MONGOLS - the GOLDEN HORDE
The Mongol empire
was a feudal construct bequeathed by Chingis Khan to his sons and grandsons.
The divisions were called Ordu, which we have modified to "horde."
That term in English has come to mean a giant mass of people, with subsidiary
implications of ferocious rapacity, but the original word is an administrative
term meaning "capital city". Chingis' son Juji got an appanage in
Turkestan. His son, Batu, expanded the family territories westward
across south Russia and Ukraine.
The ordus were
denominated by colors. Juji's was "golden." Batu's, subsidiary
to Juji's, was "blue," and there were a few other smaller ones; white,
etc.
The Blue Horde
capital was located on the Volga, called Serai, Gulistan, or Ordu.
A later khan, Jani Beg, established a new capital upriver, called New Serai
(Serai al-Jadid), New Gulistan, etc.
The Blue Horde
had itself a succession war in the late 14th century that continued for
a couple of decades until the lands were invaded by the White Horde under
Toqtamish, a descendent of Juji's older brother, with the help of Tamerlane.
The reunited Golden Horde rampaged around, sacked Moscow (1382), etc.
But Toqtamish quarrelled with Tamerlane, who, as is said around here, whomped
him good, and twice. A period of anarchy ensued. Russia became
independent, the Crimea too, the Golden Horde disappeared. Time marched
on.
Golden Horde
coins used to be all locked up in the USSR and were very rare. Now
some of them are almost common. This is probably an anomalous situation,
the result of many decades of finds being dumped on the market. I
expect to see them become relatively scarce again "sometime."
GOLDEN
HORDE, Jani Beg, 1341-57, silver dirham,
A-2027, Gulistan, 752 AH (1351 AD), minor edge chips, cleaned VG
$21.00 sold 5/22/2008
Click image for enlargement.
GOLDEN
HORDE, Jani Beg, 1341-57, copper fals,
A-2030, MI-1527+, New Saray, 752 AH (1351 AD), flower, VF $25.00
sold
Click image for enlargement.
GOLDEN
HORDE, Toqtamish, 1378-95, silver dirham,
A-2048, New Saray, 782 AH (1380 AD),
part weak, choice VF $27.00
sold 11/12/2007
Click image for enlargement.
I
have a number of unpictured Golden Horde coins in stock. Look for
them here.
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Bob Reis
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