications, and draw attention to the possible origin of these defensive devices. The article presents the evolution of these fortification constructions throughout the period of time under study.

The article is devoted to the release of "V.O.Klyuchevsky. Lectures on the History of Western Europe in Connection with the History of Russia" edited by R.A.Kireyeva, who prepared this unique handwritten heritage of the great Russian historian for publication. The author reveals the scientific significance of the materials presented in the voluminous work that allow us to retrace the evolution of Kliuchevsky’s historical views on the modern history of Western Europe and Russia. The article reviews all the key issues which Klyuchevsky raised while working on the course of General History in Alexander's Military College, and in his course of lectures to Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich Romanov, the heir to the Russian throne, in Abustamani in 1890s.

The article is about the Russian research on museum photodocuments (2000s). It presents theoretical and methodological aspects of source studies devoted to the basic themes of photographs – ethnographic, military, landscape, and family ones. The researchers investigate the origin of ethnographic photographs and represent a new approach in the Russian historiography, when photographs are used as a method for extracting more information out of them. They also explore interpretive possibilities of war photography and study certain aspects of work with landscape photography and family photos.

The article reveals the little-known plots about the direct and indirect impact of the Turkic-Tatar States, formed after disintegration of the Golden Horde (the Kazan, Kasimov, Astrakhan Khanates, the Nogai Horde) on the territory of Nizhny Novgorod region, with the purpose of studying the ethnogenesis of Nizhny Novgorod Mishar Tatars. The article discusses the early Turkic-Tatar influence on the Great Principality of Nizhny Novgorod and the city of Nizhny Novgorod itself, and explores the possibility of including the current south-western part of Nizhny Novgorod region in the Khanate of Kazan.

The article studies epigraphic monuments of the Ulus Djuchi period drawing certain conclusions about the class of military-servile aristocracy in medieval Bulgaria (the second half of the 12^th – 13^th centuries A.D.) and its culture. Nowadays, the territory of distribution of Muslim burial grounds with epigraphic monuments has been examined and about 400 epitaphs of the 13^th – 14^th centuries A.D. have been found. A part of them is in a poor state of preservation and often contains a few words or lines from the Koran surahs. Initially, Muslim gravestones were studied by linguists and philologists who drew important conclusions about the functioning of the dialects of the written Turkic language in the Volga region. Of great value are the epitaphs as a historical source. Only wealthy and notable families had a possibility to order and install a gravestone with an epitaph (in some cases written in a special ritual language). Consequently, all the genealogy, going back to the Bulgar times, belonged to the upper classes of the society, mainly, military-servile aristocracy. After studying these narrative monuments we came to the conclusion that in the 13^th – 14^th centuries A.D. this class lost power and partially transformed into urban nobility, while the other part joined Tatar clans.

The article studies the landscape of the Central Volga Area and the territorial distribution of medieval settlements. The conclusion is made about a considerable variety of its surface structure which had a significant impact on the placing of fortified settlements. The author writes about differences in their location, their quantitative ratio throughout the 10^th – 16^th centuries, and conducts a comprehensive analysis of fortification monuments in accordance with their functional properties.

The article studies the buried treasure of jewelry and fragments of silver ingots of the 11^th-12^th centuries. The treasure was found on the territory of Sengiley settlement located in the Ulyanovsk region. Sengiley settlement dates back to the 11^th – 14^th centuries. This settlement was an important transit point on the Volga trade route. Sengiley treasure is a valuable source for the study of monetary circulation on the territory of Volga Bulgaria in the Pre-Mongol period.

The article discusses one of the unexplored and, so to speak, surprising pages of World War I history –
a research carried out by German scientists in the camps for Muslim prisoners of war in Germany. One of these scientists was Gotthold Weil, on whose activities the article focuses. He was the first researcher in Germany, who drew attention to the Tatar language, history, and culture. His work among Tatar prisoners as well as his censorship of Tatar POW’s letters led G.Weil to the idea of publishing a linguistic material, a succinct and well-balanced article about Tatars and Tatar culture. He also initiated the idea of teaching the Tatar language in the University of Berlin.

The content of the article reveals the complexity and contradictions of the formation and development of the Islamic religious movement in the Republic of Mari El in the 1990–2005. Having studied a wide range of sources, the author comes to the following conclusions: the process of formation and development of the Islamic movement in Mari El took place during the ambiguous period for the whole of Russia, the leaders of the Muslim organizations of the republic contributed to the integrating and disintegrating process within the movement, the contradictions being mostly influenced by external factors.

The article is devoted to the study of medieval metallurgical craft in Volga Bulgaria. The author examines a clay crucible – one of the main components of metalworking jewelers’ tools. The materials of Bilyar settlement (early X – early XIII cc.) studied in recent years are explored. The author makes conclusions about the technical features of the tools used by Bulgar master metallurgists and outlines the prospects for their further study.