Kulpa: a short reign
The political reason for the explosion of centrifugal forces was the struggle for the khan’s throne by several Chingizids, each of whom had rights to the power of their ancestors and numerous detachments of supporters. The deterioration of natural conditions, the decline of agriculture and livestock breeding, the decline of trade and crafts, a decrease in the flow of tribute and military spoils to the Volga region, the disruption of monetary circulation, and the weakening of the power and influence of the central government all served as a backdrop for the strengthening of the power of individual clans and their desire for the levers of central power, all of which became features of the growing crisis.
In the summer of 1359, Russian chronicles (Simeonovskaya, Rogozhskaya) simply report the death of Khan Berdibek: “That same summer, Berdibek the tsar died, and Kulpa took his place on the throne.” However, the later and not always reliable Nikon Chronicle under the year 1359 reports that Birdibek and his karachi-bek Toglu-bi (Tovlu-bi) were killed as a result of a conspiracy. It is possible that there was no conspiracy at all and that Birdibek died a natural death, and that the conspiracy was organized by Birdibek’s karachi-bek, Toglu-bi, in order to place a khan obedient to him on the throne of the Ulus of Jochi. This khan was Kulpa (Kulna) (? – 1359), who was apparently a representative of some side branch of Batu’s descendants. In any case, there are no direct references to his kinship in the sources. This is largely due to the fact that Birdibek killed almost all of Batu’s noble descendants who could have posed a threat to him.
Chronicle: “After him, Kulpa ascended the throne in the Horde.”
Kulpa succeeded Berdibek on the throne, but did not become a weak-willed puppet in the hands of the Karachibeks. He managed to ruthlessly suppress the opposition of the nobility and establish himself on the Sarai throne. Judging by the coins minted in his name, his power extended to the entire territory of the Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde). It is difficult to say what his real policy was, but in any case, a sharp increase in discontent among the ruling clans can be traced quite clearly.
It was this court aristocracy that formed a new conspiracy. As a result, at the beginning of the winter of 1359, after reigning for only five months, Khan Kulpa was overthrown and killed. According to Russian chronicles, Khan Kulpa “was killed by Navruz with his two sons, Mikhail (?) and Ivan (?)”. The rebellious Karachibeks placed a new khan on the Sarai throne.
Nowruz: a puppet on the throne
The new khan was Nowruz (Novruz, Nauruz) (? – 1360), khan of the Golden Horde (since 1359). Judging by the lack of information about him, he was a representative of some side branch of Batu’s descendants. Judging by the coins minted in his name, Nowruz entered into a struggle with Kulpa as early as 1359, when he began minting his own coins in Azak. With his base in the developed western uluses, he apparently took Saray al-Jadid without much difficulty, enjoying the support of the ruling clans.
Judging by the coins minted in his name, Nowruz’s power extended over the entire territory of the country from Khorezm to Crimea and Azak. He even managed to bring order to internal affairs, in particular, summoning the Russian princes to his headquarters and issuing them new charters for their principalities in his name: “The gray-haired king Navruz reigned over the kingdom, and all the Russian princes came to him, and he divided their principalities among them in the horde, and they returned to their own lands according to their time, and those who came to their own lands.”
DANG. Navruz, Saray al-Jadid, 1360 CE.
At the same time, the new khan’s power was unstable, as he did not have sufficient legitimacy, and the clans that supported him did not have indisputable power. Apparently, there was no unity among the court aristocracy, which created a favorable environment for intrigues and conspiracies. It should be said that Eastern authors rightly condemn the emirs for supporting Kulpa, since they, in order to further their ambitious plans, placed on the throne a sultan who, under normal circumstances, had little right to the throne of the Jochids. Nouruz had equally dubious rights to the throne, and it is possible that he was a purely nominal ruler, with all power belonging to the capital’s aristocracy, which was grouped around the widow of Khan Uzbek, Taidula Khatun. The very act of enthroning a representative of a collateral line of the Jochids was yet another symptom of the looming political crisis in a country where there was no longer a legitimate ruler, an authoritative governing body, or a unified system of ruling clans.
But in the Ulus of Jochi, there were Jochids who had more rights to the throne than representatives of the side branches of Batu’s descendants. However, the tradition of succession to the throne in the Ulus of Jochi did not provide for the enthronement of sultans of the “left hand” from the Kok Orda. Such a change could only occur when the clans of the left wing rotated the ruling clans and displaced the traditional tribes. This could only be done through a military coup. Obviously, the dubious lineage of Khan Noruz and the slogan of the struggle against the usurper of the throne, which should belong to the oghans from the “altyn urug” (“golden clan”), were used as a pretext. It is possible that this was facilitated by a split among the ruling clans of the Ak Horde, some of whom turned to Khan Chimtai of the Kok Horde for support, offering him the throne. But he refused and sent his brother Orda-Sheikh and several oglans with an army to Sarai [SMIZO, II, p. 130]. The late Nikon Chronicle also reports some rumors about these events that reached Rus. It is difficult to rely on them, but this information is interesting in itself, as it tells us that some Horde princes began to “secretly communicate with Khidyr, the king of Zayats, deceiving their Volga king Naurus and conspiring in their affair.”
Be that as it may, Ordu-Sheikh not only entered the capital peacefully, but also apparently positioned himself as a force capable of reconciling the warring factions. However, in the spring of 1360, he removed Nouruz from power and placed Khizr, the son of Sasa-Buki, on the throne. Russian chronicles quite accurately indicate that “In the same spring (6868/1360), a certain king from the east, named Khidyr, came to the Volga kingdom, and there was flattery among the princes of the Horde, and King Navruz was killed by Kydar.”
But this coup did not bring peace to the country; on the contrary, it led to a spiral of hostility and war “of all against all.” Thus, the rule of the two khans who came to power after the untimely death of Berdibek became the starting point for future turmoil.