Again and again the people withdrew the consent they had given.

Better might Novgorod perish! But finally, when Alexander Nevski declared that he would go, that he would leave them to their fate, they yielded, and the Mongols came into a silent city, passing from house to house making lists of the inhabitants who must pay tribute.
Then the unhappy Prince went to prostrate himself before the Khan at Sarai.

But his heart had broken with his spirit.

He had saved his state, but the task had been too heavy for him.

He died from exhaustion on his journey home (1260).
On account of internal convulsions in the Great Tatar Empire, now united by Kublai-Khan, the fourth in succession from Genghis-Khan, the Golden-Horde had separated from the parent state, and its Khan was absolute ruler of Russia.