At a glance
Era 6- Dates
- Died 1266 CE; ruled c. 1257-1266 CE
- Who
- Grandson of Genghis Khan and khan of the Golden Horde, the first Mongol ruler to accept Islam
- Era
- The Mongols & the Mamluks
ProfileBerke Khan
Berke was a grandson of Genghis Khan through his eldest son, Jochi. He showed an interest in Islam early, and in about 1251 or 1252, in Bukhara, the Sufi Shaykh Sayf al-Din Bakharzi taught him the faith and received his public declaration of Islam. Many of his family and generals followed him. A visiting friar heard in 1253 that he allowed no pork in his camp.
Around 1257 he became khan of the Golden Horde, which ruled the steppe north of the Black and Caspian Seas. When his cousin Hulagu sacked Baghdad and killed the caliph, Berke was angered, and by 1262 the two were at war. He allied with the Mamluk sultan Baibars, and their alliance kept Hulagu from avenging Ain Jalut.
He died in 1266. Not all his successors were Muslim, but from the time of Özbeg Khan in the 1310s every khan of the Golden Horde was.
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