The tamga of Mamai in the Glinsky princes seals of the 16th and 17th centuries
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: To compare two sets of sources – ornithomorphic tamga marking coins issued in the Mamai Horde in the late 14th century, and variants of tamga-shaped figures on the seals of the Glinsky princes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Research materials: Numismatic material of the Mamai Horde, seals of representatives of the princes Glinsky family, and genealogical books. Results and novelty of the research: The paper compares, on the one hand, the numismatic material associated by researchers with the issue of mints controlled by Mamai, and on the other hand, a body of sphragistic, heraldic, and genealogical sources belonging to the family of the Glinsky princes who positioned themselves as direct descendants of this personage. The ornithomorphic tamga on Mamai’s coins has been interpreted as his personal and ancestral sign only on a presumptive basis until now. Nonetheless, the truthfulness of the genealogical legend of the Glinsky princes is detected in a series of other legends about descent from famous ancestors with some skepticism. A comparative analysis of sources of various types and kinds allows us to build a coherent picture of the history of the transformation of the personal and ancestral sign of Emir Mamai into a coat of arms figure, assimilated by his descendants – the Glinsky princes. Thus, both the hypothesis that the ornithomorphic tamga on coins from the late 14th century belonged to Mamai and the genealogical legend of the Glinsky princes are clearly confirmed.
Source: Golden Horde Review
Author: Oleg I. Khoruzhenko
Language: English
Topic: Eurasian Exchange Networks
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4408996831