Yarlyk

a written document issued by the Mongol-Tatar khans. The term yarlyk was applied to diplomatic documents and documents pertaining to internal administration in the Golden Horde and in the Crimean, Kazan, and Astrakhan khanates that arose after the horde’s collapse. During the period of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, yarlyks were issued to the princes of northeastern Rus’ granting them grand or appanage principalities; the texts have not survived. A set of yarlyks that were issued to the Russian metropolitans and that exempted the property of the Russian church from taxes and duties has been preserved.