Nogai, or Noğay (Kypchak and Turki: نوغای; also spelled Nogay, Nogaj, Nohai, Nokhai, Noqai, Ngoche, Noche, Kara Nokhai, and Isa Nogai;G. V. Vernadsky, The Mongols and Rus died 1299/1300) was a general and kingmaker of the Golden Horde. His great-grandfather was Jochi, son of Genghis Khan.
Though he never formally ruled the Golden Horde himself, he was effectively the co-ruler of the state alongside whatever khan was in power at the time and had unrestricted control over the portions west of the Dnieper. At his height, Nogai was one of the most powerful men in Europe and widely thought of as the Horde's true head. The Russian chroniclers gave him the title of tsar, while the Franciscan missionaries in the Crimea spoke of him as a co-emperor.J. J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests, p. 162. Nogai was also a notable convert to Islam.
Name French historian Paul Pelliot wrote that Nokhai meant "dog". Although in the Mongolian language, "nokhoi" (in Mongolian script: , nokhai) literally means a "dog", it does not necessarily mean a particularly negative and insulting name in its context, since people were called "dogs" among the Mongols at the time and sometimes presently as "nokhduud" as in "you dogs (guys/men/people)". Genghis Khan also called his capable generals "dogs of war" or "men of war". This probably came about because Mongols had a lot of dogs, which were very useful for people's lives in hunting and alerting them to danger. Thus dogs became a big part of nomadic life and also played a big part in their religion. According to British historian J. J. Saunders, the name "Dog" was used to distract the attention of evil spirits (presumably, they would not be interested in a canine). The Mongols sometimes referred to the wolf as a "steppe dog".
Early life Nogai was born to Tatar (or Tutar), a son of Terval, who was a son of Jochi. He would rule his grandfather's appanage after his father died. After the Mongol invasion of Europe, Batu Khan left Nogai with a tumen (10,000 warriors) in modern-day Moldavia and Romania as a frontier guard. He was a nephew of Berke Khan as well as Batu Khan and Orda Khan, and under his uncle, he became a powerful and ambitious warlord. In his later years, Berke began to delegate more and more responsibility to his promising nephew Nogai, and Nogai's first command appears, along with Talabuga, under famous Mongol general Burundai, as a young sub-commander during the second major Mongol raid against Poland, undertaken to pay for Berke's war against Hulegu. Here Nogai distinguished himself and plundered Sandomierz, Kraków and other cities.C. P. Atwood Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p. 406
Nogai's father Tatar died when he was serving under Hulegu ( 1256–1265).
Rise to power Berke–Hulegu War
In 1262, a civil war broke out between the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate, with Berke and Hulegu supporting separate claimants for the title of khagan. Nogai Khan was given a high role in the army of the Golden Horde; Rashid Al-Din describes him as Berke's "commander-in-chief". He had a command of 30,000 men. He was first charged with raiding along the frontier into the territory of the Ilkhanate; Nogai made multiple reconnaissances in force into the Caucasus region, drawing Hulegu north with the bulk of his forces. He annihilated an advance guard under Shiramun, and raided as far as the Kur, but was himself repulsed near Shabran in December 1262, and forced to retreat.George Lane, Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth-Century Iran: A Persian Renaissance, p. 77Howorth, p. 115 Nogai then took on the task of repelling Hulegu's attempted invasion, as the latter was emboldened; Hulegu marched north with his army to invade Berke's territory, attempting to envelope Nogai's army at the Terek, but found only an abandoned camp. While Hulegu's men were looting the camp, Nogai's troops surprised Hulegu's at the Terek River, cutting down a great many of them in an ambush. Hulegu rallied his men and a day-long battle ensued; the fighting was fierce, but the Golden Horde's initial advantage was too great. The Ilkhanate army was routed and many thousands of them were drowned while trying to flee, and the survivors fled back into Azerbaijan. This victory greatly enhanced Nogai's reputation in the Horde, and he was already a trusted lieutenant of Berke.J. J Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests, p. 117.Howorth, p. 116
In August 1264, the war effectively ended when Kublai Khan was crowned khagan with the acknowledgement of Berke, Hulegu, and Chagatai. However the war was renewed between the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate in 1265. Nogai was given the task of leading an invasion of the Ilkhanate, now ruled by Hulegu's successor Abaqa Khan. He invaded Persia and plundered some areas before being met in battle by Abaqa on the Aksu. A fierce and severe battle ensued in which Nogai was personally injured (losing an eye) and his army was forced to retreat. Abaqa pursued Nogai's army across the Kur, hoping to wipe it out, but Abaqa was forced to withdraw when Berke arrived with reinforcements.Henry Hoyle Howorth (1876). History of the Mongols. p. 1012.
Invasion of Byzantine Thrace
According to J. J. Saunders, Nogai led 20,000 men across the Danube in 1265, where he routed the Byzantine forces before him and ravaged the cities of Thrace. However, Nicephorus Gregoras attributed the earlier raid to Mongol forces enlisted by the Bulgarian tsar, Konstantin Tikh, while Pachymeres described them as an autonomous Tatar band operating independently of the Golden Horde, suggesting the invasion was likely carried out by Bulgarian-allied mercenaries rather than by Nogai himself.
In 1266, Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, anxious to make an alliance, gave his illegitimate daughter, Euphrosyne Palaiologina, to Nogai as a wife. He gave much valuable fabric to the Golden Horde as tribute, and became an ally of the Horde, principally dealing with it through Nogai instead of the official khan.René Grousset The Empire of Steppes, page 399-400 He also gifted Nogai pearls, jewels, and valuable garments, temporarily causing Nogai to abandon the animal skins he usually wore outside of battle. Nogai did however slyly ask if the jewels and clothes could ward off lightning bolts, prevent headache, or promote good health, before praising the practicality of the dog skins his people wore.
De facto rule: 1266–1294
Berke died sometime in 1266. Despite his influence, Nogai did not try to seize rule of the Golden Horde, settling for serving under Mengu-Timur Khan. However, he managed to exercise de facto control, with near-total control over the lands west of the Dnieper. In addition to his Turkic subjects, he ruled the Ruthenians of Galicia–Volhynia, the Ossetians, and part of the Vlachs, directly. He also undertook his own foreign policy, sending envoys to the Mamluk Sultanate, forming marriage alliances with Byzantium and the Il-Khanate, and raiding various European kingdoms.Atwood, p. 406-407
Invasions of Bulgaria and Byzantium
In 1271 and 1274, Nogai led raids against Bulgaria and Byzantium. In the first raid, the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII avoided battle and offered his daughter as wife for Nogai.G. Pachymeres, De Michaele Paleologo VIII, tom. I., ed.Bonn, 1835 p. 348 In Bulgaria in 1277, an anti-Mongol uprising led by Ivaylo of Bulgaria gained the support of many soldiers and nobles and defeated a column of raiding Mongols. In response, in 1278–79 Nogai personally led a force that defeated Bulgarian rebel forces, raided the country, and besieged Ivaylo in Silistra, however he withdrew after three months. Ivaylo subsequently escaped the Mongol blockade and led a Bulgarian force to victory over Nogai's Byzantine allies at Devina. In 1280 Ivaylo began to lose support among his followers who wanted to stop wars with Byzantium, sections of the Bulgarian nobility, and Mongol raiding parties. The Bulgarian nobility subsequently elected George Terter I as emperor, which prompted Ivaylo to appeal to Nogai make him emperor again. Nogai at first received Ivaylo warmly, but at the following feast, in which Ivaylo and Ivan Asen III were seated to Nogai's sides, Nogai pointed at Ivaylo and said "He is an enemy of my father, the Emperor Michael VIII, and does not deserve to live." Ivaylo was executed on the spot by Nogai's guards."De Michaele et Andronico Paleologis by George Pachymeres" in GIBI, vol. X, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, p. 181-182 Nogai considered executing Ivan as well, the second pretender to the Bulgarian throne, but his wife Euphrosyne requested he spare Ivan, and Nogai relented. Ivan was allowed to flee to Anatolia.Fine, J. (1987). The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Page 198. Nogai made the new Bulgarian emperor George Terter his vassal. After George's flight to Constantinople, Nogai set his close associate Smilets on the Bulgarian throne, keeping Bulgaria a vassal of the Golden Horde.
In 1282, Nogai sent 4,000 Mongol soldiers to Constantinople, to help his father-in-law Emperor Michael suppress the rebels headed by John I Doukas of Thessaly. But Michael died and Andronikos II used the allied troops to fight against Serbia.
Invasion of Hungary
In the winter of 1285, Nogai and Talabuga invaded Hungary with Mongol and Cuman troops on two fronts with a considerable army. Nogai had been told of the perilous political situation in Hungary by fleeing Cuman warriors (King Ladislaus IV's nobles were practically rebelling against him, and Hungary had just been weakened by a Cuman rebellion they had recently defeated), and planned to capitalize on it by launching a vast campaign against the apparently weakened kingdom. The invasion plan was devised by Nogai, with two columns led by him and Talabuga. Talabuga's troops devastated Transylvania and raided as far as Pest, but the Hungarians' newly constructed fortification network gave them much trouble. The Mongol forces were unable to take any major stone castles or fortified cities and suffered from supply shortages, sallies by local Hungarian forces, and stiff resistance in any castle or town they assaulted. Eventually they were beaten by the Hungarian royal army under Ladislaus IV of Hungary near Pest, and the retreating Mongol forces were ambushed by the Székelys, losing much of their invading force.
Nogai was more successful than Talabuga, staying in Hungary into spring and retaining the bulk of his army, but still suffered several serious reverses at the hands of local Hungarian troops (primary Székelys, Saxons, and Vlachs). He also failed to capture any major fortifications, with the exception of the Saxon castle of Ban Mikod. Nogai's column never came into contact with the royal army, as his losses to the local Hungarian forces in the areas he operated in were sufficiently serious to convince him to retreat prematurely. His column was also ambushed by the Székelys on the return. Overall the campaign was a severe defeat for the Golden Horde and one of Nogai's biggest setbacks; there would be no major incursions into Hungary after it, only raiding along the frontier.
Ascension of Talabuga Upon returning from their disastrous campaign in Hungary to the Horde's heartland in 1287, they found Tuda-Mengu Khan sunk in religious torpor. Later in the year, he relinquished the throne to his nephew, Talabuga. Eager to prove himself as a capable ruler and not a puppet of Nogai, and probably wanting to make up for his part of the loss in Hungary, Talabuga immediately launched an invasion against the Ilkhanate, attempting to seize the disputed territory of Azerbaijan. He failed, discrediting him and playing into the hands of his rival Nogai, who was still respected despite his own defeats in Transylvania. Nogai would remain a powerful ruler during Talabuga's brief term as khan of the Golden Horde.Saunders. p. 162