Studies in the Career of Chinggis Qan
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1 Studies in the Career of Chinggis Qan Chih-Shu Eva CHENG Doctor of Philosophy (1996) School of Oriental and African Studies University of London ProQuest Number: 10731733 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731733 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT At the turn of twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a Mongol chief, Temujin, best-known by his title Chinggis Qan, began his expansion and created a vast empire in north and central Asia. The conquest was completed in three stages: first the unification of Mongolia, second the submission of neighbouring nations, third an expedition to Central Asia. The history of his military conquests has been extensively studied by modem researchers, while the non-military factors which also contribute to his success have been given less attention. The background of Temujin’s success lacks clarity too, because of confusion in the available accounts. This thesis focus on two topics in the career of Temujin. The first three chapters in part one analyze the relationship between Temujin’s family and Toyoril, the ruler of the Turkic Kereit tribe, who was a crucial figure in Temujin’s rise to power. The essential reconstruction of the early history of the Kereit ruling family in this part presents also the background of Temujin’s triumph. Part Two studies Temujin’s strategy of expansion via his relationship with the other Turkic tribes, his Mongol kinsmen and the powerful Jurchen regime in the south. This examination consists of three chapters and it reveals that Temujin did not accomplish his career solely by the sword. Since these aspects have not been sufficiently investigated because of the confusion of the primary sources, a serious attempt has been made to clarify the situation. Three major sources have been carefully studied in their original languages, respectivelyMonggol-un nijucha tobchiyan in Mongolian, JamV al-tawarikh in Persian and Sheng-wu ch’ing-cheng-lu in Chinese. Through a careful comparison of all the relevant details, the career of Temiijin can be re-interpreted from a new perspective. 3 CONTENTS List of Appendixes 5 List of Abbreviations 5 List of Tables 5 Map 6 Introduction 7 Part One The History of the Kereit Tribe and its Impact on Mongol History Chapter One Kereit History up to the Defeat of Giir-Qan 19 I. The battles with the Tatars and between the Kereits 20 II. "Stinking livers" towards brothers 34 III. Expedition to Expel the Kereit Giir-Qan 49 Chapter Two The Second Dethronement of Toyoril 64 I. Preliminary work 65 II. The Kereit relationship with Temujin during the dethronement and the exile 69 (i) Connections between Toyoril’s second dethronement and the Battle of Thirteen Giire’en 70 (ii) Temujin as a hope for restoration 85 III. Dating of the dethronement 102 Chapter Three From Friend to Foe: A Change in the Temujin-Toyoril Relationship 119 I. Factors contributing to the restoration 120 II. Distrust in 1199-1200 123 III. Ambitions and Circumstances in 1202-1203 131 4 Part Two The Network of Expansion Chapter Four Aqa wa Ini: Genealogical Connections among the Mongols 151 I, The structure of Mongol genealogy 153 II. Advances and setbacks of Temujin’s expansion through the genealogical network 165 (i) Loss of kinsmen’s affection 165 (ii) Winning kinsmen’s affection by courtesy 171 (iii) Winning kinsmen’s recognition by the sword 187 Chapter Five Quda: In-laws’ Relationship beyond the Kinsmen 211 I. The definition of andaqudai 212 II. quda relationship in the steppe politics 217 III. Individuals in the in-laws’ relationship 235 Chapter Six The Interaction between the Steppe Tribes and Jurchen China 247 I. The Jurchen campaign against the steppe tribes 248 (i) The Jurchen attack upon the Tatars 248 (ii) The Jurchen campaign against the Mongol tribes along the frontier 258 II. ja yu t and quri 269 Conclusion 288 Bibliography 299 Appendixes 305 5 List of Appendixes Appendix I Arabic and Persian Transliteration used in this Thesis 306 Appendix II Cross Reference Table of Chinese Phonetic Symbols and Romanisation used in this Thesis 307 Appendix III Mongolian Transliteration used in this Thesis 309 Appendix IV Cross-references to a Recent Scholarly View of the Subjects which are Discussed in this Thesis 310 List of Abbreviations Chin. Chinese (language) CCL Sheng-wu ch ’ing-cheng lu CS Chin shih JT Jdmi * al-tawdrikh Mong. Mongolian (language) Pers. Persian (language) PFEH Papers on the Far Eastern History SH Secret History of the Mongols TCKC Ta-chin-kuo chih YS Yiian shih List of Tables Table 1 The Mongol Genealogy 208 6 *2? ft - . ' ■? ! I' i f M z i M ' rcA rcA % O'ro O O i i oo m d. c. c? •5 8 „ # ? - t < ^ - 1 3 § -m C o <j >> V *§*¥—■ s o -3 s: c cac I_E Urn ■3 <D <?• V* V £ ' f C SC O * * % ■ < 1 ? * $ % ? „ o i- i i» u *■ V - <£ V] x o < c j? *7 v. £> 55JD C o . ■ .5 <C / ^ V ^ * s C<3 3 £ * 3 <u - c \ £ Z ^ ■4—> Yv o« V r = u c JS o “X N ^ , o c . T3 c . a> -r<5^£l,J V~t». » „'. o CO X X V ®£ 35 X . %-j -to- as ^ ^ £ o u) > v. c « X) iziavHx 7 INTRODUCTION This thesis studies two important aspects of the career of Chinggis-Qan, or in his given name, Temujin. Academic researches in recent decades concerning the history of the Mongol empire, or the world affected by the Mongols in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, can be roughly classified into four categories. The majority of the researches focus on "regional history", such as the local histories of China, Persia and Russia (or just Rus) which were under Mongol rule. Some other researches adopt a biographical approach, and focus on eminent personalities in the royal family or individuals in the service of the Mongol court.1 A third approach looks into the interaction of miscellaneous cultures under Mongol rule. This type of research, like "East meets West", is more challenging because it requires the researchers to have a comprehensive knowledge of the tradition of at least two cultures, either the life styles of steppe or sedentary, or the heritage of the nations which were under attack.2 The last category is the never-ending textual criticism and comparisons which focus on obscure terms or copying errors in the sources.3 This is the basic task of making the sources "meaningful" and conveniently "available" to 1 This variety of research can be represented by the recent publication of In the Service o f the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yiian Period, ed. by Igor de Rachewiltz, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993. 2 Mentioning only Chinese-related studies, there are Morris Rossabi’s study o f the Muslims and Herbert Franke’s study of Tibetans in Mongol China (in China under Mongol Rule), Petech’s study of Tibetan relations with Sung China and with the Mongols, Thomas Allsen’s study o f the Uighurs and Mongol China, and Igor de Rachewiltz’s study o f the Turks who were in China under Mongol rule (in China among Equals). 3 Such as the works on Yuan shih by Louis Hambis (chapters CVII and CVIII) and Waltraut Abramowski (chapters II and III), on Sheng-wu ch’ing-cheng-lu by Paul Pelliot, on Meng-Ta pei-lu and Hei-Ta shih-liieh by Erich Haenisch and others, N C Munkuev for the former, volume two of JamV al-tawarfkh and Tarikh-i Jahan-Gusha by John Andrew Boyle, the whole translation of Jami1 al-tawarikh by Khetagurov and Smirnova, and many individual articles by Francis Cleaves, Nicholas Poppe, John Boyle, Gerhard Dorefer and et cetera, also plenty o f works by Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese researchers. 8 researchers or readers, especially since the sources of this study are written in several very different languages. Researchers also study "the" Mongol history, that is the development of the Mongol tribe, from these four approaches. Mongolian history has been compiled, dozens of biographies of Chinggis-Qan in different languages have been published, Mongolian society and culture during this period can be easily examined,4 and attempts have been made to explain the Mongolian terms (or the Turkic element in them) which appear in the sources.5 As for the history of the founder of the Mongol empire, Temujin, best- known by his title Chinggis-Qan, this is the most attractive topic during this period because of the importance of his career as well as the abundance of written records about his life. Temujin began his expansion in central Mongolia, and created a vast empire in north and central Asia. The conquest was completed in three stages: first the unification of Mongolia, second the submission of neighbouring nations, third an expedition to Central Asia. The history of his military conquests has been extensively studied, however, the non-military factors which also contributed to his success have been given less attention. The background of Temujin’s success lacks clarity too, because of confusion in the available accounts.