Dr Angus Russell

Supervisor: Prof Simon Franklin

Angus’ doctoral research focusses on the transmission of Mongol fiscal models to Moscow across the long fifteenth century, from the reigns of Vasilii I (1389-1425) to Vasilii III (1505-33). By assessing charter evidence in particular, his project seeks to define the interplay of Muscovite institutional norms with their analogues in the Qipchaq Khanate (‘Golden Horde’) and its successor polities. Building on his earlier work investigating both the Mongol relay network (iam) and forms of Inner Asian landholding, Angus is interested in delineating forms of mediation between putatively nomadic and sedentary societies. To this end, he explores how such bureaucratic transmission mirrored contemporary ideological currents that perceived the khans’ rule as antithetical to Byzantine imperial heritage, alongside comparing the evolution of Muscovite practice with administrative innovation in neighbouring regions of Eurasia.

Before coming to Cambridge, Angus obtained an undergraduate degree in History and Russian, and a master’s degree in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, at the University of Oxford. For the 2021-22 academic year, he was based at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) in Paris.