Batu Khan: conqueror of the Rus and founder of the Golden Horde

In Europe, Batu's own battlefield was Hungary: he led the main army that destroyed the host of King Béla IV at the Battle of Mohi on 11 April 1241. Two days earlier a northern wing of his invasion had beaten a Polish and German army at Legnica, but Batu himself was not there. Before Europe, his armies had stormed Ryazan, Vladimir and Kiev.²

What was Batu Khan famous for?

Batu Khan is famous for leading the Mongol conquest of the Rus principalities and the invasion of Poland and Hungary between 1236 and 1242. He then founded the Golden Horde, the Mongol state on the lower Volga, and as the senior prince of the house of Genghis Khan he decided who became Great Khan in 1251.³

Early life and inheritance

Batu was the son of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan. Jochi's paternity was questioned within the family: Rashid al-Din writes that the Merkit people carried off Genghis's wife Börte while she was pregnant with him, and in the Secret History of the Mongols his brother Chagatai calls Jochi "a bastard of the Merkits".⁴

When Genghis divided his empire, Jochi's share lay in the west. The Persian historian Juvaini describes it as reaching to Saqsin and Bulghar on the Volga "and as far in that direction as the hoof of Tartar horse had penetrated"; the Library of Congress country study places Batu's domain north and west of Lake Balkhash.⁵

Jochi died in 1227, the year Genghis Khan also died, and Batu succeeded him as head of the family although he was not the eldest son. Rashid al-Din records that Batu's elder brother Orda accepted him as ruler, and the friar Carpini, who crossed Orda's lands in 1246, noted that Orda was older than Batu.⁶

How did Batu Khan conquer the Rus?

Batu conquered the Rus principalities in two winter campaigns. In 1237 and 1238 his armies stormed Ryazan, Vladimir, Moscow and other cities of the northeast and turned back short of Novgorod. In late 1240 they crossed the Dnieper and took Kiev on 6 December. The Rus princes were left in place, ruling as vassals of the Mongols.⁷

The western campaign was decided at the kurultai, the assembly of princes, of 1235. The Secret History records Ögedei's decree that Batu should command all the princes who took part, with the veteran Subutai as the leading general. Among the princes were Ögedei's sons Güyük and Kadan, Tolui's son Möngke, Chagatai's grandson Büri and Batu's brother Orda.⁸

The army first destroyed the Volga Bulgars in 1236. In December 1237 it entered the principality of Ryazan and took the town of Ryazan on 21 December. Moscow was taken on the way to Vladimir, the seat of Grand Prince Yuri, which fell in February 1238, and Tver was also destroyed. The Mongols came within about 100 versts of Novgorod, but turned back before reaching it.⁹

During the campaign Batu quarreled with his cousins. In a report preserved in the Secret History he complained to Ögedei that at a victory feast Güyük and Büri had insulted him for drinking first as the eldest prince, then ridden off. Christopher Dawson calls it a bitter quarrel, and the Library of Congress study notes a dispute between Batu and other princes that delayed the campaign.¹⁰

In late 1240 the army crossed the Dnieper. Rashid al-Din names Batu and his brothers, with Kadan and Büri, as the princes who took Kiev, and the Museum of Polish History quotes the Galician chronicle on Batu arriving before the city in great strength. The Library of Congress study, Dawson and the museum date its fall to 6 December 1240.¹¹

Batu Khan's greatest victories

Batu's greatest victory was Mohi on 11 April 1241, where the main army that he led with Subutai defeated and destroyed the army of King Béla IV of Hungary by the Sajó River. Before that his armies had taken Ryazan, Vladimir and Kiev, and two days before Mohi a wing of his invasion won at Legnica in Poland.¹²

The northern wing that won at Legnica on 9 April 1241 was led, according to Rashid al-Din and to the friar C. de Bridia, quoted by the Museum of Polish History, by Batu's brother Orda; de Bridia gives him 10,000 men, and a second commander, Baidar, also operated in Poland. The Library of Congress study names Kaidu as the commander instead.¹³

Batu led the central force across the Carpathians in early April 1241. At Mohi, on the Sajó, the Hungarian army was routed on 11 April; Juvaini counts the battle among the greatest deeds and fiercest battles of the Mongols. Carpini later saw in Batu's camp large linen tents that had belonged to the King of Hungary.¹⁴

The Mongols then took Pest and held Hungary east of the Danube for the rest of 1241. King Béla escaped, and a Mongol force pursued him as far as the Dalmatian coast. In the winter of 1241 to 1242 the army crossed the frozen Danube into western Hungary.¹⁵

Why did the Mongols withdraw from Europe in 1242?

The traditional explanation is that news of the Great Khan Ögedei's death in December 1241 called the princes home to elect a successor. Batu, however, never went back to Mongolia. Ulf Büntgen and Nicola Di Cosmo argue that a cold, wet spring in 1242 left Hungary marshy and short of pasture and food, which helped drive the army out.¹⁶

The Library of Congress study also says the Mongols left Hungary for lack of pasture. The main army withdrew through Serbia and Bulgaria to the steppes of the lower Volga. Dawson adds the dissensions among the princes, Batu, Güyük and Büri, as a further cause of the withdrawal.¹⁷

Who really commanded the invasion, Batu or Subutai?

Batu held the command: the Secret History records Ögedei's decree that Batu should lead all the princes on the campaign. The planning and the direction of operations are credited to Subutai, a veteran of the earlier raid into southern Russia. The Library of Congress study calls Batu the nominal and Subutai the actual commander.¹⁸ › Mongol vs Knight

What was Batu Khan like?

The friars who met Batu describe a ruler who held court like an emperor. Carpini, in his camp in April 1246, found him kind to his own people but greatly feared by them, "most cruel in fight" and "very shrewd and extremely crafty in warfare", seated on a raised place with one of his wives, like a throne.¹⁹

William of Rubruck, sent by King Louis IX of France, reached Batu's camp on the Volga in the summer of 1253. It looked to him like a great city stretched out around Batu's dwelling, with people for three or four leagues. Batu sat on a long gilded couch with three steps, looked at the friars intently and smiled at Rubruck's sermon; his face, Rubruck noted, was red at the time. He sent the friar on to Möngke.²⁰

Juvaini praises Batu's generosity and says that he inclined to no single faith or creed. He also records that Batu built the town of Sarai by his camp on the Volga, which the Library of Congress study and the Encyclopedia of Ukraine confirm.²¹

How did Batu Khan make Möngke Great Khan?

After Ögedei's death Batu stayed on the Volga, and the election was delayed until 1246, when Ögedei's son Güyük became Great Khan. Güyük died in 1248 while Batu was moving to meet him. Batu, the senior prince, then declined the throne and backed Tolui's son Möngke, who was confirmed as Great Khan in 1251.²²

Carpini witnessed the assembly that raised Güyük in 1246. Relations between the two cousins had stayed bitter since the western campaign, and the Library of Congress study, which dates Güyük's death to 1249, says that civil war seemed imminent. Juvaini writes that Batu had set out to meet Güyük and halted when news of his death arrived.²³

As the senior prince, Rashid al-Din writes, Batu summoned the princes to a kurultai and declared that Möngke alone was fit to rule; the Library of Congress study says most princes had wanted Batu himself, but he declined and named Möngke. Büri, who had insulted Batu, was later handed over to him and put to death, as Rashid al-Din and William of Rubruck both record.²⁴

How did Batu Khan die?

Batu Khan died in 1255, the date given by the translator J. A. Boyle, the Encyclopedia of Ukraine and the Library of Congress study. Rashid al-Din dates his death at Sarai to 1252 to 1253 and gives his age as 48, but William of Rubruck met Batu alive in September 1254. None of these sources records how he died.²⁵

Möngke confirmed Batu's son Sartaq, reported to be a Christian, as his successor, but Sartaq died on his way home. His young successor Ulaghchi died soon after, and the throne passed to Batu's brother Berke, who, Rubruck noted, had become a Muslim.²⁶

What was the Golden Horde?

The Golden Horde was the Mongol state that Batu founded on the lower Volga in the early 1240s, with its capital at Sarai. The neighboring Rus principalities became its vassals, and Mongol overlordship of the Russian lands lasted into the late 15th century; the Library of Congress study gives 1480 as the end.²⁷

Rus princes now had to travel to the Mongol courts. Grand Prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, whom Carpini met at Güyük's court, died there in 1246. The Library of Congress studies describe the Horde's rule over the Rus lands as indirect, through the local princes and the khan's tax collectors.²⁸

The Horde was one of four states into which the Mongol Empire divided. The other three were the realm of Kublai Khan centered on China, the Ilkhanate in Persia and the khanate of Central Asia.²⁹

Meet the other great commanders of the Mongol Empire.