the golden horde and the black sea 239
this restoration of ‘good and true peace’ brought all provisions of the trea-
ties of 1380–1382 back into force, expressis verbis.382
as with previous concessions, there were external causes for the khan’s
new conciliatory approach. the first three treaties were politically linked
to toqtamïsh’s wars with Mamai and then with Dmitriy Donskoy, while
the fourth owed its existence to the khan’s rivalry with timur. this enmity
was nothing more than a revival of the old clash of interests between the
steppe tartars and their persian kinfolk over control of the Silk road.
toqtamïsh’s political strategy from 1383 clearly reveals the commercial
tendency of his plans, when he fixed his sights on the three great nodes
of east-West long-distance trade: urgench in Khwarezm, tabriz in azer-
baijan and caffa in the crimea.
the first open move which the khan made against his old patron and
protector was in 1379 when he retook Khwarezm, the ancient Golden
horde territory annexed in 1379: at this point, timur did not respond.383
the real bone of contention was still azerbaijan, with the wealth of
tabriz. this was an old dispute384 which had retreated into the back-
ground during the civil wars, and was reignited in the winter of 1385/6
when toqtamïsh’s troops comprehensively plundered the city.385 timur
was busy with the conquest of eastern persia and could not reach azer-
baijan before the tartars withdrew to the steppe. the following winter,
toqtamïsh attempted another invasion via Derbent, but the way down
from the pass was blocked by the timurid army, which won the battle
in the caucasus. timur’s forces took advantage of the same fortifications
with which the Ilkhanate had turned back countless tartar invasions in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, under toqtamïsh’s predecessors.
It seems that the brute facts of geography thus persuaded the khan
to change his basic strategy in bringing the fight to his enemy: following
this defeat, in the first half of 1387 he decided to launch a surprise attack
against timur’s central asian bases while timur himself was in persia.
382 Ibid., p. 63; Qutlugh Bugha further committed to issue good money in sufficient
amounts, as did his son Ilyas. for a comparative analysis of this treaty and that of 1381
(though 1380 and 1382 are not mentioned), see Balard, Romanie, I, pp. 458–461, who
observes that although caffa’s autonomy had been recognise de facto since 1380, it was
only officially proclaimed in the new city statutes of 1449, when the consul took over all
judicial powers previously held by the tudun.
383 Barthold, Turkestan, p. 851, identifies coins minted in toqtamïsh’s name in Khwar-
ezm in 1383.
384 See chapter 3.1.
385 Barthold, Turkestan, p. 851, Spuler, Horde, p. 129, Grekov, Yakubovskiy, Orda,
pp. 329–323.