Simply Chinggis by Timothy May

Author:Timothy May [May, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, History, Asia, Central Asia, Military, Strategy
ISBN: 9781943657636
Google: y3ESEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Simply Charly
Published: 2021-05-28T03:08:56+00:00

Chapter 6

Family Matters

As the saying goes, you can pick your friends, but you cannot pick your family. This chapter explores Chinggis Khan’s relationship with his family members in more depth. Chinggis Khan elevated his family to the status of royalty and installed safeguards to protect its status. At the same time, he also instituted a system of checks and balances to ensure that his family members could not challenge his authority, as it is apparent that he did not fully trust his family. At the same time, with the creation of the altan urugh or Golden Kin, as the Chinggisid family became known, a new royalty came into existence that influenced events in Eurasia for several hundred years. The last Chinggisid ruler, Muhammad Alim Khan of Bukhara, only vacated his throne in 1920 due to the rise of the Soviet Union. Additionally, the altan urugh provided a network to rule the empire whether through the sons and grandsons, the daughters, and even sons-in-law. The Mongol Empire was very much a family run business. While other institutions existed and contributed to the administration of the empire, the altan urugh was unquestionably the primary means of governance. Although Chinggis Khan developed a system of checks and balances to keep the altan urugh under control, he also established it so that other lineages could not possibly consider themselves above the altan urugh. Of course, a major factor in this was the prestige of Chinggis Khan, which gave unrivaled legitimacy to his family’s claim to power.

With Yesügei’s death, Chinggis Khan’s most immediate family was his mother and siblings, including his half-brothers Bekter and Belgütei. As mentioned earlier, the young Temüjin, with the aid of his younger brother Jochi Qasar, murdered their elder half-brother Bekter as the latter stole food. This incident is only recorded in The Secret History of the Mongols, which laconically details Chinggis Khan’s faults as much as it also indulges in hagiographic praise. Yet this scenario is more than simply sibling rivalry and unchecked anger.

Bekter’s theft of food did more than risk the welfare of the family, it is also a demonstration of an individual placing his welfare before that of the family. As discussed previously, the fratricide also prevented the possibility of Bekter marrying Hö’elün, Temüjin’s mother. Steppe tradition allowed the possibility of a relative, including sons to marry their stepmothers. There were several reasons for this. The economic reason was to keep the dowry and property of the wife within the family. Secondly, on a more practical reason, considering the low population density among the nomads, it also alleviated the task of attempting to find another husband and allowed the family unit to continue with its division of labor. Thus, the murder prevented Bekter from assuming the patriarch position of the family. We will never know what Hö’elün would have thought of the idea of marriage. Her reaction to the murder, as recorded in The Secret History of the Mongols, suggests that she was at least not completely opposed to the idea and that she was genuinely horrified by the murder.

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