ECHOES OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TOKHTA AND NOGAI IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

Research objectives: The article is dedicated to the analysis of the echoes and reflections of the war (1297–1300) between khan Tokhta and his older cousin Nogai in the Christian West. Besides providing the general overview of the conflict, its political background, the course of the military operations and its geographic setting, the text deals with the various European and Christian contemporary sources referring to the internal struggles in the Golden Horde. Although these sources provide only the fragmentary notices about the conflict, they offer the possibility to critically assess how the Christian contemporaries looked upon the turbulent events in the Pontic Steppes, and to what extent they were familiar with them. Research materials: Contemporary sources, mainly the texts written by the Byzantine historian George Pachymeres, Serbian archbishop Danilo II, Italian cleric Bartolomeo Fiadóni, his compatriot Franciscan John of Montecorvino, naturalized Frenchmen of Armenian origin Hayton (Het'um) of Corycos, as well as Venetian traveler Marco Polo. Results and novelty of the research: The analysis of the sources shows that they share some common traits and refer to the turbulent events in the Golden Horde in similar manner, despite the different backgrounds of their authors. On the basis of their reports it may be concluded that the кеy events and the course of the war, as well as its consequences, were well known in the Balkans, and to a slightly lesser extent in the western Europe. Moreover, they reveal that the rumors about these events reached the remotest parts of the Christian world.