The mighty Golden Horde, the western part of the Mongol Empire, experienced many bloody coups, intrigues, and fratricidal clashes. One of the most interesting and little-studied pages of that era is the short and bright reign of Khan Sartak, the eldest son of Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan. It is known that he was a Nestorian Christian. And if the reign of the baptized khan had not ended with death in 1256, then perhaps the history of the relationship between Russia and the Horde would have been completely different.
And let's imagine that Sartak survived, forced the Golden Horde to accept Christ and conclude eternal peace with his fellow believers - holy Russia …
It is known that the creator of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, was a tolerant ruler. Under him, tengri (worship of the sky), Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, shamanism, peacefully coexisted throughout the endless territory of the steppe state.
Faith without borders
The wise Mongols believed that all religions originate from one God, and national customs and traditions are just an earthly interpretation of the will of heaven. The only requirement of Yasa, the religious code of the Mongols, was loyalty to the conquerors. And for those who did not oppose such a principle, the rulers did not put up obstacles, but even on the contrary, in every possible way supported the clergy of the conquered peoples.
And it is not surprising that in the 13th century Ulus Jochi, the western part of the Mongol Empire, was densely stuffed with a wide variety of religions.
And even Khan Sartak, son of Batu, at some stage of his biography believed in Christ. Great Khan Munke, the ruler of the empire, ascended the throne as a result of an armed coup, in which he was helped by the first ruler of the Golden Horde, Khan Batu. Therefore, Mongke did not care who his subjects believed in, living on the western edge of the great empire.
Sartak had a special relationship with Russia: as you know, he became related to the Russian prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who went down in history under the name Nevsky. This is how the Russian historian Lev Gumilyov describes this relationship: “The ancient Mongols had a touching custom of fraternization. Boys or youths exchanged gifts, became Andas, named brothers. Twinning was considered above blood kinship; the andes are like one soul: never leaving, they save each other in mortal danger. This custom was used by Alexander Nevsky. Having fraternized with Batu's son Sartak, he became a relative of the khan."
But the future khan of the Golden Horde was not only a nominal relative of the prince, but also an actual one - he also provided real help to Alexander.
For example, in 1252, Sartak, who was already a co-ruler of Batu, organized an armed campaign led by the voivode Nevryuy to Vladimir. The campaign was organized at the request of Alexander and directed against the Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei Yaroslavich - this ruler occupied the princely table not by seniority, and Alexander Yaroslavich immediately rushed for help to Sartak.
At Pereyaslavl, the army of Nevryu defeated the army of Prince Andrew, and the prince fled shamefully to Sweden. Alexander Nevsky became the Grand Prince of Vladimir. After that, the friendship between the khan's son and the Russian prince, having received the baptism of fire, became even stronger. The two great rulers, in addition to friendship, were tied by something else: they were the same age, spent their childhood together (Alexander lived for a long time in the capital of the Golden Horde as a hostage), finally, they were blood co-religionists - after all, both fervently believed in Christ. And the fact that one was Orthodox and the other non-Storian did not matter much in those days: theological strife had not yet led to the division of Christianity into two hostile branches.
The fact that Sartak really worshiped Christ is confirmed by the Arab historian al-Jauzdani and by Guillaume de Rubruck, sent by the French king Louis IX for missionary and diplomatic activities to Sartak's headquarters on the Volga. In addition, Sartak's daughter, known as Theodora, was also a Christian and even married Prince Mikhail Glebovich. So, thanks to this, many of the noble families of Muscovy, the Commonwealth and the Russian Empire were descended from Batu and Genghis Khan.
Let's imagine that in 1256, when Sartak took the royal throne, the baptized khan decided to make big changes - in particular, he wanted to be surrounded by brothers not only in arms, but also in faith. And for this it was necessary to force the Horde to be baptized.
Big reforms
Having ascended the throne, Sartak went to worship the great khan Munka. Having received a label for the reign, on the way back he stopped by his uncle Berke, the brother of the deceased Batu, and called him into a sincere conversation.
Sartak, a cunning and experienced courtier (for the last five years he took part in governing the state with his father), he had loyal people everywhere who reported: Berke was preparing a coup, because he believed that Islam should be the state religion of the Horde.
The conversation did not work out - Berke reproached Sartak for illegally taking the throne and urged him to change his religion. The uncle and nephew never agreed on anything. But after a while, people loyal to Sartak came to Burke and tried to arrest him. Burke managed to jump on his horse, and if it had not been for the arrow fired in pursuit, his uncle could have completely raised a mutiny in the Horde.
Having eliminated the main enemy, Sartak began the main business of his life - preparing for the baptism of his subjects. As you know, in those years the distance between Novgorod and Saray-Batu was covered within two months. Sartak sent his messengers to Prince Alexander with a request to send an Orthodox embassy. In 1257, the Russian Metropolitan Epiphanes baptized the inhabitants of Sarai in the Volga and Akhtuba rivers.
After that, Sartak, relying on the help of loyal friends, including the army of Alexander, made a universal Christianization - Islam in those years was still weak, so the adoption of a new religion did not become something catastrophic for the Mongols. Of course, there were those who did not want to betray the faith of their ancestors and even offered armed resistance. But the Golden Horde Khan was not going to stop there.
Sartak's army soon set out on another campaign: at the request of Prince Alexander, the Mongols decided to restore order on the western borders of Russia, where the western neighbors - Germans, Poles, Lithuanians - were muddying the water. As you know, the army of the Mongols then reached 600 thousand fighters. Sartak took with him only 200 thousand selected soldiers. Before the performance, Bishop Mi-trofan blessed the Christian army, and the horsemen, whose marching icons with the faces of Orthodox saints were strapped to their saddles, moved westward.
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Mongol-Christian state
As you know, during the reign of Alexander Nevsky, the western borders of Rus were regularly attacked by the Livonian Order, Swedes and Lithuanians. Flirting with the Horde, the Pope hoped to quietly subjugate the Russian state, persuading the princes either to accept the union, or to a complete conversion to the Catholic faith.
And when, at the end of 1258, a combined army of Mongols and Russians suddenly appeared on their borders, the invaders, who repeatedly beat the Russians, were dumbfounded by their power and numbers.
A great army with Christian banners fluttering in the wind passed through all of Europe and soon entered Rome. The great invasion frightened the Pope so much that at the cost of great concessions and oath assurances he begged the conquerors not to wipe their cities and fortresses off the face of the earth.
Sartak and Alexander, defenders of the Christian faith, returned home victorious. Assessing the advantage of such a union, both commanders, after a series of meetings, decided to create a new state - Mongolian Rus. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Roman Empire of the era of Byzantium and Rome.
The capital of the eastern part was located in Vladimir, the western - in Saray-Batu on the Volga. Such a concept as the Mongol-Tatar yoke no longer existed: the new state association had a common budget, an army and a single faith - Christianity, which, over time, overcoming differences, acquired the features of traditional Orthodoxy.
The great power, stretching from Pskov to Tobolsk, existed for almost three hundred years. Subsequently, he was replaced by the Russian Empire, which managed to preserve the best that was laid down in the structure of the great state by its founders - Sartak and Alexander.
Riddles of history no. 18