Put in a word about the Kyrgyz Prince Erenek... Review on the book: Kozodoy V. I. Prince of the Siberian Kyrgyz Erenek. Novosibirsk: Dom Lira LLC, 2023. 160 p.

The review examines a monograph by Viktor Ivanovich Kozodoy, Doctor of Historical Sciences, dedicated to the biography of the leader of the Siberian Kyrgyz of the XVII century, Prince Erenek. In this work, the author undertook a rebranding of the political and ethnic identity of the Kyrgyz prince of Altysarsky ulus of the XVII century, Erenek. Kozodoi returned him the historical name in accordance with the existence in Russian documents. However, it is incorrect for the author to use the term "prince" as the title of Erenek, because in Russian documents he is called "princeling", that is, in the status of the leader of a foreign tribe, the elder of the clan, a representative of the ancestral nobility mainly among the indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far East. Kozodoi does not agree with the Khakass ethnographer V. Ya. Butanaev, who called Erenek the "great Khakass prince", since the term "Khakass" appeared only in the 1920s as a generalizing ethnonym for various foreign subethnoi of the Minusinsk basin. The novelty of the monograph can be attributed to the fact that for the first time a separate biographical study is devoted to the Kyrgyz Prince Erenek. The source-based merits of Kozodoi should include actualization in scientific circulation, for instance, the first mention of the name of Ehrenek in Russian documents for 1660, which historians have not paid attention to so far. However, for the rest, both historiography and source studies about Ehrenek are well known from previous publications. Apparently, the author did not carry out a full-fledged source revision of the entire historiography about Ehrenek. This work involves an appeal to historical primary sources, in particular, to the cases of the Siberian Order (fund No. 214) of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. Thanks to an extensive PR campaign, Kozodoi's book has aroused great public and scientific interest both in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Nevertheless, the publication is replete with numerous errors and typos, which indicate poor-quality scientific review during the preparation of the monograph. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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