Tini Beg

He was born to Öz Beg Khan and his principal wife Taydula Khatun. He was appointed as governor of White Horde in c. 1328. Muslim sources such as Ibn Battuta claimed that he was the most favored son of Öz Beg and was designated his heir. He became the expected heir after his elder brother Timur Beg's death in 1330. The poet Qutb translated Nizami's "Khosrow and Shirin" for Tini Beg and his wife Malika Khatun. During his reign, Volhynia was lost to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Tini Beg was away, fighting against Chagatai raiders on the eastern border or White Horde of Jochid ulus, when his father Öz Beg died in 1341. Tini Beg's younger brother Jani Beg served as regent, aided by their mother Taydula Khatun. When Taydula heard that Tini Beg was on his way back to the court in 1342, fearing for Jani Beg, she incited the emirs to kill Tini Beg, at Saray-Jük. Jani Beg succeeded him as khan in 1342, when the kurultai elected him. Khiḍr Beg, a younger brother, was also killed on the orders of Jani Beg.

Legacy

Tini Beg was remembered as a more suitable man for the throne by Ibn Battuta. He was considered pro-Christian and received some letters from Pope Benedict XII, who encouraged him to convert to Christianity.

Marriage

He had at least two wives:

• Jamila Malika Khatun
• Anushirwan Khatun (m. 1330/1), daughter of Shaikh Ali Jalayir, brother of Hasan Buzurg

• He is played by the Russian actor Andrei Panin in the 2012 film The Horde

• Genghis Khan
• Jochi
• Batu Khan
• Toqoqan
• Mengu-Timur
• Togrilcha
• Uzbeg Khan
• Tini Beg