Töregene Khatun

{{Short description|Regent of the Mongol Empire from 1242 to 1246}} {{Infobox royalty |image=Töregene Khatun coin.png |caption=A coin probably struck in Caucasia during the reign of Töregene Khatun |succession=[[List of Mongol rulers|Regent of the Mongol Empire]] |reign=1242–1246 |reign-type=Regency |predecessor=[[Ögedei]] |successor=[[Güyük]] |death_date=1246 |consort=yes |spouse=Dayir Usun <br/> [[Ögedei]] |issue=[[Güyük]]<br/>[[Godan Khan]] |posthumous name=Empress Zhaoci (昭慈皇后) |house=[[Naimans|Naiman]] (by birth) <br/> [[Borjigin]] (by marriage) |succession1=[[List of Mongol khatuns|Khatun of Mongols]] |reign1=1241–1246 |predecessor1=[[Möge Khatun]] |successor1=[[Oghul Qaimish]] }}

'''Töregene Khatun''' (also '''Turakina''', {{Langx|mn|Дөргэнэ}}, {{MongolUnicode|ᠲᠦᠷᠭᠡᠨ᠎ᠡ|h}}; died 1246) was the [[Khatun|Great Khatun]] and [[regent]] of the [[Mongol Empire]] from the death of her husband [[Ögedei Khan]] in 1241 until the election of her eldest son [[Güyük Khan]] in 1246.

==Background== Töregene was born into the [[Naimans]]. Her first husband was a [[Merkit]]. Some sources state that his name was Qudu (d. 1217), son of Toqto'a Beki of the Merkits.<ref name="P. Atwood p.544">C.P. Atwood ''Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire'', p. 544</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Töregene|date=2018|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/women-and-the-making-of-the-mongol-empire/toregene/3AB147D1C4DC5D78B57FD0DDA79E4D18|work=Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire|pages=164–194|editor-last=Broadbridge|editor-first=Anne F.|series=Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/9781108347990.007|isbn=978-1-108-44100-1|s2cid=240364072 |access-date=2021-02-01|url-access=subscription}}</ref> However, [[Rashid al-Din Hamadani]] named her first husband as [[Dayir Usun]], also a Merkit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fazlullah |first1=Rashiduddin |title=Jami'u't-tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles (A History of the Mongols) |date=1998 |publisher=Harvard University |page=53}}</ref>

When [[Genghis]] conquered the Merkit in 1204, he gave Töregene to Ögedei as his second wife. While Ögedei's first wife, [[Boraqchin (wife of Ögedei)|Boraqchin]], had no sons, Töregene gave birth to five sons, [[Güyük Khan|Güyük]], [[Godan Khan|Kötän]], [[Köchü (died 1237)|Köchü]], [[Qarachar (Chinggisid)|Qarachar]], and [[Qashi]] (father of [[Kaidu]]). [[File:Bilingual Chinese–Mongolian Inscription of Töregene Khatun (1240 AD).jpg|thumb|Bilingual [[Middle Chinese]]–[[Middle Mongol]] inscription of Töregene, supporting the reprinting of the ''[[Daozang]]'', dated [[Year of the Rat]] (1240).]] She eclipsed all of Ögedei's other wives and gradually increased her influence among the court officials. But Töregene still resented Ögedei's officials and the policy of centralizing the administration and lowering tax burdens. Töregene sponsored the reprinting of the ''[[Daozang]]'' in [[North China]].<ref>Australian National University. Institute of Advanced Studies ''East Asian History'', p. 75</ref> Through the influence of Töregene, Ögedei appointed Abd-ur-Rahman as [[tax farmer]] in China.

==Great Khatun of the Mongol Empire==

Soon after Ögedei Khan died in 1241, power passed initially to [[Möge Khatun]], one of Ögedei's widows and formerly one of Genghis Khan's wives.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Juvaini |first=Ala Ad Din Ata Malik |title=Genghis Khan: the History of the World Conqueror |last2=Boyle |first2=J. A. |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1958 |pages=240}}</ref> With the support of [[Chagatai Khan|Chagatai]] and her sons, Töregene assumed complete power as regent in spring 1242 as Great Khatun<ref>''The journey of William of Rubruck to the eastern parts of the world, 1253–55'', p. 62</ref> and dismissed her late husband's ministers and replaced them with her own, the most important being another woman, [[Fatima (d. 1246)|Fatima]], a [[Tajiks|Tajik]] or [[Persians|Persian]] captive from the [[Mongol campaigns in Central Asia|campaigns in Central Asia]]. She was a [[Shia Muslim]] who had been deported from the city of [[Mashhad]] to [[Mongolia]].

Töregene tried to arrest several of Ögedei's main officials. Her husband's chief secretary, [[Chinqai]], and the administrator, [[Mahmud Yalavach]], fled to her son [[Godan Khan]] in North China, while the administrator of [[Turkestan]], [[Masud Begh]], fled to [[Batu Khan]] in the [[Pontic Steppe]]. Töregene ordered [[Korguz]], governor of [[Khorasan]], arrested and handed over to the widow of Chagatai Khan, whom he had defied. The [[List of Chagatai khans|Chagatayid khan]] [[Qara Hülegü]] executed him. Töregene appointed [[Arghun Aqa]] of the [[Oirats|Oirat]] as governor in Persia.

She put Abd al-Rahman in charge of general administration in North China, and Fatima became even more powerful at the Mongol court. These actions led the Mongol aristocrats into a frenzy of extortionate demands for revenue.{{clarify|date=October 2023|reason=Why?}}

==Role in Mongol conquests==

Töregene had friendly relations with Ögedei's commanders in China. The conflicts between the Mongols and the Song troops took place in the areas of [[Chengdu]]. Töregene sent her envoys to negotiate peace, but Song imprisoned them.<ref>Jeremiah Curtin ''The Mongols A History'', p. 343</ref> The Mongols captured [[Hangzhou]] and invaded [[Sichuan]] in 1242. She ordered Zhang Rou and Chagaan to attack the [[Song dynasty]]. When they pillaged the Song territory, the Song court sent a delegation to seek a [[ceasefire]]. Chagaan and Zhang Rou returned north after the Mongols accepted the terms.<ref>J. Bor ''Mongol hiiged Eurasiin diplomat shastir, vol. II'', p. 224</ref>

During the reign of Ögedei, the [[Sultanate of Rum]] offered friendship and a modest tribute to [[Chormaqan]].<ref>C.P. Atwood ''Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire'', p. 555</ref> The Mongols began to pressure [[Kaykhusraw II]], the sultan of Rum, to go to Mongolia in person, give hostages, and accept a Mongol [[darughachi]]. Mongol raids began in 1240. Kaykhusraw assembled a large army to meet them. The king of [[Cilician Armenia]] was required to produce 1400 lances, and the [[Empire of Nicaea|Emperor of Nicaea]] 400 lances. Both rulers met the sultan in [[Kayseri]] to negotiate details. The [[Manuel I of Trebizond|Grand Komnenos of Trebizond]] contributed 200, while the young [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid prince]] of [[Aleppo]] supplied 1000 horsemen.<ref>Simon de Saint-Quentin, ''Histoire des Tartares'', xxxi. 143–44.</ref> In addition to these, Kaykhusraw commanded the Sultanate's army and irregular [[Turkmens|Turkmen]] cavalry, though both had been weakened by the [[Baba Ishak]] rebellion.

However, [[Baiju Noyan|Baiju]] and his [[Georgians|Georgian]] [[auxiliaries]] crushed them at the [[battle of Köse Dağ]] in 1243. After that battle, the Sultanate of Rum, the [[Empire of Trebizond]], and [[Lesser Armenia]] quickly declared their allegiance one by one to the Mongol Empire ruled by Töregene Khatun.

The Mongol troops under General Baiju probed the forces of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] and the Ayyubid-ruled [[Syria]] in 1244–46.

==Güyük's reign==

She was an exercise of power in a society that was traditionally led only by men. She managed to balance the various competing powers within the empire, and even within the extended family of the descendants of [[Genghis Khan]], over a 5-year period in which she not only ruled the empire, but set the stage for the ascension of her son [[Güyük]] as Great Khan. During Töregene's reign, foreign dignitaries arrived from the distant corners of the empire to her capital at [[Karakorum]] or to her nomadic imperial camp. The [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk]] sultan came from Turkey—as did representatives of the [[Caliph]] of [[Abbasid]] in [[Baghdad]]. So did two claimants to the throne of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]: [[David Ulu]], the illegitimate son of the late king—and [[David Narin]], the legitimate son of the same king. The highest-ranking European delegate was [[Alexander Nevsky]]'s father, Grand Prince [[Yaroslav II of Russia|Yaroslav Vsevolodovich]] of [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]] and [[Suzdal]], who died suspiciously just after dining with Töregene Khatun.

The Mongols practiced [[polygamy]]. Ögedei Khan's favorite son was Kochu, who was through his another wife, and he had nominated Kochu's son Siremun to succeed him after his father suddenly died in China in 1237. But some sources mention that Khoch was a son of Töregene and she did not want little Shiremun to succeed.<ref name="P. Atwood p.544"/> Töregene opposed the choice in favor of Güyük, but despite the enormous influence she had on him, was unable to persuade Ögedei to change his selection. She did, however, achieve her aims through cunning. When the lesser khans appointed her regent after her husband's death, she appointed her favorites to high positions in the imperial household and initiated what was to be a successful scheme to elevate her son Güyük. When [[Temüge]] Otchigen, the youngest brother of Genghis, gathered his men and tried to unsuccessfully seize the throne, Güyük quickly came to meet him. Töregene managed to keep a [[Kurultai]] from being held until it was sure her son Güyük was favored by the majority. Töregene passed power to her son Güyük in 1246. She retired west to Ögedei's [[appanage]] on the [[Emil River|Emil]].

Despite her role in ensuring Güyük's election as Khagan, the relationship between Töregene and her son eventually collapsed. Güyük's brother Koden accused [[Fatima (d. 1246)|Fatima]] of using [[witchcraft]] to damage his health; when Koden died a few months later, Güyük insisted that his mother hand Fatima over for execution. Töregene threatened her son Güyük that she would commit suicide to spite him. Güyük's men seized Fatima and put her to death by sewing up all of her orifices and dumping her into water; Töregene's supporters in the imperial household were simultaneously purged.<ref name="man">{{cite book|last=Man|first=John|title=Kublai Khan: From Xanadu to Superpower|year=2006|publisher=Bantam Books|location=London|isbn=978-0553817188|pages=76–77}}</ref> Within 18 months of Fatima's death, Töregene herself died under still unexplained circumstances. She was posthumously renamed Empress Zhaoci ({{Lang-zh|c=昭慈皇后|s=|t=|p=|l=Brilliant kind empress}}) by [[Kublai Khan|Kublai]] in 1265-1266.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Book of Yuan|url=http://www.guoxue.com/shibu/24shi/yuanshi/yuas_074.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609051523/http://www.guoxue.com/shibu/24shi/yuanshi/yuas_074.htm|archive-date=2011-06-09|access-date=2021-02-01|website=www.guoxue.com|language=zh}}</ref>

==In popular media==

*She was portrayed by [[Cai Wenyan]] in ''[[The Legend of Kublai Khan]]'' (2013)

*She is portrayed in manga and anime series ''[[A Witch's Life in Mongol]]''

==References==

===Citations===

{{s-start}} {{s-hou|[[Naimans|House of Naiman]] (1242–1246)}} {{s-reg}} {{s-bef|before=[[Ögedei Khan]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Khatun|Great Khatun]] ([[regent]]) of the [[Mongol Empire]] |years=1242–1246}} {{s-aft|after=[[Güyük Khan]]|rows=1}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toregene Khatun}} [[Category:1246 deaths]] [[Category:13th-century Mongol khans]] [[Category:Mongol empresses]] [[Category:Year of birth missing]] [[Category:13th-century regents]] [[Category:13th-century women regents]] [[Category:House of Ögedei]] [[Category:13th-century Mongol women]] [[Category:13th-century Mongols]] [[Category:Regents of Mongolia]] [[Category:Mothers of emperors]]