52 chapter two
some isolated uprisings by those who escaped the massacre, in the mid-
thirteenth century the heirs of Ögödei and chaghatai were more or less
eliminated as players in the great game of internal chinggisid politics, in
favour of the victorious Jochid and toluid branches.63
this was the first step in the policy of centralisation which Möngke
whole-heartedly adopted. “ironically, in his dealings with the princes of the
blood, his relations with Batu, the earliest and strongest of his supporters,
posed the greatest problem for Möngke.”64 the recognition that he liter-
ally owed the throne to Batu,65 and the existing balance of power, forced
the great Khan to admit that he was not the only ruler of the empire. “Just
as the sun spreads its rays in all directions, so my power and that of Baatu
are spread to every quarter.”66 although this contradicted the policy of
centralisation which he otherwise promoted quite consistently,67 Möngke
defined the modus vivendi in the following formula: “there are two eyes
in one head, and yet in spite of being two they have only one sight, and
where one turns its glance so does the other.”68
this political agreement also of course resolved the explosive issue of
spheres of influence, which had caused such serious problems between
sarai and Qara Qorum in previous years.
the sources do not permit a totally accurate reconstruction of this divi-
sion. one important indication, however, is the scale of Batu’s claims in
the agreement of condominium with Möngke: he reckoned that between
one-fifth and one-third of the total revenue from iran was due to him, with
the rest to be shared between the Qara Qorum treasury and the troops.69
the transcaucasian territories of azerbaijan and arran could not but
form part of these negotiations, and the outcome saw them jointly admin-
istered and taxed, so that in 1254 we find imperial agents working side by
63 cf. grousset, Empire, p. 339; spuler, Horde, pp. 28–29; and in particular allsen, Impe-
rialism, pp. 30–34 (chapter ‘the purge of the opposition’) which concludes that “there is
no doubt that the ranks of Ögödeids and chaghadaids were thinned substantially” (p. 34);
see also pp. 52–53 for discussion of the place of these two ulus under Möngke’s rule.
64 allsen, Imperialism, p. 54.
65 rubruck (wyngaert, Sinica Franciscana, i, p. 241): Mortuo ergo Keu [= güyük], Mangu
est electus de voluntate Baatu; the armenian chronicler Kirakos of gandzak (dulaurier,
“Mongols,” 11, 1858, p. 464) takes the same view of the khan of the golden horde, saying
that he “was called the king’s father.”
66 rubruck/Jackson, p. 180.
67 see more in allsen, Imperialism, pp. 45–76 (chapter ‘the politics of centralization’)
and pp. 77–115 (chapter ‘the tools of centralization’).
68 rubruck/Jackson, p. 238.
69 ayalon, “Yasa,” 34, 1971, p. 174.