The Golden Horde, or Ulus of Jochi, self-designated as Ulug Ulus (lit. 'Great State' in Turkic), was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century, originating from the northwestern part of the Mongol Empire. After the division of the empire in 1259, it became a functionally independent khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate, and replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
It originally consisted of the lands bequeathed to Jochi (d. 1225). It grew greatly in size under Batu Khan, the founder of the Blue Horde. After Batu's death in 1255, his dynasty flourished for a full century, until 1359, though the intrigues of Nogai instigated a partial civil war in the late 1290s. The Horde's military power peaked during the reign of Özbeg Khan (1312–1341), who adopted Islam. The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak extended from Siberia and Central Asia to parts of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube in the west, and from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea in the south, while bordering the Caucasus Mountains and the territories of the Mongol dynasty known as the Ilkhanate.
The khanate experienced a period of great political instability known as the Great Troubles (1359–1381), before it briefly reunited under Tokhtamysh (1381–1395). However, soon after the 1396 invasion of Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire, the Golden Horde broke into smaller khanates which declined steadily in power.
By the start of the 15th century, the Horde had begun to fall apart. By 1466, it was being referred to simply as the "Great Horde". Within its territories there emerged numerous predominantly Turkic khanates. These internal struggles allowed Moscow to formally rid itself of the "Tatar yoke" at the Great Stand on the Ugra River in 1480, which traditionally marks the end of Mongol rule over Russia. The Crimean Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate, the last remnants of the Golden Horde, survived until 1783 and 1847 respectively, when they were conquered by the expanding Russian state.
Name
The self-designation of the state was Ulugh Ulus or Ulugh Orda (lit. 'Great State'). As the state disintegrated, the definition of the term was narrowed to the rump state that existed in the Volga region known as the Great Horde. After its final disintegration in 1502, the name was adopted by the Crimean Khanate, which considered itself the heir to the Golden Horde.
The name Golden Horde is a partial calque of the Russian term Zolotaya Orda (Золотая Орда), which is itself supposedly a partial calque of the Turkic term Altan Orda (lit. 'Golden Camp' or 'Golden Horde'). In this process, Zolotaya was translated as "Golden", while Orda was transliterated as "Horde". The appellation Golden is said to have been inspired by either the golden color of the tents the Mongols lived in during wartime, by an actual golden tent used by Batu Khan or Özbeg Khan, or by the riches of the khan. The color gold also denoted imperial status, while other colors referred to directions.
The Russians used the term Orda, derived from the word ordo, which the Mongols used to refer to a mobile camp, to denote the seat of the khan. Depending on the time period, the Volga–Ural region has been referred to by various names, including Orda ("Horde"), Zolotaya Orda ("Golden Horde") and Bolshaya Orda ("Great Horde"), in addition to "Jochid Ulus", named after Jochi. The English word horde, in the sense of a large (and often threatening) group, emerged later, metaphorically extended from the reputation of the Mongol hordes.
It was not until the 16th century that Russian chroniclers begin explicitly using the term Zolotaya Orda to refer to this particular successor khanate of the Mongol Empire. The first known use of this term, in 1565, in a Russian chronicle called the History of Kazan, applied it to the ulus of Batu, centered on Sarai. In the earliest Russian chronicles that mention the Golden Horde, the state had no official name; instead, various expressions were used, such as "Tatars". In contemporary Persian, Armenian and Muslim writings, and in the records of the 13th and early 14th centuries such as the Yuanshi and the Jami' al-tawarikh, the khanate was called the Ulus of Jochi ('realm of Jochi' in Mongolian), Dasht-i-Qipchaq (Persian: دشت قپچاق, 'Qipchaq Steppe') or Khanate of the Qipchaq, and Comania or Cumania. Modern historians use the names Golden Horde and Qipchaq or Kipchak Khanate.
The eastern or left wing (or "left hand" in official Mongol-sponsored Persian sources) was referred to as the Blue Horde in Russian chronicles and as the White Horde in Timurid sources (e.g. Zafar-Nameh). Western scholars have tended to follow the Timurid sources' nomenclature and refer to the left wing as the White Horde. However, Ötemish Hajji (fl. 1550), a historian of Khwarazm, referred to the left wing as the Blue Horde, and since he was familiar with the oral traditions of the khanate, it seems likely that the Russian chroniclers were correct, and that the khanate itself referred to its left wing as the Blue Horde. The khanate apparently used the term White Horde to refer to its right wing, which was situated in Batu's home base in Sarai and controlled the ulus. The designations Golden Horde, Blue Horde, and White Horde have not been encountered in the sources of the Mongol period.
Mongol origins (c. 1225 – 1241)
Genghis Khan divided the Mongol Empire amongst his four sons as appanages. Jochi (d. 1225) was given the lands (an ulus) around the Irtysh River. As the eldest son, he was given the lands that were farthest away from his father's native land, according to the Mongol custom. However, the territory was not fixed and Jochi died before he could significantly expand it. Batu Khan was designated as his primary heir. Jochi's eldest son Orda founded a separate power in the east (the eastern wing). Both agreed they could not claim each other's territories and that Batu's descendants had precedence over Orda's descendants.
In 1229, at Ögödei's enthronement, the kurultai decided to subdue the Kipchaks and Batu was tasked with military operations in the west, having won Ögödei's favor. In 1235, Batu with the great general Subutai began an invasion westwards, first conquering the Bashkirs' land and then moving on to Volga Bulgaria in 1236. From there, they went on to conquer the Russian principalities, the first to fall being Ryazan in December 1237. The Mongols abandoned their plan to capture Novgorod due to muddy terrain and local resistance. As a result of scorched earth tactics, the Mongols were forced to move southward in the direction of the Dnieper. In the winter of 1240–1241, Kiev was sacked. Batu and Subutai crossed the Dnieper and advanced towards Hungary in March 1241. In the spring of 1241, German, Polish and Hungarian forces were defeated by the Mongols at Legnica and Mohi. In January or February 1242, the Mongols crossed the Danube and advanced into Austria and Dalmatia while pursuing Béla IV of Hungary. However, in March, they halted their advance after learning of Ögödei's death in December 1241. Subutai then ordered all his forces to withdraw. On their way back through Hungary, the Mongols destroyed Pest before proceeding to subjugate Bulgaria.
Relations between Batu and Subutai became increasingly strained. Subutai returned to the Mongol capital Karakorum, while Batu returned to his new residence in the Kipchak Steppe. Batu resented the authority of the Ögödeids and never returned to Mongolia, instead opting to consolidate his horde. It was Orda, not Batu, who led the Jochid delegation to Karakorum and participated in the inauguration of Güyük as the new great khan. Following Güyük's election, both brothers abandoned their claim to the title. Batu's new residence in the lower Volga was strategically located, since the area served as a crossroads for both land and water routes. In addition, its distance from the Dnieper, where the Lithuanians frequently raided, and the Caucasus, where rebellious Alans and Circassians hid in the mountains, made it a safe location. The growing population and increasing number of tents was the result of both trade and the growing pastoral economy.
While the Mongolian language was undoubtedly in general use at the court of Batu, few Mongol texts written in the territory of the Golden Horde have survived, perhaps because of the prevalent general illiteracy. According to Grigor'ev, the yarliq, or decrees of the khans, were written in Mongol, then translated into the Cuman language. The existence of Arabic–Mongol and Persian–Mongol dictionaries dating from the middle of the 14th century and prepared for the use of the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate suggests that there was a practical need for such works in the chancelleries handling correspondence with the Golden Horde. It is thus reasonable to conclude that letters received by the Mamluks – if not also written by them – must have been in Mongol.
Golden Age
Batu Khan (1242–1256)
When the Great Khatun Töregene invited Batu to elect the next Emperor of the Mongol Empire in 1242, he declined to attend the kurultai and instead stayed at the Volga River. Although Batu excused himself by saying he was suffering from old age and illness, it seems that he did not support the election of Güyük Khan. Güyük and Büri, a grandson of Chagatai Khan, had quarreled violently with Batu at a victory banquet during the Mongol occupation of Eastern Europe. He sent his brothers to the kurultai, and the new Khagan of the Mongols was elected in 1246. The Mongols did not conduct any significant military operations in the northwest during Batu's rule, allowing him to develop the system of administration.
All the senior princes of Rus', including Yaroslav II of Vladimir, Daniel of Galicia, and Sviatoslav III of Vladimir, acknowledged Batu's supremacy. Originally Batu ordered Daniel to turn the administration of Galicia over to the Mongols, but Daniel personally visited Batu in 1245 and pledged allegiance to him. After returning from his trip, Daniel was visibly influenced by the Mongols, and equipped his army in the Mongol fashion, his horsemen with Mongol-style cuirasses, and their mounts armoured with shoulder, chest, and head pieces. Michael of Chernigov, who had killed a Mongol envoy in 1240, refused to show obeisance and was executed in 1246.
When Güyük called Batu to pay him homage several times, Batu sent Yaroslav II, Andrey and Alexander Nevsky to Karakorum in Mongolia in 1247. Yaroslav never returned and died in Mongolia. He was probably poisoned by Töregene Khatun, who probably did it to spite Batu and even her own son Güyük, because he did not approve of her regency. At a council in Vladimir, it was decided that Yaroslav's brother Sviatoslav would become grand prince; however, Sviatoslav never went to the khan for confirmation, which caused Mikhail Khorobrit to expel his brother from Vladimir and claim the throne; however, he died in 1248 during a battle with the Lithuanians. Güyük appointed Andrey as the grand prince of Vladimir and Alexander was given the princely title of Kiev. However, when they returned, Andrey went to Vladimir while Alexander went to Novgorod instead. A bishop by the name of Cyril went to Kiev and found it so devastated that he abandoned the place and went further east instead. The princes of Vladimir-Suzdal ultimately became responsible for delivering the Russian tribute to the khan.
In 1248, Güyük demanded Batu come east to meet him, a move that some contemporaries regarded as a pretext for Batu's arrest. In compliance with the order, Batu approached, bringing a large army. When Güyük moved westwards, Tolui's widow and a sister of Batu's stepmother Sorghaghtani warned Batu that the Jochids might be his target. Güyük died on the way, in what is now Xinjiang, at about the age of 42. Although some modern historians believe that he died of natural causes because of deteriorating health, he may have succumbed to the combined effects of alcoholism and gout, or he may have been poisoned. William of Rubruck and a Muslim chronicler state that Batu killed the imperial envoy, and one of his brothers murdered the Great Khan Güyük, but these claims are not completely corroborated by other major sources. Güyük's widow Oghul Qaimish took over as regent, but she was unable to keep the succession within her branch of the family.
With the assistance of Batu, Möngke succeeded as Great Khan in 1251. Utilizing the discovery of a plot designed to remove him, Möngke as the new Great Khan began a purge of his opponents. Estimates of the deaths of aristocrats, officials, and Mongol commanders range from 77 to 300. Batu became the most influential person in the Mongol Empire as his friendship with Möngke ensured the unity of the realm. Batu, Möngke, and other princely lines shared rule over the area from Afghanistan to Turkey. Batu allowed Möngke's census-takers to operate freely in his realm. Local censuses took place in the 1240s, including the areas of Russia and Turkey. In 1251–1259, Möngke conducted the first empire-wide census of the Mongol Empire. North China was completed in 1252, and in 1257, Möngke appointed a chief darughachi for the Volga region with the assistance of counters, known as chislenitsi in Russian sources. They were able to cover Crimea, the Caucasus, the Kipchak steppe, and possibly up to southern Siberia. The Novgorod region in the far northwest was not counted until the winter of 1258–1259. There was an uprising in Novgorod against the Mongol census, but Alexander Nevsky mediated between the Mongols and the city, after which the nobles oversaw tax collection directly.