THE TATAR CONQUEST IN THE BALKANS

The age of Tatar influence in the Balkans lasted for over a hundred years, from the great Tatar campaign in 1242 till J̌ānibek Khan's reign (1342–57) in the Golden Horde. Then, owing to the growing anarchy within the Golden Horde, which led to total political confusion after Berdibek Khan's death (1259), the Tatar state lost all its influence and interest in the Balkans. This hundred-year period can be divided into three phases, the first characterised by the ever-growing power of Nogay, lord of the westernmost territories of the Golden Horde. The end of this phase can be marked by the deaths of three rulers of the area: the Bulgarian tsar Konstantin Tikh in 1277, the khan of the Golden Horde Mengü-Temür in 1280, and the Byzantine emperor, founder of the Palaiologos dynasty, Michael VIII, in 1282. The change of power in these countries led to the second phase, a period of weakening and decay in Bulgaria and Byzantium, while the power of the Tatar chief Nogay rose to unprecedented heights, such that very briefly his son was even able to occupy the Bulgarian throne. The heyday of Tatar influence in the Balkans ended with the deaths of Nogay (1300) and his son Čeke (1301). The last phase of the now fading Tatar presence in the Balkans fell between 1302 and the middle of the fourteenth century.