Alexander returned the peremptory reply, "We wish to follow the true doctrines of the church.

As for your doctrines, we have no desire either to adopt them or to know them." Alexander administered the government so much in accordance with the will of his haughty masters, that the khan gradually increased his dominion.

Bati, the Tartar chieftain, who was encamped with his army on the banks of the Volga and the Don, died in the year 1257, and his bloody sword, the only scepter of his power, passed into the hands of his brother Berki.

Alexander felt compelled to hasten to the Tartar camp, with expressions of homage to the new captain, and with rich presents to conciliate his favor.

Many of the Tartars had by this time embraced Christianity, and there were frequent intermarriages between the Russian nobles and princesses of the Tartar race.