Ghazan Khan

A direct descendant of Genghis Khan, Ghazan Khan ruled the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate (southwestern part of the empire, what now is Iran) and lived from 1271 to 11 May 1304. No, he did not have a long life, or a long reign, but he accomplished a lot out of necessity.

He had, as was customary for Mongol Khans, several wives, but he first came up in this blog in yesterday's post when we learn that he married a princess, Kököchin, who had been chosen for Ghazan's father by Kublai Khan himself. Kököchin's journey took so long that her intended, Arghun Khan, was dead by the time she arrived, and Ghazan married her himself. (It probably pleased her that Ghazan was the same age as she.)

On the death of his father in 1291, rule of the Ilkhanate went to Ghazan's uncle, Gaykhatu. One of the innovations during Gaykhatu's reign was the introduction of paper money to the Ilkhanate, but Ghazan rejected the idea in his territory of Khorasan, because the humidity of the region made the paper unfeasible.

Gaykhatu was killed in 1295, probably by the same people who killed Ghazan's father in order to put Gaykhatu in charge. That faction chose Ghazan's cousin Baydu to take over and be a figurehead. Ghazan marched on Baydu, who after some battles offered co-rulership to Ghazan. Ghazan rejected this, but was concerned because Baydu had a much larger army.

A powerful noble named Nowruz urged Ghazan to continue to attack Baydu and become ruler. Nowruz pledged his support, but with a condition: Ghazan had to convert to Islam. The Mongol attitude toward religion was one of curiosity and tolerance. Ghazan had been raised as an Eastern Christian, and had also been tutored by a Chinese Buddhist monk. Ghazan did not hold religion as high a priority as politics, so he made the change. Their political bid was successful, and Ghazan (seen on a horse in the illustration) became the next Khan of the Ilkhanate.

The traditional Mongol tolerance for other religions went out the window. Nowruz led persecutions against Buddhists and Christians. Churches were looted and destroyed. Despite this, Ghazan was willing to work with Western Europeans against a common enemy: the Egyptian Mamluks. We will talk about those alliances tomorrow.

Escorting a Princess

Arghun Khan (1258 - 1291) was the son of Abaqa Khan and ruler of the Ilkhanate, in the southwestern part of the Mongol Empire. Arghun (shown here with one of his brides) wanted a new bride after the death of his favorite, Bolgana (who had also been his father's consort), and he asked his great-uncle Kublai Khan to provide him with one.

Kublai chose the 17-year-old Kököchin, of the Chinese Yuan dynasty. Her escort to the Ilkhanate included three of Kublai's envoys and a young Venetian named Marco Polo. Marco, along with his uncles, had been "guests" of Kublai for many years. Kublai did not want to lose the company of his foreign guests, but his envoys insisted. In the words of Marco Polo from his account:

The overland road from Peking to Tabriz was not only of portentous length for such a tender charge, but was imperiled by war, so the envoys desired to return by sea. Tartars in general were strangers to all navigation; and the envoys, much taken with the Venetians, and eager to profit by their experience, especially as Marco had just then returned from his Indian mission, begged the Khan as a favour to send the three Firinghis* in their company. He consented with reluctance, but, having done so, fitted the party out nobly for the voyage, charging the Polos with friendly messages for the potentates of Europe, including the King of England.

There were problems on the voyage

involving long detentions on the coast of Sumatra, and in the South of India, ...; and two years or upwards passed before they arrived at their destination in Persia. The three hardy Venetians survived all perils, and so did the lady, who had come to look on them with filial regard; but two of the three envoys, and a vast proportion of the suite, had perished by the way.

Not only had some of the escorts died along the way, but so had Arghun by the time his anticipated bride had arrived. In fact, he had died before the escorts had even set out, a fact they did not know until they had arrived.

The trip was not wasted, however, because Arghun had a son, Ghazan, who was about the same age as the princess Kököchin. Although not as handsome as his father, he was in many ways an excellent ruler and war-leader. He also had good diplomatic relations with Europeans and the Crusaders. Let's talk more about Ghazan Khan tomorrow.

*Firinghis or farang is Persian and originally intended to refer to Franks, lumping all Western Europeans together.