Page:EB1911 - Volume 18.djvu/747

 Chinese were everywhere victorious, and Amursama fled into Siberia, where he died of small-pox after a short illness.

While China was thus absorbing the Mongols within her reach, Russia was gathering within her borders those with whom “she came into contact. Among these were the Buriats, who occupied a large territory on both sides of Lake Baikal. As usual in such cases, disputes arose out of disturbances on the frontier, and were ended by the Buriats and the neighbouring Mongol tribes becoming one and all tributary to Russia.

The dominions given by Jenghiz Khan to his son Jagatai were involved in the quarrels between Kaidu and Kublai for the khakanate, but at the beginning of the 14th century Dua, a great-great-grandson of Jagatai, made himself undisputed lord of the whole region. Shortly after Dua’s death the Mongols of Eastern Turkestan, descendants

of those who had favoured the pretensions of Kaidu to be khakan, separated from their western brethren and chose a son of Dua as their khan. Henceforth the Jagataids were divided into two dynasties, the western reigning at Samarkand, the eastern first at Kashgar and later at Yarkand and Aksu. Kazan (1343–1346) was the last independent khan of the western Jagataids; thereafter power fell into the hands of amirs, who, however, continued to place a titular khan on the throne. In 1360 Toghluk-Timur, a grandson of Dua and khan of the eastern Jagataids (the kingdom called by the Persian historians Mogolistan), invaded the territories of the western Jagataids. About this time (q.v.), otherwise Timur-i-leng (Tamerlane), a young amir at the court of the western Jagataids, allied himself with the leaders who had dethroned Kazan, and after the death of Toghluk-Timur became by right of conquest khan of both sections of the Jagataids. After Timur’s death the; two sections again divided, while a third kingdom, Ferghana, was held by the Timurids (descendants of Timur). At the beginning of the 16th century all three dynasties were swept away by Mahommed Shaibani, head of the Uzbeg Mongols (see infra, Uzbegs).

The empire of the Ilkhans established by Hulagu lasted nominally until 1353, but after the death of the Ilkhan Abu Said in 1335 the real power was divided between five petty dynasties which had been formed out of the provinces conquered by Hulagu. Meantime Islam had made great progress among the Mongols, the third

Ilkhan, Nikudar Ahmed (reigned 1281–1284) having embraced that faith. The western frontiers of their empire bordering on the Syrian possessions of Egypt there was frequent intercourse, sometimes friendly, sometimes warlike, between the Ilkhans and the sultans of (q.v.). Of the petty dynasties which supplanted that of Hulagu, one known as the Jelairids held Bagdad until about 1400. Another dynasty which reigned in Azerbaijan was overthrown in 1355 by the western Kipchaks (see infra, Golden Horde). Between 1369 and 1400 Timur had made himself master of the greater part of Persia and established there a second Mongol dynasty, which in turn gave place to that of the Ak Kuyunli (see ).

Of the Mongol tribes who became entirely subject to Russia the principal are those of the Crimea, of Kazan, and Astrakhan; of these the Tatars of Kazan are the truest representatives of the Golden Horde or western Kipchaks, who originally formed the subjects of Batu and Orda. Batu, whose victorious campaign

in Russia has already been sketched, was finally awarded as his fief the vast steppes which stretch from the Carpathian Mountains to Lake Balkash. He fixed his headquarters on the Volga, and there set up his Golden Tent from which the horde acquired the name of the Golden Horde. In 1255 Batu died and was succeeded by his brother Bereke Khan. During the reign of this sovereign the exactions which were demanded from the Russian Christians by the Mongols aroused the Christian world against the barbarian conquerors, and at the command of Pope Alexander IV. a general crusade was preached against them. But. though the rage of the Christians was great, they lacked that united energy which might have availed them against their enemies; and, while they were yet breathing out denunciations, a Tatar host, led by Nogai and Tulabagha, appeared in Poland. After a rapid and triumphant march the invaders took and destroyed Cracow, and from thence advanced as far as Bythom (Beuthen) in Oppeln, from which point they eventually retired, carrying with them a crowd of Christian slaves. From this time the Mongols became for a season an important factor in European politics. They corresponded and treated with the European sovereigns, and intermarried with royal families. Hulagu married a daughter of Michael Palaeologus; Toktu Khan took as his wife Maria, the daughter of Andronicus II.; and to Nogai Michael betrothed his daughter Irene. Toktu, the second khan in succession to Bereke, is the first Mongol ruler whom we hear of as having struck coins. Those issued during his reign bear the mint marks of Sarai, New Sarai, Bulgar, Ukek, Khwarizm, Krim, Jullad and Madjarui, and vary in date from 1291 to 1312.

The adoption of Islam by the rulers of the Golden Horde had as one result the drawing closer of the relations of the Mongols with Constantinople and Egypt. Embassies passed between the three courts, and so important was the alliance with the Mongols deemed by the sultan Nasir, ruler of Egypt, that he sent to demand in marriage a princess of the house of Jenghiz Khan. At first his request was refused by the proud Mongols, but the present of a million gold dinars, besides a number of horses and suits of armour, changed the refusal into an acquiescence, and in October 1319 the princess landed at Alexandria. in regal state. Her reception at Cairo was accompanied with feasting and rejoicing, and the members of her escort were sent back laden with presents. With that religious toleration common to his race, Uzbeg Khan, having married one princess to Nasir, gave another in marriage to George the prince of Moscow, whose cause he espoused in a quarrel existing between that prince and his uncle, the grand-prince Michael. Assuming the attitude of a judge in the dispute, Uzbeg Khan summoned Michael to appear before him, and, having given his decision against him, ordered his execution. The sentence was carried out with aggravated cruelty in sight of his nephew and accuser. From this time Uzbeg’s sympathies turned towards Christianity. He protected the Russian churches within his frontiers, and put his seal to his new religious views by marrying a daughter of the Greek emperor, Andronicus III. He died in 1340, after a reign of twenty-eight years. His coins were struck at Sarai, Khwarizm, Mokshi, Bulgar, Azak and Krim, and are dated from 1313 to 1340. His son and successor, Tinibeg Khan, after a reign of only a few months, was murdered by his brother Janibeg Khan, who usurped his throne, and, according to the historian Ibn Haidar, proved himself to be “just, God-fearing, and the patron of the meritorious.” These excellent qualities did not, however, prevent his making a raid into Poland, which was conducted in the usual Mongol manner, nor did they save his countrymen from being decimated by the black plague. The throne Janibeg had seized by violence was, in 1357, snatched from him by violence. As he lay ill on his return from a successful expedition against Persia he was murdered by his son Berdibeg, who in his turn was, after a short reign, murdered by his son Kulpa. With the death of Berdibeg the fortunes of the Golden Horde began rapidly to decline. As the Uzbeg proverb says, “The hump of the camel was cut off in the person of Berdibeg.”

But while the power of the Golden Horde was dwindling away, the White Horde or Eastern Kipchak, which was the inheritance of the elder branch of the family of Juji, remained prosperous and full of vitality. The descendants of Orda, Batu’s elder brother, being far removed from the dangerous influences of European courts,

maintained much of the simplicity and vigour of their nomad ancestors, and the throne descended from father to son with undiminished authority until the reign of Urus Khan (1360), when complications arose which changed the fortunes of the tribe. Like many other opponents of the Mongol rulers, Khan Tuli Khoja paid with his life for his temerity in opposing the political schemes of his connexion Urus Khan. Toktamish, the son of the murdered man, fled at the news of his