232 chapter four
appointed as the new ruler’s councillor 350 as a well-informed veteran
of dealings with europeans and the West,351 Qutlugh Bugha was charged
with a highly sensitive mission shortly after the battle of Kalka, when he
was put in charge of an embassy to the Lithuanians to tell them of the
victory and present his master’s hegemonic claims.352
the exceptional honours bestowed upon Qutlugh Bugha from the start
of his collaboration with the new khan led to the resolution of the vexed
crimean question. toqtamïsh had made the ‘outsider’ cherkez his rep-
resentative in the crimea before reaching an agreement with the local
dynastic potentates, but now removed him and gave his mandate to Ilyas,
son of Qutlugh Bugha, a move that contributed significantly to the general
pacification in the Golden horde during the winter of 1380/81.353 these
internal changes in the horde explain the existence of two identical trea-
ties with two different heads of the tartar delegation.
one of the most obscure features of the treaty of 1381 is toqtamïsh’s
motive in making so many concessions, when these infringed consider-
ably on rights traditionally held in the crimea by Qutlugh Bugha’s family,
recently back in favour with the khan.354 It is possible that the caffans
may have been holding Mamai hostage all winter until the horde’s place
in crimea was settled, then sacrificed this pawn only after the second
350 Qutlugh Bugha became inak sometime before 23rd february 1381, when he is
attested as such in the Genoese treaty.
351 he is first mentioned in high office in a treaty of 1387 as dominus Solcatensis et
brachii recti imperii Gazarie (Sacy, “pièces,” p. 62), but probably held the post from 1380,
given his early responsibilities for the new ruler (see following note).
352 the embassy is not precisely dated but must have set off shortly after the coro-
nation; the only reference is in the preamble to a document addressed to the King of
poland in 1393: “I, toqtamïsh, address Jagiełło [.. .] We sent you our envoys before now,
led by Qutlugh Bugha and Ḥasan, and you have sent us your envoys to perform submis-
sion” (Grekov, Yakubovskiy, Orda, p. 324). Ḥasan was the son of the former governor of
the crimea, ramazan, and led an embassy to egypt in 1384/5 (fedorov-Davïdov, Stroy, p.
135); he is another example of the ‘reconciled emir.’ at the time of the first tartar embassy,
Jagiełło was only Grand Duke of Lithuania, becoming King of poland in 1385 with the
union of Krewo between the polish and Lithuanian states.
353 the chronology is relative here; Mamai’s emirs must have defected after the battle
of Kalka, which is undated but certainly took place after the battle of Kulikovo, 8th Sep-
tember 1380, and probably after the Genoese treaty with cherkez, 27th November. the
emirs must have been reconciled to toqtamïsh before cherkez was removed in favour of
Ilyas at the khan’s orders; the unification drive in the state is also illustrated by the khan’s
monetary reform (fedorov-Davydov, Stroy, p. 151).
354 the implicit recognition of caffan autonomy affected the tartar lord of Solkhat,
but more immediately, so did the official concession of eighteen villages which had been
under his sway before 1380.