the golden horde and the black sea 233
treaty was signed,355 which they had every reason to consider more reli-
able. another and more plausible explanation for why toqtamïsh chose
to continue to sacrifice so much for friendly relations with the Genoese in
early 1381 is that the Golden horde had a new foreign policy priority: the
war against the russians.
the rapid revival of Golden horde power, and its territorial integration
and internal consolidation, made it vital that the state now redefine its
relations with the surrounding powers.
the Golden horde’s sharp contraction over the past two decades had
been sealed by the defeat at Kulikovo. this was a worse defeat than any
before, since it confirmed that the new balance of power in eastern europe
was tilted against the horde. By the end of 1380, toqtamïsh was already
planning how to return his state to its former great power status.
the russian chronicler recording the events of these years realised the
urgency of this political course for toqtamïsh, and wrote that in the very
first days of his reign as khan of the whole horde, he “sent envoys that
autumn to Dmitriy Ivanovich in Moscow, and to all the russian knyazï,
giving them news of his arrival in the empire of the Volga and of how he
had taken the throne and defeated Mamai, his enemy and theirs, and that
now he held power in the empire of the Volga.”356 the tartar ambassadors
were not just paying a protocol visit. they demanded that the victor of
Kulikovo return to his old obedience to Sarai, and render the tribute due.
Dmitriy Donskoy, like the other knyazï, submitted immediately and “sent
his envoys, tolbuga and Mokshya, with gifts and tribute to the horde of
toqtamïsh, the new tsar of the Volga.”357 the chronicler attributes con-
vincing motives to Dmitriy: the fearsome battle of 8th September 1380
had “exhausted all russian lands, and the voyvodes and their serfs and
soldiers, so much that there was great fear in all the russias.”358
355 this theory is supported by a register entry in caffa’s public accounts from 17th
March 1381, recording expenditure to buy falcons which were presented to the khan’s
ambassadors and to Mamai (text published in Iorga, Notes, I, p. 11). Balard, Romanie, I, pp.
457–458, thus concludes that the emir was still alive at this point and died afterwards, no
later than November of that year, when khan toqtamïsh received Genoese ambassadors
as sole and undisputed ruler; however, this reading overlooks the fact that the date in the
register refers to the date of payment, rather than of purchase, and that it unambigiously
states that the birds were accepted as a gift by Mamai’s men: captis temporibus retroactis
in Soldaia.
356 Nikonovskaya letopis’, XI, p. 69.
357 Ibid.
358 Ibid.