Mirza Tughai Bey, Tuhay Bey (; ; ; died June 1651), also spelled Togay Bey, was a notable military leader and politician of the

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

Biography

Toğay descended from the Arğıns - one of noble Crimean families, and his full name is ''Arğın Doğan Toğay bey'' (Arhyn Dohan Tohai bei). "

Bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

" is actually a title, which he received on becoming the chief of Or Qapı ( Perekop) ''

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

'', an important position in the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

, since the Isthmus of Perekop is the neck to

Crimean Peninsula Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...

and was crucial to its defense. Tuhay Bey became the bey of Or Qapı sometime between 1642 and 1644, an important position of the

who was in charge of Or Qapı fortress - the gateway to the peninsula. By 1644 he had enough authority for the Khan of Crimea to entrust to him leadership of the major Tatar expedition against Poland. However, Tuhay Bey's army was intercepted by the Polish army under hetman Koniecpolski before reaching the densely populated regions of Ukraine and defeated in the First Battle of Okhmativ. In 1648, he brought an army (estimated 6,000–20,000) to help

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...

during the Cossack uprising against the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. There he took part in several important battles and was eventually killed during the Battle of Berestechko.Serczyk, page 339 He was portrayed in the Polish novel and film '' With Fire and Sword''. In the film, he was played by Daniel Olbrychski. Henryk Sienkiewicz made a character in his third novel " Pan Wołodyjowski" - Tuhay Bey's son - Azja. He was played in the film " Colonel Wolodyjowski" from 1969 by Daniel Olbrychski. File:Matejko_Khmelnytsky_with_Tugay_Bey.jpg, An imagined painting of "

with Tuhay Bey at

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

", oil on canvas by

Jan Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Polish painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works include large scale ...

, 1885. File:Spotkanie z Tuhaj Bejem 2.jpg, Tugai Bey leads the Tatar cavalry.

References

Bibliography

* Podhorodecki, L. ''Chanat krymski i jego stosunki z Polską w 15-18 w''. Warsaw, 1987. * Serczyk, W.A. ''Na płonącej Ukrainie. Dzieje Kozaczyzny 1648-1651''. Warsaw, 1998. * Holobutsky, V. ''Zaporizhian Cossackdom''. "Vyshcha shkola". Kyiv, 1994. (http://litopys.org.ua/holob/hol.htm) 1651 deaths Crimean Tatar politicians People from the Crimean Khanate 17th-century soldiers 17th-century births {{Ukraine-bio-stub