Edigü

Raid of the Edigü

The Emir Edigü (Idiqu; † 1419 ) was the leading figure of the Golden Horde 1395-1418 , although he almost always ruled in the name of a Khan . He was the head of the House of Mangit or Mankit .

Life

Edigü ran over to Timur Lenk early on and advised him on his first campaign against Toktamisch , which ended on June 18, 1391 with Timur's victory at Samara (Kuibyshev) on the Volga . Timur appointed the Khan Timur Qutlugh, a grandson of Urus Khan (d. 1376), to whom he added Edigü as emir . However, both were only able to maintain their position in the Horde after Timur's second campaign (April 14, 1395 victory on the Terek , sacking of Sarai , Astrakhan , Bolgar and the Crimea ).

In the Battle of the Worskla Timur Qutlugh and Edigü triumphed in 1399 over the Lithuanian Grand Duke Witold , who wanted to reinstate Toktamish as Khan. Toktamish's Tatars fled the battlefield and carried away the Lithuanians , and Kiev had to buy their way out. But Timur Qutlugh died of the wounds in 1400/01 and was replaced by his brother Schadi Beg (1400 / 01–1407).

He was able to receive the homage of the Russian princes of Tver and Ryazan , but not that of the Moscow Vasily I. Schadi Beg was also able to kill Toktamish in the winter of 1406/1407 near Tyumen, but in 1407 he was the victim of internal unrest that his brother (?) Bolod (Pulad, 1407-1410) brought to power. Then Edigü attacked Russia , captured Pereyaslavl, Nizhny Novgorod and stood before Moscow on December 5, 1408 . From there he withdrew with a ransom of 3,000 rubles, as Bolod's rule was threatened. Further Tatar attacks followed in 1410 on Ryazan and Vladimir , then Bolod was ousted by Timur Qutlugh's son Temur (1410/12).

Prince Temür had the support of Edigü's son Nur ad-Din and Edigü then preferred to flee to Choresm to fight his own son. Persecuted by his son, he was besieged in Khorezm for half a year. Here the wavering situation of the Golden Horde showed itself. Witold of Lithuania had sent Toktamisch's son Gelal-ed-Din (who supported him in the Battle of Tannenberg , see also: Islam in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus ) into the Horde. Gelal-ed-Din drove out the Khan Temür (1410/12), accepted the personal homage from Vasily I and was eliminated in 1412 by Edigü, who had reconciled with his son.

But Witold did not give up. He sent his brother Kebek (1414/15) against Edigüs Khan Kerim Berdi (son of Toktamisch, 1412-1417). That was also driven out by Edigü, who then took Kiev in 1416 . Most recently Witold sent “Jeremferden” into the field, one of Toktamish's last sons. "Jeremferden" defeated Edigü in 1417, who had to flee to the Crimea. Edigü made peace with Witold and died shortly afterwards (1419). His last candidate for the throne had been Chekre, who was succeeded by Ulug Mehmed.

After the loss of power of the emir and the rival sons of Toktamish, Ulug Mehmed (ruled 1419–1438 / 45) was installed as Khan, under whom the horde finally split up into various sub-kingdoms. In retrospect, Edigü was the last ruler who could give the Golden Horde limited internal stability. He went down in history and the Tatar folk tradition together with Mamai and Toktamish.

Remarks

1. ↑ In Siberia, Koirijaq Oglun, an alleged son of Urus Khan (ruled 1394–1422), ruled in parallel, also with the approval of Timur Lenk.
2. ↑ The name "Jeremferden" appears in Polish reports and sounds like a disfigurement by Kerim Berdi. Howorth and Spuler try to equate "Jeremferden" with Gabbar Berdi or Qadir Berdi, other sons of Toktamish, whose names are mentioned in the Islamic sources and who gained no meaning.
3. ↑ According to various versions, he was killed in a battle with Qadir Berdi, drowned in the Sihun River or was captured by Ulug Mehmed.

literature

• Bertold Spuler : The Golden Horde . Wiesbaden 1965
• Henry Hoyle Howorth: History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century. Part 2. The So-Called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia . London 1880

Web links

• Literature by and about Edigü in the catalog of the German National Library