Yamgurchei

(1) A Nogai murza (nobleman); prince of the Nogai from the late 15th to early 16th centuries. In January 1481, Yamgurchei took part in a raid on the headquarters of Akhmat, khan of the Great Horde. In 1489 he demanded that Ivan III Vasil’evich free the Kazan ruler Ali Khan. Yamgurchei subsequently became an ally of the Russian state.

(2) Khan of Astrakhan from 1547 to 1554. Yamgurchei was put in power by the Crimean khan. In 1551 he “humbly petitioned to enter the service” of Ivan IV Vasil’evich, but under pressure from the Crimean khan, Devlet-Girei, he adopted an anti-Russian position. As a result of a campaign by Russian troops in the summer of 1554, he was overthrown and replaced by Dervish Ali, a vassal of Ivan IV. Yamgurchei fled to Azov and, in the fall of 1554, led Crimean, Turkish, and Nogai forces in an unsuccessful campaign against Astrakhan.