Manuscripta Orientalia - Manuscripta Orientalia

Abstract. The present paper examines the evidence of 22 letters, which have been identified as ambassadorial and trade petitions submitted for the attention of Peter the Great of Russia by tupchi-bashi Quli Beg, thus for the first time considering in detail the documentary record of the sojourn and active diplomatic endeavours of that notorious and yet somehow also obscure Envoy of Bukhara. The examined texts, the images of which are presented in the paper, for the first time warrant a broader outlook not only on the development of foreign-policy relations between Russia and the Khanate of Bukhara, but also on the interior life of the embassy itself. Likewise, the texts in question contain additional evidence of the extent to which the visit of Envoy of Bukhara tupchi-bashi Quli Beg was occasioned by the expedition of prince A. B. Cherkassky, and equally so the evidence of the former's bloodline and familial relations

Key words: Khanate of Bukhara, embassy, embassy charters, petitions, tupchi-bashi Quli Beg, merchants of Bukhara, P. P. Shafirov, Murtaza Tevkelev, Ayuk Khan, Peter the Great, Alexander Bekovich Cherkassky, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RSAAA)

Acknowledgements. Supported by a research grant from the Russian Scientific Foundation for Humanities, project No. 16-31-00016.

The authors extend their sincere gratitude to Bahador Hashemi (Tehran University) for his consultancy and assistance in preparation of the present paper.

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Received by the Editorial Board: 03.10.2017