Coins with the name of Amir Waqqas and the two reigns of Mahmud, khan of the Big Horde

Purpose. Until now, the history of the Golden Horde in the middle of the 15th century remains practically unexplored. The reason for this is the absence of the own chronicles of this state, as well as the extreme poverty of data on this period in the narrative sources of neighboring states and in the writings of later authors. In this regard, of great importance is the information gained from numismatic sources. Results. We reconstructed coin stamps and conducted analysis of the Mahmud Khan’s coins with the design close to the last coins of Muhammad, the son of Timur. According to our analysis, the Mahmud’s coins were first minted at the Waqqas-bik-bazari, then at the Bik-bazari, and they did not have the name of the amir on them. The reverse side of the coins of Abu’l-Khair Khan read «Minted in Seyyid-Waqqas-bik-bazari». Comparison of numismatic data and written sources makes it possible for us to state that the grandson of Idiku, Waqqas, the son of Nur ad-Din, was for some time the amir (beklaribek?) of Mahmud, the son of Kichi-Muhammad from Tuqatimurid branch of Juchid during his first reign, and then, having returned to the retinue of Abu’l-Khair Khan the Shibanid, helped him to seize the Supreme Throne of Golden Horde (Big Horde). After the lost battle, Mahmud fled to take refuge in the fortress of Mangyshlak, where he and his brother Ahmad took shelter for several years. Subsequently, Waqqas left Abu’l-Khair Khan again, to serve to another Tuqatimurid Mustafa Khan, but after the defeat of the latter by Abu’l-Khair Khan he returned again to the Shibanids leader. In the autumn of 850 AH, Waqqas took part in the conquest of the Syghnaq lands by the troops of Abu’l-Khair Khan. In 1455-1456 Mahmud, son of Kichi-Muhammad Khan, regained his authority in the Big Horde. During his second reign, Mahmud minted coins with a new pattern. Some types of such coins have the name of another grandson of Idiku Tin-Sufi, the son of Mansur, who, apparently, was the beklaribek of Mahmud Khan for some time. Conclusion. This research has helped us to restore the chronology of the struggle for the Supreme Throne between the representatives of the Big Horde and the Shibanids. According to the numismatic data available, we revealed the fact of two periods of reign of Mahmud Khan, the son of Timur Khan’s, son Muhammad Khan. We also decoded the stamp on the mints of the time of the First reign of Mahmud and Abu’l-Khair Khans and discovered the name of the mangyt bek Waqqas on some coins. The coins of Mahmud Khan, which were previously described by A. K. Markov in the Hermitage Inventory Catalog as Ukek’s coins, were actually minted in the Waqqas-bik-bazari.