No European army at the time could have withstood the force of Asia, but the Mongols' commander,
Batu Khan, was summoned back to the Mongol capital at a critical moment to negotiate the succession among his relatives.
On 20 September 1246, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, the prince of Chernigov (Chernihiv), and his boyar Fedor were killed in the Horde by the order of
Batu Khan. This event made an impression on contemporaries and revererberated for centuries in the hagiographic Tale about the Murder of Mikhail, which insists that Mikhail was executed solely due to his defiant refusal to perform pagan rites required before a personal visit to the khan.
The authors explain that in the spring of 1241, when the first sentries of the dreaded Mongol forces appeared,
Batu Khan's forces conquered the northern part of the country.