Pages: 195-202

The article deals with the controversial question about the time interval required for the Rus princes to travel to the Golden Horde Khans’ capital. It is established that (by a widespread opinion among the researchers), allegedly, the road required up to three months to the destination point, and the whole trip lasted at least six months (excluding the residence time at the Khan’s court), finds no reliable support in the written accounts. Given the evidence of Western travelers to Mongolia in the mid-thirteenth century — Plano Carpini and Rubruk — the author concludes that a trip to the Horde would take about a month time each way. This much faster travel was ensured thanks to road networks developed by the Mongols, the best thing of their time.

Keywords: Rus, Golden Horde, Batu Khan, Daniel of Galicia, William de Rubruk, Mongol land communications.

Information about author:

Alexander Maiorov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Saint Petersburg State University. Universitetskaya Emb., 7/9, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]