Ulu Mukhammed

Date of birth unknown; died 1445. Khan of the Golden Horde. Founder of the Kazan Khanate; a grandson of Tokhtamysh.

From 1419 to 1423, Ulu Mukhammed waged a persistent struggle for possession of the Uzbek Ulus. After suffering defeat, he fled in 1423 to Bulgaria on the Volga. In 1426 he recovered the throne of the Golden Horde with the help of the Grand Prince of Lithuania, Vitovt. After extending his power to the Crimea, Ulu Mukhammed established friendly relations with the Turkish sultan, Murad II. Because of internecine strife, he was forced in 1437 to flee to the city of Belev. In 1438 he relocated along the middle Volga with his horde and, after subjugating part of Bulgaria on the Volga, he founded the Kazan Khanate. He led a number of campaigns against Russian principalities—against Moscow in 1439 and against Murom, Riazan’, and Suzdal’ in 1444-45. In 1445 he took captive the Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasilii II.