Princes Urakovy in the History of Russia: The History of One Falsification

Abstract. Throughout history, a gradual renewal of the elites took place in the Russian state, including through the successful adaptation of the multiethnic nobility. People from the East have always enjoyed a high status here. In the event of the conversion to Orthodoxy, the children and grandchildren of “natural” sovereigns and heads of tribal associations were successfully incorporated with the Russian service nobility. However, over time, the situation began to change. There is a gradual devaluation of such persons. It was expressed not only in a significant reduction in their material content, but also in a facilitated mode of providing evidence of their rights to princely dignity. This problem is raised for the first time in historiography. The article analyzes archival documents about the history of one of these families – the Nogai descendants of the Urakov princes. Based on the analysis of the case of the nobility, initiated by one of the representatives of the family at the beginning of the 19th century, it is concluded that most of the Urakov princes in fact did not have the right both to princely dignity and to ascribe themselves to this clan. The documents provided by them for this were falsified.

Keywords: Russia in the 17th–18th centuries, princes Urakovs, Nogai immigrants, Ufa, nobility of Eastern origin, newly baptized, genealogy.