Nogai Khan

Nogai (died 1299 or 1300) was a Mongol general and kingmaker of the Golden Horde, a great-grandson of Jochi. He first appears as a young commander raiding Poland. After Berke died in 1266 he never claimed the khanate, but ruled the lands west of the Dnieper almost as an independent lord; after his raids on Bulgaria and Byzantium, Emperor Michael VIII gave him his daughter as a wife.

In 1280 Bulgarian rebel Ivaylo sought his help, and Nogai had him killed at a feast; he then made George Terter and later Smilets vassal tsars. In 1290 he lured the khan Talabuga to a meeting, had him ambushed and strangled, and put the young Tokhta on the throne.

In 1299 or 1300 Tokhta's larger army beat him at Kahamlyk. Wounded by a Russian soldier, he asked to be taken to Tokhta and was killed, and his sons were hunted down.