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Jack Weatherford

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire Paperback – March 1, 2011

by Jack Weatherford (Author)

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“A fascinating romp through the feminine side of the infamous Khan clan” (Booklist) by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan

“Enticing . . . hard to put down.”—Associated Press

The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. The daughters of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section about the queens from the Secret History of the Mongols, and, with that one act, the dynasty of these royals had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record.

With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, a groundbreaking and magnificently researched narrative, Jack Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Crown
Publication date

March 1, 2011
Dimensions

5.17 x 0.69 x 7.98 inches
ISBN-10

0307407160
ISBN-13

978-0307407160
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“Uplifting, entertaining history.”—Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Jack Weatherford is the New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World; Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World; The Secret History of the Mongol Queens; and The History of Money, among other acclaimed books. A specialist in tribal peoples, he was for many years a professor of anthropology at Macalaster College in Minnesota and divides his time between the US and Mongolia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

It Takes a Hero

Arenegade Tatar with the knife of vengeance hidden in his clothes slowly crept toward the camp of Genghis Khan's elderly mother, Hoelun. He sought revenge against Genghis Khan, who clans annihilated the ancient Tatar had, killed many of their warriors, married their women, and adopted their children, even changing their names to make them Mongol.

As a military and political leader with many enemies, Genghis Khan lived in a well-guarded encampment where bodyguards had strict orders to kill anyone who crossed a precise point without permission. Hoelun, however, lived apart in her own camp, and although she now had ten thousand soldiers and their families assigned to her control, at her advanced age she let her youngest son take her part of the army out on missions with her eldest son, the khan, while she stayed home.

Despite her rank, Hoelun's camp differed little from that of any other Mongol nomad. It consisted of a small collection of gers, the round tent of the steppes, positioned in a straight line with the doors facing south. Often called a "yurt" in the West, the Mongol ger was made of thick layers of felt wool pressed into large blankets, and could be packed up and moved as the seasons changed or as whim dictated.

The clearest sign that this was the imperial camp of the khan's mother was the presence of Hoelun's white camel and black cart. Women owned the gers and all the carts, but as befits a nomadic people, a woman was better known by her mode of transportation than by her home. Younger women rode horses; older women drove carts. Unless gravely ill or seriously injured, a man could never ride on a woman's cart, much less drive it.

Mongol carts of this time consisted of a small wooden bed above the axle and two wheels. Extending from the front were the two long shafts, between which the draft animal pulled the cart. All carts had the same black covering and looked much alike, but a woman showed her individuality in the choice and training of the draft animal. Common women drove a lumbering ox or a woolly yak before their heavily laden carts, but in her older years Hoelun had become fond of a high-stepping white camel to cart her around in the impressive manner appropriate for the mother of the emperor. She was known to travel long distances very quickly and even to travel at night. Since camels of any sort, much less white ones, were not very common north of the Gobi, her camp was easy to find and identify.

As the Tatar approached the camp, few men could be seen except her guards, Jelme and Jetei. Befitting her status, Hoelun had men rather than dogs to guard the area around her ger, and since her son Genghis Khan had a great fear of dogs, she kept none around to sound the alarm of an intruder. The Tatar waited until an opportune moment when the guards were distracted. The two men intended to butcher a hornless black ox, which they would do by knocking it unconscious with a single are blow to the middle of the forehead; if that blow did not kill the animal, they plunged the knife into the back of the neck or the throat. Since such a profane act could never be done near an entryway or in the presence of the sun, the guards dragged the beast toward the shadowed north side behind the ger. The ox would be out of sight of the door, but so would they.

As soon as the guards passed out of sight, the would-be assassin headed straight for the door, which consisted of a felt blanket draped over an opening about four feet high. The Tatar raised the flap and entered.

Hoelun had no reason to suspect the cruel intent of the bedraggled young man standing before her, and, although the mother of the most powerful chief on the steppe, she continued to observe the simple traditions of hospitality followed by every nomadic family. Any traveler arriving at her tent could expect hot food and rest before continuing across the steppe. A gentle fire of dried animal dung, the focal point of the ger and the symbol of the family, burned constantly in the center of the open space beneath a smoke hole that also served as the only window in the structure. Milk and water always stood ready, awaiting the arrival of any lost hunters, chilled herders, returning warriors, and other passing strangers in need of food, warmth, or simple human companionship. If no fresh meat was available, dried beef and yak hung in the rafters; by adding these to water, Hoelun could produce a nourishing soup within minutes. She might offer the traveler a bowl of broth or a small snack of sheep tail fat that could be held over the glowing dung to cook. Soup was their staple, and the Mongols rarely added herbs, spices, or flavoring other than trace amounts of salt.

Although her husband had been killed by the Tatars nearly twenty-five years earlier, she would not have been suspicious of this Tatar now. The Tatar tribe had been thoroughly incorporated into the Mongol nation. Genghis Khan had married a Tartar queen and, at her request, had also accepted her elder sister as a wife. In an effort to set a good example for other women of the tribe, Hoelun had adopted a Tatar orphan, raising him to become one of the first people to read and write the Mongolian language, using the recently borrowed Uighur script. He had grown into a respected leader, and, although not a great warrior, he would soon become the supreme judge of the nation.

When the Tatar arrived, Hoelun was alone in the ger with Altani, a girl about ten to fourteen years old. Altani may have been one of Hoelun's granddaughters, or perhaps an adopted child.

Hoelun and Altani remained on the eastern side of the tent, where women did most of their work and kept their tools. By custom, even the humblest visitor could enter unannounced and sit quietly by the door on the western (the male) side of the ger. The Tatar did precisely that, assuming the place assigned for an ordinary man, servant, beggar, or other humble petitioner.

The inside of the ger was normally a quiet haven. People whispered. Gestures had to be kept to a minimum in an environment where a simple toss of the hand or flick of the wrist might hit grandmother in the head, knock over a bowl of hot tea, or even bring down a low ceiling rafter or part of the wall. To make the body as small as possible when seated, Mongols rarely stretched out their legs, and never did so in the direction of the fire. A male usually folded one leg under his body and drew the knee of the other leg up to his chest, wrapping his arm around it or even resting his chin on it. Inside the ger, everyone sought to become as unimposing as was practicable.

Even if Hoelun had known that the visitor carried a knife, she would not have been surprised or alarmed. Herders often concealed knives and other tools inside their garments. Men and women wore the same basic clothing, and it was ideal for hiding things. Large leather boots came up to the knees, but they were spacious enough inside to allow for thick strips of winter insulation of fur and felt. The main clothing was the deel: a large tunic coat held in place by a massive leather belt or cloth sash, while a few knotted buttons secured the top over the right breast. The most noted characteristic of Mongol clothing was its bulky size, as it was made for insulation and for comfort when riding in cold weather. The deel was always large enough to enclose a child, a lamb, or anything else requiring protection. Because of the fierce cold, herders packed an assortment of goods inside the deel, such as water canteens and food, to prevent them from freezing.

The sleeves were so large and long that a sword could be easily hidden in one. Because the herders' hands needed to be free for work, they did not wear gloves; instead they had wide, open sleeves that hung down several inches past the fingertips. While riding horses in the winter, a Mongol pulled the reins up into the sleeve of the coat so as to have warmth without sacrificing the sensitive details of holding the reins firmly against the naked flesh of the fingers.

Hoelun, Altani, and the Tatar would have been dressed nearly identically except for their hair. All the decorative and sexual symbolism of their appearance was concentrated on the head. Women pulled the hair high on their head and packed it with animal fat to prevent lice. To make the forehead appear large, they emphasized it by smearing it with yellow makeup. By contrast, men wore a small clump of bangs in the middle of the forehead directly above the nose. Aside from the bangs, men shaved most of the head except for two large clumps just above each ear. They never cut these tufts, but instead braided them into "horns" that hung down to the shoulders and often grew so long that they had to be looped back over the ear.

The Great Khan's mother knew how to deal with men and certainly did not fear them; she had already raised ten boys, including the four she had with her husband, two that he had with another wife, plus the four she adopted after becoming a widow. Even now she had two children staying with her, and at least one of her sons or grandsons was probably about the same age as the Tatar who was now within an arm's reach of her.

In her old age, Hoelun was raising not only Altani but also Tolui, Genghis Khan's youngest son and her youngest grandson. Tolui had just reached the age when he could run around outside the ger by himself. From the time children could crawl, they needed to be constrained. Infants were held gently and passed constantly from person to person or, when necessary, were tightly tied with a rope to keep them away from the flames of the fire.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown; NO-VALUE edition (March 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0307407160
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307407160
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.17 x 0.69 x 7.98 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #113,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Historical China Biographies
- #10 in Central Asia History
- #72 in Chinese History (Books)

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Jack Weatherford

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Jack Weatherford is the New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed The world The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Genghis Khan and the Quest for God, and The History of Money. His books have been published in more than thirty languages.

In 2006 he spoke at the United Nations at the invitation of Russia and India to honor the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongol nation by Genghis Khan. In 2007 President Enkhbayar of Mongolia awarded him the Order of the Polar Star. In 2022 on the 860th anniversary of the birth of Genghis Khan, President Khurelsukh made him the first foreigner to receive Mongolia’s highest honor the Order of Chinggis Khan which had only been awarded fifteen times in Mongolian history.

Although the original Spanish edition of Indian Givers was banned in some parts of Latin America, nearly a quarter of a century later in 2014 Bolivia honored him for this work on the indigenous people of the Americas with the Order of the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, Antonio José Sucre and named him Honorary Cultural Ambassador of Bolivia’s Casa de Libertad in the Constitutional Capital Sucre, and honorary citizen of Potosí.

In 1964 he graduated from Dreher High School with Walker Pearce to whom he was married from 1970 until her death from multiple sclerosis in 2013. After a graduate degree from the University of South Carolina, he earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego with additional graduate work at Frankfurt University and Duke University. He worked as legislative assistant to Senator John Glenn and taught for twenty-nine years at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he held the DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Chair of Anthropology.

He now lives at Tur Hurah on the Bogd Khan Mountain in Mongolia.

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R. B. Nesin

The other half of the Chinggis Khan story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2011

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If you are a layperson, like myself, just getting into the rich and amazing history of the Mongol people, this is an absolute MUST read. This is the side of Chinggis Khan you probably never see in other books.

The title is something of a misnomer. All that's left of the secret history of the Mongol queens is one line: "Let us reward our female offspring." What the author has done is an amazing and inspiring job of piecing together what would probably have been in the secret history had it survived. And, what an amazing story it is! It is the story of Hoelun and Borte, the mother and wife of the Great Khan, who advised, managed, and used their political influence to help him build the largest empire in human history. It's the story of Alaqai, Al-Altun and Chechiyegen, his daughters, who helped run, keep the peace and hold together the empire he built; at least until his sons decided to tear it apart, violating every law and social more of the Mongol people and Chenggis Khan in the process. And, even in this disintegrating mass, granddaughters and great granddaughters were assisting their husbands, clans, or themselves in an effort to reunite or reconquer their Mongol people, and re-establish his empire. It is the story of Sorkhokatani, the Christian Mongol queen who came close to restoring Mongol unity, only to destroy it all in a quest for vengeance. It is the story of Khutulun, the much fabled Mongol warrior princess, who vowed never to marry any man who could not best her in wrestling. And, finally, it is the story of Manduhai the Wise, the greatest queen of them all! A woman who came from nothing and who was never expected to amount to much; who, at the ripe old age of twenty-two, stepped up to become queen and took as her husband and Khan, a sickly seven year old boy and turn him into probably the second greatest Khan the Mongols ever produced. And she did this with no wealth, no army and supporters ready to bolt at the earliest opportunity, and only her own wits and determination to guide her. And, in the space of less than twenty years, she rebuilt the nation Chenggis' sons had lost, and his grandsons had never been able to reacquire.

And that brings me to my one criticism of this fascinating book: It's too short. There is so much here, and the story of these queens, princesses and pretenders is so fascinating, you can't help but want to hear more. In many of the books I've read, they mention Hoelun and Borte, for instance, advising Chenggis during his ascent and in maintaining peace between his otherwise warring Mongol tribes. Nowhere else have I seen it explicitly laid out. What they said, how they helped, what they did. This is a collection of the some of the most fascinating and amazing women in history, and ones you've probably never heard of. Each of these women deserves their own book. You can't help but want more. Hopefully, the author, Jack Weatherford, will take that as a hint!

I bought this book on pre-order and waited PATIENTLY through a couple delays. I am extremely happy I did. You will wish you'd bought it sooner! Mr. Weatherford has written this book for the layperson, making it an easy read, but he has done it with more than a glancing nod to the scholarship. It is probably as detailed and accurate as one can get given the problems of reconstructing records which were destroyed, heavily edited or omitted altogether. I'm sure there's a story in everything he had to do to piece together what he got to write this, but even so, this is not a sketch of a group of women, this is a full on history replete with blank spaces waiting to be discovered and filled in. This is one history you will not be able to put down or be satisfied enough not to want more.

5 people found this helpful

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Nancy

I loved this book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 16, 2022

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I had seen a show about Ghengis Khan and decided that I needed to know more. When I saw this book, I immediately bought it. I’m so glad I did, I really enjoyed it.

It contains a lot of info on Ghengis Khan, but then it follows his family for hundreds of years. Fascinating stories that I never knew I needed, but I’m grateful to have learned of them.

Thank you to the author for this amazing piece of work.

One person found this helpful

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IrisRose

In defense of the cover and illustrations

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2011

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Ordinarily, I would put a reaction to another reviewer in a comment after his/her post. But I think that the point I am making is important enough to have its own post. The information I am putting here was taken from Weatherford's Acknowledgments at the end of the book. When younger, I usually ignored introductions, forewords, prefaces, and acknowledgements. It is a severe mistake to do so. Surprisingly important information is often contained within these sections of the book.
I have to say that my first reaction to the pen and brush drawings was delight. I was impressed with the apparent simplicity, the grace, and the essence and skill of the drawings--so much so, that I have thought about taking them from the book and putting them in simple frames to hang side by side. I have never felt this way before about an illustration.
Afer reading the acknowledgments, I am even more impressed! They are 'name-drawings!' That is, the brushstrokes not only capture the essence of the queen, but her name is also included, coded, into the drawing. Now that is remarkable! And it makes the illustration even more important and impressive. The cover is, to me, appropriate, and well done. Since the book is about the Mongol Queens, it depicts perhaps the greatest/most powerful/effective of them. She has abandoned her headdress and put on a warrior's helmet. She is horseback, as a warrior had to be, and she is in the act of firing her arrow. It says so many important things about her.
I don't want to insult the reviewer who was disappointed in the drawings, but I surely think that these are superb and support the book beautifully. I liked the drawings anyway a lot!) but reading the acknowledgements gave me great appreciation of them.

117 people found this helpful

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An Important and Little-Known Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2015

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I learned so much from this book.

Have you ever seen the movie, Genghis Khan, with Stephen Boyd? I saw it years ago and laughed at one scene, where one of his warriors tried to carry off a woman, and Genghis Khan said no, that will not be allowed. I thought it was a fictional attempt to make the character more likeable. Imagine my surprise reading this book – it was true.

Genghis Khan was not a kind and gentle man, but he believed in balances in nature and in life, and he appreciated the important contributions made by women in his life. In fact, his mother’s family and his first wife’s family were much kinder to him than his father’s family. He also felt his life had been saved by the female forces in nature.

GK groomed his daughters to rule kingdoms, marrying them off to kings and princes, but insisting the daughters be in charge. For the most part, they served him well, in fact, better than his sons.

After his death, the story of how women were viewed by the Mongol rulers varies greatly. There are some serious ups and downs. In some cases, women were treated horribly, viciously. However, a few of the queens became renowned and their legends are still told in Mongolia today.

This is a fascinating book.

54 people found this helpful

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Mason

Feminist Genghis Khan was a surprise...but a welcome one

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 20, 2021

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This book has pages.

The pages are made of paper.

What's really cool is what's on the paper though.

A nice summary of the history of the Mongol queens, going into detail on not only the achievements of the Khan, but also those of his children and grandchildren. It surprises me that Genghis Khan was relatively modern in terms of religious tolerance and women's rights, and I suspect it will impress a lot of others as well. Nicely written book, definitely worth reading if you have an interest in Mongolia and its people.

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Judi Moore

Mongolian girl power

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 26, 2017

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You have to persevere a bit with this. At the outset I thought the book was left-over research looking for a purpose, but it is not so. Weatherford’s first (very interesting) premise is that Genghis Khan married his daughters into various existing small khanates all over Mongolia (utilising the Mongolian custom of exogamy). As his empire grew he continued the practice over a lot of what is now China. The daughters were put in charge while the husbands were serving with Genghis Khan’s armies. Their administrative talents (learned from their dad) and the family connection meant not only that they administered ably, but also actively supported Genghis Khan and each other. After the great khan’s death his sons took to fighting among themselves, marginalising and murdering their sisters, and the empire collapsed.

Weatherford next looks into various other powerful women in the area, in the tradition of those early daughters of Genghis Khan. Finally he explores the life, rule and legacy of Manduhai Khatun – whom I had not come across before – but who proves to be a very clever woman indeed.
En passant he deals with how the later Mongol empire related to its neighbours and Europe.

He has had access to many more documents than the ‘Secret History of the Mongols’ (to which his title pays homage) and has chased his Mongolian queens through many primary sources. These sources become more plentiful as the centuries roll on, writing becomes more common and documents proliferate.

The brushwork illustrations of Mongol queens in all their finery at the beginning of each section are a real delight (and quite different from the rather androgynous archer on the front cover).

There is a good bibliography and serviceable index.

First published 2010.

5 people found this helpful

A. G. Lockhart

Women behind the Throne

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 22, 2012

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Professor Weatherford propounds a most interesting theory which is very much in accord with my own thinking: while the men were away making war, it was the women who ruled. The women in the Mongol Empire were emancipated to an extent not found in other societies. Though their role was complementary to that of the men, they had a great deal of power and influence. By giving his daughters respect and position, Genghis Khan showed himself to have been less of the barbarian and more of the statesman than most people credit. Weatherford's book shows that there was another side to the peculiar Mongol marriage laws. My only regret is that he did not widen his study to other prominent Mongol princesses, for example, Sorqoqtani.

6 people found this helpful

C. G. Jaques

Fascinating research

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 7, 2011

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When I started this book I had only intended to read as far as Khubilai Khan's era but then discovered "Manduhai Khatun" and became totally absorbed to the very end. How one appreciates the enormous amount of work that Jack Weatherford has put into his two books on the Mongols - "Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" and now "The Secret History of the Mongol Queens". Work that it would be impossible for an amateur to undertake. I recommend this book very highly to those interested in Genghis Khan but also to a wider audience interested in the role that women have played in history. As I finished the book I couldn't help wondering whether Genghis Khan was able to look down with pride at what Manduhai had achieved.

5 people found this helpful

Christopher Barclay

Superb

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 5, 2015

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This was a most interesting and surprising book. I have read several books on Genghis Khan and the Mongols but this book presented a quite different - and convincing - picture of the empire. The emphasis upon marriage and diplomacy shows how such a tiny country could establish such an empire, Purely military skills - however impressive - would not have been enough. The idea that the daughters of Genghis were actually better administrators than his sons is another part of the case. The book goes well beyond that, bringing to life impressive and largely forgotten queens.

One person found this helpful

Happily Retired

Glad I bought

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 17, 2015

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fascinating book, well written and an unusual slant on the Mongol history. Glad I bought it

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