A Prosopographical Approach to Medieval Eurasian Nomads

Abstract

The major prosopographical works devoted to Eurasian empires include entries relating to “persons from outside the frontiers” of some relevance to these historical periods (or at least mentioned by the sources), steppe nomads among them. However, the latter are paid secondary attention, since the main objective of these works is often the study of the ruling elites (“Führungsschichten”) of the aforesaid empires. This paper discusses the usefulness, viability and methodology of prosopographical research collecting biographical data about Inner Asian and, more concretely, Medieval Eurasian nomads.