A Christian Khan of the Golden Horde? ‘Coktoganus’ and the geopolitics of the Golden Horde at the time of its Islamisation

• Main Author: Thomas Tanase
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2018-10-01
• Series: Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
• Subjects: Keywords : Franciscan missions; Franciscan sainthood; Mongols; Golden Horde; Golden Horde Islamisation; Black Sea Trade - 14th Century; Later Crusades
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/remmm/10685

Abstract: In the reign of Özbek Khan, the Franciscans kept the relics of an important individual in a church near the city of Saray. This individual, called Coktoganus, is occasionally referred to as a khan in historic sources, and the Franciscans considered him a saint, who had a reputation for working miracles. This contribution reconsiders the identity of Coktoganus, about whom sources are unclear and scholarly opinion is divided. Beyond the issue of Coktoganus’s identity, it uses Franciscan sources to reconstruct the events that followed Toqta’s demise, eventually resulting in victory of a Muslim khan, Özbek. It also discusses how the Franciscans were involved in the wider politics of the Golden Horde and touches upon their knowledge of the area and of Mongols attitudes. It suggests, on that basis, that there is no reason to think that Coktoganus’ conversion to Christianity would have been inauthentic, or that his cult by the Franciscans would have been based on a misunderstanding, as some scholars have suggested.