Mongols
1206-1227 Genghis Khan Temujin, First Great Khan of the Mongols. His life and conquests.
He married (first) Börte Fujin of the Qonqirat tribe, daughter of Dei Noyan.
He married (?th) Qulan Khatun, daughter of Dayir-Usun, chief of the Uhaz-Merkit, who had been defeated by Genghis Khan.
He married Ibaqa Beki, sister of the Sorqoqtani Beki who married his son Tolui. After his death, she married Jürchedei of the Urat and moved to China. Once every year, however, she travelled to Karakorum to serve as Ögedei Khan's cupbearer at a special feast. It was at the feast of 1241 that Ögedei drank his last. For a time suspiscion of poisoning fell upon her, but so heavy had Ögedei's drinking been that it was obvious to all that the only poison he had received was the alcohol he had demanded.
1) Jochi Khan (son of Börte)
2) Chagatai Khan (son of Börte)
3) Ögedei Khan, Second Great Khan of the Mongols (son of Börte) (see below)
4) Tolui Khan (son of Börte). The youngest of Genghis' sons by Börte, he remained in his father's tent when the other sons were dispatched in various directions to conquer. At his father's death he was entrusted with maintaining the ancestral tent (and by extension the homeland of Mongolia).
When Great Khan Ögedei invaded the Jin Dynasty of northern China in 1230, Tolui was appointed a general, assigned 20,000 horsemen, and sent through Tibet as the west arm of a massive pincer movement. In 1231, he reached Tóngguān Pass, the western gateway to the heartland of northern China - and found his way blocked by 100,000 troops. Tolui turned back, coaxing the enemy troops into pursuing his. For three days and nights he fled, casting rain magic the whole time, with the enemy right behind him. On the fourth day, a blizzard arose. Tolui raided nearby villages and barricaded his forces within while the blizzard raged. When it finally died down a few days later, he stormed out and destroyed the weather-beaten Chinese troops.
He entered northern China and rendezvoused with Ögedei. Discovering that Ögedei was seriously ill, Tolui performed magical rites which transferred the sickness to himself and departed for Mongolia. A few days later, he died.
He married Sorqoqtani Beki and had issue.
a) Möngke Khan, Fourth Great Khan of the Mongols (son of Sorqoqtani) (see below)
b) Böchek, who took part in the great western campaign of 1234, participating in the conquest of the Crimea in 1238 and the siege of Golden-gated Kiev in 1240. He then led a Mongol army in Moldavia and the Carpathian mountains, with limited success.
5) Kölgen (son of Qulan), who was one of the main generals of Ögedei's 1230 campaign against the Jin Dynasty of northern China. In 1234 he joined the western expedition, participating in the conquest of the Mordvins and the lightening-fast conquest of Russia (1237-8).
1229-1241 Ögedei Khan, Second Great Khan of the Mongols, born 1186. Long the favoured son of his father, he was appointed heir during his father's final illness. For two years after the Khan's death, his four sons ruled their portions of the empire separately. This eventually became unsatisfactory and all the brothers gathered at a magnificent Quriltai, at which Ögedei was chosen to be the new Great Khan and forty women and horses were sacrificed in honour of Genghis Khan. The first new campaigns were launched in 1230: Chormaghan Noyan, Kökedei, and Subutai were sent west with 30,000 horsemen against the Khwarazm Shahs of Persia. They progressed rapidly, raiding as far as Iraq, appeared to depart and then returned catching the Shah unawares and ravaging his forces. The Shah sent word to his erstwhile enemies in the west begging for help - to no avail. Meanwhile, Ögedei Khan launched a campaign to finish off the Jin dynasty of Northern China. He commanded the main force and entrusted subsidiery forces to his brother Tolui and Kolgan. The former was sent through Tibet, defeated the Chinese at Tóngguān Pass and rendezvoused with Ögedei in time to save Ögedei from a near-fatal illness in 1231. The initial stages of the invasion complete, Ögedei returned home in 1233, leaving Tuqulqu Charbi in command. He was defeated and Ögedei forced to return with reinforcements, which finally defeated the Jin, once and for all.
With Jin defeated Ögedei called everyone back to Mongolia for a quriltai to discuss the next step in the conquest of the world. One group was sent south to attack the Song dynasty of southern China, commanded by his son Köchü, who had limited success. Another group, commanded by Hoqatur, was sent to invade India and took Kashmir. A third group was sent west against Qipchaqs who lived on the steppe north of the Caspian and Black Seas. This campaign had long been assigned to Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, but he had long refused to go and was now dead. Ögedei considered commanding this expedition personally, but ended up assigning it to the princes Möngke son of Tolui, Batu son of Jochi, and his own son Güyük, who were accompanied by several of their siblings and the master-general Subutai. The campaign proved incredibly successful: having set out in 1234, it reached the Ural River in 1236 and scattered in several directions. Subutai ravaged Volga Bulgaria, while Möngke moved along the Volga River mopping up the Qipchaqs and pursuing their leader Bachmari, who hid on an island in the Volga. A sudden storm whiped the river low, allowing the Mongols to cross. In 1237, the Mongols conquered the Mordvins (relatives of the Hungarians and the Finns, west of the Volga). Towards the end of the year, the Mongols descended upon the various princely states of Russia. City after city fell, sometimes in less than a week. Northern Russia was conquered by the middle of 1238, and the Mongols turned south, defeating the Circassians and Qipchaqs who lived on the north shore of the Black Sea. In 1239 the Mongols mopped up in the north Caucusus and finally in 1240 they fell upon the chief of the Russian cities, Golden-gated Kiev, captured and destroyed it in nine days. The Mongol hordes bore down on Europe itself - armies entered Poland and Hungary, eliminating the armed forces of both kingdoms. Germany, Italy, and Byzantium were next. And then a letter arrived from Mongolia...
While the Mongol hordes had been sweeping west, Ögedei had remained in Mongolia. He built a great yurt at Karakorum, called Wànān-gōng "Palace of Myriad Tranquilities." Five hundred wagonloads of food and drink arrived everyday and the gold and silver utensils of the palace were things of ever more fantastic legend. Those who paid him court found his generosity and beneficence to be spectacular beyond belief. In addition to Karakorum, Ögedei also had summer, winter, and autumn quarters built, no less magnificent. And he hunted, and hawked, and feasted, and drank, and drank. The court's best efforts to reduce his drinking came to nothing. So, the inevitable occurred and in 1241 the undefeated and undefeatable Mongols in Europe learnt that their Great Khan had been defeated by drink and turned homewards to elect a new Khan. The process would be long, drawn-out, and so highly divisive that the Mongols would never be in a position to threaten Europe again.
He married (first) Boraqchin.
He married (second) Töregene Khatun of the Uhaz-Merkit tribe, possibly the former wife of Dayir-Usun, chief of Uhaz-Merkit, who had been defeated by Genghis Khan. After Ögedei's death, she ruled on her own for some time (see below).
He married (third) Möge Khatun, who was his favourite wife.
He married (fourth) Erkine.
He took as a concubine upwards of sixty women.
1) Güyük Khan, Third Great Khan of the Mongols (son of Töregene) (see below)
2) Kötun (son of Töregene), he was given the former territory of Western Xia (modern Gansu, China and surrounds) as a feif and ruled it loyally.
a) Möngetü
b) Küyen
i) Yesü-Buqa
c) Jibik-Temür
d-e) Two sons
3) Köchü (son of Töregene). An intelligent and promising youth, he was his father's favoured heir and was sent to attack the Song dynasty of southern China in 1236. Making his way through Tibet with Qu Huqu, he captured the Song territory north of the Yangtze River in Hubei. The River itself continued to be an insurmountable barrier for the Mongol forces. He predeceased his father.
a) Shiremün, who succeeded his father as Ögedei Khan's heir. However, after Ögedei's death, he did not succeed and became increasingly embittered. He was involved in treasonous plots against Möngke, the Fourth Great Khan, and was executed by drowning in 1257.
b) Boladchi
c) Söse
4) Qaradchar
a) Totaq
5) Qashi (son of Töregene). A heavy drinker, he died in his father's lifetime and Western Xia, after which he was named was renamed "Tangut" as a result.
He married Sebkine of the Berkin people.
a) Qaidu. Born c.1235, he served in turn the Great Khans Genghis, Ögedei, and Möngke. After the latter's death, he followed the rebel Ariq Böke until he surrendered to the Great Khan Qubilai in 1264. Many of Ariq Böke's followers were executed, so Qaidu refused to come to Qubilai's court. He took up leadership of the remaining rebels, claiming the title of Great Khan for himself. A cousin, Baraq, was sent to deal with him in 1268, but joined him instead. His rebellion continued for a long time, centred on Xinjiang and Central Asia, effectively blocking the Great Khan from directly interfering in the western portions of the empire, which drifted into independence as a result. He was finally defeated and killed in 1301, but his rebellion did not immediately die with him.
He married Dorbejin and others.
i) Chapar. He succeeded his father as leader of the rebellion, but his sister Tökme quarreled with him and supported his brother Orus to be leader of the rebellion, which quickly splintered.
ii) Yangichar. He fought against his cousin Bayan on behalf of his father.
iii) Orus (son of Dorbejin). After the death of Qaidu, the heir Chapar argued with his sister and she supported Orus instead. Orus quickly gathered a following and warred with Chapar.
iv) Örüg-Temür.
v) Töden
vi) Shāh ###Changtai###
vii) Il-Buyun
viii) 'Umar Khwaja
ix) Nariqi
x) Qahawur
xi) Quril
xii) Sorqa-Buqa
xiii) Ekü-Buqa
xiv) Tai Bakhshi, who had many sons.
xv) Sarban. He set himself up in the mountainous Badakhshan (northeastern Afghanistan) and from there raided into the territory of the Il-Khanate, for many years. In 1302 he was attacked by the Il-Khans and driven into the mountains where he froze to death.
i) Qutulun Chaghan. She was the favourite child of Qaidu, who raised her to ride, hunt, and fight like a man. Rumour claimed that their relationship was incestuous and that Qaidu had tried to appoint her as his heir. After her father's death, Chapar treated her with great disrespect, telling her to get out of politics and stick to womanly pursuits. She therefore raised Orus up as a rival successor to Qaidu, splitting the rebellion in two. Then she took up residence in the Shonqurliq Mountains (exact location uncertain), guarding her father's burial place
She married Abtaqul and had three sons.
ii) Qortichin Chagan, who married Tübshin of the Olqunut, son of Tarai Küregen who had married a daughter of Subedei (the brother of Hülegu). Tübshin made plans to flee with his beloved slavegirl and join the Great Khan. This plan was discovered by Qaidu and he was executed.
6) Qadan Oghul (son of Erkine). He was brought up in the court of Chagatai and later joined the court of the Great Khan Qubilai. In 1234 he joined the great western expedition, participating in the conquest of the Mordvins (1237), the lightening-fast conquest of Russia (1237-8), the Circassians (1238), the Ossetians and Alans (1239) and the nine day siege of Golden-gated Kiev (1240). Qadan then led forces into Transylvania, pursued the Hungarian king Bela IV into Croatia and made it all the way to the Adriatic - the furthest west Mongol hooves ever trod. Later, he commanded an expedition against the troublesome rebel Arïq Böke, in which he was victorious.
a) Durchi
i) Söse
ii) Eshebe
b) Qipchaq, who supported the rebel Qaidu (his cousin) and persuaded the general Baraq, who had been sent by the Great Khan to destroy the rebellion, to join the rebellion instead.
i) Quril
c) Qadan-Ebük
i) Lāhūrī, named after the city of Lahore in northern India, right on the very edge of the Mongol domains
ii) Mubārak-Shāh
d or f) Yebe, who also supported the rebel Qaidu.
i) Örüg-Temür. He was dispatched by Qaidu to govern Khorasan (northeastern Iran), where he married a daughter of the Il-Khan supporter Nauruz, for which Qaidu executed him.
(1) Kuresbe, who along with some of his brothers joined his cousin Sarban in raiding the Il-Khanate from Badakhshan.
(2) Tuqluq-Buqa
(3) Qutluq-Khwaja
(4) Tuqluq-Temür
(5) Abachi
(6) Küch Temür
(7) Chin-Temür
(8) Chin-Bolad
(9) Arghun
(10) Muhammad
(11) 'Ali
ii) Esen-Temür
(1) 'Ali-Khwaja
e) Yesüder
g) Ajïqï. According to some records he was the father of Orug-Temur, not Yebe.
7) Melik (son of a concubine). He was raised by Danishimand Hajib in the court of Ogedei.
a) Tuman
b) Toqan Buqa
c) Toqanchar
d) Toqan
e) Turchan
f) Qutluq-Toqmïsh
1241-1246 Töregene Khatun, Regent of the Mongols.
1246-1248 Güyük Khan, Third Great Khan of the Mongols. During his father's reign he was assigned the territory of Xinjiang, northwest China, as his fief. But in 1234 he joined the great western expedition, participating in the conquest of the Mordvins (1237), the lightening-fast conquest of Russia (1237-8), and the territories of the Ossetians & Alans in the northern Caucasus, before heading home in 1241 when news came of the death of Ögedei Khan. He was very sickly, but nevertheless he was eventually appointed as his father's successor. Predictably, he did not live long.
He married Oghul-Qaimish Khatun of the Merkit.
He took a concubine.
1) Khwaja Oghul (son of Oghul-Qaimish)
2) Naqu (son of Oghul-Qaimish)
a) Chabat. When his cousin Baraq attacked the Il-Khan of Persia, Abaqa (r.1265-1282), Chabat was sent to help Baraq. The two quarrelled, however, and Chabat refused to fight. At Bukhara he was confronted by Baraq's son and fled into the wilderness with nine companions, where he died of illness.
3) Hoqu (son of the concubine)
a) Tökme
i) Tökme. He was among the supporters of the rebel Qaidu. At the latter's death, he argued with Qaidu's son and successor in rebellion, and supported a rival rebel, Orus, leading to a civil war amongst the rebels.
b-j) Nine sons