Khyzr: intervention from the East
Khyzr (in Russian chronicles – Khydyr, Kydyr), Khan of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde) (May 1360 – August 1361). According to existing genealogy, he was the son of Mangutai and came from the Shiban clan. According to another, less reliable source, he was the son of Sasa-Buki from the Ordu clan. He came to power when troops from the eastern part of the Ulus of Jochi, the Golden Horde, led by their khan Ordu-Sheikh, entered Sarai. He apparently proclaimed that he wanted to reconcile the warring factions for the sake of uniting the country. In the spring of 1360, he removed Noruz from power and placed Oglan Khizr, the son of Sasa-Buki, on the throne. Russian chronicles quite accurately indicate that “In the same spring, a certain king from the east, named Khyzr, came to the Volga kingdom, and there was flattery among the princes of the Horde, and King Navruz was killed by Kydar.”
Khan Khyzr.
But the peaceful plans were quickly destroyed. The new khan unleashed repression not only on the relatives of the former ruler—his son Timur and even Khanbik Taydulla were executed—but also on the heads of the tribes who supported him, “who were in love and in counsel,” as well as “the Mualbuzin tribe with a multitude of Tatars who were beaten.” There is reason to compare this “Mualbuzin’s clan” with the descendants of the influential karachibek of the 1350s, Mogul-biya. In this regard, it can be assumed that the main repressions fell on the tribal aristocracy, which was grouped around Taidulla and the ulug karachibek Mogul-bek (Movlu-biya), and the former ruling clans, primarily the Naiman and Kiyat clans. It is possible that this caused them to flee to their ancestral uluses in the Azov region and Crimea, where they found a leader in the person of Ulusbek Mamai, who, according to Ibn Khaldun, overthrew the ruler of Crimea, Kutlug-Timur, and took control of this ulus.
The emergence of a new khan, the lack of unity among the aristocracy of the Ak Horde, and the presence of a large army from the Kok Horde somewhat stabilized the situation in the country. According to the chronicle, his power was recognized by some of the emirs and beks, which caused “honor among the princes of the Horde.” Under him, central power was somewhat strengthened and recognized by all the Volga uluses, and his coins were minted by all mints from Azak to Urgench.
Khyzr Khan pursued an active domestic policy, forcing influential Russian princes to come to him for letters of appointment to the throne: the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich, the Suzdal prince Andrei Konstantinovich with his brother, the Rostov prince Konstantin Vasilyevich, and the Yaroslavl prince Mikhail. At the same time, he forced them to hand over to him for trial the ushkuyniks who had ravaged the city of Dzhuke-Tau (Zhukotin) on the Kama River in the Bulgarian ulus in 1360. He ruled in Sarai for about a year, but in the summer of 1361, a new conspiracy arose.
It was led by his son Timur-Khodja. As a result of the rebellion, Khizr was killed in August along with his younger son. But the patricide ruled for only a few days. Russian princes who had come to the Horde for yarlyks witnessed these events. According to the chronicler, “and there was great turmoil in the Horde, Tsar Kydyr was killed by his son Temir-Khodja, and he sat on the throne for four days.”
The turmoil in the country was growing.
Khan Abdullah: Mamai enters the fray
A Moscow coin from the 1360s, with a warrior with a saber and an axe (a portrait of Dmitry Donskoy?) on the obverse,
and an Arabic inscription wishing Abdullah Khan longevity on the reverse.
Although Timur-Khoja ascended the throne by stepping over his father’s corpse, he possessed only the appearance of power, and only in Sarai and the surrounding area. Taking advantage of the situation, the ulusbek Mamai moved his troops against him. Russian chronicles report that “Mamai, prince of the Horde, crossed the Volga from the other side, and his tsar was named Avdula.” Having barely managed to mint his own coin, Khan Timur-Khoja was forced to flee to the Trans-Volga region: » And Temir Khoja fled across the Volga and was killed there, and Prince Mamai came across the Volga to the upper side, and the whole horde with him.»
After occupying Sarai, Mamai proclaimed Abdullah (1361–1370) khan of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde). He was probably a representative of some side branch of Nogai or Uzbek.
The khan’s power was nominal, since all the levers of power were firmly held in the hands of his ulug karachibek Mamai. Ibn Khaldun writes eloquently about this: “Mamai appointed a young man from the Uzbek clan named Abdullah as khan.” However, Mamai and Abdullah did not rule in Sarai for long. Feeling no support from the capital’s nobility, they retreated to Crimea to gather their forces for a new offensive on Sarai. Here they began to mint their own coins, relying on the wealth provided by international trade with the Mediterranean.
Khan Abdullah under the actual rule of Karachibek Mamai. Here we should dwell in more detail on this historical figure, who remained a key player in the game of political forces for almost twenty years. According to the sources available to us, which are immeasurably few compared to the role Mamai played in the life of the Horde, he played an important and highly controversial role.
He belonged to the right wing nobility, although he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. There is evidence that he belonged to the Kiyat clan. The khan’s throne, which became the object of struggle between Mamai, the capital’s aristocracy, and the Tatar clans of the Kok Orda, passed from hand to hand with such incredible speed that even his contemporaries could not always keep track of the sequence of changes in power. Historians know practically nothing about many of the khans of that time, except for the names on the coins they minted, and they still argue about their historical authenticity and the duration of their reigns.
The rise of Mamai
Khan Mamai. Source: biographe.ru
Mamai rose to the heights of power most likely under Khan Berdibek, when he not only married the khan’s daughter, but also became one of the senior emirs, “managing all the affairs” of the khanate. It is unlikely that he held the post of ulug karachibek at that time, as believed by Russian historian and archaeologist V.L. Egorov, since his name is not found among the karachibeks who signed the state Horde-Venetian treaties and yarlyks to the Russian metropolitans. Most likely, he was a karachibek and definitely took this position at the end of this khan’s reign.
He apparently succeeded later, already during the period of palace intrigues, when a series of palace coups and purges swept away the upper echelons of the aristocracy. In these conditions, he was able not only to get rid of many competitors in the struggle for influence over the khans, but also became the ulusbek of Crimea. During the coup that brought Khizr Khan to the khan’s throne, Mamai apparently escaped death and retreated to Crimea with his clan. Most likely, in the 1360s, the western part of the Ak Horde, centered in Crimea and headed by Mamai, became a stronghold of the traditional ruling clans and the last representatives of the Batu clan. The very fact of marrying the khan’s daughter made Mamai a relative of the khans with the honorary title of “gurgan,” granting him significant rights, except for the right to the throne. It is not surprising that, according to Russian chronicles, “the Horde and the queens were all with him” at his court. In Russian historiography, he is disparagingly referred to as a “temporary ruler,” and his role in history is usually assessed through the prism of Kulikovo Field, i.e., in a purely negative light. But if we approach his personality without prejudice, we must admit that he was an outstanding statesman, an intelligent and cunning politician who managed to preserve the center of power during the turmoil and tried to resist centrifugal tendencies.
It was precisely such a military leader and politician who opposed the efforts of the khans of the eastern part of the Ulus of Jochi to place their sultans on the khan’s throne. The turmoil grew more intense, and the struggle between the clans became increasingly brutal and merciless.