A little-known episode of Czech-Horde relations in the 1270s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69567/3007-0236.2023.4.468.477Keywords:
King Přemysl Otakar II, Möngke Temür khan, Prince Danilo Romanovich, embassyAbstract
The subject of this article is the little-known and mysterious embassy of the Golden Horde khan Mengu-Timur to the Bohemian king Premysl II Otakar. Fragmentary references to this embassy are contained in a letter from Přemysl II Otakar to the Krakow prince Bolesław V the Shy, in which he asks for safe passage for the Tatar ambassadors returning to the Horde, accompanied by Bohemian ambassadors. This information is confirmed by the later Czech chronicle of Frantisek of Prague, in which the Golden Horde Khan is named as the initiator of the embassy. At the same time, military and political events in Eastern Europe indicate that the initiator of contacts with the khan was Přemysl II Otakar. He hoped to use Tatar military assistance against his enemy, the Roman king Rudolf I of Habsburg. The route of the Horde embassy to Bohemia apparently passed through Podolia to Galicia and Volyn, where it was apparently met by the people of Prince Lev Danilovich and escorted to the king. Taking into account the route along which the Horde ambassadors returned from Bohemia, through Krakow and Volyn, it is believed that the embassy was sent by Khan Mengu-Timur, and not by Nogai, who had become stronger at that time. The embassy is tentatively dated to the beginning of 1275 - mid-1276. There is no information about further connections of the Golden Horde with the Czech king. It is likely that they did not receive a sequel
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