Editing Golden Horde (section)

=== Mengu-Timur (1266–1280) ===

[[File:Herberstein-Moscovia.jpg|thumb|left|Regions in the lower [[Volga]] inhabited by the descendants of [[Nogai Khan]]]]
Berke left no sons, so Batu's grandson [[Mengu-Timur]] was nominated by Kublai and succeeded his uncle Berke.{{sfnp|Howorth|1880|p=}} However, Mengu-Timur secretly supported the [[Ögedeid]] prince [[Kaidu]] against Kublai and the Ilkhanate. After the defeat of [[Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq]], a peace treaty was concluded in 1267 granting one-third of [[Transoxiana]] to Kaidu and Mengu-Timur.<ref>{{cite book|last=Biran|first=Michal|title=Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State In Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVffAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52|year=2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-80044-3|page=52}}</ref> In 1268, when a group of princes operating in Central Asia on Kublai's behalf mutinied and arrested two sons of the Qaghan (Great Khan), they sent them to Mengu-Timur. One of them, Nomoghan, favorite of Kublai, was located in the Crimea.<ref>{{cite book|last=Man|first=John|title=Kublai Khan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uV0ikDy7Qm8C&pg=PA229|year=2012|publisher=Transworld|isbn=978-1-4464-8615-3|page=229}}</ref> Mengu-Timur might have briefly struggled with Hulagu's successor [[Abagha]], but the Great Khan Kublai forced them to sign a peace treaty.<ref>{{cite book|last=Saunders|first=J. J.|title=The History of the Mongol Conquests|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFx3OlrBMpQC&pg=PA130|year=2001|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-1766-7|pages=130–132}}</ref> He was allowed to take his share in Persia. Independently from the Khan, Nogai expressed his desire to ally with [[Baibars]] in 1271. Despite the fact that he was proposing a joint attack on the Ilkhanate with the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluks of Egypt]], Mengu-Timur congratulated Abagha when Baraq was defeated by the Ilkhan in 1270.<ref>{{cite book|last=Amitai-Preiss|first=Reuven|author-link=Reuven Amitai|title=Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFO-eV9cQ0sC&pg=PA88|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52290-8|pages=88–89}}</ref>

In 1267, Mengu-Timur issued a diploma (''[[jarliq]]'') to exempt [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian clergy]] from any taxation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Storey |first1=R. L. |title=Chronology of the Medieval World: 800 to 1491 |date=1994 |publisher=Helicon |isbn=978-0-09-178264-1 |page=339 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3pEUAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Vásáry|2022|p=475|loc=only the Russian clergy was tax-exempt}} and gave to the [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] and [[Venice]] exclusive trading rights in [[Caffa]] and [[Azov]]. Some of Mengu-Timur's relatives converted to Christianity at the same time and settled in Russia; one of them was a prince who settled in [[Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast|Rostov]] and became known as Tsarevich Peter of the Horde (Peter Ordynsky).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Riha |first1=Thomas |title=Readings in Russian Civilization Volume I: Russia before Peter the Great, 900–1700 |date=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-71843-9 |page=191 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bkddxc600IC |language=en |quote=the role of the Tatars who settled in Russia and were converted to Christianity... case of Tsarevich Peter of the Horde, founder of a monastery in Rostov}}</ref>{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=169}} Even though Nogai invaded the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] Byzantine Empire in 1271, the Khan sent his envoys to maintain friendly relationship with Michael VIII Palaiologos, who sued for peace and married one of his daughters, [[Euphrosyne Palaiologina (daughter of Michael VIII)|Euphrosyne Palaiologina]], to Nogai. Mengu-Timur ordered the grand prince of Vladimir to allow [[Germans|German]] merchants free travel through his lands. The gramota says:

{{blockquote|Mengu-Timur's word to Prince Yaroslav: give the German merchants way into your lands. From Prince Yaroslav to the people of [[Riga]], to the great and the young, and to all: your way is clear through my lands; and who comes to fight, with them I do as I know; but for the merchant the way is clear.<ref>Anton Cooper ''On the Edge of Empire: Novgorod's trade with the Golden Horde'', p. 19</ref>}}

This decree also allowed Novgorod's merchants to travel throughout the lands of Suzdal without restraint.<ref>GVNP, p. 13; Gramota#3</ref> Mengu Timur honored his vow: when the [[Danes]] and the [[Livonian Knights]] attacked the [[Novgorod Republic]] in 1269, the Khan's great {{transliteration|mn|italic=no|[[basqaq]] (darughachi)}}, Amraghan, and many Mongols assisted the army assembled by the grand prince Yaroslav. The Germans and the Danes were so cowed that they sent gifts to the Mongols and abandoned the region of [[Narva]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=[[Serge Aleksandr Zenkovsky|Zenkovsky]] |editor-first1=Serge A. |editor-last2=Zenkovsky |editor-first2=Betty Jean |title=The Nikonian Chronicle: From the year 1241 to the year 1381 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HtFoAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA45 |year=1986 |publisher=Kingston Press |isbn=978-0-940670-02-0 |page=45}}</ref> The Mongol Khan's authority extended to all principalities, and in 1274–1275 the census took place in all cities, including [[Smolensk]] and [[Vitebsk]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=172}}

In 1277, Mengu-Timur launched a campaign against the [[Alans]] north of the [[Caucasus]]. Along with the Mongol army were also some of the princes who were ordered to join him in his expedition, where they took the fortified stronghold of the Alans, [[Dadakov]], in 1278.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=172–173}} After his Ossetian expedition, Mengu-Timur turned his attention to affairs with the Byzantine Empire and Egypt in an attempt to curb the authority of Nogai.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=173}} Following the death of [[Konstantin Tih|Constantine of Bulgaria]] in 1277, Michael VIII and Nogai supported different candidates to the throne, leading to relations to deteriorate.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=173–174}} This led to an intervention by Mengu-Timur in Balkan affairs, in which Mengu-Timur and Metropolitan [[Kirill II of Kiev|Kirill]] sent Bishop Theognost as their joint envoy to Michael VIII and the patriarch of Constantinople with their respective gifts and letters.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=174}}