Ulugh Muhammad or Muhammad Khan (1405–1445; Chagatai, Volga Türki, and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: الغ محمد; Kypchak: محمد خان; written as Ulanus by orientalists) was a medieval

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

statesman, Gengisid, Khan of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

(before 1436), ruler of Crimea (1437), and the founder of the

Khanate of Kazan The Khanate of Kazan was a Tatar state that occupied the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, and parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan; ...

, which he ruled from 1438–1445. He was the son of the oglan Ichkile Hassan and the cousin of

Tokhtamysh Tokhtamysh ( Turki/ Kypchak and Persian: توقتمش; ; ; – 1406) was Khan of the Golden Horde from 1380 to 1395. He briefly succeeded in consolidating the Blue and White Hordes into a single polity. Tokhtamysh belonged to the House of Bo ...

. He received the nickname "Ulugh", meaning older or large, in contrast to Küchük Muhammad, meaning younger or small. Ulugh Muhammad was Khan of the

in 1419–1423, 1426, and 1428. In 1428–1432 he waged a stubborn struggle for possession of the Ulug Ulus with the representatives of a minor branch of the Tukaytimurids (one of the branches of the Gengisids). After being defeated, Ulugh Muhammad escaped to Volga Bulgaria vilayet in 1423. With the support of

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

, Ulugh Muhammad was able to regain the throne of the Golden Horde in 1426. He succeeded in spreading the power of the Horde to

Crimea 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 Ukrain ...

and established friendly relations with the Ottoman Sultan

Murad II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

. Ulugh Muhammad sent an embassy to Egypt in 1428–1429. In 1431 the son and grandson of the ruler of Moscow, Dmitriy Donskoy came to the court to Ulugh Muhammad in order to reach a decision about princely succession. Ulugh Muhammad ruled in favour of the grandson, Vasiliy II .

Family

Ulugh Muhammad was most likely the son of

Jalal ad-Din khan Jalal al-Din or Jalāl ad-Dīn ( Turki/ Kypchak and Persian: جلال الدین; Polish: ''Dżalal ad-Din''; 1380–1412) was Khan of the Golden Horde in 1411–1412. He was the son of Tokhtamysh, Khan of the Golden Horde until 1395, by Ṭa ...

and the grandson of

, although he may have been descended from Hassan Jefai, a relative of Tokhtamysh. Either way, he was a descendant of

Jochi Jochi (; ), also spelled Jüchi, was a prince of the early Mongol Empire. His life was marked by controversy over the circumstances of his birth and culminated in his estrangement from his family. He was nevertheless a prominent Military of the ...

and therefore of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

. Ulugh Muhammad's son Mustafa died fighting near Ryazan in 1444. His son Qasim Khan went to collect ransom after the battle of Suzdal, entered Russian service and in 1452 founded the Qasim Khanate. His son Mäxmüd of Kazan succeeded him.

Golden Horde

Ulugh Muhammad first came to power following the death of Yeremferden. His main competitor for control of the Horde was his cousinBosworth, Clifford Edmund, ''The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual'', p. 253. Edinburgh University Press, 2004. Dawlat Berdi, the son of Yeremferden. For much of his reign Ulugh Muhammad controlled Sarai, and was therefore seen as the most legitimate ruler within the Horde, although Sarai was captured by his rival after the Siege of Sarai in 1420 and held by him for two years. In 1422 Baraq Khan defeated both Ulugh Muhammad and Dawlat and drove them out of the country. While Dawlat remained in

, Ulugh Muhammad fled to the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and pled for assistance from

Vytautas the Great Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

. With this assistance, he was able to march on Baraq and recapture Sarai. After regaining control over the Khanate, Ulugh Muhammad marched on Crimea, where Dawlat Berdi had re-established himself following Baraq's defeat and death. After a series of indecisive skirmishes his invasion was cut short due to the death of Vytautas, which forced Ulugh Muhammad to concentrate his forces on Lithuania, where he supported

Sigismund Kęstutaitis Sigismund Kęstutaitis (, ; 136520 March 1440) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440. Sigismund was his baptismal name, while his pagan Lithuanian birth name is unknown. He was the son of Grand Duke Kęstutis and his wife Birutė. Aft ...

against

Švitrigaila Švitrigaila (before 1370 – 10 February 1452; sometimes spelled Svidrigiello) was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1430 to 1432. He spent most of his life in largely unsuccessful dynastic struggles against his cousins Vytautas and Sigismund K� ...

in the fight for the Lithuanian throne. Švitrigaila, in turn, supported Dawlat Berdi and later Sayid Ahmad I, as did Vasili II of Moscow.

Kazan

Ulugh Muhammad lost control of the Golden Horde in 1436 and fled to Crimea. He quarreled with the Crimeans, led a 3000-man army north and took the border town of Belyov. In 1437 Vasili II of Moscow sent a large army against Ulugh Muhammad under the command of

Dmitry Shemyaka Dmitriy Yurievich Shemyaka () (died 1453) was the second son of Yury of Zvenigorod by Anastasia of Smolensk and grandson of Dmitri Donskoi. His hereditary patrimony was the rich northern town Galich-Mersky. When his uncle prince Vasily I of ...

, but they were defeated at the Battle of Belyov. Ulugh Muhammad subsequently moved to Volga and in 1438 captured

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, separating it from the Golden Horde. In 1439 he raided Russia and burned

Kolomna Kolomna (, ) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Population: History Mentioned for the fir ...

and the outskirts of Moscow. Nothing is known of his life from 1439–1444, but in 1444–45 Ulugh Muhammad occupied

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

and marched on Murom. Vasili II counterattacked in 1445 but was defeated and captured at the Battle of Suzdal, only to be ransomed. Ulugh Muhammad died a few months later, possibly murdered by his son Mäxmüd.

Genealogy

Tuqa-Timur Tuqa-Temür (also ''Toqa-Temür'' and ''Toghai-Temür'', in the Perso-Arabic orthography of the sources rendered ''Tūqā-Tīmūr'' or ''Tūqāy-Tīmūr'') was the thirteenth and youngest or penultimate son of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan ...

*Urung-Timur *Saricha *Tulaq-Timur *Tuqa-Timur *Toq-Timur *Ali-Bek Tula-Timur *Hassan Toq-Timur *Ulugh Muhammad (1437–1446)

Children

* Mäxmüd of Kazan * Yakub * Yousuf * Mostafa * Qasim Khan

Family

Golden Horde

Kazan

Genealogy

Children

See also

References

Further reading