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.