Nur Devlet

Nur Devlet (Crimean Tatar: Nur Devlet, {{{2}}}‎‎, نور دولت), was a khan of the Crimean Khanate (1466–1467, 1467–1469 and 1475–1476) and the son of Hacı I Giray, the founder of Crimean Khanate.^[1]

Government in Crimea

First and second reigns (1466-1469): In August 1466 the first Crimean Khan Hacı I Giray died and Crimean beys elected his eldest son Nur Devlet. His younger brother Meñli I Giray revolted. Mengli was generally supported by the Crimean nobility and Nur Devlet by the Great Horde. Mengli became khan in 1467, but was quickly driven out and fled to the Genoese at Kaffa. In June 1468 a delegation of beys went to Kaffa and elected Mengli as khan. They and a Genoese detachment marched on the old capital of Chufut-Kale and in early 1469 Nur Devlet was driven out. He fled to the north Caucasus, was pursued and captured and imprisoned in the Genoese fortress of Sudak. (?^[2])

Third reign (1475-1478): ^[3] Following the Ottoman invasion of Crimea in 1475 Mengli was captured and imprisoned in Istanbul. The Turks were more interested in expelling the Genoese than ruling Crimea. Nur Devlet was released and became khan as a vassal and tributary of the Turks.

Eminek was a powerful Bey of the Shirin clan (eastern Crimea on the Kerch Peninsula). In 1476 his brother Hadzhike rebelled and fled to Akhmed Khan of the Great Horde. Akhmed sent an army under Janibeg (son of his brother Mahmud bin Küchük) which was driven out by Emenik. In the fall of 1476 the Sultan ordered Eminek to lead 10000 men against Moldavia where he was defeated. While he was away Janibeg invaded Crimea and made himself khan. In 1477 Nur Devlet expelled Janibeg and regained the throne. Eminek was displeased and wrote to the Sultan asking that Mengli be restored. In the spring of 1478 Mengli was released and returned with Turkish soldiers. He and Emenek drove out Nur Devlet who fled to Poland-Lithuanea. The Poles sent him to Kiev and in 1479 he entered Russian service.

Russian exile and government in Kasimov

After being expelled from the Crimean throne for the third time in 1476 he retired with his brother Hayder Giray in Lithuania and later in Russia towards 1480; this year his son was killed by a Ber Devlet tartar guilty Nur Devlet killed with his own hands. Shortly after Haydar was banished by the great prince in Vologda. Nur Devlet took part in the struggle against the Golden Horde and while the great prince faced Tatars Nur Devlet was fun and captured the capital; was likely to reward the great prince named khan Kasimov Daniya Khan when he died in 1486.

Murtaza Khan of the Golden Horde, sworn enemy of Meñli I Giray, wrote to him to form an alliance between the Great Horde, Kasimov and Moscow against the Crimean Khan, but the operation did not succeed. In 1490 the throne was given to his son Satylgan. He died in 1503 after a long illness.

References

Sources

• Alan W. Fisher, The Crimean Tatars, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford California, 1987 ISBN 0-81-796662-5, p. 9-11.
• Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Histoire de l'Empire ottoman, « Tome deuxième 1453-1494 », Bellizard, Barthès, Dufour, Lowell, Paris, 1886.

External links

• The Palace of the Crimean Khans