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EI3 2017-4 I-Iv.Indd

EI3 2017-4 I-Iv.Indd

24 chinggis khn

Chinggis Khn first companions (nökörs, people who chose to join a leader in return for his protec- Chinggis (Genghis) Khn (c. 557– tion). These nökörs later became the elite of 624/1162–1227) was the founder of the the new . Temüjin also forged an Mongol empire, whose career and legacy alliance with Jamuqa, his sworn brother reshaped the mediaeval . (anda) and later arch-enemy, and subse- Most of our information about his life quently with his father’s anda, To’oril, later derives from the anonymous and partly known as Ong Khn, head of the influen- mythical Mongolian source known as The tial Kerayit tribe. Both were called to help secret history of the , compiled prob- him after the tribe kidnapped his ably soon after Chinggis Khn’s death. beloved Börte in about 1183–4. Temüjin This is supplemented by nonextant Mon- got back his (pregnant) wife and began to gol sources that were partially preserved in assert his authority over his clan and the Persian or Chinese works, mainly Rashd neighbouring Turco-Mongolian tribes, by al-Dn’s Jmi al-tawrkh (“Collection of forging alliances and discarding them after ”) and the anonymous Shengwu they had served his purpose. He gradually qingshenglu (“Records of the holy ”). made a name for himself as a successful, Born as Temüjin (lit., blacksmith) to ruthless, and generous leader. a minor chieftain in northeastern Mon- In the middle to late 1180s, Temüjin golia around 1162 (thus in the Chinese was enthroned as the khn of his tribe, sources and currently accepted; 1167 is and, during the succeeding decades, part also mentioned; Muslim sources usually of which he perhaps spent in Jin captiv- give the less plausible 549/1154; Rashd, ity, he gradually won over rival tribes, 1:231, trans. Thackston, 1:152), the future notably the in 1202, his former Chinggis Khn suffered hard times as a allies the Kerayits in 1203, the Naiman of youth. Growing up in times of politi- western in 1204, and his erst- cal crisis and tribal rivalries encouraged while rival Jamuqa in 1205. In 1206, an by the Jurchen Jin (1115–1234), assembly (quriltay) of all the tribes of Mon- the of twelfth-century Mon- golia proclaimed him Chinggis Khn, a golia that ruled northern China, he had new title meaning either the fierce ruler to fight his way to power. When Temüjin or the universal khn (de Rachewiltz, The turned nine, his father, Yesügei, arranged title inggis Qan/Qayan reconsidered). It his marriage to the daughter of the ruler took Chinggis Khn more time and effort of the Qonggirat tribe and delivered him to unite the tribes of the eastern steppe to his in-laws. On his way back, Yesügei than it took him to conquer half the known was poisoned by the Tatars, an enemy world. Soon after the quriltay, Chinggis tribe. Temüjin was called back to suc- Khn began to expand his rule. His first ceed his father, but Yesügei’s supporters, campaigns were motivated by revenge, mainly the Tayichi’ut clan, abandoned the elimination of potential rivals, and the him, leaving his family to its fate. By the acquisition of riches—far more than by time the teenaged Temüjin set out to any grand design for world conquest. His reclaim his Qonggirat bride, Börte, he first goal was China, then divided among had killed his elder half-brother, escaped three , the Tangut Xi Xia in from Tayichi’ut captivity, and secured his the northwest (centred in today’s Gansu chinggis khn 25

Map 1. The Campaigns of Chinggis Khn. province), the Jurchen Jin in acteristically benign conquest, incorporat- and northern China, and the native Chi- ing most of their troops into the Mongol nese in the south. Chinggis ranks. This conquest brought Chinggis Khn first raided the weaker Xi Xia in Khn face to face with the empire of 1205 and 1207, reducing it to a tribu- the Khwrazm Shh, then the strongest tary state in 1209. In 1211, he turned ruler in the eastern Islamic world. Ching- against the Jin, conquering its capital, in gis Khn first suggested peaceful coexis- present-day , in 1215; this time, tence to Muammad Khwrazm Shh (r. moving from raids to conquest, he left 596–617/1200–20), but, when the latter’s troops to handle the territory. Challenges representative murdered Chinggis Khn’s to his of the Mongol world ambassador and plundered his caravan then made Chinggis turn west. The forest in 616/1218, at Utrr (on the Jaxartes, tribes of northwestern Mongolia rebelled in present-day ), and the and were subdued in 1216. In the same Khwrazm Shh refused to punish him, year, generals were sent against a Naiman Chinggis Khn advanced into the Muslim prince who had usurped the Qara Khiy world. After careful planning, the Mongol throne in Central in 1211 and was troops crossed the Jaxartes in 617/1219 gradually imposing his authority over in three coordinated columns, attacking eastern . By that time, sev- Utrr, Khwrazm, and and eral eastern vassals of the Qara Khiy, continuing to the Khwrazmian capital, notably the Uighurs of (east Samarqand. Preferring not to confront ), who later played a major role Chinggis on the battlefield, the Khwrazm as cultural brokers for the Mongols, and Shh divided his troops into garrisons and the Muslim Qarluqs of Qayaliq (in south- he himself escaped northward. With the ern Kazakhstan) and Almaliq (in northern conquest of Samarqand, in Rab I 617/ Xinjiang) were already among Chinggis May–June 1220, nearly all of Transoxania Khn’s allies. In 615/1218, his generals was in Mongol hands less than a year after overran the Qara Khiy in an unchar- Chinggis’s forces crossed the Jaxartes. The 26 chinggis khn harsh and rapid “infidel” conquest was ever conquered by one person. In his accompanied by massacres and devasta- transformation from successful chieftain tion on an unprecedented scale and came to world conqueror, the invasion of the as a shock to the Muslim population of Muslim world was a turning point, not Central Asia and the Middle East (e.g., only because it greatly enlarged his terri- Ibn al-Athr, 12:358 ff.). Khursn was tory, troops, and riches, but also because next in line. As the Mongols met strong it exposed him to administrative traditions resistance and did not originally intend different from China’s and convinced to settle there, it was even more brutally him, and everyone else around him, that ravaged by Chinggis Khn’s son, (d. he was destined by Heaven to rule the 629/1232), and myriads of people were earth. In addition to his spectacular mili- massacred. While the restoration of Tran- tary success, Chinggis Khn also laid the soxania had already begun in Chinggis institutional foundations for an empire Khn’s day, Khursn remained in ruins that continued to expand for several gen- for decades. erations, up to the 670s/. One of his Chinggis Khn’s commanders and main achievements was the reorganisation S_ ubetei_ continued to pursue the Khwrazm of the army: he retained the traditional Shh, who died, in late 617/1220, on a Inner Asian decimal units (of ten, one small island in the , bereft hundred, one thousand, and ten thousand of his troops, his wealth, and his glory; men) but eliminated its connection to the the troops took the long way back to tribal system. Tribes, or their remnants, Mongolia, wreaking havoc in Russia in were divided among the different units, 620/1223. In 618/1221, Chinggis’ troops which were headed by Chinggis Khn’s defeated Jall al-Dn Khwrazm Shh (r. nökors, elected for their loyalty and skills. 617–28/1220–31), Muammad’s son and They replaced the former tribal elite and the only Muslim leader who actually chal- became a focus of loyalty and identifica- lenged the Mongols (on the Indus River), tion for their troops. This disciplined, pro- although Jall al-Dn himself did not die fessionally led, and mobile army was also until 628/1231. Chinggis Khn spent the armed with an ideology, according to which next years in Transoxania, where he met Heaven entrusted Chinggis Khn with the Daoist patriarch Changchun (d. 1227), the mission of world conquest, its blessing whom he had summoned from China to attested by his spectacular success. teach him the secret of longevity. In 1225 Chinggis Khn also created for his peo- Chinggis Khn returned to Mongolia and ple a legal system (called yasa in Turkic and attacked the Xi Xia, who had refused to jasaq in Mongolian), the exact form and send troops for the western campaign. contents of which are still debated. He also Chinggis Khn did not see the final sub- established a juridical system, which ben- jugation—and massacre—of the Tanguts, efitted from his earlier decision to adopt because he died in 624/1227, during the literacy (he chose the Uighur script for battle. He was buried with great pomp, writing the ). Other but the location of his tomb has been a institutions that he initiated, which were mystery ever since. later systematised by his heirs, such as the Chinggis Khn died ruling over the ter- postal system (Mongolian jam), affected ritory that extended from northern China future Muslim institutions. Chinggis Khn to the Caspian Sea, the largest territory borrowed administrators and administra- chinggis khn 27

Map 2. The Asia of Chinggis Khn and His Successors. tive techniques from the conquered states, Despite his tolerant attitude towards benefitting from the talents and experi- and in general, Chinggis ence of various ethnic groups, notably Khn’s violent invasion of the Muslim post-nomadic people such as Khitans, world, and especially the annihilation, in Uighurs, and Khwrazmians, but also 656/1258, of the Abbsid by Chinese, Iranians and others, including his grandson, Hülegü (r. 654–63/1256– many Muslims. The combination of the 65), earned him the reputation of an arch- newly organised army, the unprecedented enemy of Islam. With the Islamisation of his devastation wrought on conquered lands, descendants—in in the late seventh/ and the Mongol willingness to learn from thirteenth century and in southern Russia others, were among the main reasons for and Central Asia in the early to middle Chinggis Khn’s success. Recently, cli- eighth/fourteenth century—however, mate change—an especially wet period in Chinggis Khn became also the revered Mongolia from 608/1211 to 627/1260— father and a source of political legitimacy has also been suggested as contributing of various Muslim dynasties in the Turco- to the unprecedented Mongol conquests Iranian world, the Chinggisids. The (Pederson et al.). Chinggisid principle according to which 28 chinggis khn only descendants of Chinggis Khn may 1342–4/1963–42, trans. H.G. Raverty, bear the title of khn remained in force in abaqt-i Nir, 2 vols., London 1881–99; Li Zhichang, Changchun xi you ji (“Account Central Asia until the twelfth/eighteenth of a journey to the West”), ed. Wang Guo- century, despite various manipulations, wei, in Wang Guowei yi shu, vol. 13, Shanghai and the yasa ascribed to him, as well as 1983, trans. Arthur Waley, The travels of an Mongol political culture and institutions, alchemist. The journey of the Taoist, Chang-chun, from China to the Hindukush at the summons of influenced the legal and political systems Chingiz , London 1931; Muammad of the , the Mughals, and even the Nasaw, Srat al-Suln Jall al-Dn Mankubirt, Ottomans. The history of Chinggis Khn ed. fi Amad amd, Cairo 1953; and his heirs became an integral part Igor de Rachewiltz (trans.), The secret his- tory of the Mongols. A Mongolian epic of Muslim historiography, and he was of the thirteenth century, vols. 1–2, Leiden recorded in various literary genres and 2004, vol. 3, Leiden 2013; Rashd al-Dn, in paintings. With the rise of nationalism Jmi al-tawrkh, ed. Bahman Karm (Teh- in the Muslim world, Chinggis Khn was ran 1338/1959), 1:213–434, trans. W.M. Thackston, Jami’u’t-tawarikh [sic] (Compen- again made an arch-enemy of Islam, as dium of chronicles) (Cambridge, MA 1998–9), he is still seen in Arab and Iranian lands. 1:113–240, 2:240–301; Song Lian, Yuanshi In and Central Asia, however, his (“The official history of the ”) achievements receive greater recognition; (Beijing 1976), chap. 1. in present-day Kazakhstan, he is even Studies considered the father of the nation. Thomas T. Allsen, The rise of the Mongolian empire and Mongolian rule in , in The Cambridge , vol. 6, Alien Bibliography regimes and border states, 907–1368, ed. Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett (Cambridge Sources 1994), 321–413; Michal Biran, Chinggis Khan, Anon., Shengwu qingzheng lu, ed. Wang Guo- Oxford 2007; J.A. Boyle, ingiz-Khn, EI2; wei, in Wang Guowei yi shu, vol. 13, Shang- David O. Morgan, engz Khan, EIr; David hai 1983, part 1 ed. and trans. Paul Pelliot O. Morgan, The Mongols, Oxford 20072; and Louis Hambis, in Histoire des campagnes Neil Pederson et al., Pluvials, droughts, the de Gengis Khan, Leiden 1951; Ibn al-Athr, Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia, al-Kmil f l-tarkh (Beirut 1966), 12:358–398, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences trans. in D.S. Richards, The chronicle of Ibn 111/12 (2014), 4375–9; Igor de Rachewiltz, al-Athr for the crusading period from al-Kmil f-’l- The title inggis Qan/Qayan reconsid- tarkh, pt. 3, The years 589–629/1193–1231. ered, in Walther Heissig and Klaus Sagas- The Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol men- ter (eds.), Gedanke und Wirkung. Festschrift zum ace (Aldershot, UK 2008), 202–30; Juwayn, 90. Geburstag von Nikolaus Poppe (Wiesbaden Tarkh-i jahn gush, ed. Mirza Muammad 1989), 281–98; Paul Ratchnevsky, inggis- Qazvn, 3 vols., Leiden and London 1912– Khan, sein Leben und Wirken, Wiesbaden 1983, 37, trans. J.A. Boyle, repr. . The trans. Thomas Nivison Haining, Genghis history of the world conqueror, Manchester 1997; Khan. His life and legacy, Oxford 1991. Minhj al-Dn Jzjn, abaqt-i Nir, ed. Abd al-ayy abb, 2 vols., Michal Biran

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