Mengu-Timur
Encyclopedia
Mengu-Timur or Möngke Temür (? - 1280), Son of Toqoqan Khan and Buka Ujin of Oirat
and the grandson of Batu Khan
. He was a khan
of the Golden Horde
in 1266-1280.
His name literally means "Eternal Iron" in the Mongolian language
.
together with their allied Russia
n princes undertook military campaigns against Byzantium
(c. 1269-1271), Lithuania
(1275), and Alan
s in Caucasus
(1277). The very first yarlyk (license) found by historians was written on behalf of Mengu-Timur and contained information on the release of the Russian Orthodox Church
from paying tribute
to the Golden Horde, however, he was a shamanist. During the reign of Mengu-Timur, the Genoese
traders purchased Caffa from the Mongols. But those Italian merchants paid taxes to Mongol khans and sometimes to Nogai
.
Both German
crusader
s and Lithuanians endangered the safety of Russian lands. In 1268, he sent a Tatar-Mongol force to Novgorod, and forced Livonian Knights to withdraw. In 1274 Smolensk
, the last of Russian principalities, became subject to Möngke Temür khan of the Golden Horde. The Khan also dispatched his army along with Russian princes to Lithuania by the request of the duke Lev
of Galicia-Volhynia in 1275.
In 1277, he ended the long-duration siege of Alani city Dyadkov with the assistance of his Russian vassals and crushed the rebellion of Bulgars
in Kazan
. And he allowed German traders to travel freely through his domain.
. But he was sided with Kaidu
who was a genius competitor of the latter. Kublai only stopped him to invade Ilkhanate
with large force. Golden Horde helped Kaidu to put down the force of Chagatai Khanate
. In 1265, Kaidu was defeated by Chagatai army under Baraq
. That is why, The khan of Jochid Ulus sent 30,000 armed-men headed by his uncle Berkhchir to support Kaidu's force. Their victory over Chagatai
army forced Baraq to initiate peace treaty with them. Together they formed an alliance and demarcated borders of their realms in Talas
. Rashid al-Din claims that the meeting took place in the spring of 1269 in Talas, while Wassaf
writes that it took place around 1267 to the south of Samarkand
. Though He and Kaidu admonished Baraq to invade Ilkhanate
, Mongke temur congratulated Ilkhan Abagha upon his stunning victory over Chagatai army in order to hide his true intention. They two had been probably fighting with each other until 1270's. But some scholars disaffirm that such battles occurred. By the 1270's, they had signed a peace treaty, In addition to peace treaty, Abagha allowed Mongke temur to collect tax income from some of workshops in his khanate.
Although, there was not serious war between Ilkhanate
and Golden Horde, Mongke temur intended to restore his ancestors authority over Azerbaijan
and Caucasus
. He sent delegates to Mamluk
Sultan
Baybars and offered joint attack on Abagha's khanate.
During that time, Kublai dispatched his favorite son Nomukhan against Kaidu to Almaliq
. Nomukhan sent letters to Chingisid nobles to reassert their supports. Mongke Temur responded that he would protect Kublai from Kaidu if he assaulted with Yuan Dynasty
. In 1276, Chingisid princes Shiregi and Tokhtemur defected to Kaidu's side and arrested Kublai's son. Then they sent Nomukhan and his brother Kokhcu to Mongketemur and his general to Kaidu. The court of Golden Horde released Nomukhan in 1278 or 10 years later. It seems that Mongke Temur hold him to use as a pawn of the wars in the Mongol world.
He died of a neck injury in 1280.
.
Children:
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
and the grandson of Batu Khan
Batu Khan
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...
. He was a khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
of the Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
in 1266-1280.
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
.
Early reign and foreign policy
During his reign, the MongolsMongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
together with their allied Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n princes undertook military campaigns against Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
(c. 1269-1271), Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
(1275), and Alan
Alan
-People :*Alan , the given name*alan , female Tibetan singer active in Japan*Alan , Mexican boy band singer*Alan , aka Gato Eveready, who wrestles in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración...
s in Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
(1277). The very first yarlyk (license) found by historians was written on behalf of Mengu-Timur and contained information on the release of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
from paying tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to the Golden Horde, however, he was a shamanist. During the reign of Mengu-Timur, the Genoese
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
traders purchased Caffa from the Mongols. But those Italian merchants paid taxes to Mongol khans and sometimes to Nogai
Nogai Khan
Nogai , also called Isa Nogai, was a general and de facto ruler of the Golden Horde and a great-great-grandson of Genghis Khan. His grandfather was Baul/Teval Khan, the 7th son of Jochi...
.
Both German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
s and Lithuanians endangered the safety of Russian lands. In 1268, he sent a Tatar-Mongol force to Novgorod, and forced Livonian Knights to withdraw. In 1274 Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
, the last of Russian principalities, became subject to Möngke Temür khan of the Golden Horde. The Khan also dispatched his army along with Russian princes to Lithuania by the request of the duke Lev
Leo I of Halych
Lev I of Galicia became in turn Knyaz of Belz , Knyaz of Peremyshl, king of Halych and King of Rus' , Grand Prince of Kiev .-Family:...
of Galicia-Volhynia in 1275.
In 1277, he ended the long-duration siege of Alani city Dyadkov with the assistance of his Russian vassals and crushed the rebellion of Bulgars
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
in Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
. And he allowed German traders to travel freely through his domain.
Golden Horde and the Mongol Empire
Mongke Temur was originally nominated by Kublai KhanKublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
. But he was sided with Kaidu
Kaidu
Kaidu was the leader of the House of Ogedei and the de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate. He ruled part of modern-day Xinjiang and Central Asia during the 13th century, and actively opposed his uncle, Kublai Khan, who established the Yuan Dynasty in China until his death in 1301...
who was a genius competitor of the latter. Kublai only stopped him to invade Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
with large force. Golden Horde helped Kaidu to put down the force of Chagatai Khanate
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
. In 1265, Kaidu was defeated by Chagatai army under Baraq
Baraq
Baraq may refer to one of the following:* Baraq , khan of the Chagatai Khanate* Baraq * Barak, biblical general who commanded the army of Deborah and delivered the Israelites from the yoke of Jabin-See also:...
. That is why, The khan of Jochid Ulus sent 30,000 armed-men headed by his uncle Berkhchir to support Kaidu's force. Their victory over Chagatai
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
army forced Baraq to initiate peace treaty with them. Together they formed an alliance and demarcated borders of their realms in Talas
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
. Rashid al-Din claims that the meeting took place in the spring of 1269 in Talas, while Wassaf
Wassaf
Wassaf or Vassaf or Toghril Beg Abdallah ibn Faḍlallah Sharaf al-Din Shīrāzī was a 14th-century Persian historian of the Ilkhanate...
writes that it took place around 1267 to the south of Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
. Though He and Kaidu admonished Baraq to invade Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
, Mongke temur congratulated Ilkhan Abagha upon his stunning victory over Chagatai army in order to hide his true intention. They two had been probably fighting with each other until 1270's. But some scholars disaffirm that such battles occurred. By the 1270's, they had signed a peace treaty, In addition to peace treaty, Abagha allowed Mongke temur to collect tax income from some of workshops in his khanate.
Although, there was not serious war between Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
and Golden Horde, Mongke temur intended to restore his ancestors authority over Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. He sent delegates to Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Baybars and offered joint attack on Abagha's khanate.
During that time, Kublai dispatched his favorite son Nomukhan against Kaidu to Almaliq
Almaliq, China
Almalik was a medieval city in Central Asia's Ili river basin. Its site is located within the present-day Huocheng County in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, between the city of Yining and the border with Kazakhstan.Almalik was originally one of...
. Nomukhan sent letters to Chingisid nobles to reassert their supports. Mongke Temur responded that he would protect Kublai from Kaidu if he assaulted with Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
. In 1276, Chingisid princes Shiregi and Tokhtemur defected to Kaidu's side and arrested Kublai's son. Then they sent Nomukhan and his brother Kokhcu to Mongketemur and his general to Kaidu. The court of Golden Horde released Nomukhan in 1278 or 10 years later. It seems that Mongke Temur hold him to use as a pawn of the wars in the Mongol world.
He died of a neck injury in 1280.
Family
Mengu-Timur was the father of Tochtu Khan by Oljei Khatun of Khunggirad clan, the great granddaughter of Genghis KhanGenghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
.
Children:
- Tochtu Khan, khan of the Golden HordeGolden HordeThe Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
from 1291-1312 - Toghrilcha, parent of Ozbeg
- Anna of Yaroslavl, wife of St. Theodore the BlackTheodore the BlackDuke Theodore Rostislavich nicknamed Theodore the Black Феодор Ростиславич Черныйis a saint of the Russian orthodox church and was a ruler of Smolensk and Yaroslavl. His father Prince Rostislav died in 1240. Theodore was Duke of Mozhaysk from his youth. In 1260 Theodore married Maria Vasilievna,...
; much of Russian nobility traces descent from her