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Adulthood

Marriages and family

Early commands
Khwarazmian war and succession
Death and legacy
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Jochi

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jochi
A statue of a man sitting with arm outstretched on a chair
A statue of Jochi in modern-day Mongolia
Khan of the Ulus of Jochi
Predecessor none
Successor Orda
Batu
Born c. 1182
Died c. 1225 (aged 42–43)
Issue Orda Khan
Batu Khan
Berke Khan
others
Dynasty Borjigin
Mother Börte
Military career
Battles / wars
Battle of Irtysh River
Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty
Irghiz River skirmish (unconfirmed)
Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire
Siege of Gurganj
Jochi (Mongolian: ᠵᠦᠴᠢ; c. 1182 – c. 1225), also spelled Jüchi,[1] was a prince of
the early Mongol Empire. His life was marked by controversy over the circumstances
of his birth and culminated in his estrangement from his family. He was
nevertheless a prominent military commander and the progenitor of the family who
ruled over the khanate of the Golden Horde.

Jochi was the son of Börte, the first wife of the Mongol leader Temüjin. For many
months before Jochi's birth, Börte had been a captive of the Merkit tribe, one of
whom forcibly married and raped her. Although there was thus considerable doubt
over Jochi's parentage, Temüjin considered him his son and treated him accordingly.
Many Mongols, most prominently Börte's next son Chagatai, disagreed; these tensions
eventually led to both Chagatai and Jochi being excluded from the line of
succession to the Mongol throne.

After Temüjin founded the Mongol Empire in 1206 and took the name Genghis Khan, he
entrusted Jochi with nine thousand warriors and a large territory in the west of
the Mongol heartland; Jochi commanded and participated in numerous campaigns to
secure and extend Mongol power in the region. He was also a prominent commander
during the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire (1219–1221), during which he subdued
cities and tribes to the north. During the 1221 Siege of Gurganj, tensions arose
between him, his brothers, and Genghis, which never healed. Jochi was still
estranged from his family when he died of ill health c. 1225. His son Batu was
appointed to rule his territories in his stead.

Birth and paternity

Jochi's mother, Börte, was born into the Onggirat tribe, who lived along the
Greater Khingan mountain range south of the Ergüne river, in modern-day Inner
Mongolia.[2] At the age of ten, she was betrothed to a Mongol boy named Temüjin,
son of the Mongol chieftain Yesugei.[a] Seven years later (c. 1178), after he had
survived a violent adolescence, they married.[4] They had their first child, a
daughter named Qojin, in 1179 or 1180.[5] By forming alliances with notable steppe
leaders, such as his friend Jamukha and his father's former ally Toghrul, and with
the help of his charisma, Temüjin began to attract followers and gain power.[6]
Word of his rise spread and soon drew the attention of the Merkit tribe to the
northwest, from whom Yesugei had abducted Temüjin's mother Hö'elün, sparking a
blood feud; they resolved to take revenge on Yesugei's heir.[7]

Because of their consequences, the subsequent events were considered controversial:

most contemporary authors omitted any mention of the events, while the two that did
include them (the Secret History of the Mongols, a mid-13th-century epic poem, and
the 14th-century Persian historian Rashid al-Din's Jami al-tawarikh) are
contradictory.[8] The following narrative, containing elements from both, is
considered most plausible. In 1180 or 1181,[9] a large force of Merkits raided
Temüjin's camp; while most of his family managed to escape, Börte was captured.[10]
She was forcibly married to Chilger-Bökö, the younger brother of Hö'elün's original
husband. Meanwhile, Temüjin had convinced his allies to assemble substantial forces
to help him rescue Börte.[11] Under Jamukha's command, the combined army campaigned
against the Merkits and defeated them, recovering Börte and taking large amounts of
plunder.[12]

Börte was heavily pregnant and c. 1182 gave birth to Jochi in Jamukha's camp. As
Chilger-Bökö had undoubtedly raped her, and as she had been among the Merkits for
nearly nine months, Jochi's paternity was uncertain;[13] this was reflected in his
name, meaning "guest" in Mongolian.[14] While Temüjin always regarded Jochi as his
son by blood and treated him accordingly, many Mongols, such as his younger brother
Chagatai, viewed him as a bastard sired by Chilger-Bökö.[15]

Adulthood
Marriages and family
Five men gather around a man sitting cross-legged on a throne.
A depiction of Batu Khan, Jochi's second son and eventual successor
Jochi does not reappear in historical sources until 1203.[16] By this time, he was
old enough for marriage. Temüjin intended to betroth him to a daughter of his ally
Toghrul, but because of Jochi's uncertain birth and Temüjin's comparatively low
status, this proposal was taken as insulting by Toghrul's people and eventually led
to war between the two leaders.[17] After Toghrul's defeat in 1204, Jochi was given
one of his nieces, Begtütmish, as a wife.[18] He also married other women: Börte's
niece Öki; her relative Sorghan; and several less powerful women, namely Qutlugh
Khatun, Sultan Khatun, Nubqus, Shīr, Qarajin, and Kul. In addition, Jochi took
concubines. It is unknown who Jochi's senior wife was, but it was likely either Öki
or Sorghan.[19]

Jochi's most important sons were Orda Khan and Batu Khan; they were the children of
Sorghan and Öki respectively. Neither these women nor Begtütmish was the mother of
Jochi's other notable son, Berke. The names of eleven other sons are known, but
none had significant careers, reflecting the junior status of their mothers.[20]
Descendants of younger sons nevertheless used their Jochid lineage to legitimise
their right to rule: these included Khiḍr Khan of Shiban's line, and Tokhtamysh who
descended from Jochi's youngest son Tuqa-Timur.[21]

Early commands
In 1206, having united the tribes of Mongolia, Temüjin held a large assembly called
a kurultai where he was acclaimed as "Genghis Khan".[22] He began to reorder his
new nation, dividing it between members of his ruling dynasty. As the eldest son,
Jochi received the largest share—nine thousand subject warriors, all with their own
families and herds; Chagatai received eight thousand, and their younger brothers
Ögedei and Tolui received five thousand each.[23] As expected for a firstborn,
Jochi received the territories furthest away from the homeland for his ulus
(domain): they were located in western Mongolia along the River Irtysh.[24]

Map of the course of the Irtysh river, from its sources on the Mongolia-China
border, across northern Kazakhstan and through Siberia before emptying into the
Arctic Ocean
Map of the course of the River Irtysh; Jochi's territories were initially located
around its headwaters in the west of the Mongol heartland, but later came to
include most of the area depicted on this map.
This allocation was made with the expectation that Jochi would expand his domains,
and so in 1207–08 he campaigned against and subjugated the Hoi-yin Irgen [ja], a
collection of tribes on the edge of the Siberian taiga between the Angara and
Irtysh rivers.[25] Jochi secured a marriage alliance with the Oirats, whose leader
Qutuqa Beki guided the Mongols to the Yenisei Kyrgyz and other Hoi-yin Irgen. These
tribes soon submitted, and Jochi took control of the region's trade in grain and
furs, as well as its gold mines.[26] He subsequently reinforced Subutai's army
before it defeated the renegade Merkits at the battle of the Irtysh River in late
1208 or early 1209.[27] Jochi would campaign intermittently against the Merkits and
their Qangli allies for the next decade, finally destroying the last remnants of
the people in 1217 or 1218 alongside Subutai.[28] The historian Christopher Atwood
has argued that this narrative minimised Jochi's role, that in reality he, not
Subutai, was the primary commander in all campaigns against the Merkit and Qangli,
and that his right to rule the former Qangli lands was justified by the success of
the campaigns.[29]

Alongside his brothers Chagatai and Ögedei, Jochi commanded the right wing in the
1211 invasion of the Chinese Jin dynasty. The Mongols marched southwards from
Genghis's campaign headquarters in modern Inner Mongolia in November 1211: first
they attacked the cities in the area between Hohhot and Datong, and then they
followed the Taihang Mountains into Shanxi, where they pillaged and plundered in
autumn 1213.[30] He may have also taken part in the Irghiz River skirmish, an
inconclusive engagement fought against the army of Muhammad II of Khwarazm.[31] The
Secret History records two conversations between Jochi and his father about his
campaigns: once when Genghis declined Jochi's request to spare the life of a
renowned Merkit archer, and once when Jochi's triumphant return from the
subjugation of the Oirats garnered high praise from his father.[32]

Khwarazmian war and succession

In 1218, Genghis was provoked into launching a campaign against the Central Asian
Khwarazmian Empire after a Mongol trade caravan was killed by the governor of the
border town of Otrar and subsequent diplomatic overtures failed.[33] According to
the Secret History, Yesui, one of Genghis's secondary wives, requested that he
decide the succession before setting out. Though Genghis appears not to have cared
about Jochi's possible illegitimacy, Chagatai vehemently objected to his brother
becoming the next khan, shouting "How can we let ourselves be ruled by this Merkit
bastard?" After a short brawl between the brothers was broken up, the Secret
History continues, the suggestion of Ögedei as a compromise candidate was endorsed
by both brothers and their father.[34] Other sources record a less febrile
gathering taking place after the war's conclusion, so some historians speculate
that the Secret History's account was "a later interpolation" and that Jochi only
lost his place as heir after making mistakes during the Khwarazmian campaign.[35]

Map of a large empire spanning much of Central Asia, Persia, and the Middle East
The Khwarazmian Empire c. 1220. Jochi campaigned along the northern border from
east to west; when he reached the Aral Sea, he took his army south to besiege
Gurganj (marked as Urgench).
The Mongol armies, estimated to number 150,000 or 200,000 men, descended upon Otrar
in late 1219. Leaving Chagatai and Ögedei to besiege the town, Genghis took their
younger brother Tolui and traversed the Kyzyl Kum desert to attack the city of
Bukhara.[36] Meanwhile, Jochi was dispatched to march down the Syr Darya river in
the direction of the Khwarazmian capital Gurganj and subdue all the cities en
route, which Genghis intended to become part of Jochi's territories. The towns of
Sighnaq and Asanas offered particularly stiff resistance and their inhabitants were
thus slaughtered, while Jand and Yanikant were occupied without much trouble.[37]
In late 1220, he travelled southwest along the shores of the Aral Sea to Gurganj,
while his brothers Chagatai and Ögedei, having captured Otrar, converged on his
position.[38]

There are contradictory accounts of the siege of Gurganj and Jochi's part in it.
What is certain is that the siege was lengthy, lasting between four and seven
months, and that it was exceptionally fierce: the defiant Khwarazmian defenders
forced the Mongol army to engage in bitter house-by-house urban warfare, with much
of the city destroyed either by burning naphtha or flooding from collapsed dams.
[39] After the city's fall in 1221, its inhabitants were either killed or enslaved.
[40]

The usual narrative of the siege recounts that Jochi and Chagatai quarrelled on how
best to conduct its progress, as Jochi presumed that the rich city would become
part of his domain and wished to damage it as little as possible. Chagatai on the
other hand held no such qualms. When Genghis heard about this infighting, he
ordered that Ögedei be promoted to command his brothers.[41] Atwood argues that
this narrative was a later invention designed to buttress Ögedei's rule as khan of
the empire and that Jochi in reality retained primacy throughout the siege.[42]

Death and legacy

A large brick building with a round bright blue dome.
The "Jochi Mausoleum" in Kazakhstan has traditionally been identified as Jochi's
burial place, but this is likely untrue.
Regardless of the narrative discrepancies, Jochi lost the favour of his father
following the siege.[43] Genghis likely considered it a military failure on account
of its length and destruction; Jochi also erred by not sending his father his
rightful share of the loot.[44] After its conclusion, Chagatai and Ögedei departed
southwards to join their father in his pursuit of the renegade Khwarazmian prince
Jalal al-Din, while Jochi moved north, ostensibly to bring the Qangli to heel in
his new territories, which included the steppes west of the river Chu. Some sources
allege that he preferred to spend his time hunting, an activity he was very greatly
fond of. It is unclear if he ever met his father again.[45]

Although Jochi sent huge numbers of wild asses and 20,000 white horses to Genghis
as a gift c. 1224, relations were steadily worsening because of Jochi's
preoccupation with his territories.[46] On his return home, Genghis ordered Jochi
to join him, but the latter claimed he was too ill to do so. When a traveller
claimed that he was not ill and merely hunting, Genghis resolved to bring him to
heel. Before he could do so, in either 1225 or 1227,[b] news came that Jochi had
died of his illness.[49] One account, likely fabricated, states that Jochi had been
so offended by the destruction at Gurganj that he had made a secret alliance with
the Khwarazmians, and that having found out, Genghis ordered that Jochi be
poisoned.[50]

Batu was confirmed as ruler of his father's territories by Genghis—his elder

brother Orda assumed a junior position, while their younger brothers each took a
strip of land to rule.[51] Jochi's descendants would grow more independent,
eventually ruling over the state known as the Golden Horde.[52] Although a large
mausoleum in Ulytau Region in Kazakhstan has traditionally been identified as the
resting place of Jochi's remains, radiocarbon dating indicates that it was built
much later and that it is not the site of the grave.[53]

References
Notes
At this point in time, the word "Mongols" only referred to the members of one
tribe in northeast Mongolia; because this tribe played a central role in the
formation of the Mongol Empire, their name was later used for all the tribes.[3]
Sources for 1225:[47]
Sources for 1227:[48]
Citations
Atwood 2004, p. 278.
Atwood 2004, p. 456.
Atwood 2004, pp. 389–391.
Broadbridge 2018, pp. 49–50, 57; Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 20–21, 31; May 2018, pp.
23–28.
Broadbridge 2018, p. 58.
Favereau 2021, p. 34; May 2018, pp. 28–30; Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 31–34.
 Ratchnevsky 1991, p. 34; Broadbridge 2018, pp. 46–47; Atwood 2004, p. 347.
Broadbridge 2018, pp. 58–64; Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 34–37; May 2018, pp. 30–31.
Broadbridge 2018, p. 63.
Ratchnevsky 1991, p. 34; May 2022a, p. 55.
May 2018, p. 30; May 2022a, pp. 55–56; Broadbridge 2018, p. 59; Atwood 2004, p.
278.
Favereau 2021, p. 34; Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 35–36; May 2018, p. 30.
Biran 2012, p. 35; May 2022a, p. 56; Atwood 2004, p. 278.
Dunnell 2023, p. 25; Atwood 2004, p. 278.
Favereau 2021, p. 65; Biran 2012, p. 35; Atwood 2004, p. 278.
May 2017, p. 162.
Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 67–69; May 2022a, pp. 59–61; Broadbridge 2018, pp. 78–79.
May 2017, p. 162; May 2022a, p. 61.
Broadbridge 2018, pp. 230–231.
Broadbridge 2018, pp. 229–232; Atwood 2004, p. 202.
May 2018, pp. 302–304.
Atwood 2004, pp. 98–99.
Dunnell 2023, pp. 30–31.
Biran 2012, p. 69; Favereau 2021, pp. 65–66; Favereau & Pochekaev 2023, p. 248.
May 2022b, p. 138; Favereau & Pochekaev 2023, p. 248.
Atwood 2004, p. 502; May 2018, pp. 44–45; May 2022b, p. 139.
May 2018, p. 45; Favereau 2021, pp. 43–44.
Atwood 2004, p. 278; Favereau 2021, pp. 46–47; Favereau & Pochekaev 2023, p. 248.
Atwood 2017, pp. 44–45, 50.
Favereau 2021, p. 48; Dunnell 2023, p. 35; Atwood 2004, p. 278; Atwood 2017, p.
36.
Dunnell 2023, p. 38; May 2018, pp. 58–59.
Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 116–118.
Biran 2012, pp. 54–55.
Atwood 2004, pp. 278, 416; Broadbridge 2018, p. 130; May 2018, p. 69; Ratchnevsky
1991, pp. 125–126.
Broadbridge 2018, p. 131; Dunnell 2023, p. 41; Favereau 2021, p. 63.
Boyle 2007, p. 307; Dunnell 2023, p. 42; Biran 2012, p. 56.
Barthold 1992, p. 414–416; Chambers 1979, p. 10; Favereau 2021, p. 61.
Dunnell 2023, p. 44; Barthold 1992, p. 433.
Atwood 2017, p. 51; Barthold 1992, pp. 434–437.
Ratchnevsky 1991, p. 131; Atwood 2017, p. 51.
Atwood 2017, pp. 52–53; Dunnell 2023, p. 44; Barthold 1992, p. 435; Ratchnevsky
1991, pp. 136–137.
Atwood 2017, pp. 53–54.
Atwood 2017, p. 54.
Favereau 2021, pp. 61–63; Favereau & Pochekaev 2023, p. 248.
Dunnell 2023, p. 44, 47; Atwood 2004, p. 278.
Barthold 1992, p. 455; Atwood 2004, p. 278.
Atwood 2004, p. 278; Broadbridge 2018, p. 169.
Dunnell 2023, p. 47; Favereau & Pochekaev 2023, pp. 248–249.
Ratchnevsky 1991, pp. 136–137; Favereau 2021, p. 76; Dafeng & Jianyi 1998, p. 290.
Ratchnevsky 1991, p. 137; Biran 2012, p. 69; Barthold 1992, p. 458.
Atwood 2004, p. 202; Favereau & Pochekaev 2023, p. 249.
Atwood 2004, pp. 201–202.
Panyushkina et al. 2022.
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Mongol Invasion (Third ed.). New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. ISBN 978-8-1215-0544-
4.
Biran, Michal (2012). Chinggis Khan. Makers of the Muslim World. London: Oneworld
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Volume 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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