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- Convenors:
-
Stefan Kamola
(Eastern Connecticut State University)
Christopher Atwood (University of Pennsylvania)
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- Theme:
- HIS
- Location:
- Room 303A
- Sessions:
- Friday 11 October, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Long Abstract:
This panel presents research from emerging fields that investigate questions of gender, childrearing, marriage and politics in order to shed new light on previously overlooked complexities in the history of the Mongol Empire and its successor Khanates across Asia. Among the topics addressed in the panel is the institution of marriage between the Chinggisid family and assorted partners. Marriage among the Chinggisids was both a personal and political act, and provided avenues for female and male Chinggisids to create and maintain extensive networks of companions, in-laws, and allies. Thus one paper provides a fresh look at the way political connections between Chinggisid khans and their most senior commanders were forged through strategic marriages in the Golden Horde and later Khanates, while another paper investigates the lower-status, secondary wives of Chinggis Khan and his successors. These wives entered their marriages unwillingly when their peoples were conquered, and their stories hint at the lost histories of the dispossessed. Finally, since Chinggisid marriages often produced children, another topic addressed in the panel is education of the young within the empire, through a paper that presents new research on conceptualizations of gender and the act of childrearing, and provides a more nuanced understanding of the family system that produced so many powerful individual women who went on to play critical roles in Mongol history. Together the papers present groundbreaking research on emerging new topics in the study of Mongol Empire, and connect well with the investigations of conquest, societal assimilation and diaspora in the companion panel.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 11 October, 2019, -Paper long abstract:
Although the senior wives of Chinggisid princes are known by name and played central roles in the development of the Mongol Empire and in marital politics, Chinggisid secondary wives have not been as thoroughly studied. It is through them, however, that we see more about other narratives within the history of the empire. Although some secondary wives joined the Chinggisids through peaceful negotiations, a significant number of them entered the Golden Lineage only when it conquered their people (in the case of nomadic wives) or their kingdom or empire (in the case of wives from sedentary peoples).
This paper will focus on certain wives from nomadic conquered peoples, including Chinggis Khan's Tatar wives, Yisüi and Yisügen, followed by Boraqchin in the Golden Horde and Nuqdan in the Ilkhanate, and, if time permits, Ögedei's wife Töregene and her Merkit daughter-in-law Oghul Qaimish as a linked pair. By examining these case studies, the paper will argue that the lost history of dispossessed peoples like the Tatars, Merkits and others can be recovered, albeit fragmentarily, by looking at these conquered wives. Many of these women were literal trophies of the destruction and dispersal of their people. Some worked during their marriages to protect, succor or even reconstitute their lost people, while others sought to thwart the intentions of their husbands, even in small ways, if that was the best they could do. A few succeeded in opposing the Chinggisids more seriously, as in the case of Töregene and her overthrow of Ögedei's will on the question of succession to the Great Khanate.
Paper long abstract:
For the Mongols, a militarized group born, in part, of the hardship of Eurasia's thirteenth-century steppe, perpetual uncertainty meant that life could be as hard on women as it was on men. However, while scholars readily acknowledge the essential role played by elite Mongol women in Empire's expansion, scholarship has yet to explore the how this militarized group inculcated an attitude of gender difference, rather than gender hierarchy, into their children. First, this paper introduces the concept of non-gendered generalist training, a rubric under which all children, regardless of gender, were taught the necessities of daily survival. Within this skill-set, the nerge (communal hunt), is particularly emphasized considering its function as a showcase for horsemanship, warriorship, and bravery. Next, it goes on to challenge task-oriented understandings of gender as experienced by thirteenth-century pastoral nomads by reframing the gendered division of tasks, not as a process grounded in the function of performing a task, but rather in a task's perceived contribution to the group's broader goals. This section concludes by suggesting that the Mongols inculcated their children with an attitude of gender difference by dividing tasks into two spheres: an inward facing, consolidating sphere typically the purview of women, and an outward facing, dynamic sphere predominantly dominated by men. Finally, it considers the ger, the non-segregated living space of the pastoral nomad. By using primary sources from Persia, China, Europe, and the Caucasus this paper ultimately examines how the Mongol Empire raised its children, and its elite female children in particular, to become political, economic, and military leaders of formidable strength.
Paper long abstract:
The question of the nature of the Chinggisid state has been discussed widely in terms of the rise of the Mongol World Empire and in more niche discussions by scholars interested in Russian Imperial history, to cite just one example. Citing the evidence for the Golden Horde (13th-14th centuries) and based upon the model offered by the more abundant data available for the states of the Later Golden Horde (namely the Khanates of Kazan, Kasimov, Crimea, etc. in the 15th-18th centuries) the author has proposed that four high-status tribes have a special role in the state vis-à-vis the khan. The leaders of these four tribes form a council of state playing a role in the selection or removal of the Chinggisid khan, approving the edits of the khan, conducting the foreign relations of the state, commanding the military, and other functions documented in the sources. Later these officials are even shadowed by parallel religious leaders. In the author's view, the union between the tribal leaders and the Chinggisid khan is what underlies the state in the Golden Horde and the Later Golden Horde (Schamiloglu 1984, 1986, 2019, etc.) What, however, is the concrete mechanism for this, or, from a different point of view, how is this political union formed and/or solidified? This paper argues that, as in medieval Europe or elsewhere, the answer is marital ties. This paper examines the institution of marriage between the house of the Chinggisid khan and the house of the tribal leaders in the the Golden Horde (13th-14th centuries) and the Later Golden Horde (15th-18th centuries) to attempt to propose a model for the marital ties underlying the foundation of the state. In the 14th century this emerges quite clearly in the account of Ibn Battuta, once the role and background of a series of individuals has been properly established. We see that the authority and prestige of the Chinggisid khan is girded by a series of marital alliances in which the Chinggisid khan and the tribes have established between themselves. This offers a new insights into our understanding of the Golden Horde. We may also use this as a device for exploring what these marital ties represent. It will also allow us the possibility to explore similar ties between the ruling Chinggisid house and the house of the tribal leadership in, say, the Crimean Khanate, for which there is more abundant data.