Töregene Khatun

Töregene Khatun ( ?–1265 ) was a very high ranking Khatun and ruled as regent of the Mongol Empire from the death of her husband Ögedei Khan in 1241 until the election of her eldest son Güyük Khan in 1246. She was effectively the Great Khatun (female version of "Great Khan") of the Mongol Empire as temporary successor of Ogedei Khan at his death.

She was effective in the exercise of power in a society that was traditionally led only by men. She managed to balance the various competing powers within the empire, and even within the extended family of the descendants of Genghis Khan, over a 5 year period in which she not only ruled the empire, but set the stage for the ascension of her son Güyük as Great Khan.

Soon after Ogodei died in 1241, Toregene assumed complete power as regent and dismissed her late husband's ministers and replaced them with her own, the most important of whom was another woman, Fatima, a Tajik or Persian captive from the Middle Eastern campaign.

The Mongols practiced polygamy. Ögedei Khan's favorite son was Kochu, who was his through another wife, and he had nominated Kochu's son Siremun to succeed him. Töregene opposed the choice in favor of Güyük, but despite the enormous influence she had on him, she was unable to persuade Ögedei to change his selection. She did, however, achieve her aims through cunning. When the lesser khans appointed her regent after her husband's death, she appointed her favorites to high positions in the imperial household and initiated what was to be a successful scheme to elevate her son Güyük. She managed to keep a Kurultai from being held until it was sure her son Güyük was favored by the majority.

During Toregene's reign, foreign dignitaries arrived from the distant corners of the empire to her capital at Karakorum or to her nomadic imperial camp. Emirs, governors and grandees jostled along the same roads as princes and kings.

The Seljuk sultan came from Turkey — as did representatives of the Caliph of Abbasid in Baghdad. So did two claimants to the throne of Georgia: David Ulu, the legitimate son of the late king — and David Narin, the illegitimate son of the same king.

The highest-ranking European delegate was Alexander Nevsky's father, Grand Prince Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir and Suzdal, who died suspiciously just after dining with Toregene Khatun.

Toregene passed power onto to her inept son Guyuk in 1246, but within 18 months, he lay dead under still unexplained circumstances. In the continuing political struggles at the center of the empire, the fringes began to unravel.

References

* [http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4601 Jack Weatherford - The Women Who Ruled the Mongol Empire]