Unit 8 Secret History of the Mongols

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DISCORDANT HARMONIES (c.1250-c.1350) THE MONGOLS 7.1 The Mongols speak: The Secret History of the Mongols (first half of the 13th c.). Original in Mongolian. ALTHOUGH NOT, STRICTLY SPEAKING, "secret," the text known by that name was probably written for an exclusive group among the Mongols, perhaps limited to the royal family of the Khans itself. Celebrating the rise to power of Chingis Khan (r.r2o6-I227) 1 and his son Ogodei (r.r227-I241), the Secret History begins with the origins of the Mongols and their warlike relations with other clans and tribes, such as the Tatars. It continues (in the excerpt below) with the clan leader Temujin's election as Khan and his new identity as Chingis Khan. As the Mongols absorb the Tatars and other groups, according to the Secret History, they become the supreme military power of the region. In subsequent sections of the Secret History, Chingis's hegemony widens as he takes over all of Central Asia; soon his son Ogodei moves into southern Russia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. [Source: The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chinghis Khan, trans. Francis Woodman Cleaves, adapted by Paul Kahn (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1984), pp. 48-sr, 7I-74.] Then they moved the whole camp to the shores ofBlue Lake in the Gurelgu Mountains. Altan, Khuchar, and Sacha Beki conferred with each other there, and then said to Temujin: "We want you to be khan. Temujin, if you'll be our khan we'll search through the spoils I In older books he is Ghengis Khan. for the beautiful women and virgins, for the great palace tents, for the young virgins and loveliest women, for the finest geldings and mares. We'll gather all these and bring them to you. When we go off to hunt for wild game we'll go out first to drive them together for you to kill. 414 SEVEN: DISCORDANT HARMONIES (C.I2SO-C.IJSO)

We'll drive the wild animals of the steppe together so that their bellies are touching. We'll drive the wild game of the mountains together so that they stand leg to leg. If we disobey your command during battle take away our possessions, our children, and wives. Leave us behind in the dust, cutting off our heads where we stand and letting them fall to the ground. If we disobey your counsel in peacetime take away our tents and our goods, our wives, and our children. Leave us behind when you move, abandoned in the desert without a protector." Having given their word, having taken this oath, they proclaimed Temujin khan of the Mongol and gave him the name Chingis Khan. Once Chingis had been elected Ogele Cherbi, Bogorchu's young kinsman, was named as his archer. Soyiketu Cherbi promised him: "I'll see to it you'll never miss your morning drink, you'll never miss your evening meal," and he became head cook. Degei promised him: ''I'll see to it that a lamb is brought in for the morning broth, that another's brought in for the evening. I'll herd the speckled sheep and see that your carts are filled with their wool. I'll herd the yellow sheep and see that your flocks are filled with their number," and he became head shepherd. Then his younger brother, Guchugur, promised: ''I'll see to it that the lynch-pins are always tight on the wheels of your carts, that the axletree doesn't break when the carts are on the road. I'll be in charge of the tent carts." Dodai Cherbi promised: ''I'll be in charge of the men and women who serve in your tents." Then Chingis appointed three men, along with his brother Khasar, to be his personal swordsmen, saying: "Anyone who thinks they are stronger, you'll strike off their heads. Anyone who thinks they're more courageous, you'll cut them in two. My brother Belgutei will bring the geldings in from the pasture. He will be in charge of the horses. Mulkhalkhu will be in charge of the cattle. Arkhai Khasar, Taghai, Sukegei, and Chakhurkhan, these four warriors will be like my arrows, like the arrows I shoot near and far." Then Subetai the Brave promised him: ''I'll be like a rat and gather up others, I'll be like a black crow and gather great flocks. Like the felt blanket that covers a horse, I'll gather up soldiers to cover you. Like the felt blanket that guards a tent from the wind, I'll assemble great armies to shelter your tent." Then Chingis Khan turned to Bogorchu andJelme, and said: "You two, from the time when there was no one to fight beside me but my own shadow, you were my shadow and gave my mind rest. That will always be in my thoughts. From the time when there was nothing to whip my horses with but their own tails, you were their tails and gave my heart peace. That will always be in my heart. Since you were the first two who came to my side you'll be chiefs over all the rest of the people." Then Chingis Khan spoke to the people, saying: "If Heaven and Earth grant me their protection so that my powers increase, then each of you elders of the clans who've chosen to leave AndaJamugha and follow me will be happy with the choice that you've made. I'll give you each your position and office." ... At the end of that winter in the autumn of the Year of the Dog, Chingis Khan assembled his army at Seventy Felt Cloaks to go to war with the four Tatar clans. Before the battle began 7.1 THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS (FIRST HALF OF THE 13TH C.) 415

Chingis Khan spoke with his soldiers and set down these rules: "If we overcome their soldiers no one will stop to gather their spoils. When they're beaten and the fighting is over then there'll be time for that. We'll divide their possessions equally among us. If we're forced to retreat by their charge every man will ride back to the place where we started our attack. Any man who doesn't return to his place for a counterattack will be killed." Chingis Khan met the Tatar at Seventy Felt Cloaks and made them retreat. He surrounded them and drove them back into their camp at Ulkhui Shilugeljid. But as they destroyed the army of the four Tatar clans Altan, Khuchar and Daritai ignored the orders Chingis had set down and they stopped with their men to gather the spoils. When Chingis Khan heard this, he said: "They've broken their word," and he sent Jebe and Khubilai to punish them. They took away from them everything they had gathered and left them with nothing at all. Having destroyed the Tatar army and taken their spoils, a council was called to decide what to do with the captives. Chingis Khan presided over the great council in a tent set away from the rest of the camp. They said to each other: "Since the old days the Tatar have fought our fathers and grandfathers. Now to get our revenge for all the defeats, to get satisfaction for the deaths of our grandfathers and fathers, we'll kill every Tatar man taller than the linch-pin on the wheel of a cart. We'll kill them until they're destroyed as a tribe. The rest we'll make into slaves and disperse them an1ong us." That being what they decided to do, they filed out of the tent. As they came out the door of the council tent the Tatar chief, Yeke Cheren, asked Belgutei: "What have you decided?" Belgutei told him: "We've decided to kill every man taller than the linch-pin on the wheel of a cart." Hearing that, Yeke Cheren warned all the Tatar survivors and they threw up a fort to fight us off. We had to storm this fort and many of our soldiers were killed. Then after we'd finally forced the Tatar to surrender their fort and were measuring them against the height of a linch-pin and executing them, they saw there was no way to escape death. They said to each other: "Every man place a knife in his sleeve. When the Mongol come to kill you, take that man as your pillow." And we lost many more of our soldiers. When all of the Tatar men taller than the height of a linch-pin were dead, Chingis Khan made this decree: "Because Belgutei revealed the decision we'd reached in the great council many of our soldiers have died. From now on Belgutei won't be allowed to take part in such councils. He'll be in charge outside the council tent until it is over. Let him judge the fights in the camp and the men accused oflying and theft. After the council is over and we've all drunk the holy w1ne only then will Belgutei and Daritai be allowed to enter the tent." From among all the Tatar women Chingis Khan took Yeke Cheren's daughter, Yesugen Khatun, to be one ofhis wives. After she'd become Chingis Khan's wife she said to him: "If the Khan loves me and wants to care for me, if he thinks I'm good enough to be his wife, then I have something to ask him. I have an older sister named Yesui 416 SEVEN: DISCORDANT HARMONIES (C.125o-C.J350)

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~r a rt >ly en who is a much better woman than I am and would make you a much better wife. But she was married to another man a short time ago and now since your attack on our camp who knows where she's gone?" Hearing this, Chingis Khan said to her: "If your older sister is such a fine woman then I'll find her. And when I do will you give her your place?" And Yesugen Khatun answered him: "If the Khan will search for Yesui, just for the pleasure of seeing her again I'd be happy to give her my place." Chingis ordered his soldiers to search for Yesugen's sister, and they found her travelling through the woods with her husband. When the soldiers approached them he ran away, and our men brought Yesui Khatun back to our camp. When Yesugen Khatun saw her elder sister again she remembered her promise. She stood up and gave her place to her sister, then sat down below her in the line of the wives. This older sister was a beautiful woman just as Yesugen had said, and Chingis Khan loved her as well. He married Yesui Khatun and gave her a place in the line of his wives. 7.2 A Mongol reply to the pope: Guyuk Khan, Letter to Pope Innocent IV (1246). Original in Persian. IN THE WEST THE MONGOLS were often called Tatars or Tartars. In r245, Pope Innocent IV (r.r243-I254) wrote two letters to "the emperor of the Tartars" to school him in the essentials of the Christian religion, informing him that the pope held "the keys of the kingdom ofheaven," express- ing amazement that the "emperor"-that is, the Great Khan (khagan)-would invade "many coun- tries belonging both to Christians and to others," and asking him to do penance. The letters were delivered by two Franciscan friars, Lawrence ofPortugal and John ofPlano Carpini, who reached their destination just as Guyuk Khan (r.c.I246-c.I248), oldest son and successor ofOgodei, was be- ing installed as Great Khan. Guyuk's reply, printed below, shows him as firm in his own beliefs and certain ofhis self-righteousness as the pope; his conquests, he said, were God-given: "How could anybody seize or kill by his own power contrary to the command of God?" [Source: The Mongol Mission: Narratives and Letters if the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, ed. Christopher Dawson (New York: Sheed and Ward, I955), pp. 85-86 (language modernized and some notes added).] We, by the power of the eternal heaven, Khan of the great Ulus' Our command:- This is a version sent to the great Pope, that he may know and understand in the [Persian] tongue, what has been written. The petition of the as- sembly held in the lands of the Emperor [for our support], has been heard from your emissaries. If he reaches [you] with his own report, you who are the great Pope, together with all the Princes, come in person to serve us. At that time I shall make known all the commands of the Yasa. 2 I Ulus is a large or small social group, here consisting of all the peoples under the supreme ruler as a community. 2 The Yasa refers to the customs and laws of the Mongols. 7.2 GUYUK KHAN, LETTER TO POPE INNOCENT IV (1246) 417