Surqaghtani Beki (or simply Bekhi; Sorghaghtani was a Christian and a member of the Church of the East, a denomination often, though imprecisely, referred to in Western scholarship as “Nestorianism” As a leading political figure within the imperial establishment, she played a significant role in shaping policies that facilitated the expansion of trade networks and the promotion of intellectual and cultural exchange across Mongol territories, which together formed the largest contiguous land empire in world history. Sorghaghtani's father Jakha was killed by Jürchedei when the Keraites revolted against Genghis Khan after 1204.

Like most Mongol women of the time, Sorghaghtani wielded great authority at home. Mongol women had far more rights than in many other cultures at the time, especially since the men were often away and they were the ones responsible for the home.

Ögedei sought to link her realm to his and proposed marriage, which she declined; he then proposed that she marry his son Güyük (Mongol widows often married again within the family), but she refused, claiming that her four sons needed her attention. This decision later turned out to be one of the most important ones in the formation of the Mongol Empire, as all four of Sorghaghtani's sons (grandsons of Genghis) became important leaders in their own right.

When Sorghaghtani asked for part of Hebei as her appanage in 1236 after the end of the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty, Ögedei hesitated, but not for long. She shunned him into compliance by pointing out that the place was hers by right anyway because her husband had conquered it. However, Ögedei also expanded his appanage, seizing some territories of Tolui and taking most of Sorghaghtani's soldiers.

After Ögedei Khan died in 1241, his wife Töregene Khatun ruled as regent until 1246, when she managed to get her son Güyük elected as Khagan at a large kurultai. However, he immediately set out to undermine his mother's power as well as that of Sorghaghtani, Alaqai Beki (the Ongud ruler and daughter of Genghis Khan) and Ebuskun (the wife of Chagatai Khan, regent for the Central Asian Empire).

Meanwhile, the ambitious Sorghaghtani had secretly teamed up with Güyük's cousin Batu Khan, the senior male in the Borjigin and ruler of the Golden Horde (north of the Caspian Sea to Bulgaria). In 1248, when Güyük was setting out on a campaign to the Middle East (ostensibly for conquest, but possibly to defeat Batu Khan), he died under somewhat suspicious circumstances; some have speculated that Sorghaghtani may have taken "direct action against Güyük".

Children

Sorghaghtani bore Tolui at least four children. They included:

  • Möngke Khan: Great Khan (1251–1259) of the Mongol Empire.
  • Kublai Khan: Great Khan (1260–1294) of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan dynasty
  • Hulegu Khan: khan (1256–1264) of the Ilkhanate dynasty that ruled Persia, Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.
  • Ariq Böke, her fourth son, was also declared Great Khan (rivalling Kublai) for a short period in 1260; he fought Kublai in the Toluid Civil War and would eventually be captured by Kublai in 1264.

Legacy

In 1310, she was regarded as "Empress" in a ceremony that included a mass. Sorghaghtani was enshrined in a Christian church in Ganzhou in 1335, and sacrifices were ordered to be offered here. By 1480 a cult had been conducted for her memory at the orda that was kept by the Chahars. This ordo moved to Ordos City (in modern Inner Mongolia) in the 17th century.

She is spoken of very highly both in the Secret History, as well as by Muslim, Chinese and Christian historians.

Prester John

Sorghaghtani was the niece of the powerful Keraite leader of the Mongols, Ong Khan (often known simply as Toghrul). To Europeans, Toghrul was one of the distant Eastern rulers who was sometimes associated with the legend of "Prester John". During Mongol-European diplomacy, the Mongols sometimes played upon this perception by the Europeans, describing Mongol princesses such as Sorghaghtani and Doquz Khatun as being "daughters of Prester John".

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

  • Davis-Kimball, Jeannine. (2002) Warrior Women, An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, Inc. pp. 223–226.
  • Peter Jackson, Mongols and the West (Longman, 2005).
  • Igor de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (Stanford University Press, 1971).
  • Jack Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
  • Jack Weatherford The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire's Crown 2010