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Formation of the state of the Golden Horde. Golden Horde

Formation of the state of the Golden Horde. Golden Horde

13.10.2019

Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi, Turk. Ulu Ulus- "Great State") - a medieval state in Eurasia.

Title and borders

Name "Golden Horde" It was first used in 1566 in the historical and journalistic work “Kazan History”, when the single state itself no longer existed. Until that time, in all Russian sources, the word " Horde" used without adjective " Golden". Since the 19th century, the term has been firmly entrenched in historiography and is used to refer to the Jochi ulus as a whole or (depending on the context) its western part with its capital in Sarai.

In the actual Golden Horde and eastern (Arab-Persian) sources, the state did not have a single name. It is usually referred to as " ulus”, with the addition of some epithet ( "Ulug ulus") or the ruler's name ( Ulus Berke), and not necessarily acting, but also reigning earlier (" Uzbek, ruler of the Berke countries», « ambassadors of Tokhtamyshkhan, sovereign of the Uzbek land"). Along with this, the old geographical term was often used in the Arab-Persian sources Desht-i-Kipchak. Word " horde” in the same sources denoted the headquarters (mobile camp) of the ruler (examples of its use in the meaning of “country” begin to be found only from the 15th century). The combination " Golden Horde" (Persian اردوی زرین ‎, Urdu-i Zarrin) meaning " golden parade tent” is found in the description of an Arab traveler in relation to the residence of Khan Uzbek.

In Russian chronicles, the word "horde" usually meant an army. Its use as the name of the country becomes constant from the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries, until that time the term "Tatars" was used as the name. In Western European sources, the names " Komanov country», « Comania" or " power of the Tatars», « the land of the Tatars», « Tataria» . The Chinese called the Mongols " Tatars"(tar-tar).

In modern languages, which are related to the Horde Old Tatar, the Golden Horde is called: Olug yort (senior home, homeland), Olug olys (senior district, senior district), Dashti Kypchak, etc. At the same time, if the capital city is called Bash kala ( the main city), then the mobile headquarters is called Altyn Urda (Golden Center, tent).

The Arab historian Al-Omari, who lived in the first half of the 14th century, defined the boundaries of the Horde as follows:

Story

Batu Khan, medieval Chinese drawing

Formation of Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde)

After the death of Mengu-Timur, a political crisis began in the country associated with the name of the temnik Nogai. Nogai, one of the descendants of Genghis Khan, held the post of beklyarbek under Mengu-Timur, the second most important in the state. His personal ulus was located in the west of the Golden Horde (near the Danube). Nogai set as his goal the formation of his own state, and during the reign of Tuda-Mengu (1282-1287) and Tula-Buga (1287-1291), he managed to subjugate a vast territory along the Danube, Dniester, Uzeu (Dnieper) to his power.

With the direct support of Nogai, Tokhta (1291-1312) was placed on the Sarai throne. At first, the new ruler obeyed his patron in everything, but soon, relying on the steppe aristocracy, he opposed him. The long struggle ended in 1299 with the defeat of Nogai, and the unity of the Golden Horde was again restored.

Rise of the Golden Horde

Fragments of the tiled decor of Genghisides' palace. Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu. Ceramics, overglaze painting, mosaic, gilding. Selitrennoye settlement. Excavations in the 1980s. GIM

"Great Jam"

From 1359 to 1380, more than 25 khans changed on the throne of the Golden Horde, and many uluses tried to become independent. This time in Russian sources was called the "Great Zamyatnya".

Even during the life of Khan Dzhanibek (no later than 1357), his Khan Ming-Timur was proclaimed in the Ulus of Shiban. And the murder in 1359 of Khan Berdibek (son of Dzhanibek) put an end to the Batuid dynasty, which caused the appearance of various pretenders to the Sarai throne from among the eastern branches of the Jochids. Taking advantage of the instability of the central government, a number of regions of the Horde for some time, following the Ulus of Shiban, acquired their own khans.

The rights to the Horde throne of the impostor Kulpa were immediately questioned by the son-in-law and at the same time the beklarbek of the murdered khan, the temnik Mamai. As a result, Mamai, who was the grandson of Isatay, an influential emir from the time of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in the western part of the Horde, up to the right bank of the Volga. Not being Genghisides, Mamai did not have the right to the title of khan, therefore he limited himself to the position of beklarbek under the puppet khans from the Batuid clan.

Khans from Ulus Shiban, descendants of Ming-Timur, tried to gain a foothold in Saray. They did not really succeed, the rulers changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The fate of the khans largely depended on the favor of the merchant elite of the cities of the Volga region, which was not interested in a strong khan's power.

Following the example of Mamai, other descendants of the emirs also showed a desire for independence. Tengiz-Buga, also the grandson of Isatai, tried to create an independent ulus on the Syr Darya. The Jochids, who rebelled against Tengiz-Buga in 1360 and killed him, continued his separatist policy, proclaiming a khan from among themselves.

Salchen, the third grandson of the same Isatai and at the same time the grandson of Khan Dzhanibek, captured Hadji Tarkhan. Hussein-Sufi, son of Emir Nangudai and grandson of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in Khorezm in 1361. In 1362, the Lithuanian prince Olgerd seized lands in the Dnieper basin.

The turmoil in the Golden Horde ended after Genghisid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Emir Tamerlane from Maverannakhr, in 1377-1380 first captured the uluses on the Syr Darya, defeating the sons of Urus Khan, and then the throne in Saray, when Mamai came into direct conflict with the Moscow principality (defeat on Vozha (1378)). Tokhtamysh in 1380 defeated the remnants of the troops gathered by Mamai after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo on the Kalka River.

Tokhtamysh's reign

During the reign of Tokhtamysh (1380-1395), the unrest ceased and the central government again began to control the entire main territory of the Golden Horde. In 1382, the Khan made a campaign against Moscow and achieved the restoration of tribute payments. After strengthening his position, Tokhtamysh opposed the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, with whom he had previously maintained allied relations. As a result of a series of devastating campaigns of 1391-1396, Tamerlane defeated the troops of Tokhtamysh on the Terek, captured and destroyed the Volga cities, including Sarai-Berke, plundered the cities of Crimea, etc. The Golden Horde was dealt a blow from which it could no longer recover.

The collapse of the Golden Horde

Since the sixties of the XIV century, since the time of the Great Memory, there have been important political changes in the life of the Golden Horde. The gradual disintegration of the state began. The rulers of the remote parts of the ulus acquired de facto independence, in particular, in 1361, the Ulus Orda-Ejen gained independence. However, until the 1390s, the Golden Horde still remained more or less a single state, but with the defeat in the war with Tamerlane and the ruin of economic centers, the process of disintegration began, accelerating from the 1420s.

In the early 1420s, the Siberian Khanate was formed, in 1428 the Uzbek Khanate, then the Kazan (1438), Crimean (1441) Khanates, the Nogai Horde (1440s) and the Kazakh Khanate (1465) arose. After the death of Khan Kichi-Mohammed, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single state.

The main among the Jochid states formally continued to be considered the Great Horde. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended unsuccessfully, and Rus' finally freed itself from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed during an attack on his headquarters by the Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde ceased to exist.

State structure and administrative division

According to the traditional structure of nomadic states, after 1242 Ulus Jochi was divided into two wings: right (western) and left (eastern). The eldest was considered the right wing, which was Ulus Batu. The west of the Mongols was designated in white, so the Batu Ulus was called the White Horde (Ak Orda). The right wing covered the territory of western Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, the Don and Dnieper steppes, Crimea. Its center was Sarai-Batu.

The wings, in turn, were divided into uluses owned by other sons of Jochi. Initially, there were about 14 such uluses. Plano Carpini, who made a trip to the east in 1246-1247, identifies the following leaders in the Horde, indicating the places of nomads: Kuremsu on the western bank of the Dnieper, Mautsi on the east, Kartan, married to Batu's sister, in the Don steppes, Batu himself on the Volga and two thousand people along the two banks of the Dzhaik (Ural River). Berke held lands in the North Caucasus, but in 1254 Batu took these possessions for himself, ordering Berke to move east of the Volga.

At first, the ulus division was unstable: possessions could be transferred to other persons and change their boundaries. At the beginning of the XIV century, Khan Uzbek carried out a major administrative-territorial reform, according to which the right wing of the Juchi Ulus was divided into 4 large uluses: Saray, Khorezm, Crimea and Desht-i-Kypchak, headed by ulus emirs (ulusbeks) appointed by the khan. The main ulusbek was beklyarbek. The next most important dignitary was the vizier. The other two positions were occupied by especially noble or distinguished dignitaries. These four regions were divided into 70 small possessions (tumens), headed by temniks.

Uluses were divided into smaller possessions, also called uluses. The latter were administrative-territorial units of various sizes, which depended on the rank of the owner (temnik, thousand's manager, centurion, foreman).

The city of Sarai-Batu (near modern Astrakhan) became the capital of the Golden Horde under Batu; in the first half of the 14th century, the capital was moved to Saray-Berke (founded by Khan Berke (1255-1266) near present-day Volgograd). Under Khan Uzbek, Sarai-Berke was renamed into Sarai Al-Dzhedid.

Army

The overwhelming majority of the Horde army was the cavalry, which used the traditional tactics of fighting with mobile cavalry masses of archers in battle. Its core was heavily armed detachments, consisting of the nobility, the basis of which was the guard of the Horde ruler. In addition to the Golden Horde warriors, the khans recruited soldiers from among the conquered peoples, as well as mercenaries from the Volga region, Crimea and the North Caucasus. The main weapon of the Horde warriors was the bow, which the Horde used with great skill. Spears were also widespread, used by the Horde during a massive spear strike that followed the first strike with arrows. Of the bladed weapons, broadswords and sabers were the most popular. Crushing weapons were also widespread: maces, shestopers, coinage, klevtsy, flails.

Among the Horde warriors, lamellar and laminar metal shells were common, from the 14th century - chain mail and ring-plate armor. The most common armor was khatangu-degel, reinforced from the inside with metal plates (kuyak). Despite this, the Horde continued to use lamellar shells. The Mongols also used brigantine-type armor. Mirrors, necklaces, bracers and greaves became widespread. Swords were almost universally replaced by sabers. From the end of the 14th century, guns appeared in service. Horde warriors also began to use field fortifications, in particular, large easel shields - chaparras. In field combat, they also used some military technical means, in particular, crossbows.

Population

The Golden Horde was inhabited by Turkic (Kipchaks, Volga Bulgars, Bashkirs, etc.), Slavic, Finno-Ugric (Mordovians, Cheremis, Votyaks, etc.), North Caucasian (Yases, Alans, Cherkasy, etc.) peoples. The small Mongolian elite very quickly assimilated among the local Turkic population. By the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV century. the nomadic population of the Golden Horde was designated by the ethnonym "Tatars".

The ethnogenesis of the Volga, Crimean, Siberian Tatars took place in the Golden Horde. The Turkic population of the eastern wing of the Golden Horde formed the basis of the modern Kazakhs, Karakalpaks and Nogays.

Cities and trade

On the lands from the Danube to the Irtysh, 110 urban centers with an oriental material culture have been archaeologically recorded, which flourished in the first half of the 14th century. The total number of the Golden Horde cities, apparently, approached 150. The major centers of mainly caravan trade were the cities of Sarai-Batu, Sarai-Berke, Uvek, Bulgar, Khadzhi-Tarkhan, Beljamen, Kazan, Dzhuketau, Madzhar, Mokhshi, Azak ( Azov), Urgench and others.

The trading colonies of the Genoese in the Crimea (captainship of Gothia) and at the mouth of the Don were used by the Horde to trade in cloth, fabrics and linen, weapons, women's jewelry, jewelry, precious stones, spices, incense, furs, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain , forest, fish, caviar, olive oil and slaves.

From the Crimean trading cities, trade routes began, leading both to southern Europe, and to Central Asia, India and China. Trade routes leading to Central Asia and Iran followed the Volga. Through the Volgodonsk perevoloka there was a connection with the Don and through it with the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Foreign and domestic trade relations were provided by the issued money of the Golden Horde: silver dirhams, copper puls and sums.

Rulers

In the first period, the rulers of the Golden Horde recognized the supremacy of the great kaan of the Mongol Empire.

Khans

Mengu-Timur (1269-1282), the first Khan of the Golden Horde, independent of the Mongol Empire
Tuda Mengu (1282-1287)
Tula Buga (1287-1291)
Tokhta (1291-1312)
Uzbek Khan (1313-1341)
Tinibeck (1341-1342)
Janibek (1342-1357)
Berdibek (1357-1359), the last representative of the Batu clan
Kulpa (August 1359-January 1360), impostor, posed as Janibek's son
Nauruz Khan (January-June 1360), impostor, pretended to be Janibek's son
Khizr Khan (June 1360-August 1361), the first representative of the Horde-Ejen family
Timur-Khoja Khan (August-September 1361)
Ordumelik (September-October 1361), the first representative of the Tuka-Timur clan
Kildibek (October 1361-September 1362), impostor, pretended to be Janibek's son
Murad Khan (September 1362-Autumn 1364)
Mir Pulad (autumn 1364-September 1365), the first representative of the Shibana clan
Aziz Sheikh (September 1365-1367)
Abdullah Khan (1367-1368)
Hassan Khan (1368-1369)
Abdullah Khan (1369-1370)
Muhammad Bulak Khan (1370-1372), under the regency of Tulunbek Khanum
Urus Khan (1372-1374)
Circassian Khan (1374-early 1375)
Muhammad Bulak Khan (beginning 1375-June 1375)
Urus Khan (June-July 1375)
Muhammad Bulak Khan (July 1375-late 1375)
Kaganbek (Aibek Khan) (late 1375-1377)
Arabshah (Kary Khan) (1377-1380)
Tokhtamysh (1380-1395)
Timur Kutlug (1395-1399)
Shadibek (1399-1407)
Pulad Khan (1407-1411)
Timur Khan (1411-1412)
Jalal ad-Din Khan (1412-1413)
Kerimberdy (1413-1414)
Chocre (1414-1416)
Jabbar-Berdi (1416-1417)
Dervish Khan (1417-1419)
Ulu Muhammad (1419-1423)
Barak Khan (1423-1426)
Ulu Muhammad (1426-1427)
Barak Khan (1427-1428)
Ulu Muhammad (1428-1432)
Kichi-Mohammed (1432-1459)

Beklarbeki

Notes

Zahler, Diane. The Black Death (Revised Edition). - Twenty-First Century Books, 2013. - P. 70. - ISBN 978-1-4677-0375-8.
DOCUMENTS->GOLDEN HORDE->LETTERS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE KHANS (1393-1477)->TEXT
Grigoriev A.P. The official language of the Golden Horde of the XIII-XIV centuries.//Turkological collection 1977. M, 1981. S.81-89. "
Tatar encyclopedic dictionary. - Kazan: Institute of the Tatar Encyclopedia of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 1999. - 703 p., illus. ISBN 0-9530650-3-0
Faseev F. S. Old Tatar business writing of the 18th century. / F. S. Faseev. - Kazan: Tat. book. ed., 1982. - 171 p.
Khisamova F.M. Functioning of the Old Tatar business writing of the 16th-17th centuries. / F. M. Khisamova. - Kazan: Kazan Publishing House. un-ta, 1990. - 154 p.
Written Languages of the World, Books 1-2 G. D. McConnell, V. Yu. Mikhalchenko Academy, 2000 Pp. 452
III International Baudouin Readings: I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay and Modern Problems of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics: (Kazan, May 23-25, 2006): works and materials, Volume 2 Pages. 88 and pp. 91
Introduction to the study of Turkic languages Nikolai Aleksandrovich Baskakov Higher. school, 1969
Tatar Encyclopedia: K-L Mansur Khasanovich Khasanov, Mansur Khasanovich Khasanov Institute of Tatar Encyclopedia, 2006 Pp. 348
History of the Tatar literary language: XIII-first quarter of XX at the Institute of Language, Literature and Art (YALI) named after Galimdzhan Ibragimov of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, publishing house Fiker, 2003
http://www.mtss.ru/?page=lang_orda E. Tenishev The language of interethnic communication of the Golden Horde era
Atlas of the history of Tatarstan and the Tatar people M .: DIK Publishing House, 1999. - 64 p.: illustrations, maps. ed. R. G. Fakhrutdinova
Historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XIII-XIV centuries.
Golden Horde Archived October 23, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Pochekaev R. Yu. Legal status of Ulus Jochi in the Mongol Empire 1224-1269. . - Library of the Central Asian Historical Server. Retrieved April 17, 2010. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.
Cm.: Egorov V.L. Historical geography of the Golden Horde in the XIII-XIV centuries. - M.: Nauka, 1985.
Sultanov T. I. How the ulus of Jochi became the Golden Horde.
Meng-da bei-lu (full description of the Mongol-Tatars) Per. from Chinese, introduction, comments. and adj. N. Ts. Munkueva. M., 1975, p. 48, 123-124.
W. Tizenhausen. Collection of materials relating to the history of the Horde (p. 215), Arabic text (p. 236), Russian translation (B. Grekov and A. Yakubovsky. Golden Horde, p. 44).
Vernadsky G.V. Mongols and Rus' = The Mongols and Russia / Per. from English. E. P. Berenstein, B. L. Gubman, O. V. Stroganova. - Tver, M. : LEAN, AGRAF, 1997. - 480 p. - 7000 copies. - ISBN 5-85929-004-6.
Rashid al-Din. Collection of chronicles / Per. from Persian Yu. P. Verkhovsky, edited by prof. I. P. Petrushevsky. - M., L.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1960. - T. 2. - S. 81. (unavailable link)
Juvaini. History of the conqueror of the world // Collection of materials related to the history of the Golden Horde. - M., 1941. - S. 223. Approx. 10 . (unavailable link)

Causes of the collapse of the Golden Horde

Remark 1

The beginning of the collapse of the Golden Horde is associated with "Great zamyatney", which began in $1357$ with the death of Khan Janibek. Finally, this state entity disintegrated in the $40$-ies of the XV$ century.

Let's highlight the main reasons for the collapse:

The absence of a strong ruler (the exception was Tokhtamysh for a short time)
Creation of independent uluses (divisions)
The growth of resistance in the subject territories
Deep economic crisis

The beginning of the destruction of the Horde

As noted above, the beginning of the decline of the Horde coincided with the death of Khan Dzhanibek. His numerous offspring entered into a bloody feud for power. As a result, $25$ of khans was replaced for $2$ with a little more than a decade of "hush up".

In Rus', of course, they took advantage of the weakening of the Horde and stopped paying tribute. Fighting clashes soon followed, the grandiose result of which was Battle of Kulikovo$1380$ year ended for Horde under Temnik Mom, I terrible destruction. And, although two years later, a strong khan who came to power Tokhtamysh returned the collection of tribute from Rus' and burned Moscow, the Horde no longer had the previous power.

The collapse of the Golden Horde

Central Asian ruler Tamerlane in $1395$ he utterly defeated Tokhtamysh and installed his governor in the Horde Edigea. In $1408$, Edigey made a campaign against Rus', as a result of which many cities were plundered, and the payment of tribute, stopped in $1395$, resumed again.

But there was no stability in the Horde itself, a new turmoil began. Several times with the help of the Lithuanian prince Vytautas the sons of Tokhtamysh seized power. Then Timur Khan expelled Edigey, although he put him at the head of the Horde. As a result, in $1419$ Edigei was killed.

In general, as a single state association, the Horde ceased to exist after the defeat by Tamerlane. Since the $1420s, the collapse has accelerated sharply, as another turmoil led to the ruin of economic centers. Under the prevailing conditions, it is quite natural that the khans sought to separate themselves. Independent khanates began to appear:

The Siberian Khanate stood out in $1420-1421$
The Uzbek Khanate appeared in $1428$
The Kazan Khanate arose in $1438$
The Crimean Khanate appeared in $1441$
The Nogai Horde took shape in the $1440$s
The Kazakh Khanate appeared in $1465$

Based on the Golden Horde, the so-called Big Horde, which formally remained dominant. The Great Horde ceased to exist at the beginning of the $XVI$ century.

Liberation of Rus' from the yoke

In $1462, Ivan III became the Sovereign Grand Duke of All Rus'. The priority of his foreign policy was the complete liberation from the remnants of the Horde yoke. After $10$ years, Khan of the Great Horde became Akhmat. He went on a campaign to Rus', but the Russian troops repelled the attacks of Akhmat, and the campaign ended in nothing. Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde. Akhmat could not immediately withdraw a new army against Rus', as he fought with the Crimean Khanate.

Akhmat's new campaign began in the summer of $1480$. For Ivan III, the situation was rather difficult, since Akhmat enlisted the support of the Lithuanian prince Casimir IV. In addition, Ivan's brothers Andrey Bolshoi And Boris at the same time they rebelled and left for Lithuania. Through negotiations, the conflict with the brothers was settled.

Ivan III went out with an army to the Oka to meet Akhmat. Khan did not cross for two months, but in September $1480$ of the year he nevertheless crossed the Oka and headed for river Ugra located on the border with Lithuania. But Casimir IV did not come to Akhmat's aid. Russian troops stopped Akhmat's attempts to cross the river. In November, despite the fact that the Ugra was frozen, Akhmat retreated.

Soon the khan went to Lithuania, where he plundered many settlements, avenging the betrayal of Casimir IV. But Akhmat himself was killed during the division of the loot.

Remark 2

Traditionally, the events of Akhmat's campaign against Rus' are called "standing on the river Ugra". This is not entirely true, because clashes took place, and rather violent ones, during Akhmat's attempts to cross the river.

Be that as it may, after "standing" Rus' finally got rid of the $240$-year yoke.

Historians consider the year 1243 to be the beginning of the creation of the Golden Horde. At this time, Batu returned from an aggressive campaign in Europe. At the same time, the Russian prince Yaroslav first arrived at the court of the Mongol khan in order to have a label for reigning, that is, the right to lead the Russian lands. The Golden Horde is rightfully considered one of the largest powers.

The size and military power of the Horde in those years had no equal. Friendship with the Mongolian state was sought even by the rulers of distant states.

The Golden Horde stretched for thousands of kilometers, representing an ethnic mixture of the most diverse. The state included Mongols, Volga Bulgars, Mordovians, Circassians, Polovtsians. The Golden Horde inherited its multinational character after the conquest of many territories by the Mongols.

How was the Golden Horde formed?

In the vast steppes of the central part of Asia, tribes united under the common name "Mongols" roamed for a long time. They had a property inequality, there was their own aristocracy, which drew wealth during the seizure of pastures and lands of ordinary nomads.

A fierce and bloody struggle was waged between individual tribes, which ended with the creation of a feudal state with a powerful military organization.

In the early 30s of the XIII century, a detachment of many thousands of Mongol conquerors went to the Caspian steppes, where the Polovtsy roamed at that time. Having previously conquered the Bashkirs and the Volga Bulgars, the Mongols began to seize the Polovtsian lands. These vast territories were taken over by the eldest son of Genghis Khan, Khan Jochi. His son Batu (Batu, his in Rus') finally strengthened his power over this ulus. In 1243, Batu made the stake of his state on the Lower Volga.

The political formation headed by Batu in the historical tradition subsequently received the name "Golden Horde". It should be noted that the Mongols themselves did not call it that. They called it "Ulus Jochi". The term "Golden Horde" or simply "Horde" appeared in historiography much later, around the 16th century, when nothing was left of the once powerful Mongol state.

The choice of a place for the control center of the Horde was made by Batu consciously. The Mongol Khan appreciated the dignity of the local and meadows, which were the best suited for the pastures that horses and livestock needed. The Lower Volga is a place where caravan routes crossed, which the Mongols could easily control.

History of the Golden Horde

Golden Horde (Ulus Jochi, Ulug Ulus)

1224 — 1483

Ulus Jochi c. 1300

Capital

Sarai-Batu
Shed-Berke

Largest cities

Sarai-Batu, Kazan, Astrakhan, Uvek, etc.

Languages)

Golden Horde Turks

Religion

Tengrism, Orthodoxy (for part of the population), Islam since 1312

Square

OK. 6 million km²

Population

Mongols, Turks, Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and other peoples

Title and borders

Name "Golden Horde" was first used in Rus' in 1566 in the historical and journalistic work "Kazan History", when the state itself no longer existed. Until that time, in all Russian sources the word "Horde" used without the adjective "golden". Since the 19th century, the term has been firmly entrenched in historiography and is used to refer to the Jochi ulus as a whole, or (depending on the context) its western part with its capital in Saray.

In the actual Golden Horde and eastern (Arab-Persian) sources, the state did not have a single name. It was usually denoted by the term "ulus", with the addition of some epithet ( "Ulug ulus") or the ruler's name ( Ulus Berke), and not necessarily acting, but also reigning earlier ( "Uzbek, ruler of the Berke countries", "ambassadors of Tokhtamyshkhan, sovereign of the Uzbek land"). Along with this, the old geographical term was often used in the Arab-Persian sources Desht-i-Kipchak. Word "horde" in the same sources, it denoted the headquarters (mobile camp) of the ruler (examples of its use in the meaning of “country” begin to be found only from the 15th century). Combination "Golden Horde" in the meaning of "golden front tent" is found in the description of the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta in relation to the residence of Khan Uzbek. In Russian chronicles, the concept of "Horde" usually meant an army. Its use as the name of the country becomes constant from the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, until that time the term "Tatars" was used as the name. In Western European sources, the names “country of Komans”, “Komania” or “power of the Tatars”, “land of the Tatars”, “Tataria” were common.

The Chinese called the Mongols "Tatars" (tar-tar). Later this name penetrated into Europe and the lands conquered by the Mongols became known as "Tataria".

The Arab historian Al-Omari, who lived in the first half of the 14th century, defined the boundaries of the Horde as follows:

"The borders of this state from the side of Jeyhun are Khorezm, Saganak, Sairam, Yarkand, Dzhend, Sarai, the city of Majar, Azaka, Akcha-Kermen, Kafa, Sudak, Saksin, Ukek, Bulgar, the region of Siberia, Ibir, Bashkird and Chulyman ...

Batu, medieval chinese drawing

[ Formation of Ulus Jochi (Golden Horde)

Separation Mongol Empire Genghis Khan between his sons, produced by 1224, can be considered the emergence of the Ulus of Jochi. After Western campaign(1236-1242), headed by the son of Jochi Batu (in the Russian chronicles Batu), the ulus expanded to the west and the Lower Volga region became its center. In 1251, a kurultai took place in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum, where Mongke, the son of Tolui, was proclaimed the great khan. Batu, "senior of the family" ( aka), supported Möngke, probably hoping to gain full autonomy for his ulus. Opponents of the Jochids and Toluids from the descendants of Chagatai and Ogedei were executed, and the possessions confiscated from them were divided among Mongke, Batu and other Chingizids who recognized their authority.

Rise of the Golden Horde

After the death of Batu, his son Sartak, who was at that time in Mongolia, at the court of Mongke Khan, was to become the legitimate heir. However, on the way home, the new khan suddenly died. Soon the young son of Batu (or the son of Sartak) Ulagchi, proclaimed khan, also died.

Berke (1257-1266), brother of Batu, became the ruler of the ulus. Berke converted to Islam in his youth, but this was apparently a political step that did not lead to the Islamization of large sections of the nomadic population. This step allowed the ruler to gain the support of influential trading circles in urban centers. Volga Bulgaria and Central Asia, to recruit educated Muslims. During his reign, significant proportions reached urban planning, Horde cities were built up with mosques, minarets, madrasahs, caravanserais. First of all, this refers to Saray-Bat, the capital of the state, which at that time became known as Saray-Berke (there is a controversial identification of Saray-Berke and Saray al-Jedid) . Having recovered after the conquest, Bulgar became one of the most important economic and political centers of the ulus.

big minaret Cathedral Mosque of Bulgar, the construction of which was begun shortly after 1236 and completed at the end of the 13th century

Berke invited scientists, theologians, poets from Iran and Egypt, and artisans and merchants from Khorezm. Trade and diplomatic relations with the countries of the East have noticeably revived. Highly educated immigrants from Iran and Arab countries began to be appointed to responsible government posts, which caused discontent among the Mongolian and Kypchak nomadic nobility. However, this dissatisfaction has not yet been expressed openly.

During the reign of Mengu-Timur (1266-1280), the Ulus of Jochi became completely independent of the central government. In 1269, at the kurultai in the valley of the Talas River, Munke-Timur and his relatives Borak and Khaidu, the rulers Chagatai ulus, recognized each other as independent sovereigns and entered into an alliance against the great Khan Kublai in case he tried to challenge their independence.

Tamga of Mengu-Timur, minted on Golden Horde coins

After the death of Mengu-Timur, a political crisis began in the country associated with the name of Nogai. Nogai, one of the descendants of Genghis Khan, held the post of beklyarbek under Batu and Berk, the second most important in the state. His personal ulus was located in the west of the Golden Horde (near the Danube). Nogai set as his goal the formation of his own state, and during the reign of Tuda-Mengu (1282-1287) and Tula-Buga (1287-1291), he managed to subjugate a vast territory along the Danube, Dniester, Uzeu (Dnieper) to his power.

With the direct support of Nogai, Tokhta (1298-1312) was placed on the Sarai throne. At first, the new ruler obeyed his patron in everything, but soon, relying on the steppe aristocracy, he opposed him. The long struggle ended in 1299 with the defeat of Nogai, and the unity of the Golden Horde was again restored.

Fragments of the tiled decor of Genghisides' palace. Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu. Ceramics, overglaze painting, mosaic, gilding. Selitrennoye settlement. Excavations in the 1980s. GIM

During the reign of Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) and his son Janibek (1342-1357), the Golden Horde reached its peak. Uzbek declared Islam the state religion, threatening "infidels" with physical violence. The rebellions of the emirs who did not want to convert to Islam were brutally suppressed. The time of his khanate was distinguished by severe punishment. Russian princes, going to the capital of the Golden Horde, wrote spiritual testaments and paternal instructions to children, in case of their death there. Several of them, in fact, were killed. Uzbek built a city Saray al-Jedid("New Palace"), paid much attention to the development of caravan trade. Trade routes have become not only safe, but also well-maintained. The Horde conducted a brisk trade with the countries of Western Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, India, China. After Uzbek, his son Dzhanibek, whom the Russian chronicles call "good", ascended the throne of the khanate.

"Great Jam"

Kulikovo battle. Thumbnail from "Tales of the Battle of Mamaev"

WITH From 1359 to 1380, more than 25 khans changed on the throne of the Golden Horde, and many uluses tried to become independent. This time in Russian sources was called the "Great Zamyatnya".

Even during the life of Khan Dzhanibek (not later than 1357), his Khan Ming-Timur was proclaimed in the Ulus of Shiban. And the murder in 1359 of Khan Berdibek (son of Dzhanibek) put an end to the Batuid dynasty, which caused the appearance of various pretenders to the Sarai throne from among the eastern branches of the Jochids. Taking advantage of the instability of the central government, a number of regions of the Horde for some time, following the Ulus of Shiban, acquired their own khans.

The rights to the Horde throne of the impostor Kulpa were immediately questioned by the son-in-law and at the same time the beklyaribek of the murdered khan, the temnik Mamai. As a result, Mamai, who was the grandson of Isatay, an influential emir from the time of Khan Uzbek, created an independent ulus in the western part of the Horde, up to the right bank of the Volga. Not being Genghisides, Mamai did not have the right to the title of khan, therefore he limited himself to the position of beklyaribek under the puppet khans from the Batuid clan.

Khans from Ulus Shiban, descendants of Ming-Timur, tried to gain a foothold in Saray. They did not really succeed, the khans changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The fate of the khans largely depended on the favor of the merchant elite of the cities of the Volga region, which was not interested in a strong khan's power.

The unrest in the Golden Horde ended after Genghisid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Emir Tamerlane from Maverannahr, in 1377-1380 first captured uluses on the Syr Darya, defeating the sons of Urus Khan, and then the throne in Sarai, when Mamai came into direct conflict with Moscow principality (defeat on the Vozh(1378)). Tokhtamysh in 1380 defeated the collected by Mamai after the defeat in Battle of Kulikovo remnants of troops on the Kalka River.

Tokhtamysh's reign

During the reign of Tokhtamysh (1380-1395), the unrest ceased, and the central government again began to control the entire main territory of the Golden Horde. In 1382 he made a trip to Moscow and achieved the restoration of tribute payments. After strengthening his position, Tokhtamysh opposed the Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, with whom he had previously maintained allied relations. As a result of a series of devastating campaigns in 1391-1396, Tamerlane defeated the troops of Tokhtamysh, captured and destroyed the Volga cities, including Saray-Berke, robbed the cities of Crimea, etc. The Golden Horde was dealt a blow from which it could no longer recover.

The collapse of the Golden Horde

In the sixties of the XIII century, important political changes took place in the life of the former empire of Genghis Khan, which could not but affect the nature of the Horde-Russian relations. The accelerated disintegration of the empire began. The rulers of the Karakorum moved to Beijing, the uluses of the empire acquired de facto independence, independence from the great khans, and now rivalry between them intensified, sharp territorial disputes arose, and a struggle for spheres of influence began. In the 60s, the Jochi ulus was drawn into a protracted conflict with the Hulagu ulus, which owned the territory of Iran. It would seem that the Golden Horde has reached the apogee of its power. But here and within it began the inevitable process of disintegration for early feudalism. The "splitting" of the state structure began in the Horde, and immediately a conflict arose in the ruling elite.

In the early 1420s, a Siberian Khanate, in the 1440s - the Nogai Horde, then Kazan (1438) and Crimean Khanate(1441). After the death of Khan Kichi-Mohammed, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single state.

The main among the Jochid states formally continued to be considered the Great Horde. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended unsuccessfully, and Rus' was finally freed from Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed during an attack on his headquarters by the Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde ceased to exist.

State structure and administrative division

According to the traditional structure of nomadic states, after 1242 Ulus Jochi was divided into two wings: right (western) and left (eastern). The right wing, which was the Batu Ulus, was considered the eldest. The west of the Mongols was designated in white, so the Ulus of Batu was called the White Horde (Ak Horde). The right wing covered the territory of western Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, the Don, Dnieper steppes, Crimea. Its center was Sarai.

The left wing of the Ulus Jochi was in a subordinate position in relation to the right, it occupied the lands of central Kazakhstan and the Syrdarya valley. The east of the Mongols was indicated in blue, so the left wing was called the Blue Horde (Kok Horde). The center of the left wing was the Horde-Bazaar. Batu's elder brother Orda-Ejen became the khan there.

The wings, in turn, were divided into uluses owned by other sons of Jochi. Initially, there were about 14 such uluses. Plano Carpini, who made a trip to the east in 1246-1247, singles out the following leaders in the Horde indicating the places of nomads: Kuremsu on the western bank of the Dnieper, Mautsi on the eastern steppes, Kartan, married to Batu’s sister, in the Don steppes, Batu himself on the Volga and two thousanders on the two banks of the Urals. Berke owned lands in the North Caucasus, but in 1254 Batu took these possessions for himself, ordering Berke to move east of the Volga.

At first, the ulus division was unstable: possessions could be transferred to other persons and change their boundaries. At the beginning of the XIV century, Khan Uzbek carried out a major administrative-territorial reform, according to which the right wing of the Juchi Ulus was divided into 4 large uluses: Saray, Khorezm, Crimea and Desht-i-Kypchak, headed by ulus emirs (ulusbeks) appointed by the khan. The main ulusbek was beklyarbek. The next important dignitary is the vizier. The other two positions were occupied by especially noble or distinguished feudal lords. These four regions were divided into 70 small possessions (tumens), headed by temniks.

The city of Sarai-Batu (near modern Astrakhan) became the capital of the Golden Horde under Batu; in the first half of the 14th century, the capital was moved to Saray-Berke (founded by Khan Berke (1255-1266), near present-day Volgograd). Under Khan Uzbek, Sarai-Berke was renamed Sarai Al-Dzhedid.

Army

The overwhelming majority of the Horde army was the cavalry, which used the traditional tactics of fighting with mobile cavalry masses of archers in battle. Its core was heavily armed detachments, consisting of the nobility, the basis of which was the guard of the Horde ruler. In addition to the Golden Horde warriors, the khans recruited soldiers from among the conquered peoples, as well as mercenaries from the Volga region, Crimea and North Caucasus. The main weapon of the Horde warriors was the bow, which the Horde used with great skill. Spears were also widespread, used by the Horde during a massive spear strike that followed the first strike with arrows. Of the bladed weapons, broadswords and sabers were the most popular. Crushing weapons were also widespread: maces, shestopers, coinage, klevtsy, flails.

Population

In the Golden Horde lived: Mongols, Turkic (Polovtsy, Volga Bulgars, Bashkirs, Oguzes, Khorezmians, etc.), Slavic, Finno-Ugric (Mordovians, Cheremis, Votyaks, etc.), North Caucasian (Alans, etc.) and other peoples. The bulk of the nomadic population were Kypchaks, who, having lost their own aristocracy and the former tribal division, assimilated-Turkicized [source unspecified 163 days] relatively small [source unspecified 163 days] Mongolian top. Over time, the common name for most of the Turkic peoples of the western wing of the Golden Horde was "tatars".

It is important that for many Turkic peoples the name "Tatars" was only an alien exo-ethnonym and these peoples retained their own self-name. The Turkic population of the eastern wing of the Golden Horde formed the basis of the modern Kazakhs, Karakalpaks and Nogays.

Trade

Ceramics of the Golden Horde in the collection State Historical Museum.

The cities of Sarai-Batu, Sarai-Berke, Uvek, Bulgar, Khadzhi-Tarkhan, Beljamen, Kazan, Dzhuketau, Madzhar, Mokhshi, Azak (Azov), Urgench and others were major centers of mainly caravan trade.

Trading colonies of the Genoese in the Crimea ( Captaincy of Gothia) and at the mouth of the Don were used by the Horde to trade in cloth, fabrics and linen, weapons, women's jewelry, jewelry, precious stones, spices, incense, furs, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain, wood, fish, caviar, olive oil.

The Golden Horde sold slaves and other booty captured by the Horde detachments during military campaigns to Genoese merchants.

From the Crimean trading cities, trade routes began, leading both to southern Europe, and to Central Asia, India and China. Trade routes leading to Central Asia and Iran followed the Volga.

Foreign and domestic trade relations were provided by the issued money of the Golden Horde: silver dirhams and copper pools.

Rulers

In the first period, the rulers recognized the supremacy of the great kaan of the Mongol Empire.

Jochi, son of Genghis Khan, (1224 - 1227)
Batu (c. 1208 - c. 1255), son of Jochi, (1227 - c. 1255), orlok (jehangir) Yeke Mongol Ulus (1235 -1241)
Sartak, son of Batu, (1255/1256)
Ulagchi, son of Batu (or Sartak), (1256 - 1257) under the regency of Borakchin-Khatun, widow of Batu
Berke, son of Jochi, (1257 - 1266)
Munke-Timur, son of Tugan, (1266 - 1269)

Khans

Munke-Timur, (1269-1282)
There Mengu Khan, (1282 -1287)
Tula Buga Khan, (1287 -1291)
Ghiyas ud-Din Tokhtogu Khan, (1291 —1312 )
Giyas ud-Din Muhammad Uzbek Khan, (1312 —1341 )
Tinibek Khan, (1341 -1342)
Jalal ud-Din Mahmud Janibek Khan, (1342 —1357 )
Berdibek, (1357 -1359)
Kulpa, (August 1359 - January 1360)
Muhammad Nauruzbek, (January-June 1360)
Mahmud Khizr Khan, (June 1360 - August 1361)
Timur Khodja Khan, (August-September 1361)
Ordumelik, (September-October 1361)
Kildibek, (October 1361 - September 1362)
Murad Khan, (September 1362 - autumn 1364)
Mir Pulad Khan, (Autumn 1364 - September 1365)
Aziz Sheikh, (September 1365 -1367)
Abdullah Khan Ulus Jochi (1367-1368)
Hassan Khan, (1368 -1369)
Abdullah Khan (1369 -1370)
Bulak Khan, (1370 -1372) under the regency of Tulunbek Khanum
Urus Khan, (1372 -1374)
Circassian Khan, (1374 - early 1375)
Bulak Khan, (beginning 1375 - June 1375)
Urus Khan, (June-July 1375)
Bulak Khan, (July 1375 - end of 1375)
Giyas ud-Din Kaganbek Khan(Aibek Khan), (late 1375 -1377)
Arabshah Muzzaffar(Kary Khan), (1377 -1380)
Tokhtamysh, (1380 -1395)
Timur Kutlug Khan, (1395 —1399 )
Giyas ud-Din Shadibek Khan, (1399 —1408 )
Pulad Khan, (1407 -1411)
Timur Khan, (1411 -1412)
Jalal ad-Din Khan, son of Tokhtamysh, (1412 -1413)
Kerim Birdi Khan, son of Tokhtamysh, (1413-1414)
Kepek, (1414)
Chokre, (1414 -1416)
Jabbar-Berdi, (1416 -1417)
Dervish, (1417 -1419)
Kadyr Birdi Khan, son of Tokhtamysh, (1419)
Hadji Mohammed, (1419)
Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1419 —1423 )
Barak Khan, (1423 -1426)
Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1426 —1427 )
Barak Khan, (1427 -1428)
Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1428 )
Kichi-Muhammed, Khan of Ulus Jochi (1428)
Ulu Muhammad Khan, (1428 —1432 )
Kichi-Mohammed, (1432 -1459)

Beklarbeki

Kurumishi, son of Horde-Ezhen, beklyarbek (1227-1258) [source not specified 610 days]
Burundai, beklyarbek (1258 -1261) [source not specified 610 days]
Nogai, great-grandson of Jochi, beklarbek (?—1299/1300)
Iksar (Ilbasar), son of Tokhta, beklarbek (1299/1300 - 1309/1310)
Kutlug-Timur, beklyarbek (c. 1309/1310 - 1321/1322)
Mamai, beklarbek (1357 -1359), (1363 -1364), (1367 -1369), (1370 -1372), (1377 -1380)
Edigey, son Mangyt Baltychak-bek, beklarbek (1395 -1419)
Mansur-biy, son of Yedigey, beklyarbek (1419)