Far East Kingdoms

Khans of the White Horde (Golden Horde / Kipchak Khanate)

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The Mongols appear to have been born out of an amalgam of native Turkic and Tungusic groups in north-eastern Central Asia and East Asia. The famous Mongol foundation epic, the Secret History of the Mongols, states that the Mongols reached the steppe from over the 'Tengis' - the sea or lake. This was twenty-two generations before the birth of 'Chingiz Khan' in AD 1162.

Chingiz Khan, though, was the vigorous young Mongol leader who became the first of the 'Great Khans' of the Mongol empire. His death in 1227 created the basis for the later sub-division of the empire in the form of ulus (inheritances), something which increasing internal feuding would ensure.

The four sub-divisions of the empire remained politically united under the great khan, but their existence established the basis of future independent Mongol kingdoms. Ogedei was the selected successor to Chingiz, and was officially proclaimed great khan in 1229. While he and his successors still controlled the entire empire, they largely concentrated their attention on what is now Mongolia and on Yuan dynasty China.

The rest was governed by the other sons of Chingiz. The north-western section was handed to the family of the deceased Jochi (the Golden Horde, alternatively known as the Jochid ulus as they became subdivided into several inheritances), thanks to which they inherited dominion over the Alani.

It was Jochi's son, Orda Khan, who inherited the easternmost section of this ulu as the White Horde (between Lake Balkhash and the Volga), with Batu leading the western section as the Blue Horde. Chagatai Khan (the second son) inherited Mughulistan, while Tolui governed Persia. The White Horde are sometimes referred to as the Ak-Orda, which refers directly to Orda himself. To its contemporary rulers it was more usually known as the Kipchak khanate.

The Kipchaks or Qıpčaqs were one of the most important Turkic peoples of this period, and under the Mongol khans they dominated the western and central Eurasian steppe. Kipchak (or Gypjak) lies just outside Ashgabat in today's Turkmenistan.

The Kipchaks appear in the various Arabo-Persian, Eastern Roman Greek, Latin, Slavic, Mongol, Chinese, Georgian and Armenian accounts under several names, aside from variants of Qıvčaq, Qıbčaq, and Qıpčaq. Versions can be found such as Qaŋlı (Latin Cangle - or Cangitai for their eastern branch), and Cuman (Quman for their western branch), plus a version of the latter which entered into the Slavic languages: Половци (Polovtsy).

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan: His Triumph and his Legacy, Peter Brent (Book Club Associates, 1976), from The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction, Morris Rossabi (Oxford University Press, 2012), from International Orders in the Early Modern World: Before the Rise of the West, Yongjin Zhang, Shogo Suzuki, & Joel Quirk, from the New World Encyclopaedia, from Crimean Tatars, H B Paksoy, from The Origins of Northern China's Ethnicities, Zhu Xueyuan (Beijing 2004), from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from Genghis Khan, Paul Ratchnevsky (Thomas Nivison Haining, Trans & Ed, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991), and from External Links: Turcology and Linguistics, Éva Ágnes Csató (with editors), text by Peter B Golden, and The Shaping of the Cuman-Qïpchaqs, Peter B Golden, and Origins of the Volga Tatars, and Tatar.net (dead link), and The True Origin of the Mongols?, John Man (Oxford Alumni, 28 July 2020).)

1223 - 1226

Son of Great Khan Chingiz Khan. Governed Central Asia.

1226 - 1227

Jochi's legitimacy as the eldest son of the 'Great Khan', Chingiz Khan has always been open to question, as he had been born shortly after the return of his mother, Börte, from captivity by the Merkits. It is probably thanks to this (at least in part) that he is overlooked as his father's successor as great khan.

This portrait shown Chingiz Khan in his later years, by which time he had built up an empire which covered much of eastern and Central Asia, as well as stretching into Eastern Europe

Jochi dies approximately six months before his father but his family are confirmed as rulers of the Golden Horde by Chingiz Khan himself. Between them, the Blue Horde and White Horde inherit just four thousand of the original Mongol troops and have to recruit heavily from amongst the population of their captured territories, which introduces a very heavy Turkic identity into the horde.

1226 - 1251

Son. Gained the White Horde as his inheritance.

1227

Shiban is too young when his father dies to gain any territories himself, despite being one of Jochi's sub-commanders of the subsidiary White Horde. Instead, his descendants, the Shaibanids (the Grey Horde), carve out their own territory in the fifteenth century in Turkestan when they conquer Transoxiana and Southern Khorasan which is centred around Herat. Orda's elder brother, Batu, commands the Blue Horde.

1238 - 1242

After devastating the already-subjugated (Mongol) Crimea and subduing Mordovia and Kipchaks on the steppe in 1238, Batu Khan and Subedei turn their attention to Europe in 1239. The Blue Horde Mongols enter Galicia, capturing the capital and destroying the cathedral there.

The White Horde ruled the territory between Lake Balkhash and the Volga, while initially continuing to push westwards as part of the greater Golden Horde

Both Poland and Hungary are conquered in 1241, while Orda leads the White Horde on an attack against Lithuania's southern borders. However, the death of Ogedei Khan causes the Mongols to withdraw, with Batu Khan intent on securing his conquests in the lands of the Rus.

1246

The election of Guyuk Khan as 'Great Khan' confirms the fears of Batu Khan, so he consolidates his territories to the north of the Caspian Sea and establishes a capital at Sarai Batu (Old Sarai). He converts his territories into a khanate (the equivalent of a kingdom) which becomes known as the Blue Horde.

Batu's brothers, Orda and Shiban had also participated in his European campaign, and they now form their own khanates. Orda's khanate, located to the east of the Blue Horde, becomes known as the White Horde, while Shiban's khanate is the relatively obscure Shaibanids.

Although both the Blue Horde and White Horde are, in effect independent they still acknowledge the suzerainty of the great khan.

The Battle of the River Kalka in 1221 or 1223 (both dates are reported) was a valiant Rus effort to stem the westwards tide of Mongol advance, but due largely to the refusal of Mstislav 'the Bold' to wait for all of his allied forces to assemble before leaping into battle, it opened the gates to full invasion

1251 - 1280

Son. No heir.

1256 - 1258

Qun Quran sends a contingent of the Golden Horde to assist Hulegu's Il-Khanate against the Abbasids in Mesopotamia. The contingent is commanded by Qun Quran's eldest brother, Kuli, and his death in uncertain circumstances in 1258 while besieging Baghdad causes some ill-feeling between the White Horde and the Il-Khanate.

1280 - 1302

Nephew. Son of Sartaqtay and Qujiyan of the Qongirat tribe.

1294

With the death of Kublai Khan, the Yuan dynasty survives under his successor, but the Mongol empire effectively ceases to exist. There are no further khakhans (great khans), and command of the empire's territory is now permanently divided into four distinct and fully independent kingdoms: the Golden Horde (made up of the Blue Horde and White Horde), the Il-Khanate, Mughulistan, and Yuan China.

An illustration of a mounted Kipchack warrior, typical of the waves of westward migrants who swept in from the Kazak steppe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, largely pushed that way by the sudden creation of the Mongol empire

1302 - 1309

Cousin?

1302

Buyan's accession is far from universally accepted by his own relatives. Led by his cousin, Kobluk, they win support from Du'a of Mughulistan. Buyan fights them on several occasions and seeks help from Toqta of the Blue Horde as the senior khan of the Golden Horde. Toqta warns off the Chaghatayids, and supplies military help. In the end, Buyan is able to defeat his opponents and emerge victorious.

1302 - ?

Cousin and rival khan. Defeated.

1309 - 1315

Son of Buyan. Executed?

1315

Details about Sasibuqa's reign as khan are obscure, and some scholars have even doubted his inclusion in the list of khans. It seems that he may resist the Islamicisation policy of Ozbeg Khan of the Blue Horde, and is possibly executed as a result. His successor, whose heritage is unknown, fully supports Ozbeg Khan.

The Mongols maintained their dominance of the eastern Rus with bloodletting where necessary, burning and destroying towns which stood against them

c.1315 - 1320

Relationship unknown. Supported Islam.

1320 - 1344

Brother. Threw off Ozbeg Khan's dominance. Deposed.

1344

The act of declaring his independence from the dominance of Ozbeg Khan and his successor, Toni Beg, leads to the downfall of Mubarak Khwaja. Apparently it is Toni Beg who sends a force to dethrone him (before his own downfall in 1342), and install Chimtay in his place. Mubarak's fate is unclear, but he may be allowed to live on in retirement.

1344 - 1374

Son of Ilbasan.

1357 - 1359

With the assassination of Jani Beg of the Blue Horde, the political cohesion of the Golden Horde begins to disintegrate. Berdi Beg is probably behind Jani Beg's death, and his reign as khan is not universally accepted.

The khanate goes from being able to claim titular dominance over the three ulus (Blue Horde, White Horde, and Chaghatayids) and actual dominance over the Rus to internecine warfare and the possibility of complete dissolution.

The White Horde found itself freed of dominance by the Golden Horde in the middle of the fourteenth century but political in-fighting destroyed any hope of real power

1372 - 1374

Urus Khan succeeds in dominating the fragmented Blue Horde for approximately two years, one of its longest periods of near-stability since the murder of Jani Beg. When Urus succeeds to the position of khan of the White Horde in 1374, the Blue Horde continues its internecine fighting once more. Urus is credited as being the direct ancestor of the later khans of Kazan.

1374 - 1376

Son? Former khan of the Blue Horde.

1376

Urus defeats Toqtaqiya and expels him from Sabran, but dies soon afterwards. Toqtaqiya returns to claim the throne but he too dies shortly afterwards, perhaps of wounds sustained during his fight against Urus.

1376 - 1377

Son.

1377

Brother. Killed in battle against Toqtamish.

1377 - 1380

Cousin. Gained Blue Horde to reform Golden Horde.

1378

The Blue Horde is heavily defeated by the Muscovites under Demetrius Donski at the Battle of the River Vozha. Two years later the horde is defeated again by the Rus, at the Battle of Kulikovo.

This Russian imitation is of a coin issued (possibly) during the short-lived khanate of Berdi Beg (1357-1359), the victim of an all-too-familiar assassination in the Blue Horde

They begin putting together a retaliatory force but are defeated by Toqtamish Khan in a battle on the banks of the River Kalka. The horde is fully reunited with the White Horde to form a greater Golden Horde.