Sorghaghtani Beki

Infobox Monarch
name =Sorghaghtani Beki
title =Queen


caption =The Christian queen Sorghaghtani with her husband, Tolui. Rashid al-Din, early 14th century.
reign =1227 - 1232
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consort =Tolui
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father = Jagambu, brother of Wang Khan
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date of death =1252
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place of burial =| Sorghaghtani Beki or Sorkhokhtani or Sorkhogtani bekhi (bekhi is a title) (c. 1198 [ [http://www.electroauthor.com/marcotte_genealogy/Khan.htm Khan genealogy ] ] - 1252), a Kereyid princess of the Nestorian Christian faith and daughter-in-law of Genghis Khan, was one of the most powerful and competent women in the Mongol Empire. Married to Tolui, Genghis' youngest son, she raised her sons to be leaders, and maneuvered the family politics so that all four of her sons, Mongke Khan, Hulagu Khan, Ariq Böke, and most notably Kublai Khan, were to inherit the legacy of their grandfather. As a moving spirit behind the Mongol Empire, Sorghaghtani is responsible for much of the trade openings and intellectual exchange made possible by this, the largest contiguous empire in world history. As such, she may count among the most influential women in world history.

Life

Sorghaghtani was the niece (some say daughter) of the powerful Kerait leader Wang Khan "Toghrul". According to "The Secret History of the Mongols", around 1203, when Toghrul was a more powerful leader than Temüjin (name at birth of the man later to be known as Genghis Khan), Temüjin proposed to Toghrul that Temujin's eldest son Jochi might marry Toghrul's relative Sorghaghtani, thus binding the two groups. However, Toghrul refused this alliance, and later attempted to kill the increasingly powerful Temüjin through an invitation to discuss this proposal. However, Temüjin discovered this plan and they escaped at the last moment. Eventually, the Kereits were routed in the ensuing war and Toghrul was killed, possibly by the Naimans.

After the Kereit defeat, Genghis himself married one of Toghrul's elder daughters (later handed over to another general), and gave Sorghaghtani to his teenage son Tolui,cite book
title = Kublai Khan
author = John Man
publisher = Bantam Press
year = 2006] with whom she eventually had at least six children, five sons and a daughter.

* Möngke Khan: khan from 1251-1259
* Kublai Khan: khan 1259-1294, Eastern Mongol Empire, Yuan dynasty
* Hulagu Khan: khan 1262-1265, Ilkhanate dynasty, (Central Asia)
* Ariq Böke, her fourth son, was also declared Great Khan (rivalling Kublai) for a short period in 1260; he would eventually be captured by Kublai in 1264
* Buchek, who participated the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1236-1241

* Lihuan, the daughter who married one of Jochid noyans.

Like most Mongol women of the time, Sorghaghtani wielded great authority at home. Women had far more rights in Mongolia than in China, Europe, or other cultures at the time, especially since the men were often away and they were the ones responsible for the home.cite web
title = Women of the Mongol Court
author = Morris Rossabi
url = http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/world-history/teaching/mongol/women.htmlEdited notes taken from a lecture by Morris Rossabi, presented as part of the lecture series in conjunction with "Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan", an exhibition at the Denver Art Museum.] Although she herself was illiterate, she recognized the value of literacy in running such a far-flung empire. Each of her sons learned a different language for different regions. Also, Sorghaghtani, though a Nestorian Christian, respected other religions. Her sons, like Genghis, were all very liberal minded in matters of religion, and the Mongol empire promulgated the notion of state above religion, while supporting all major religions of the time.

After Ogedei became the Khan, the "Secret History" suggests that he may have consulted Sorghaghtani on various matters, and he always held her in high regard. [cite web
title = Women in Mongol society: The characteristics and roles of females among the Mongols
author = Per Inge Oestmoen
url = http://www.coldsiberia.org/monwomen.htm
month=January | year=2001]

Her husband Tolui, whose kingdom included eastern Mongolia and Northern China, died after a drinking binge at the age of 40, and Sorghaghtani became the regent. Ogodei sought to link her realm to his and proposed that she marry his son Güyük (widows often married again within the family among Mongols), 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 Sorghatani's sons, grandsons of Genghis, became leaders in their own right. [Weatherford, p. 143]

After Ogedei Khan's death in 1241, his wife Töregene Khatun ruled as regent until 1246, when she managed to get her son Güyük elected as the Great Khan at a small "kurultai" (Mongol congress). However, he immediately set out to undermine his mother's power, as well as that of Sorghaghtani and Ebuskun (the wife of Chaghatai Khan, regent for the Central Asian Empire).

Meanwhile, these machinations had alienated the rest of the family and Sorghaghtani had secretly teamed up with Guyuk's cousin Batu Khan, the senior male in the family and ruler of the Golden Horde (north of Caspian Sea to Kiev). In 1248, when Güyük was setting out on a campaign to Europe (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 Guyuk".

After Güyük's death, Batu and Sorkhokhtani championed the name of Möngke, who had fought along with Batu in the European campaign, Sorkhokhtani's eldest son, as Great Khan. Mongke was named Great Khan at a "kurultai" organized by Batu in Siberia in 1250, but this was protested as not being in Mongolia proper. However, the ancient Mongol homeland of where Genghis had been born was in her regency, so she organized a "kurultai" here which was attended by Batu's brother Berke, where Mongke was formally named the Great Khan. The Ogedei and Guyuk families attempted to assassinate him, but failed, and Mongke arrested and drowned Guyuk's widow Oghul Ghaimish, and many other members of Ogedei's family.

Sorkhokhtani died in February 1252 around the Mongol New Year festival, a few months after Mongke's accession ceremony, and was buried in a Christian church in Kan-su. [Jackson, p. 101]

Legacy

In 1310, she was given the title of “empress” in a ceremony that included a Nestorian mass.Fact|date=March 2008

She is spoken of very highly both in the "Secret History", as well as by
Muslim, Chinese and Christian historians. quote|If I were to see among the race of women another woman like this, I should say that the race of women was far superior to that of men|Syriac scholar Bar Hebraeus (1226-1286)cite book
title = Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world
author = Jack Weatherford
publisher = Three Rivers Press
year = 2004
isbn = 978-0-609-61062-6 (0-609-61062-7)] cite web
title = Women of the Mongol Court
author = Morris Rossabi
url = http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/world-history/teaching/mongol/women.htmlThese edited notes were taken from a lecture by Morris Rossabi, presented aspart of the lecture series in conjunction with Mongolia: The Legacy ofChinggis Khan, an exhibition at the Denver Art Museum.]

Prester John

Sorghaghtani was the niece of the powerful Kerait leader Wang Khan "Toghrul". To Europeans, Toghrul was one of the distant Eastern rulers who was sometimes associated with the legend of "Prester John". [ Rachewiltz , p. 114.] 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". [Jackson, p. 175]

Notes

References

*Davis-Kimball, Jeannine.(2002) "Warrior Women, An Archealogist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines". Warner Books, Inc. Page 223-226. ISBN 0-446-52546-4
* 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"