Sorqoqtani Beki Extended Biography
Sorqoqtani Beki Extended BiographyYou may wish to share this biography with students, or just to read it for your own information.Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, assisted by armies of warrior men on horseback. But the role of women in this empire is often left unstated. This is partly because women are generally left out of history. It is partly due to bias in our sources. Indeed, a whole section about royal women was cut out of one of the most important primary sources of Mongol history, The Secret History of the Mongols.1 However, as we shall see, women played key roles in the fate of the empire—including fighting to select its rulers and leading the division of the empire into two, and later four, parts.Whatever the reason they are silenced, women played a large role in the creation of Genghis Khan’s empire. His daughters, in particular, were important leaders, ruling a number of central Asian kingdoms that came under the control of the Mongols in the early thirteenth century. However, it was his daughters-in-law—the wives of his sons—who played an even bigger role after his death. His third son, Ögedei, succeeded him, but proved a poor leader. His wife, Toregene, was given the new title yeke khatun, or empress, around 1240. She virtually ruled the empire. His second son, Chagatai, ruled much of central Asia effectively, and after his death, his widow Orqina ruled this part of the empire until her son came of age. And Genghis Khan’s second son, Tolui, only ruled the empire for two years, as a regent. He was as ineffective as Ögedei, however, and commanded that “the affairs of the nation and the control of the army be entrusted to the counsel of his chief wife,”2 Sorqoqtani.Who were these wives? Let’s follow the story of Sorqoqtani, and try to learn something from it.Like many of the wives of the Genghis family, Sorqoqtani was from a people related to the Mongols, the Keraits. The Keraits were one of the first groups to join Genghis after his armies defeated them in 1203. Unlike the Genghises, however, they were mostly Nestorian Christians. Nestorians, unlike many Christians in Europe, believed that Jesus was fully human and fully divine at the same time. They had decisively diverged from the Roman church after the 451 Council of Chalcedon.Although members of a minority religion, the Keraits were important members of the Mongol coalition, and many of their princesses married into the royal family and other important families of the Mongol state. What was the political power that these royal wives could yield in the Mongol Empire? Although women’s power mainly came from their status as wives and mothers, this power was considerable. Royal wives could issue decrees, often jointly with their husbands. They often served as regents for their sons, until they came of age. They played a diplomatic role, often vetting visitors before granting them access to their husbands. As the leaders of the household , they also controlled the activities of daily life at the court, which gave them a lot of power. Moreover, women helped hold the empire together. In the vast and relatively decentralized Mongol Empire, women helped connect royal courts and regional authorities with each other. There is evidence that women often traveled and corresponded with each other across the vast space of the Mongol territories. Sorqoqtani’s sister, herself an important woman, traveled from afar to visit her frequently. and hosted parties for important political leaders.1 All that was left was a line that said: “Let us reward our female offspring.” Op. cit. Weatherford, Jack. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010, xi.2 Weatherford, The Secret History, 94.
Sorqoqtani Beki - Extended Biography2We don’t know a lot about Sorqoqtani’s life as the wife of Tolui. We know a lot more about her as a mother who fought for her sons. The precipitating incident in this fight was the death in 1248 of Güyük Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and the third Great Khan. Sorqoqtani herself was already a widow, as her husband, Tolui, had died in 1232. But she had four sons (and probably one daughter) and still controlled one of the provinces her husband had conquered. She wanted the throne for her son Möngke. But she faced Güyük’s widow, Oghul-Qaimish, who wanted the throne for Qucha, her own son.3The two women faced off for the future of the Mongol Empire. Sorqoqtani enjoyed an advantage in that she had many relatives, especially royal sisters, in positions of power. In particular, she had an important ally in her nephew, her sister’s son Batu, provincial ruler of the Golden Horde. Oghul-Qaimish, by contrast, was pretty much alone. She was a royal wife from an important conquered Turco-Mongol people, the Merkits, but they had been decimated by Mongol conquest and she did not have the allies, especially the sister-princesses, that Sorqoqtani brought with her. Sorqoqtani moved quickly to claim power for Möngke. Together with Batu, she summoned the princes of the empire. Some did not come, but Sorqoqtani’s relatives arrived, as did the princes of the Golden Horde who were related to Batu. Together, they decided to formally keep the empire unified, but to actually split it between themselves—with Batu ruling the west, and Möngke the east. Of course, Oghul-Qaimish refused to accept this division. However, even some of her likely supporters eventually recognized Möngke, partly because their wives were related to Sorqoqtani. Thus, Möngke became the Great Khan, but the division of the empire had begun.3 Broadbridge, Anne F. Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018, 196–224.
Sorqoqtani Beki - Extended Biography3Sources: Broadbridge, Anne F. Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Weatherford, Jack. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010.