Golden Horde

Overview

[Historical record] The Mongol khanate of the western steppe, tributary master of the Rus‘ lands. Tokhtamysh reunited it in 1380, burned Moscow in Aug 1382, and was broken by Timur in 1391 and 1395. He then fled to Vytautas. The beglerbeg Edigu, kingmaker for Temür Qutlugh, crushed Vytautas’s coalition at the Vorskla on 12 Aug 1399. Edigu raided Moscow in 1408, and died in 1419 (some say 1420), probably killed by a son of Tokhtamysh. Tokhtamysh’s son Jalal ad-Din led Tatars at Grunwald. After the 1420s the Horde fractured, and Crimea broke away under Hacı Giray with Lithuanian support.

Golden Horde

Golden Horde

Golden Horde · faction — Image: Rashid al-Din Hamadani, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Tipas

grupuotė

Pastaba

The Kipchak Khanate; Mongol-Turkic steppe empire bordering Lithuania in the south.

Wants (by book)

Book

Goal

Leverage

Red line

I

Tribute from the Rus‘; punish Moscow (1382)

Cavalry

Moscow strong

II

Tokhtamysh: restoration. Edigu: Tokhtamysh’s head, no protectorate over the steppe

Refugees‘ claim; Vorskla ambush (II ch. 15, 24-26)

A Christian khan

III

Edigu: punish Moscow; keep Lithuania off the Black Sea

Jalal ad-Din’s riders for Vytautas

Lithuanian Black Sea forts

IV

Rival khans court Vytautas

Black Sea forts, Dashiv (IV ch. 11)

Edigu’s end, 1419

V

Fragmenting Horde; Crimea, Kazan

Lithuanian clients

None canonical

Patron Force

[The saga’s invention] Stepių Alkis (Erdene-Chuluu), which is not Tengri but the hunger of horizon-kings. It speaks through Tokhtamysh at Lutsk (II ch. 15), feeds on Vytautas as well as on Edigu, and shows Vytautas a golden Sarai through Henė before the Vorskla (II ch. 20).

Internal tensions

Khan against kingmaker (Edigu against Tokhtamysh’s line); Timur’s invasions; Moscow’s growing independence; Karaims and Tatars settled at Trakai serving Vytautas, a sign of the split.

Notable members

Tokhtamysh, Edigu.

Ryšiai

Feeds: Stepių Alkis (Erdene-Chuluu)

Ruled by: Edigu (1396–1411) — Power behind the khans. · Tokhtamysh (1380–1395)

Sąsajos

graph LR
  edigu["Edigu"]
  golden_horde["Golden Horde"]
  steppe_hunger["Stepių Alkis (Erdene-Chuluu)"]
  tokhtamysh["Tokhtamysh"]
  tokhtamysh -->|Rules| golden_horde
  edigu -->|Rules| golden_horde
  steppe_hunger -->|Fed by| golden_horde
  style golden_horde stroke-width:3px