mongol expansion & eurasian commercial axes 53
side with Batu’s tax-gatherers under the direction of the seasoned admin-
istrator arghun aga.70 a chinese source says that Möngke gave georgia
as a reward to Batu’s brother Berke, who had supported his election as
great Khan at the qurultai of 1251.71 the agreement also confirmed the
ulus of Jochi’s long-established rights in the far east of iran, in Khorasan
and in central asia, where it seems that the original appanages were even
increased, for there are some indications that a share of the transoxiana
resources originally held by the chagadaids was reassigned to the cuman
steppe horde.72
however impressive these gains, they did not justify Batu’s boast to the
magnates of his entourage that although he had put Möngke on the throne,
he himself was “the true ruler.”73 the actual situation was clearly one of
power-sharing,74 so that the sarai khan’s words are baseless: judged by his
ambitions, they nevertheless ring true and reveal his grand political project
to become uncontested master of western asia—with Möngke’s help!
the privileges which Batu granted to the seljuks, the cilician armenians
and the syrians shortly after he occupied the cuman steppe show just how
far-reaching was the commercial policy of the golden horde under his
leadership.75 From the beginning, this policy was entirely congruent with
an energetic Machtpolitik. his hegemonic aspirations are unequivocally
shown in the obligation imposed on all vassals to stop at sarai on their
way to Qara Qorum.76 even more conclusive is his policy in asia Minor,
where the obvious goal was to make the seljuks strictly subordinate to
the ulus of Jochi. although the sultan had already submitted to the Mongols
70 he was restored to office after a period of disgrace which nearly cost him his head at
the beginning of Möngke’s reign (Juwaynī in spuler, History, p. 160); rubruck shows that
he was in office in 1256, alongside the military commander of the transcaucasia general
Baachu [= Baiju] and arghun: Alius est apud Taurinum [= tabriz] in Perside, qui est super
tributa, nomine Argon (wyngaert, Sinica Franciscana, i, p. 320); cf. Kirakos in dulaurier,
“Mongols,” 11, 1858, pp. 460–461, Jackson, “dissolution,” p. 220.
71 allsen, Imperialism, p. 59.
72 Jackson, “dissolution,” pp. 212–215.
73 Jūzjānī/raverty, ii, p. 1181.
74 even if, as rubruck (wyngaert, Sinica Franciscana, i, p. 253) observes, Batu’s subjects
were treated with more deference in Möngke’s territories than the great Khan’s men met
with in the Jochid horde.
75 see above, pp. 45–46 notes 34–36.
76 spuler, Horde, p. 28, comments on this abuse: “dass Batu die meisten ergebenheits-
besuche selbst entgegennahm, entsprach eigentlich nicht dem aufbau des mongolischen
reiches, der solche akte dem obersten herr, dem groß-Khan, vorbehielt.”