Abstract
The article examines the poetic legacy of Murat Mönkeuly as a historical source in comparison with European (Western and Russian) historiographical traditions on the history of the Nogai Horde and the Caspian littoral. The study combines close textual analysis of aitys/jyr with source criticism (internal/external verification) and interdisciplinary triangulation. Drawing on domestic scholarship and published folklore recordings enables the refinement of datings, the identification of personae and local toponymy, and the delineation of the epic’s ideological functions (clan apologetics, normative codes). It is shown that evidence from the oral tradition often complements and corrects the narratives of Howorth and of pre-revolutionary/Soviet Russian historiography, while requiring caution due to genre hyperbole and temporal distance. As a result, Murat’s position within the corpus of sources on the history of the Lower Volga and Mangystau is clarified. The analysis demonstrates how oral plots fix local memories, personages, and toponymy, supplementing—and in certain cases correcting—written narratives; at the same time, the methodological limitations of genre hyperbole and temporal distance are specified. The outcome is a clarified evental framework and ideological functions of the epic in the context of the legacy of the Jochid Ulus.