«Everything has an end and everything has a beginning» — not without reason so says a very famous saying. And the Mongol Empire — a powerful steppe power, the greatest in history, was doomed to crumble immediately after the death of Genghis Khan, when numerous Chinggisids began to divide the common territory into their endless ulus. So it has appeared, that Russia has got in dependence from Golden Horde — fiefdom Djuchi and, subsequently, his son — Batu-khan which and has organized the most destructive medieval campaign to Russia in 1237.
To the big regret, defeat of Russian princedoms has been predetermined at the very beginning of the First campaign of Batu. Feudal fragmentation and total division of territories between multiplying offspring, even in Battle on the river Kalka have shown, that numerical superiority always falls before rows of the experienced, disciplined and united by one management, the opponent.
For many years Russia fell into dependence on the Golden Horde and even got used to this state of affairs. And only the Battle of Kulikovo Field, about the preparation and the consequences of which I wrote in past materials, was the «first swallow» of the coming changes.
«Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: the ruler who could return the former power
It is a blessing that Dmitry Donskoy, having suffered defeat from Tokhtamysh in 1382, still managed to get out of this situation, to keep his golden label and for the first time to pass it by inheritance to his son — Vasily Dmitrievich I. However, the complete liberation of the Russian principalities, despite the deteriorating internal political situation in the Golden Horde itself, was still very far away, for Tokhtamysh was replaced by a very formidable, far-sighted and cunning Khan Yedigey, who almost reversed all the good changes.
So, the narration should begin from the moment of capture of Moscow by Khan Tokhtamysh in 1382. Then, Dmitry Donskoy, gathering an army, did not have time to help to the capital. But he was able to competently use the accumulated force, having subdued Novgorod, keeping the golden label and forcing Oleg of Ryazan to recognize his undisputed supremacy.
Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy was not on May 19, 1389, when he was only 39 years old. And it was a blessing that he had the courage to hand over the golden label to his son, for other grand and important events were taking place far away from Moscow.
«Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: a ruler who could return the former mightiness
«Political death» clever and dodgy Tokhtamysh is the formidable march of Tamerlane’s warriors. The main victory — the Battle of the Terek in 1395, when the Golden Horde troops were left only «horns and legs». Pursuing his opponent, «Iron Hammer», with his 400-thousand troops, almost became a new Batu Khan for Russia. But he was lucky. And despite the easy invasion of the Ryazan lands, Tamerlane’s army rushed to Asia, as it was enchanted by the riches of distant and exotic countries.
Vasily Dmitrievich, who was desperately gathering an army to at least die honorably, exhaled with great relief — the real darkness retreated from the borders of the Moscow principality. And here it is not necessary to «beat oneself with a heel in the chest», for Moscow of that time had not even a hypothetical chance to withstand Tamerlane’s pressure.
Unfortunately, despite the total beating, the Golden Horde withstood the blow. Moreover, the vacated throne was almost immediately «picked up» by Khan Yedigei, who could not occupy it under any other circumstances. But while there was an internal confusion, Vasily Dmitrievich took advantage of the situation and for 13 years stopped the payment of tribute to Sarai.
«Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: the ruler who could return the former power
The reason was very good, for Dmitry Donskoy once used similar circumstances to stop payments. The fact is that Yedigey, by his origin, Chingizid was not. Consequently, he could not take the title of khan, but could be content only with the title of emir. However, in his position he was able to extract the maximum number of benefits and privileges, in view of which he actually became the sole holder of very, very large power.
Formally, above emir practically all time of his board stood different khans — Temir-Kutluk, Bulat-Saltan, Shadibek. But the power of Chingizids was only nominal and as if legitimized the power of Yedigei.
Yedigei was a very clever ruler. And, despite the recently fixed dynastic marriage between the daughter of Dmitry Donskoy and the son of the Lithuanian prince Jagailo, was able to «push head-on» the budding Russian state and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In parallel, while Moscow was busy pacifying the unnecessary conflict, he attacked Russian lands, demanding payment of a long-standing debt.
The image of Emir Yedigei. «Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: a ruler who could return the former power
For comparison: When Dmitry Donskoy approached the walls of Novgorod, he demanded a colossal tribute of 8,000 rubles. In order to pay it, the large trading city literally turned out all the pockets, but still collected the necessary amount. Against this background just imagine that Moscow owed to Sarai for 13 years more than 90 thousand rubles. In modern terms, it would sound as if our federal center owed some neighboring country (God forbid) trillions of rubles.
Vasily Dmitrievich took after his father in intelligence and cunning. And therefore, having undergone damage from the raid, began with Yedigei very long and spatial correspondence, within the framework of which he agreed to payments, then began to evade specific answers. So had to behave — after the Kulikovo field the country had not yet recovered fully to give a new decisive battle to the steppe invaders.
To the great regret and Emir was not easy. In the end tired of promises of the protégé it has directed new large army in Russian limits. Moreover, he wrote a letter to Vasily Dmitrievich, in which he assured that the large army would transit through the possessions of the Moscow prince, for it was gathered to strike at the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Image of Basil I. «Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: a ruler who could return former power
Vasily I believed the promises. And in vain. Near Moscow Yedigei’s tumens turned around and besieged the city. At the last moment the prince slips out of the ring of encirclement and goes to Kostroma, where he is going to gather at least some army to help the besieged city.
At that moment it seemed to many that Moscow was doomed. But grateful citizens, most likely, many times remembered with a kind word Dmitry Donskoy, who ordered to lay a white stone Kremlin to replace the old and wooden one. Yes, and the ever-increasing number of cannons and fire fighting (pishchals) was able to deter the enemy at a distance.
Yedigey, having sadly recalculated the losses in conditions when no storm was made, has decided nevertheless not to torture happiness and has retreated. Yes, and the chief of the city’s defense — the illustrious Prince Vasily Andreevich, with all accuracy would not simply so surrender the capital, for he was a super-experienced commander. Moreover, it was he who was entrusted to command the Zasadnoy regiment during the Battle of Kulikovo. And this means that the overall victory, in many respects, belongs to the hand of this very prince, since Dmitry Donskoy himself by the time of the blow was already wounded and unconscious under the piles of bodies of the Tatars and soldiers of the Great Regiment.
«Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: a ruler who could return the former power
Barely the Horde appeared in the field of visibility, Vasily Andreevich pulled the population into the city and completely burned the settlements. Yes, beautiful churches, carved terems and a huge number of books and jewelry were burned. But the city was saved.
Yedigey did not want to retreat. Instead of storming Moscow, he took his countless army to the village of Kolomenskoye, where he stood on winter parking, threatening all supply routes to the city and nearby settlements. The main plan is to starve the crowded Moscow, and at the same time to cause the greatest damage to the surrounding territory.
Large detachments were constantly leaving from Yedigey’s bet. To all other things, the emir was very much waiting for help from his ally and Moscow’s longtime adversary — the Tver prince Ivan.
«Yedigei — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: the ruler who could return the former power
It is not known how the «Kolomna confrontation» would have ended, but another revolt broke out in the Golden Horde itself. Yedigey tried to «keep a good face at a bad game» and, hiding the real state of affairs, put forward a new offer to Vasily Dmitrievich — instead of 90 thousand only 3 thousand rubles of payoff. Naturally, this sum was quite affordable for Moscow, so they gladly accepted the new conditions. Much worse was the fact that during their standing at Kolomenskoye, the Horde were able to capture a lot of Russian people. And again, as in the old days, in the direction of the Great Steppe stretched the endless string of captives.
As the chronicler of that time wrote, describing the scale of the disaster:
«It was sorrowful to see and worthy of many tears how just one Tatar could lead up to forty roughly bound Christians».
In spite of everything, Russia withstood the new challenge. Including again entered into direct confrontation with the Golden Horde, as the emir was not considered higher than the Grand Duke, and the real position of the puppet khans in Sarai did not understand only a very, very lazy and shallow person. But therein lay the main problem of «rank and file» — when Yedigei was replaced in the Golden Horde by Chingizid Jalal ad-Din, Vasily Dmitrievich, following the chain of subordination, resumed the payment of tribute and even collected some amount for the years of downtime.
«Yedigey — the last strong khan of the Golden Horde»: a ruler who could return the former mightiness
And here is an important point: while the Moscow prince, like all rulers, like all rulers, decades before him, with his head down, with a large sum went to the Golden Horde, there was a new coup d’état. And again Yedigey sat on the throne, and Vasily Dmitrievich actually stood in a clear field, to once again see how the «Horde confusion» will end. And he did it very prudently and correctly — the longtime adversary of Russian principalities began to really break and storm, and the Golden Horde ulus stratify literally before his eyes.
In 1419 the death of Edigei only worsened the general state of affairs in the Golden Horde. And up to 1430 Horde people were not at all to what and how was happening in «northern ulus». In vain (for them) — Russia has considerably strengthened for these years. But this is another story.