Genghis Khan

1162 – 1227

Borjigin ancestry

The descent of Genghis Khan

The 4 sons

From his marriage with his principal wife Börte were born:

• Jochi (1182–1227), whose paternity is problematic and from whom descend the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Shaybanids, the Astrakhanids;
• Chagatai (1184–1241), from whom descend the Chagataids of the Chagatai khanate;
• Ögödei (1186–1241);
• Tolui (1190–1232), from whom descend the emperors of the Yuan dynasty in China and the Hulagids in Persia.

The problem of Jochi’s filiation

The first difficulty one encounters in trying to find the descendants of Genghis Khan is the origin of Jochi, the eldest son, who had far more descendants than all the other sons put together.

The name «Jochi» can be translated as «unexpected guest». The Secret History of the Mongols recounts that the boy was sent to Genghis Khan by Chilger, who had abducted and raped his favourite wife, Börte, having held her in captivity for about a year. According to this work, Jochi’s brothers harboured doubts about his origins.

In one passage, Chagatai calls Jochi a bastard, although the meaning of the Mongol term is not clear. Genghis Khan answers him: «How dare you speak of Jochi in that way? Is he not the eldest of my heirs? I hope never to hear such vile words again!» The sentence «Jochi is my eldest son» is found three times in the mouth of Genghis Khan.

Historians today think that the doubts about Jochi’s paternity are at the origin of his estrangement by his father and of the fact that his descendants did not ascend the imperial throne. But the failure of Jochi’s succession might also be explained by his premature death, which may have favoured the sidelining of his progeny, whose principal representative is Batu, conqueror of the Russian steppes from 1237 to 1240.

The possible descendants

Through the Asian dynasties

Among the dynasties drawing their origins from Genghis Khan are the Yuan dynasty of China, the Hulagids of Persia, the Jochids of the Golden Horde, the Shaybanids of Siberia and the Astrakhanids of Central Asia.

Genghisid ancestry is generally crucial in Tatar politics. For example, Mamai had to reign through a series of puppet Khans because he was not himself a Genghisid.

Tamerlane, the founder of the Timurid dynasty, claimed to be a descendant of Genghis Khan. Although there is no clear source on his ancestors, he associated himself with the family of Chagatai through marriage. He never took the title of Khan but employed two members of the Chagatai clan as official heads of state.

The Mughal royal family of India descends from Tamerlane through Babur and from Genghis Khan through Babur’s mother. Later one finds, among the Tatar leaders of Genghisid origin, the Khans of Kazan, Qasim (in particular a tsar, Simeon Bekbulatovich), and the Giray dynasty, which reigned over the Khanate of Crimea until 1783.

As the Russian Empire annexed Turkic states, their Genghisid chiefs often entered the service of Russia. The descendants of Kuchum, for example, became the tsareviches of Siberia. The descendants of Ablai took in Russia the name Valikhanov, and the sons of Kalmyk became the princes Dondoukov. All these families claimed a Genghisid line.

The only surviving family is the house of Giray, some members of which left the Soviet Union for the United States and the United Kingdom; they are the only ones still to have today an almost certain direct genealogical link with Genghis Khan.

Through the Russian nobility

After the Mongol invasion of Russia the Rurikid chiefs of the Russian principalities and the Bagratid dynasty of Georgia were eager to obtain political advantages for themselves and their countries by marrying Genghisids. Thus Alexander Nevsky was adopted by Batu and declared his son. Alexander’s grandson, Yuri III of Moscow, married a sister of Öz Beg.

Minor princes of Genghisid origin also settled in Russia. For example, Berke’s nephew adopted the name of Peter and founded the monastery of St Peter of Rostov, where his descendants would long be important boyars.

The descent of three marriages between Russians and Mongols can be traced down to our own day.

The most famous is that of St Fyodor the Black, later patron saint of Yaroslavl, with a daughter of Khan Mengu-Timur. Fyodor’s relations with the Khan were idyllic: he spent more time with the Horde (where he was granted great possessions) than in his own capital. The male descendants of Fyodor’s marriage with the Tatar princess include all the later chiefs of Yaroslavl and two dozen princely families (among them the Shakhovskoy, the Lvov, the Prozorovsky, among others) who passed the Genghisid genes to other aristocratic families of Russia.

Prince Gleb of Beloozero, a grandson of Constantine of Vladimir, is another Rurikid prince who greatly influenced the Mongol court. Gleb married the only daughter of Khan Sartaq; from this union was born the house of Belozersk, whose most famous members are the princes Dmitri Ukhtomsky and the Beloselsky-Belozersky.

More problematic is the union of Narimont, second son of Gediminas of Lithuania, with the daughter of Toqta. The oldest source that speaks of this marriage is the «Jagiellonian genealogy», compiled in the eighteenth century by Johannes Werner from the «Ruthenian chronicles». Although the marriage is not impossible (Narimont having spent several years with the Horde), there is no other source that mentions his wife. This claim is particularly interesting because the important princely families Galitzine, Khovansky and Kurakin are descendants of Narimont.

Through the European nobility

The Genghisid origins of the tsars or kings of Russia and of Georgia cannot be confirmed with the help of the few fragmentary documents that exist. The possibility of such a line for the royal families of Western Europe is even less realistic. Nevertheless, Western genealogists try to find a link between Genghis Khan and Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

The most widespread theory is that of the Basarab family of Wallachia, in the south of Romania. The first sure ancestor of the Basarab princes is a boyar, Thocomerius of Wallachia. There are several theories concerning his origins. Some genealogists identify Thocomerius with a Bulgarian boyar, Tikhomir (from the Slavic words for «calm», «peaceful»); another theory holds that his real name is Toq-Timur and that he is the grandson of Batu, the son of Jochi.

Several descendants of the Basarabs settle in Hungary. It has been demonstrated, convincingly, that Countess Claudine de Rhédey is a descendant of the Basarabs. This would mean that Mary of Teck and her descendants, among them Elizabeth II, are descended from the Thocomerius–Tikhomir–Toq-Timur line.

Through the Chinese Qing dynasty

During the early years of the Qing dynasty, the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan had a tradition of diplomatic marriages between themselves and the Mongols to secure their support. The Qing nobles thus made Mongol ladies into empresses and important concubines.

As the Khorchin were the strongest family, the Manchus were eager to make alliances with the Borjigin. These marriages are at the origin of two empresses and three dowager empresses of the Qing dynasty. It is therefore not surprising that, from Nurhaci to Shunzhi, all the important empresses and concubines were of Mongol origin.

Xiao Duan Wen becomes empress in 1636; married to Hong Taiji, she is the daughter of Prince Manjusri. She is seen as a benevolent empress and the most virtuous of all. She is called «Mother Empress Dowager» (sheng mu huang tai hou) in 1643, the year of the death of her husband the emperor. She dies in 1649.

The dowager empress Xiaozhuang is traditionally seen as the mother of the Qing dynasty. She is the concubine of Hong Taiji, daughter of Prince Jaisang and niece of the empress Xiao Duan Wen. She is called «Enlightened Mother Empress Dowager» (sheng mu huang tai hou) in 1643 after the death of the emperor Hong Taiji. She died in 1688, having helped the emperor Shunzhi to take care of the country until his death, and having afterward helped Kangxi during 25 years of his reign. An excellent politician, she did not like to intervene in politics, unlike the famous dowager empress Cixi, but she did so when she judged it necessary.

Descent of Genghis Khan — Basarab → Sinzendorf → Doria

→ The continuation of the line after Andrea Doria ∞ Maria Giovanna Doria del Carretto (1758) — Maria Teresa Doria Sforza Visconti ∞ Marcantonio IV Doria d’Angri 1784 → Livia Doria d’Angri ∞ Giovanni Battista II Carignani 1815 → Margherita Carignani ∞ Augusto I della Posta 1834 → Augusto II della Posta ∞ Beatrice Arnould 1884 → Augusto III ∞ Maria Bianca Gallone 1915 → Simonetta ∞ Aldo Guerri dall’Oro 1939 → Guido → Simon → Léon — is documented on the page I Papi (the marriage of 1758 is the confluence milestone of the five papal branches) and on the pages Maria Bianca Gallone, della Posta, Aldo Guerri dall’Oro, Guido Guerri dall’Oro Gallone and Simon Guerri dall’Oro Gallone.

THE MONGOLS

In the tenth century the Mongol people had already made themselves talked about: the Khitans / Khitai had invaded northern China and founded the Liao dynasty (907–1125). In the twelfth century it settled in the region of the upper Orkhon and the Khangai, in place of the Uyghur Turks, then of the Kyrgyz Turks, who had fled before the Khitans.

The Mongols are divided into tribes, which are subdivided into clans. The tribes are the following: Borjigin (that of Genghis Khan), Qongirat (that of Börte, wife of Genghis Khan), Jadjirat, Jalair, etc…

To the east of the Mongols are the Tatars (who are perhaps of the Tungusic branch although speaking Mongol), who will be called Tartars in the West by deformation of the word, and who will often be confused with the Mongols properly so called, to the great displeasure of the latter. One also finds the Kereyit / Keraites, the Naimans, the Merkits, of whom it is not known whether they are Turkic or Mongol and who are of Christian religion (Nestorians). One also finds the Onguts, also Christian. Finally the Tayichiud to the north.

The north of China has since 1125 passed into the hands of the Jin / Kin dynasty, which belongs to the people of the Tungus, tribe of the Jurchen. The south is in the hands of the Song Chinese and the north-east in the hands of a Tibetan people: the Xixia, also called Tanguts.

GENGHIS KHAN (TEMÜJIN)

The father of Genghis Khan, Yesügei, is the chief of the Qiyat clan, a subdivision of the Borjigin tribe. He allies himself with the Kereyit and with their chief Toghrul, who is his «sworn brother» («anda»). He abducts Hö’elün, the wife of a Merkit, who becomes the mother of Genghis Khan.

Birth of Temüjin, future Genghis Khan, between 1155 and 1162, on the right bank of the Onon, at the place called Deluun Boldog according to the «Secret History of the Mongols» (or Dolo’an Boldaq or Deliun Boldaq or Dülün Boldaq). The word Temüjin means: blacksmith (the blacksmith, like the shaman, has the knowledge of iron and fire).

At 9 years old, betrothal of Temüjin to Börte, the daughter of the chief of the Qongirat clan. His father Yesügei dies shortly after, poisoned by Tatars. The mother Höelün and her children (plus the shaman Mönglik) are abandoned by the tribe with whom they had taken refuge, the Tayichiud; they wander for a long time (1 or 12 years?) in the steppe.

At 11 years old he becomes «sworn brother» («anda») of Jamuqa, a Mongol of the Jadjirat tribe.

At 16 years old Temüjin kills his half-brother Bekter who had stolen from him a lark and then a fish. His mother reproaches him harshly. Temüjin is captured by the Tayichiud (whose Khan is named Tarqudai-Kiriltuq), is put in the cangue (wooden collar gripping the neck and the wrists), but manages to flee thanks to Sorqan-shira. He finds his family again, but the family’s horses are captured by thieves. He manages to recover them thanks to Boortchu, a chance friend. Temüjin returns to the Qongirat and marries Börte. He makes a new friend: Jelme. In revenge against Yesügei, Temüjin’s father, the Merkit capture Börte. Temüjin takes refuge on Burqan Qaldun, the sacred mountain, then with the help of Toghrul and Jamuqa, a battle is fought against the Merkit. Börte, absent for 9 months, is freed. She gives birth to Jochi, whose paternity may be contested, but Temüjin accepts the child. She will give birth to 3 more sons (Chagatai, Ögödei and Tolui) and to unknown daughters. Temüjin and Jamuqa renew their union then part, each drawing his allies with him. Among Temüjin’s: Sübötei, brother of Jelme.

Perhaps in 1195 or 1197, Temüjin is elected Khan by the Mongol aristocracy under the name of Chinggis Qaghan in the course of a quriltai (assembly of chiefs). Chinggis Qaghan / Genghis Khan, which means «oceanic», that is, universal, chief, begins to promulgate laws collected in a code called «yasaq».

Battle against Jamuqa, his former ally, and probable defeat of Genghis Khan. The victor boils the chiefs of a group of Chinos in 70 cauldrons and eats them. Genghis Khan restores Toghrul, the Kereyit, to the throne from which he had been driven in 1198. The Kereyit and the Mongols join forces to beat the Tatars. The Chinese confer the title of king (Ong Khan) on Toghrul. The Jürkin who had not wished to help Genghis Khan are beaten, the 2 chiefs have their heads cut off by Genghis Khan himself.

1201 is the first historical date mentioned in the sources: Jamuqa is elected Gur Khan, or universal Khan, by a quriltai (assembly of chiefs). Battle between Jamuqa on one side and Toghrul and Genghis Khan on the other; victory of the latter, but he has been wounded in the neck. He is saved by Jelme who sucks the wound and who goes to fetch mare’s milk among the enemy ranks. Genghis Khan meets a man who confesses to him that he had wounded his horse; out of nobility of heart, Genghis Khan takes him into his service; this is Jebe («the arrow»), one of his future great generals (conqueror of Semirechye, of Kashgaria, victor over the Persians, the Georgians and the Russians).

In 1202 the Tatars are definitively crushed and incorporated into the Mongol army. Genghis Khan takes two Tatar sisters, Yesui and Yesugen, as wives and has the head of the first one’s husband cut off. Toghrul and Genghis Khan declare themselves father and son. The Naimans are crushed by Toghrul and Genghis Khan. Then a reversal of alliance: Genghis Khan is attacked by the Kereyit of Toghrul (and his son the Senggün) and by Jamuqa, and he withdraws to the east (Greater Khingan Mountains).

In 1203 Genghis Khan returns toward the sources of the Tola and beats the Kereyit who will henceforth be incorporated into the Mongol troops. He marries Ibaqa, one of Toghrul’s nieces, and gives the other, Sorgaqtani, in marriage to his son Tolui. Sorgaqtani, of Nestorian religion, will be the mother of the Khans Möngke, Kublai (emperor of China) and Hülegü (Khan of Persia). The same year Toghrul is assassinated. His head is brought to Tayang, king of the Naimans, who has a cult rendered to it, but the head smiles.

In 1204 Genghis Khan beats the Naimans; King Tayang is killed, his son Kuchlug flees to the Qara-Khitai (east of Issyk Kul). Genghis Khan takes Gürbesü, niece of Tayang, as wife. The Uyghurs, who were in the service of the Naimans, pass into the service of Genghis Khan and entrust him with the royal seal. The Merkit are also beaten; their chief Toqto’a flees. Genghis Khan gives Töregene, daughter-in-law of Toqto’a, in marriage to his own son Ögödei, and he himself unites with a Merkit queen, Qulan («Mrs Onager»; the onager is a variety of donkey), after making sure of her virginity.

In 1205 Toqto’a is killed by an arrow in the Altai. Jamuqa is handed over to Genghis Khan and put to death by suffocation (without shedding blood). Genghis Khan is 50 years old if he was born in 1155; he has 21 years left to conquer the world.

In 1206 a quriltai (general assembly) on the banks of the Onon renews the powers of Genghis Khan. He rewards his faithful. He gives his wife Ibaqa to Jürcedei on account of his military exploits. Conquest of southern Siberia by Jochi (against the Kyrgyz, the Oirat, the Tümet, etc…). Boro’ul, one of the four braves, is killed by the Tümet. The shaman Kököchü, called Teb-Tengri («the very celestial»), son of Mönglik, is put to death on the order of Genghis Khan for having taken too much importance in the conduct of political affairs.

In 1209 Genghis Khan allies himself with the Ongut (Turks of Nestorian religion, north of the Great Wall). The Uyghurs (who are Turks, dwelling in present-day Xinjiang) and the Karluks (who are also Turks, dwelling in Semirechye, south of Lake Balkhash) do him homage. Genghis Khan henceforth controls the Silk Road. Campaign against the kingdom of the Tanguts (or Xixia) in the north of China (Ordos country); it will last 24 years, and Genghis Khan will succumb there. In 1209 Genghis Khan becomes overlord of the Tangut kingdom.

Campaign in 1211 against northern China governed by the Jin (or Kin) dynasty. Mongol victory at Ye Hu Ling, then passage behind the Great Wall. The three Mongol armies bypass Beijing. Genghis Khan halts before the Yellow River (or Huang He).

Conquest of Manchuria by Jebe in 1212, with the help of the Khitai, former sovereigns of China.

In 1214 Peace with the China of the Jin (or Kin). The Golden King offers Genghis Khan «gold, silver, silks», 500 boys, 500 girls, 3000 horses and a princess of the blood for himself. Return to Mongolia.

In 1215 2nd campaign of China, capture of Beijing, but Genghis Khan does not visit it. Famine and civil war in China. The Golden King (Jin or Kin) has withdrawn behind the Yellow River, to K’ai-fong (Kaifeng). Genghis Khan attaches to himself a counsellor in the person of Yelü Chucai, a Khitan aristocrat formerly in the service of the Jin (or Kin). Thanks to him Genghis Khan does not turn China into grassland. He is a specialist in scapulimancy (divination by the calcined shoulder blades of animals).

1216, continuation of the conquest of Manchuria by Jochi, Qasar and Muqali.

1217 Genghis Khan returns to Mongolia and leaves Muqali to direct operations in China. He sends Jebe against Kuchlug who had constituted a kingdom at the expense of the Qara-Khitai; Kuchlug is killed. Eastern Turkestan (the Muslim regions of Kashgar, of Issyk Kul, of the Chu, of the Ili) is annexed to the Mongol empire.

1219 During the absence of Genghis Khan, it is the otchigin (the youngest brother), Temüge, who governs Mongolia. Following the execution of 450 men of a merchant caravan in the city of Otrar in the Khwarezm, Genghis Khan declares war on this country ruled by Muhammad Shah and which comprises: Iran, Transoxiana and Afghanistan. Before leaving, Genghis Khan makes his will and names his son Ögödei as successor (and not Jochi, the eldest, because of the doubt about his birth).

1220 Capture and pillage of Bukhara, then of Samarkand. Genghis Khan has the Turks killed who ask to rally to him, because in his eyes they are deserters. He sends Jebe and Sübötei in pursuit of Muhammad Shah, the beginning of the adventure that will end in Russia. Muhammad Shah goes to hide on an island in the Caspian Sea where he dies.

1221, after 7 months of siege, Gurganj (or Urgench, present-day Köneürgench), the capital of the Khwarezm, is taken and destroyed; it will be rebuilt nearby in 1231. Jochi will henceforth remain in this region which is his appanage; his relations with Genghis Khan cool. Likewise Balkh (ancient Bactra in Afghanistan) is taken and destroyed by Genghis Khan. The Khorasan is conquered by Tolui (the population of the cities of Merv, Nishapur and Herat is massacred; at Merv the corpses are decapitated, building of pyramids of heads; Nishapur is razed and will not be rebuilt). Genghis Khan crosses the Hindu Kush to attack the son of Muhammad Shah, Jalal al-Din. At the siege of Bamiyan, one of Genghis Khan’s grandsons, Mutugen (son of Chagatai) is killed. The citadel of Bamiyan is razed. But the Mongols suffer a defeat at Parwan. As a result Herat rebels, is retaken, its population is massacred. Battle against Jalal al-Din on the right bank of the Indus, but the latter escapes by crossing the river by swimming. Ghazni (Afghanistan) is taken and destroyed by Ögödei. The cities of Merv and Balkh are again sacked. Eastern Iran (Khorasan and Afghanistan) will not recover from this destruction. Genghis Khan takes the road back. He sets up an administration in the conquered countries (darughachi = prefect). He has himself helped by two learned Transoxianian Muslims. Meanwhile, Jebe and Sübötei continue their raid westward; they cross Azerbaijan, then Georgia, then beyond the Caucasus attack the Alans and find themselves in the Ukrainian steppe facing the kingdom of the Kipchaks (or Polovtsy or Cumans), who are Turks settled on the territory previously occupied by the Pechenegs (end of the 9th century to 1122) and before them by the Khazars (626–1016).

1222 The Russians called as reinforcement by the Kipchaks are beaten at the battle of the Kalka, a small river of the Sea of Azov. The prince of Kiev is wrapped in a carpet and suffocated. The enslavement of Russia to the Tatars begins, and for two and a half centuries. Meetings of Genghis Khan and the Taoist monk Qiu Changchun (or Tch’ang-tch’ouen) near the Amu Darya, then at Balkh, then at Samarkand. In answer to a question, Qiu Changchun confessed to Genghis Khan that he had no elixir of immortality. After a few conversations on Taoism Qiu left again. Afterward Genghis Khan exempted Qiu’s disciples from taxes. Qiu Changchun is buried in the monastery of the White Clouds (Baiyun Guan) in Beijing. At Bukhara, Genghis Khan has Islam explained to him by the ulema.

1223 Jebe and Sübötei return home passing through the Bulgar kingdom of the Kama (populated by Muslim Turks); they rejoin Genghis Khan in the valley of the Irtysh.

1225 Return of Genghis Khan to Mongolia.

1226 Campaign against the Tanguts who had failed in their promise to send aid. While hunting, Genghis Khan falls from his horse. High fever.

In February 1227 death of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, in his appanage north of the Aral Sea. Genghis Khan dies in China in 1227, perhaps on 12 August 1227, near Ts’ing-chouei (Tianshui), north of the Wei river, in eastern Gansu, 300 km south of Ning-hia or Eriqaya (modern Yinchuan), the capital of the Tanguts, which had just been taken. The body is transported to Mongolia. Genghis Khan is buried at the foot of a tree, near Mount «Burqan Qaldun» (present-day Khentii massif, Mongolia), but since then the tomb remains undiscoverable.

On the site of Ejen-Khoroo (or Edzen-Khoro), in the Ordos in Inner Mongolia, is the mausoleum of Genghis Khan built in 1956, ransacked during the Cultural Revolution and restored in 1979. It contains relics (objects having belonged to Genghis Khan such as weapons, caskets, saddles, banners — or rather reproductions, following the destructions of the Red Guards), which are the object of a cult maintained by the Darkhad tribe.

The relatives of Genghis Khan

The four braves:

• Muqali (of the Jalair tribe)
• Boroul (of the Jürkin clan, foundling)
• Boorcu (of the Arulad clan)
• Cila’un (of the Jalair tribe)

The four «dogs»:

• Sübe’etei (Sübötei, of the Uriangqai tribe, younger brother of Jelme)
• Qubilai (of the Barulas clan)
• Jelme (of the Uriangqai tribe, elder of Sübe’etei)
• Jebe (Jebe, «Arrow», of the Besüd clan)

The four children adopted by the mother Höelün, foster brothers of Genghis Khan:

• Kücü (found in the Merkit camp)
• Kököcü (found in the Besüd camp)
• Siki Quducu (found in the Tatar camp)
• Boroul (found in the Jürkin camp, one of the four braves)