Tatar genealogy of Mayki bi as a reflection of the social history of the Kazan Khanate and its legacy

Tatar versions of Maiki bi’s genealogy have close historical ties to the period of the emergence of the Kazan Khanate. The head of the clan, judging by the legends of the Shejere and available sources, cannot be identified with the legendary Baiku, described by Rashid ad-Din. There is also no reason to associate him with the legendary leader of the Kazakh and Bashkir clans, Maiki bi. Judging by the available documentary material and the fiscal records of the Russian state, Maiki bi’s Tatar genealogy traces back to a member of the highest nobility of the Kazan Khanate, who controlled significant territories in the Urals. The descendants of this family, belonging to the yasak-paying Tatar class of the Kazan district, exerted a significant influence on the social, economic, and religious life of the Urals and the Kazakh steppe from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Variants of expanded genealogies, with stories about the interactions between Maika bi and Genghis Khan, discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries among the so-called Tabyn clans, are most likely late historical constructs of the region’s Muslim intelligentsia. At their core, they also reflect the strong influence of the Kazan Khanate in the Western Urals. The purpose of this article is to determine the historical authenticity of surviving Tatar genealogies of Maika bi, his relationship with Baiku Rashid ad-Din, identify the descendants of the family, and characterize their activities, transformations, and interpretations of historical events. The factual basis of the study consists of variants of Maika bi’s shejere, discovered and published by Sh. Marjani, M.A. Usmanov, and R.G. Kuzeev, M.I. Akh­metzyanov, as well as archival materials from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents. The scientific novelty and significance of the results of this work lies in the fact that it is the first to examine variants of the Tatar genealogies of Maiki bi in conjunction with official records of the Russian Empire, within the context of the regional history of the 18th-century Kazan district. Attempts to link the medieval Tatar bek Maiki bi with the legendary figures of Bayku and Maiki bi as ancestral leaders of several Turkic peoples are critically analyzed.