Tokhta (Toqta, Toktu, Tokhtai, Tochtu or Tokhtogha) (died ) was a
khan
Khan may refer to:
*Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan
*Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name
*Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...
of the
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmen ...
, son of
Mengu-Timur and great-grandson of
Batu Khan
Batu Khan ( – 1255),, ''Bat haan'', tt-Cyrl, Бату хан; ; russian: хан Баты́й was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis K ...
.
His name "Tokhtokh" means "hold/holding" in the
Mongolian language
Mongolian is the official language of Mongolia and both the most widely spoken and 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 residen ...
.
Early reign under Nogai
In 1288, Tokhta was ousted by his cousins. In 1291, he reclaimed the throne with the help of
Nogai Khan. Tokhta then gave the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
to Nogai as a gift. Nogai subsequently beheaded many of the Mongol nobles who were supporters of
Tulabuga, thanks to his new supposed puppet khan.
Tokhta wanted to eliminate the Russian princes' semi-independence. To that effect, he had sent his brother
Tudan to the
Rus lands in 1293. Tudan's army would go on to devastate fourteen towns. Tokhta himself (known here as Tokhta-Temur) went to
Tver
Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population:
Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russi ...
, and forced
Dmitry Alexandrovich
Dmitri (russian: Дми́трий); Church Slavic form: Dimitry or Dimitri (); ancient Russian forms: D'mitriy or Dmitr ( or ) is a male given name common in Orthodox Christian culture, the Russian version of Greek Demetrios (Δημήτριο� ...
, Nogai's ally, to abdicate. The Russians chroniclers depicted these events as "The harsh-time of Batu returns." Some sources have suggested that Tokhta and Nogai had worked together.
Soon afterwards, Tokhta and Nogai began a deadly rivalry. The Khan's father-in-law Saljiday of the
Khunggirads, his wife Bekhlemish, the granddaughter of
Tolui, and other
Chingisid
A Borjigin, ; ; russian: Борджигин, Bordžigin; English plural: Borjigins or Borjigid (from Middle Mongolian);''Histoire des campagnes de Gengis Khan'', p. 119. Manchu plural: is a member of the Mongol sub-clan, which started with Bo ...
s in the Horde also complained about Nogai's contrariness to him. Nogai had refused to come to the court of the Khan. They also disagreed on trade rights of the
Venetians and
Genoese merchants as well.
Khan Tokhta's forces lost the first battle with Nogai in 1296–1297.
[Zhanat Kundakbayeva, The History of Kazakhstan, Кazakh University, 2016, vol. 1, p. 69 : The battle “must have taken place in the winter of 1296/97 since news of Toqta's major defeat reached Cairo in February-March 1298.”] Nogai did not bother to chase after him, and he decided instead to return to his lands. Tokhta asked the
Ilkhan Ghazan
Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son o ...
for his assistance. The latter refused because he did not want to be mixed up with their quarrels. In 1300, Tokhta finally defeated Nogai at the battle of the Kagamlyk River, south-southwest of the city of
Poltava
Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administrativel ...
, and united the lands from the
Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catch ...
to the
Don under his authority. Nogai's son
Chaka had fled first to the land of the
Alans, and then to Bulgaria, where he reigned as their
Czar. This had enraged Tokhta so much so that soon after Chaka's brother-in-law
Theodore Svetoslav participated in a plot to overthrow him. Chaka was found strangled and his head was sent to Khan Tokhta to show his (Theodore Svetoslav's) and the Bulgarian nobility their allegiance. Tokhta then divided Nogai's lands, which had stretched from the Crimea and the Russian principalities to modern Romania, among his brother Sareibugha and his sons.
Later reign
While Tokhta was busy dealing with Nogai,
Bayan Khan asked for his help against the rebels in the
White Horde. Unfortunately, Tokhta was unable to send him any assistance. In 1301, Bayan was forced to flee to Tokhta. Tokhta then helped him to reassert his authority by attacking Kuruichik, who was backed by
Qaidu. The forces of the Golden Horde then won the conflict with the
Chagatai Khan
Chagatai Khan ( Mongolian: ''; Čaɣatay''; mn, Цагадай, translit=Tsagadai; chg, , ''Čaġatāy''; ug, چاغاتاي خان, ''Chaghatay-Xan''; zh, 察合台, ''Chágětái''; fa, , ''Joghatây''; 22 December 1183 – 1 July 1242) ...
Duwa and Qaidu's son
Chapar.
After solidifying his control over the
Russian Principalities
The following is a list of tribes who lived on the territories of contemporary Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The tribes were later replaced or consolidated by Slavs, starting with the formation of Kievan Rus', including the semi-autonomous pr ...
and the
Kipchak steppes, Tokhta demanded that the Ilkhan Ghazan give back the regions of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
and the
Arran. Ghazan refused his request and replied, "That land was conquered by our ancestors' Indian steel swords!" Tokhta then decided to restore the former alliance with the
Mamluks
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
of Egypt and sent them his envoys. During the reign of
Oljeitu, the respective armies of the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate engaged in small border conflicts, but this was not to last long.
In 1304, messengers from the
Chagatai Khanate and the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...
arrived in
Sarai. They introduced their masters' plan and idea of peace. Tokhta accepted the nominal supremacy of the Yuan Emperor
Temür Öljeytü (Chengzong), the grandson of
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of ...
; at the same time Muhammad Khudabanda Öljeitü ruled
Ilkhanid
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, just ceding the lands of Arran to Toqta and
Duwa retained nominal sovereignty in the Chagatai Khanate. The postal system and trade routes were also restored. The Golden Horde sent two tumens (20,000) to buttress the Yuan frontier.
Khan Tokhta arrested the
Italian residents of
Sarai, and besieged the city of
Caffa
uk, Феодосія, Теодосія crh, Kefe
, official_name = ()
, settlement_type=
, image_skyline = THEODOSIA 01.jpg
, imagesize = 250px
, image_caption = Genoese fortress of Caffa
, image_shield = Fe ...
in 1307. The cause behind this was apparently Tokhta's displeasure at the Italian trade in
Turkic slaves who were mostly sold as soldiers to the
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
ian
Mamluk Sultanate. The
Genoese resisted for a year, but in 1308 set fire to their city and abandoned it. Relations between the Italians and the Golden Horde remained tense until 1312 when Tokhta died during preparations for a new military campaign against the Russian lands. Some sources claimed that he died without a male heir. But the
''Yuan shi'' and some Muslim sources stated that he had at least three sons and one of them was murdered by Khan
Ozbeg's supporters.
Although he was
Shamanist
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
, he was interested in
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
. He was the last non-Muslim khan of Golden Horde.
In 1297, Khan Tokhta married Maria Palaiologina, the illegitimate daughter of the
Byzantine Emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...
,
Andronikos II Palaiologos. Their daughter Marija later married
Narimantas, the
Grand Duke of Lithuania
The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power— Ho ...
.
Genealogy
*
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; ; xng, Temüjin, script=Latn; ., name=Temujin – August 25, 1227) was the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in history a ...
*
Jochi
*
Batu Khan
Batu Khan ( – 1255),, ''Bat haan'', tt-Cyrl, Бату хан; ; russian: хан Баты́й was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis K ...
*
Toqoqan
*
Mengu-Timur
*Toqta
Ancestry
See also
*
List of Khans of the Golden Horde
References
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toqta
1270s births
1310s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
Khans of the Golden Horde
13th-century monarchs in Europe
14th-century monarchs in Europe
Mongolian shamanism