Cherkes Beg Khan

Born: Unknown Died: c. 1374 Reigned: 1373 - 1374 Khanate: Golden Horde (Great Disorder) Title: Khan

Overview

Cherkes Beg Khan was a claimant to the Golden Horde throne who claimed to be a son of Jani Beg Khan — a claim that was almost certainly false and designed to associate himself with the last widely respected ruling line. He operated as a protégé of Hajji Cherkes of Astrakhan, the regional strongman who had earlier backed Uljay Timur Khan, continuing the pattern of Astrakhan-sponsored puppet khans that competed with Mamai's western faction throughout the Great Disorder.

The name Cherkes Beg, echoing his patron's name Hajji Cherkes, may reflect the close personal relationship between the two men or may simply be coincidental. What is clear is that Cherkes Beg's claim to Jani Beg's paternity was the basis of his legitimacy, providing him with a connection — however dubious — to the last stable period of Golden Horde governance.

His reign in 1373 to 1374 coincided with the period when Urus Khan was also making appearances at Sarai, and when Mamai's candidates were competing with multiple rivals simultaneously. In this crowded field, Cherkes Beg's tenure was necessarily brief and locally circumscribed to the territories under Hajji Cherkes's direct influence.

Rise to Power

Cherkes Beg was installed by Hajji Cherkes of Astrakhan as his Chinggisid figurehead, providing the same kind of nominal legitimacy that Mamai extracted from his own puppet khans. His false claim to Jani Beg's paternity gave him the necessary genealogical credentials.

Rule and Achievements

• Held nominal authority as khan within the territories controlled by Hajji Cherkes of Astrakhan
• His false genealogical claim illustrates the currency that connection to Jani Beg's name still carried even decades after his murder
• Was displaced within approximately a year as the factional competition continued

Legacy

Cherkes Beg Khan is a minor figure whose significance lies primarily in illustrating the reach and versatility of the puppet-khan phenomenon during the Great Disorder. That multiple regional strongmen — not only Mamai but also Hajji Cherkes of Astrakhan — were simultaneously operating their own Chinggisid figureheads demonstrates how completely the fiction of unified Golden Horde sovereignty had collapsed by the early 1370s. The throne was not merely contested; it had multiplied into several competing facsimiles, each serving a different patron's local ambitions.