Urus Khan

The genealogy of Urus, according to the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, was as follows: Genghis Khan - Jochi - Toqa-Timur - Uz-Timur - Hoja - Badik - Urus. However, Munedjimbashi says he was a descendant of Orda Khan, the eldest son of Jochi and a brother of Tuqa-Timur. Howorth makes him the son of the previous khan of the White Horde, Chimtay, and thus a descendant of Orda.[1]

Urus is known to have had at least three sons, Qutlugh Buga, who died just a few months before Urus, Toqtaqiya, who succeeded him, and Timur-Malik, who succeeded the latter. He was also uncle to Tokhtamysh.

Urus Khan was a descendant of Jochi. His ancestor Tuka-Timur was one of the youngest sons of Jochi. In 1260, during the turmoil in the Jochi ulus, he printed coins on his behalf in Crimea. Later, his son Uran-Timur and grandson Achik were the rulers of Crimea.

The early years of Urus Khan are not recorded in the sources. In the 1350s, during the destruction of the Vyatka-Nokrat possession, Urus decided to move from the Volga region to the south-eastern part of the Jochi ulus. At this time, Urus was cossacking with a small group of his associates. In one of the military skirmishes, he killed a high-ranking nobleman Jir-Kutlu from the Kiyat clan. Jir-Kutlu was the de facto ruler of the eastern part of the Jochi ulus. The fact that Urus was able to defeat and kill him contributed to the fact that the authority of Urus began to grow, and after a while he was declared khan.

At this time, the son of Jir-Ktulu named Tengiz-Buka ruled in Sygnak. But his power was overthrown by Kara-Nogai. Kara-Nogai and his heirs ruled Sygnak and the surrounding territories until 137-1368. One of the heirs of Kara-Nogai named Mubarak-Khoja began to fight for the capital of the Jochi ulus, but he could not calculate his strength. After him, the ruler of Sighnaq was Kutluk-Khoja, the brother of Kara-Nogai. It was from him that Urus Khan was able to seize power. Urus-khan, who had strengthened by that time, was able to capture Sighnaq. And after some time he joined the struggle for the throne of the Jochi ulus. He began to pursue a policy of centralization, killed those vassals who refused to recognize his absolute power. One of these victims was Tui-Khodja, the father of the future Khan of Ulus Jochi - Tokhtamysh.

In the 1370s, Urus began to try to capture the Lower Volga region. First, he defeated a Shaybanid named Hadji-Cherkes. Then he fought against the Siberian Shaybanids, but this civil war did not reveal an absolute winner. At the same time, the son of Tui-khodja, Tokhtamysh was able to escape to Central Asia, where he received political and military support from Tamerlane. Having received an army from him, Tokhtamysh began to fight with Urus Khan, but was defeated in almost all battles. In one of the battles, the beloved son of Urus Khan, Kutluk-buk, died. Later, Tamerlane himself decided to march against Urus Khan, but the latter had died by that time.

Many modern historians identify Urus Khan with the legendary Alasha Khan, who, according to various sources, was called the first Kazakh khan and was considered the ancestor of all Kazakh khans and sultans. The mausoleum of Alash Khan is located in Ulytau, not far from the mausoleum of Jochi, but some historians say that Alasha Khan may be Genghis Khan himself

For the khans of the Kazakh Khanate, Urus Khan had a symbolic meaning. In addition to the fact that he was the great-grandfather of the first Kazakh khans Janibek and Kerei, neighboring countries called the Kazakh Khanate "Urus Tsarev Yurt" or "Urus Khanov Yurt". Thus, it was his medieval contemporaries who considered the first khan of this state.

• Genghis Khan
• Jochi
• Orda Khan
• Sartaqtay
• Köchü
• Bayan
• Sasibuqa
• Ilbasan
• Chimtay
• Urus

• List of Khans of the Golden Horde