Mehmed I Giray
| Mehmed I Giray | |
|---|---|
 Meñli I Giray (centre) with the eldest son, future khan Mehmed I Giray (left) and Ottoman sultan Bayezid II (right). | |
| Khan of the Tatar Crimean Khanate | |
| Reign | 1515–1523 |
| Predecessor | Meñli I Giray |
| Successor | Ğazı I Giray |
| Born | 30 November 1465 |
| Died | October 1523 Astrakhan |
| Spouse | Nurum Sultan Khatun |
| Issue | Ğazı I Giray İslâm I Giray ...see below |
| Dynasty | Giray dynasty |
| Father | Meñli I Giray |
| Religion | Islam |
Mehmed I Giray[n 1] (1465–1523, reigned 1515–1523) was khan of the Crimean Khanate. He was preceded by his father Meñli I Giray (r. 1478–1515) and followed by his son Ğazı I Giray (1523–1524). He gained control of the steppe nomads, put his brother on the throne of Kazan and was killed after taking Astrakhan.
As kalga
As his father's
As khan
When his father died in April 1515 Mehmed was at Perekop. The old khan's death was concealed for forty days until Mehmed reached the capital. (the reason for this is not given).
Akhmed's rebellion
He appointed as kalga his younger brother Akhmed the Lame. Akhmed was given Ochakov and raided Lithuania but soon revolted. He intrigued with Moscow and sent his eldest son Gemmet to Istanbul to request military aid against Mehmed. In the spring of 1519 Mehmed sent his sons Alp and Bakhadyr against Akhmed, who was killed in the steppe beyond Perekop. Bakhadyr became kalga. Alp became kalga in 1523 when Bakhadyr became khan of Astrakhan. (Howorth (1880), following Nikolay Karamzin (1818) speaks of intrigues and bribes involving Akhmed, Mehmed, Vasili III of Russia and Sigismund the Old of Poland).
Nogais
A major problem of his reign was gaining control of the Nogai nomads to the north who had become fragmented after the fall of the Golden Horde in 1502. In 1519 a Kazakh invasion drove many Nogais west of the Volga. They asked asylum in the Khan's territory. Two years later the Kazakh Khan died and the Nogais pushed back east, but their oath was not forgotten and the Crimean khan could claim sovereignty as far east as the Emba. Crimea continued to raid Lithuania and Russia.
Kazan and Moscow
In 1519 the Russians placed their protégé
Astrakhan
At the end of 1522 Mehmed decided to capture Astrakhan. The Nogai Mirzas Agish and Mamai joined him. In the spring of 1523 he arrived with a large army. The town was taken without fighting and Khan Hussein fled. Mehmed appointed his eldest son Kalga Bakhadyr as khan of Astrakhan and unwisely disbanded most of his army. Agish and Mamai grew fearful of Mehmet's increasing power. They lured him out of town and killed Mehmet and Bakhadyr along with their guards. The remaining Crimean troops were defeated or scattered across the steppe.
Mehmet's sons Gazi and Baba reached Crimea along with fifty Mirzas. They were followed by a Nogai army which ravaged much of Crimea but could not take the towns. Mehmed's son Ğazı I Giray (1523–24) became khan. For the next nine years the throne was contested between Mehmed's sons Gazi and Islam and his brothers Saadet and Sahib until his youngest brother Sahib I Giray (1532–1551) achieved a long reign.
Family
He was married to Nurum Sultan Khatun, daughter of Hasan Bey, of the Manghits. Mehmed had at least these children:
- Ğazı I Giray (1504–1524, ruled 1523–24);
- İslâm I Giray (ruled 1532, died 1537);
- Bakhadyr;
- Alp;
- Baba;
- Choban;
- Uzbeg;
- only known daughter is Aybige Hatun.
Notes
- ^ Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and Persian: محمد کرای
Sources
- Henry Hoyle Howorth, History of the Mongols, 1880, part 2, pp. 468–477
- Oleksa Gaivoronsky «Повелители двух материков», Kiev-Bakhchisarai, 2007, ISBN 978-966-96917-1-2, pages 119–145
- "Центр информации и документации крымских татар". cidct.org.ua. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
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