Editing Golden Horde (section)

== Islamization ==

=== Öz Beg Khan (1313–1341) ===

[[File:Dmitri revenge the death of his father.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dmitry of Tver|Dmitri]] avenging the death of his father in the [[ordo (palace)]] of [[Uzbeg Khan]], killing [[Yury of Moscow|Yury]]]]

After [[Öz Beg Khan]] assumed the throne in 1313, he adopted Islam as the [[state religion]]. He built a large mosque in the city of [[Solkhat]] in the [[Crimea]] in 1314 and proscribed Buddhism and Shamanism among the Mongols in the Golden Horde. By 1315, Öz Beg had successfully Islamicized the Horde and killed Jochid princes and Buddhist [[lama]]s who opposed his religious policy.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=196}} Under the reign of Öz Beg, trade caravans went unmolested and there was general order in the Golden Horde. When [[Ibn Battuta]] visited Sarai in 1333, he found it to be a large and beautiful city with vast streets and fine markets where six "nations" – Mongols, Alans, Kypchaks, Circassians, Russians and Greeks – each had their own quarters. Merchants had a special walled section of the city all to themselves.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=198|loc=Ibn-Batuta, who visited Uzbeg's dominions around 1333, describes Saray as a large and beautiful city with vast streets and fine markets. Six "nations" lived in it—Mongols, Alans, Kypchaks, Circassians, Russians and Greeks–each being assigned a section of its own.}}

Öz Beg continued the alliance with the Mamluks begun by Berke and his predecessors. He kept a friendly relationship with the Mamluk Sultan and his shadow Caliph in [[Cairo]]. In 1320, the Jochid princess Tulunbay was married to [[Al-Nasir Muhammad]], [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Sultan of Egypt]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=197}} Al-Nasir Muhammad came to believe that Tulunbay was not a real Chingissid princess but an impostor. In 1327–1328, he divorced her, and she then married one of al-Nasir Muhammad's commanders. When Öz Beg learned of the divorce in 1334–1335, he sent an angry missive. Al-Nasir Muhammad claimed that she had died and showed his ambassadors a fake legal document as proof, although Tulunbay still lived and would only pass away in 1340.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Broadbridge|first=Anne F.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/124025602|title=Kingship and ideology in the Islamic and Mongol worlds|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-521-85265-4|series=Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization|location=Cambridge|pages=132–137|oclc=124025602}}</ref>

The Golden Horde invaded the Ilkhanate under [[Abu Sa'id (Ilkhanid dynasty)|Abu Sa'id]] in 1318, 1324, and 1335. Öz Beg's ally Al-Nasir refused to attack Abu Sa'id because the Ilkhan and the Mamluk Sultan signed a peace treaty in 1323. In 1326 Öz Beg reopened friendly relations with the Yuan dynasty and began to send tributes thereafter.<ref>{{cite book|author-link1=Thomas T. Allsen|last=Allsen|first=Thomas T.|title=The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFls6zdc40QC&pg=PA256|year=2006|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-0107-9|page=256}}</ref> From 1339 he received annually 24,000 ding in Yuan paper currency from the Jochid [[appanage]]s in China.{{sfnp|Atwood|2004|loc= "Golden Horde"}} Öz Beg allowed the Great Khan to export Russian, Alan and Kypchak soldiers to China.<ref> Zhu-Cheng Zhao. [https://goldhorde.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/%D0%97%D0%9E-4-2016-779-783.pdf Information from Yüan Shih on the Military Cooperation between the Golden Horde and the Yüan Dynasty]. Golden Horde Review. 2016.
Vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 779–783. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2016-4-4.779-783</ref> In 1316, possibly due to the discontent among Mongol elites in Iran, some of the Ilkhanid emirs approached Öz Beg to take the throne of the Ilkhanate, but the Jochid khan declined after consulting with his senior emir, Qutluq Timür.<ref>С.Лочин. Алтан ордны хаад (Ulaanbaatar: Unet Tsaas hevlel, 2000), p. 121</ref><ref>Цари ордынские. Биографии ханов и правителей Золотой Орды. — 2-е изд., испр. и доп. — СПб.: Евразия, 2012, p. 112</ref>

Öz Beg, whose total army exceeded 300,000, repeatedly raided [[Thrace]] in aid of Bulgaria's war against Byzantium and Serbia beginning in 1319. The Byzantine Empire under [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]] and [[Andronikos III Palaiologos]] was raided by the Golden Horde between 1320 and 1341, until the Byzantine port of [[Vicina (town)|Vicina]] Macaria was occupied. Friendly relations were established with the Byzantine Empire for a brief period after Öz Beg married [[Andronikos III Palaiologos]]'s illegitimate daughter, who came to be known as ''Bayalun''. In 1333, she was given permission to visit her father in Constantinople and never returned, apparently fearing her forced conversion to Islam.<ref>Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza, ''Dictionnaire historique et Généalogique des grandes familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople'' (Great families of Greece, Albania and Constantinople: Historical and genealogical dictionary) (1983), p. 373</ref>{{sfnp|Saunders|2001}} Öz Beg's armies pillaged Thrace for forty days in 1324 and for 15 days in 1337, taking 300,000 captives. In 1330, Öz Beg sent 15,000 troops to Serbia but was defeated.<ref>Jireuek ''Bulgaria'', pp. 293–295</ref> Backed by Öz Beg, [[Basarab I of Wallachia]] declared an independent state from the Hungarian crown in 1330.{{sfnp|Jackson|2014|p=204}}

[[File:Golden Horde 1389.svg|thumb|250px|The domains of the Golden Horde in 1389]]

With Öz Beg's assistance, the grand prince [[Mikhail Yaroslavich]] won the battle against the party in Novgorod in 1316. While Mikhail was asserting his authority, his rival [[Yury of Moscow]] ingratiated himself with Öz Beg so that he appointed him as the grand prince and gave him his sister, Konchak, in marriage. After spending three years at Öz Beg's court, Yury returned with an army of Mongols and [[Mordvins]]. After he ravaged the villages of [[Tver]], Yury was defeated by Mikhail, and his new wife and the Mongol general, Kawgady, were captured. While she stayed in Tver, Konchak, who converted to Christianity and adopted the name Agatha, died. Mikhail's rivals suggested to Öz Beg that he had poisoned the Khan's sister and revolted against his rule. Mikhail was summoned to Sarai and executed on 22 November 1318.{{sfnp|Martin|2007|page=175}}<ref>{{cite journal |first=John |last=Fennell |title=Princely Executions in the Horde 1308–1339 |journal=Forschungen zur Osteuropaischen Geschichte |volume=38 |date=1988 |pages=9–19}}</ref> Yury became the grand prince once more. Yury's brother Ivan accompanied the Mongol general Akhmyl in suppressing a revolt by [[Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast|Rostov]] in 1320. In 1322, Mikhail's son, [[Dmitry of Tver|Dmitry]], seeking revenge for his father's murder, went to Sarai and persuaded the Khan that Yury had appropriated a large portion of the tribute due to the Horde. Yury was summoned to the Horde for a trial, but he was killed by Dmitry before any formal investigation. Eight months later, Dmitry was also executed by the Horde for his crime. The grand princely title went to [[Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver|Aleksandr Mikhailovich]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=200}} In early 1326, Yury's remains were returned to Moscow and buried by the bishops of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] headed by [[Peter of Moscow|Metropolitan Peter]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fennell |first1=John |title=The Emergence of Moscow, 1304-1359 |date=September 2022 |isbn=978-0-520-34758-8 |page=102 |publisher=Univ of California Press |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520347588/the-emergence-of-moscow-1304-1359 |language=en}}</ref>

Öz Beg's approach to Russian affairs was less constructive than that of Toqta, in which he made no attempt to change things in Russia, with his goal being to prevent the formation of a unified Russian state and to keep the balance between its princes, especially between those of Tver and Moscow.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=199}} In 1327, the [[baskak]] Shevkal, cousin of Öz Beg, arrived in Tver from the Horde, with a large retinue. They took up residence at [[Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver|Aleksander]]'s palace. Rumors spread that Shevkal wanted to occupy the throne for himself and introduce Islam to the city. The Tverians revolted after Shevkal established his office, and the Mongol commissioner and most of his lieutenants were killed.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=200}} Öz Beg summoned [[Ivan I of Moscow|Ivan I]], the prince of Moscow, and ordered him to lead a punitive expedition along with Alexander of Suzdal; the Muscovite and Suzdalian troops, reinforced by Mongol detachments, looted Tver and captured thousands of prisoners.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=200–201}} The incident, the [[Tver Uprising of 1327]], caused Öz Beg to begin backing Moscow as the leading Russian state.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=201}} Öz Beg refrained from giving Moscow too much power, giving the patent for the grand princely title to Alexander of Suzdal, though Ivan I would be appointed as grand prince four years later following Alexander's death, and given the right to collect taxes from other Russian potentates.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=201}} As a result of the good relations between Ivan I and Öz Beg, the Moscow region began to prosper and its population grew rapidly.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=201}} Ivan I also added to his grand princely title "and all Russia" in an imitation of the Russian Orthodox metropolitan's title, who moved his residence to Moscow, making it the ecclesiastical capital of Russia, but it also marked the beginning of the drive to unify Russia.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=201–202}}
[[File:Ösbeg Khan in the 1339 Dulcert map, legend Hic dominatur Usbech, dominus imperator de Sara.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Özbeg Khan]] in the 1339 [[Dulcert map]]. Legend: ''Hic dominatur Usbech, dominus imperator de Sara'', "Here rules Özbeg, the Emperor of [[Sarai (city)|Sara]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vagnon |first1=Emmanuelle |title=Mongols et Tartare dans les cartes occidentales du Moyen Âge |journal=A. Caiozzo et J.-C. Ducène (Éd.), de la Mongolie Àla Mongolie dans Son Espace Régional. Entre Mémoire et Marques de Territoire, des Mondes Anciens À Nos Jours, Valenciennes, Presses Universitaires de Valenciennes |date=1 January 2020 |publisher=Presses Universitaires de Valenciennes |page=145 |url=https://www.academia.edu/44802922}}</ref> The flag [[File:Golden Horde flag 1339.svg|25px]] appears next to the ruler.]]
The Mongols had undermined the strength of [[Principality of Galicia|Galicia]] and [[Principality of Volhynia|Volhynia]], where the Danilovichi had sought to improve internal conditions in the country from the late 13th-century, with [[Yuri I of Galicia|Yuri I]] assuming the royal title (''rex Russiae'') during his reign,{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=202}} but the Lithuanian grand dukes managed to build a strong army and administration as well as uniting the Lithuanian and Belarusian provinces under their rule.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=202}} Following Yuri's death in 1308, the situation in Galicia and Volhynia quickly deteriorated, with both of his sons dying in 1323, leading to the throne to be offered to [[Yuri II Boleslav|Boleslav of Mazovia]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=203}} He was confirmed by Öz Beg as "Yuri II".{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=203}} [[Gediminas]] of Lithuania gained control of Kiev and installed his brother [[Fiodor of Kiev|Fedor]] as prince, but the principality's tribute to the Khan continued. On a campaign a few years later, the Lithuanians under Fedor included the Khan's [[baskak]] in their entourage.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rowell|first=S. C.|title=Lithuania Ascending|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1cHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-65876-9|page=100}}</ref> Yuri II married a daughter of Gediminas and possibly gave his daughter in marriage to a son of Gediminas, leading to Öz Beg to intervene to prevent the plans of Poland and Lithuania.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=203}} Mongol forces raided the borderlands of Lithuania in 1336 and then [[Lublin]] in Poland the next year.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=203}} The prince of [[Smolensk]] defied Öz Beg's authority, instead recognizing the suzerainty of Gediminas.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=203}} After the sudden death of Yuri II, who had no heirs, a committee of Galician boyars led by [[Dmytro Dedko]] took control of the city; a detachment of Mongol troops was sent to protect Galicia and Volhynia from the Poles, who were forced to retreat but did not give up on their claims to the region.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=203–204}}

A decree, issued probably by Mengu-Timur, allowing the [[Franciscans]] to proselytize, was renewed by Öz Beg in 1314. Öz Beg allowed the Christian Genoese to settle in Crimea after his accession, but the Mongols sacked their outpost [[Sudak]] in 1322 when the Genoese clashed with the [[Turkish people|Turks]].<ref>Ibn Battuta-, 2, 414 415</ref> The Genoese merchants in the other towns were not molested. [[Pope John XXII]] requested Öz Beg to restore Roman Catholic churches destroyed in the region. Öz Beg signed a new trade treaty with the Genoese in 1339 and allowed them to rebuild the walls of Caffa. In 1332 he allowed the Venetians to establish a colony at Tanais on the [[Don River (Russia)|Don]]. In 1333, when Ibn Battuta visited Sudak, he found the population to be predominantly [[Turkic peoples|Turkish]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=197}}

=== Jani Beg (1342–1357) ===

[[File:Golden Horde in the Catalan Atlas (1375).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|[[Jani Beg]] of the Golden Horde, as depicted in the [[Catalan Atlas]] (1375), with the flag of the Golden Horde: [[File:Flag of the Golden Horde in the Catalan Atlas (published in1375).png|23px]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Massing |first1=Jean Michel |last2=Albuquerque |first2=Luís de |last3=Brown |first3=Jonathan |last4=González |first4=J. J. Martín |title=Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration |date=1991 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-05167-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMK-Ba0-RG4C&pg=PA29 |language=en|page=29}}</ref> The caption reads: "Here resides the emperor of this northern region whose empire starts in the province of [[Bulgaria]] and ends at the city of Organcio. The sovereign is named [[Jani Beg|Jambech]], Lord of the [[Sarai (city)|Sarra]]."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cresques Project – Panel V |url=https://www.cresquesproject.net/catalan-atlas-legends/panel-v |website=www.cresquesproject.net}}</ref>]]
Öz Beg's eldest son [[Tini Beg]] reigned briefly from 1341 to 1342 before his younger brother, [[Jani Beg]] (1342–1357), came to power.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=204}}

In 1344, Jani Beg tried to seize [[Caffa]] from the Genoese but failed. In 1347, he signed a commercial treaty with [[Venice]]. The slave trade flourished due to strengthening ties with the Mamluk Sultanate. Growth of wealth and increasing demand for products typically produce population growth, and so it was with Sarai. Housing in the region increased, which transformed the capital into the center of a large Muslim Sultanate.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=204}}

The [[Black Death]] of the 1340s was a major factor contributing to the economic downfall of the Golden Horde. It struck the [[Crimea]] in 1345 and killed over 85,000 people.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=205}}

[[File:Golden Horde. Jani Beg (Jambek) II. AH 767-768 AD 1365-1366.jpg|thumb|Coinage of Jani Beg (Jambek) II. AH 767–768 AD 1365–1366.]]
Jani Beg abandoned his father's Balkan ambitions and backed Moscow against Lithuania and Poland. Jani Beg sponsored joint Mongol-Rus' military expeditions against Lithuania and Poland. In 1344, his army marched against Poland with auxiliaries from Galicia–Volhynia, as Volhynia was part of Lithuania. In 1349, however, Galicia–Volhynia was occupied by a Polish-Hungarian force, and the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia was finally conquered and incorporated into Poland. This act put an end to the relationship of vassalage between Galicia–Volhynia and the Golden Horde.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Michael B. |last=Zdan |title=The Dependence of Halych-Volyn' Rus' on the Golden Horde |journal=[[The Slavonic and East European Review]] |volume=35 |issue=85 |date=June 1957 |pages=521–522 |jstor=4204855}}</ref> In 1352, the Golden Horde with its Rus' allies ravaged Polish territory and [[Lublin]]. The Polish king, [[Casimir III the Great]], submitted to the Horde in 1357 and paid tribute in order to avoid more conflicts. The seven Mongol princes were sent by Jani Beg to assist Poland.{{sfnp|Jackson|2014|p=211}}

Jani Beg asserted Jochid dominance over the Chagatai Khanate and conquered [[Tabriz]], ending [[Chupanids|Chobanid]] rule there in 1356. After accepting the surrender of the [[Jalayirids]], Jani Beg boasted that three uluses of the Mongol Empire were under his control. However, on his way back from Tabriz, Jani Beg was murdered on the order of his own son, [[Berdi Beg]]. Following the assassination of Jani Beg, the Golden Horde quickly lost Azerbaijan to the Jalayir king [[Shaikh Uvais]] in 1357.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=208}}