Mongol Invasion of Rus' - The Age of Tatar Rule

The Age of Tatar Rule

This time the invaders came to stay, and they built for themselves a capital, called Sarai, on the lower Volga. Here the commander of the Golden Horde, as the western section of the Mongol empire was called, fixed his golden headquarters and represented his sovereign the grand khan who lived with the Great Horde in the . Here they had their headquarters and held parts of Rus' in subjection for nearly three centuries. All of the Russian states, including Novgorod, Smolensk, Galich, and Pskov, submitted to the Mongol rule.

The term by which this subjection is commonly designated, the Mongol or Tatar "yoke", suggests ideas of terrible oppression, but in reality these nomadic invaders from Mongolia were not such cruel, oppressive taskmasters as is generally supposed. In the first place, they never settled in the country, and they had little direct dealing with the inhabitants. In accordance with the admonitions of Genghis to his children and grandchildren, they retained their pastoral mode of life, so that the subject races, agriculturists, and dwellers in towns, were not disturbed in their ordinary avocations.

In religious matters they were extremely tolerant. When they first appeared in Europe, they were shamanists, and as such they had naturally no religious fanaticism. After they adopted Islam they remained as tolerant as before, and the khan of the Golden Horde, who first became a Muslim, allowed the Rus' to found a Christian bishopric in his capital. Nogai Khan, half a century later, married a daughter of the Byzantine emperor, and gave his own daughter in marriage to a Rus' prince, Theodor the Black. Some modern Russian historians (most notably, the Soviet era historian and "Neo-Eurasianist" ideologist Lev Gumilev) even postulate there was no invasion at all. According to them, the Rus' princes concluded a defensive alliance with the Horde in order to repel attacks of the fanatical Teutonic Knights, which posed a much greater threat to Rus' religion and culture.

These represent the bright side of Tatar rule. It had its dark side also. So long as a great horde of nomads was encamped on the frontier, the country was liable to be invaded by an overwhelming force. Fortunately, these invasions were not frequent but when they occurred they caused an incalculable amount of devastation and suffering. In the intervals the people had to pay a fixed tribute. At first it was collected in a rough-and-ready fashion by Tatar tax-gatherers, by about 1259 it was regulated by a census of the population, and finally its collection was entrusted to the native princes, so that the people were no longer brought into direct contact with the Tatar officials.