One of them even founded a monastery, and became a saint of the Russian Church! The Orthodox clergy were exempted from the poll-tax, and in the charters granted to them it was expressly declared that if any one committed blasphemy against the faith of the Russians he should be put to death.
Some time afterwards the Golden Horde was converted to Islam, but the Khans did not on that account change their policy.

They continued to favour the clergy, and their protection was long remembered.

Many generations later, when the property of the Church was threatened by the autocratic power, refractory ecclesiastics contrasted the policy of the Orthodox Sovereign with that of the "godless Tartars," much to the advantage of the latter.
At first there was and could be very little mutual confidence between the conquerors and the conquered.

The Princes anxiously looked for an opportunity of throwing off the galling yoke, and the people chafed under the exactions and cruelty of the tribute-collectors, whilst the Khans took precautions to prevent insurrection, and threatened to devastate the country if their authority was not respected.

But in the course of time this mutual distrust and hostility greatly lessened.