The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire (42 page)

“Let us reward our female offspring”
Igor de Rachewiltz, trans.,
The Secret History of the Mongols
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2004), §§ 214–15. The sentence is repeated in both sections, but in order to make sense of the text, many translators and editors have omitted the duplication or filled in this section with words cut from other parts of the document.

“From age to age”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh:
Compendium of Chronicles
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998).

“Genghis Khan loved this one”
Ibid.

“a great luster”
François Pétis de la Croix,
The History of Gengizcan the Great
(Calcutta, 1816).

“There is a khan’s daughter”
Nicholas Poppe, trans.,
Tsongol Folklore: The Language and Collective Farm Poetry of the Buriat Mongols of the Selenga River
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1978).

A renegade Tatar
Igor de Rachewiltz, trans.,
The Secret History of the Mongols
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2004), § 214. His name was Qargil Sira or Khargil Shira; an alternate version of the story is found in Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh:
Compendium of Chronicles
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998).

baatuud
The heroes were known collectively as the
baatuud
.

“looked like so many white demons”
N. Elias and E. Denison Ross,
A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia: Being the Tarikhi-I-Rashidi of Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlát
(London: Curzon, 1895).

Several Chinese commentators
Peter Olbricht and Elisabeth Pinks,
Meng-Ta Pei-Lu und Hei-Ta Shih-Lüeh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die frühen Mongolen 1221 und 1237
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980).

“their eyes were so narrow” A History of the Moghuls
.

Queen Gurbesu Secret History, §
189.

“If one is concluding a marriage”
Paul Ratchnevsky,
Genghis Khan
(Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1991).

that his eldest daughter marry Ong Khan’s grandson Secret History, §
165.

“like dry horse dung in a skirt” Secret History, §
174.

“looks like a frog”
Franz von Erdmann,
Temudschin der Unerschütterliche: Nebst einer geographisch-ethnographischen Einleitung unter erfordelichen besondern Anmerkungen und Beilagen
(Leipzig: F. A. Brochkaus, 1862).

Genghis Khan killed him
Shir Muhammad Mirab Munis and Muhammad Riza Mirab Agahi,
Firdaws al-Iqbal: History of Khorezm
, translated by Yuri Bregel (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1999).

Hassan Secret History
, § 182.

“strength increased by Heaven and Earth”
Ibid., § 113.

Mother Earth
Comments of D. Bold-Erdene and B. Baljinnyam, quoted in
Chinggis Khaan
, edited by Enkhbaatar Naidansod (Ulaanbaatar: Ungut Hevlel, 2006).

“I did not say that you have a bad character”
Igor de Rachewiltz, trans.,
The Secret History of the Mongols
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2004), § 208.

Each wife would rule
Hidehiro Okada, “Mongol Chronicles and Chinggisid Genealogies,”
Journal of Asian and African Studies
27 (1984): 147.

He married three of his daughters
Franz von Erdmann,
Tmudschin der Unerschütterliche
(Leipzig: F. A. Brochkaus, 1862); Isaac Jacob Schmidt, “Die Volkstämme der Mongolien,”
Jahrbücher der Literature
, vol. 77 (Vienna: Carl Gerold, 1837).

Tumelun was the daughter; Temulun was the sister. 31
“These feasts seldom end”
François Pétis de la Croix,
The History of Gengizcan the Great
(Calcutta, 1816).

“How shall I watch you two enjoying each other in bed?”
Hidehiro Okada, “Outer Mongolia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,”
Journal of Asian and African Studies
5 (1972): 70.

Genghis Khan singled out only Boroghul Secret History
, § 214.

“If a two-shaft cart”
Ibid., § 177.

“The management of the man’s fortune”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh:
Compendium of Chronicles
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998).

pulling one cart Secret History, §§
186, 200.

“Whoever can keep a house in order”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

Ogodei summoned the wrestler
Ibid.

“The dragon who growls in the blue clouds”
Walther Heissig “A Contribution to the Knowledge of Eastmongolian Folkpoetry,”
Folklore Studies 9
(1950): 161.

“intercessors” Secret History, §
64.

Urug
also has the extended meaning of “seed,” since the Mongols considered seed as the womb of a plant.

“It happened … as wide as a lake” Secret History
, § 254.

“My wives, daughters-in-law, and daughters are as colorful”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

“After Genghis Khan had tested his sons”:
Ibid.

Genghis Khan accepted the Oirat
Igor de Rachewiltz,
The Secret History of the Mongols
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2004), § 239.

Checheyigen
was also recorded as Tsetseikhen.

“Because you are the daughter”
and related quotes to Checheyigen: George Qingzhi Zhao,
Marriage as Political Strategy and Cultural Expression: Mongolian Royal Marriages from World Empire to Yuan Dynasty
(New York: Peter Lang, 2008).

“queens as our shields” Secret History, §
64.

“You should be determined”
Zhao,
Marriage as Political Strategy
.

“Although many people can”
Ibid.

white felt rug
Hansgerd Göckenjan and James R. Sweeney,
Der Mongolensturm: Berichte von Augenzeugen und Zeitgenossen 1235–1250
(Graz, Austria: Verlag Styria, 1985).

The mother’s blood
Alena Oberfalzová,
Metaphors and Nomad
, translated by Derek Paton (Prague: Charles University, 2006).

pail of milk
Ibid.

“It seemed to me as though the sky”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh:
Compendium of Chronicles
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998).

“fifth son” Secret History, §
238.

a slave into a noble
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

“Whereas, by the Protection of Eternal Heaven”
Francis Woodman Cleaves, “The Sino-Mongolian Inscription of 1362 in Memory of Prince Hindu,”
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
12, no. ½ (June 1949): 31.

Her nation was her first husband
Zhao,
Marriage as Political Strategy
.

“The area has no rain or snow”
D. Sinor, Geng Shimin, and Y. I. Kychanov, “The Uighurs, Kyrgyz and the Tangut (Eighth to the
Thirteenth Century),” in
History of Civilizations of Central Asia
, vol. 4, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1999).

excavations have uncovered
Adam T. Kessler,
Empires Beyond the Great Wall: The Heritage of Genghis Khan
(Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1993).

Karluk
are also known as Qarlu-ut, Qarluq, and Karluqs.

“How can he be called Arlsan
Khan?” Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

Tolai
B. Baljinnyam,
Mongolchhuudin Buren Tuukhiin Tovchoon
, vol. 1 (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Admon, 2006).

killing of Ala-Qush
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh:
Compendium of Chronicles
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998).

Jingue
is also referred to as Zhenguo, Jinkhuu, or Jinkhui.

“He recognized no business but merrymaking”
Ata-Malik Juvaini,
Genghis Khan: The History of the World-Conqueror
, translated by J. Boyle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997).

“The demon of temptation”
Ibid.

Tokuchar
Ebülgâzî Bahadir Han,
The Shajrat Ul Atrak: Or, Genealogical Tree of the Turks and Tatars
, translated by William Miles (London: Wm. H. Allen, 1838).

“She left no trace”
Ghiyas ad-Din Muhammad Khwandamir,
Khwandamir Habibu’s Siyar: The Reign of the Mongol and the Turk
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1994).

“In the exaction of vengeance … rose gardens became furnaces”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan
.

“rhetorically ornate rhyming words”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

Genghis Khan then gave the precocious Boyaohe
Namio Egami, “Olon-Sume: The Remains of the Royal Capital of the Yuan-Period Ongut Tribe,”
Orient: The Reports of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan
30/31 (1995): 2.

“always obtain to wife”
Marco Polo,
The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition
, vol. 1, translated by Henry Yule (New York: Dover, 1993).

“My people of the Five Colors and Four Foreign Lands”
Charles Bawden, trans.,
The Mongol Chronicle Altan Tobŭi
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrossowitz, 1955), § 43.

“water in the desert” Altan Tobŭi, §
46.

“I leave you … one soul”
François Pétis de la Croix,
The History of Gengizcan the Great
(Calcutta, 1816).

His four dowager queens controlled the territory
Hidehiro Okada, “Mongol Chronicles and Chinggisid Genealogies,”
Journal of Asian and African Studies
27 (1984): 147.

“As the age declined”
Hidehiro Okada, “Dayan Khan as Yüan Emperor: The Political Legitimacy in 15th Century Mongolia,”
Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient 81
(1994): 51.

Oirat girls
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh:
Compendium of Chronicles
, translated by W. M. Thackson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Department of Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998). Rashid al-Din identifies the girls as Oirat, but Juvaini
(Genghis Khan: The History of the World-Conqueror
, translated by J. Boyle [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997]) leaves the name of the tribe blank. The
Secret History
(Igor de Rachewiltz, trans.,
The Secret History of the Mongols
[Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2004]) identifies them as belonging to Uncle Otchigen, but Ogodei would hardly have been seeking to marry the women of his own patrilineage.

“Because they had jeered at the Mongols”
Rashid al-Din,
The Successors of Genghis Khan
, translated by John Andrew Boyle (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971). 90
“star-like maidens”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan
.

yeke khatun
Igor de Rachewiltz, “Töregene’s Edict of 1240,”
Papers on Far Eastern History
23 (March 1981): 38–63.

“used to weep a great deal… Beki”
Rashid al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan
.

“became the sharer”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan
.

“And the wind has pitched”
Ibid.

“They put to death the youngest”
Rashid al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan
.

“had killed his father… were judged and killed”
Giovanni DiPlano Carpini,
The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars
, translated by Erik Hildinger (Boston: Branden, 1996), p.111.

why they killed her
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

khuriltai of 1229
Igor de Rachewiltz, trans.,
The Secret History of the Mongols
(Leiden, Netherlands, 2004), § 269.

“sent us to his mother”
Carpini,
Story of the Mongols
.

“wives had other tents”
Ibid.

“He took no part in affairs of state”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan,
.

“Khatun to join Ogodei… excess sensuality”
Abu-Umar-I-Usman,
Tabakat-I-Nasirir: A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia
, vol. 2, translated by H. G. Raverty (London: Gilbert & Rivington, 1881).

“And then they sent also for their ladies… they were put to death”
William Woodville Rockhill, trans.,
The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World, 1253–55 as Narrated by Himself (London:
Hakylut Society, 1900).

“The affairs of the world… they might flee”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan
.

“You are a woman”
Rashid al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan
.

“You cannot have peace…. We shall destroy you!”
Christopher Dawson,
The Mongol Mission: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
(New York: Sheed and Ward, 1955).

“As to affairs of war and peace … destroyed her whole family by her witchcraft”
Rockhill,
Journey of William of Rubruck
.

praised effusively:
Morris Rossabi,
Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times
(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988).

“amounted to little … pathway of righteousness”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan
.

increase the taxes
Thomas T. Allsen, “The Rise of the Mongolian Empire and Mongolian Rule in North China,” in
The Cambridge History of China
, vol. 6, edited by Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

“He sent messengers”
Rashid al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan
.

one of the ministers
Ibid.

Tanggis
George Qingzhi Zhao,
Marriage as Political Strategy and Cultural Expression
(New York: Peter Lang, 2008).

three hundred families
George Lane,
Early Mongol Rule in Thirteenth Century Iran: A Persian Renaissance
(New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003).

“ordered her limbs to be kicked”
Rashid al-Din,
Successors of Genghis Khan
; also recorded in Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

“he forthwith sent to his… the children he had of her”
Rockhill,
Journey of William of Rubruck
.

Menggeser Noyan
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh; see also Christopher P. Atwood,
Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire
(New York: Facts on File, 2004).

She claimed these lands
Hidehiro Okada, “The Chakhar Shrine of Eshi Khatun,” in
Aspects of Altaic Civilization III
, edited by
Denis Sinor (Bloomington: Indiana University Research Institute for Asian Studies, 1990).

“After sipping the unpalatable… Egypt and Syria”
Juvaini,
Genghis Khan
.

“They shall see what they shall see”
Rashid al-Din,
Rashiduddin Fazullah’s
Jami’u’t-Tawarikh.

“The women of your city”
Abu-Umar-I-Usman,
Tabakat-I-Nasirir
.

“to guard the northern frontiers”
Gombojab Hangin, “The Mongolian Titles Jinong and Sigejin,”
Journal of the American Oriental Society
100, no. 3 (1980); 259.

the black sulde
Charles Bawden, trans.,
The Mongol Chron icle Altan Tobŭi
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1955), § 85.