2026. no 1. Anastasiia Zavitaeva
Objects of Grant as an Instrument of Political Communication
Anastasiia Zavitaeva
Voronezh State University
Voronezh, Russian Federation
Abstract.The article reconstructs the system of status markers in the Mongol Empire as a tool of political communication and administration across the Eurasian space. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the Yuán Shǐ (the official dynastic history of the Yuan), the works of M. G. Kramarovsky on belts and paizi tablets, archaeological materials from the Voronezh region (Olen’-Kolodez’ and Vysokaia Gora burial sites), and the 14th century spiritual charter (dukhovnaia gramota) of Ivan Kalita, the study establishes that belts and paizi formed a strictly hierarchical system in which material, form, and decoration directly correlated with the holder’s official rank. The research identifies a common functional model of status markers, characterized by a military orientation, centralized production, and high symbolic significance. Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of Ivan Kalita’s testament, in which golden belts are treated as direct markers of the Russian princes’ connection to the khan’s central authority. The scholarly novelty of this work lies in demonstrating the empire-wide nature of the status-marker system – from Khanbaliq to the Middle Don region – thus enabling us to view Rus’ not as a periphery, but as an active participant in the imperial legitimation system. Furthermore, a methodological framework is proposed for integrating Chinese textual sources, Russian written monuments, and archaeological evidence to reconstruct the Mongol “technology of governance”.
Keywords: status markers; belts; paizi tablets; political communication; Mongol Empire
For citation: Zavitaeva A.Yu. Objects of Grant as an Instrument of Political Communication. Krymskoe istoricheskoe obozrenie=Crimean Historical Review. 2026, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 37–50. https://doi.org/10.22378/kio.2026.1.37-50 (In Russian)
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anastasiia Yu. Zavitaeva – fourth year undergraduate student at the Faculty of History, Voronezh State University (88, Moscow Avenue, Voronezh 394018, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0009-0003-9889-5673. E-mail: anastasiazavitaeva@yandex.ru
Received 10.01.2026
Accepted 11.03.2026
