Khungtaiji Batur

Erdeni Batur : (actually Qotoqocin Erdeni ba'atur Qungtayiji shortly also Erdeni Batur , † 1653 (. Reg 1634-1653)) was a prince (Tayiji, Taidschi or similar..) Of the oiratischen main stem of Chorosen which to 1640/3 founded the Djungarian khanate .

politics

The son of Khara-Khula was confronted with a changed political situation in the Oirats Confederation. The Oirat Torguten under Khu Urluk had moved to the Ural River and the Oirat Dürbeten had also migrated. The threat from the Khalka Mongols had subsided, partly due to the mutual success of Khara-Khulas and other Oiraten leaders, partly due to the rise of the Manchu , to which the majority of the Mongol leaders submitted .

Khungtaidschi Batur strove to reorganize the Oiraten Confederation under his leadership and at the same time tried to create a counterweight to the Manchu. He dominated the meeting of princes on the Imil River (in the jungle) in 1640, when the Djungarian khanate was founded. Present were u. a. also Khu Urluk from the Torguten with his sons Daichin and Elden and also the Khalka Mongols, as the Chechen Khan Soloj (also: Shului, 1577–1655) and the Tüsiyetü Khan Gombodorz (also: Gömbodorji, 1594–1655) at a joint Politics against the Manchu were interested. There were forty-four princes in all. They agreed u. a. to a common right. From that time on, Khungtaidschi Batur's association referred to itself as the Djungaren, i.e. H. as the left wing ( Jüün Ghar ), possibly because the Mongol tribes previously belonging to the left wing (including the Chakhar ) had submitted to the Manchu and were no longer worthy of this designation. The cohesion did not last: Khundelen Tayiji (d. 1648) from the Khoshuud and Dayan Ombo Tayiji from the Dürbeten refused to submit and a few years later moved to the upper reaches of the Ural River to avoid a feared attack by Khungtaidschi Batur. And ultimately the Khalka had no interest in subordinating themselves to the non-Genghisid Khungtaiji Batur.

Khungtaidschi Batur had a stone capital built with Qubak-saryan in 1636/38, on the Imil near the later Chuguchak (also: Tarbagatai). It was divided into different districts for the individual population groups and surrounded by a 6 meter high wall, but initially only housed around 300 people. There were also fortifications with four Chinese cannons, a monastery and the settlement of peasants for supplies. But after his death the city fell into disrepair. The prince also stayed on the Ili or in the region southwest of Kobdo . As a complement to the nomadic way of life, he promoted agriculture and trade, e.g. B. with the Russian cities in Siberia (Tobolsk, Tyumen, Tara, Tomsk).

Like most of the Oirate princes, the prince was a follower of Buddhism. The title Khungtaidschi had been bestowed on him by the Dalai Lama because he supported the Yellow Church around 1638 together with Gushri Khan of the Khoshuud .

In a westerly direction, Khungtaiji Batur advanced against the Kazakhs . During his first campaign in 1635 he was able to capture Jahangir, the son of Khan Ishim (Yesim, ruled 1598–1628 / 35), who somehow escaped. In 1643/44 Jahangir (possibly still with the help of the Khoshuud leaders Ablai Tayiji and Uchirtu Secen) was attacked again and lost two tribes to the jungles. But he returned the favor with a sudden attack in which 600 Kazakhs, some of whom were armed with firearms, destroyed a fifth of Khungtaiji Batur's army. Since he felt the lack of support from the Khoshuud in 1643/44 as treason, Khungtaidschi Batur forged plans against them, which became known, resulted in the defection of Khundelen- and Ablay Tayiji and obviously prevented a repetition of the attack on the Kazakhs. Ablay even sought support against Khungtaidschi Batur from Moscow, which promised him a division of musketeers.

Around 1640, Khungtaidschi Batur raised tribute to the Kyrgyz on the Yenisei , parallel to the Russians .

Remarks

1. ↑ On March 14, 1636, the Manchu ruler Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, with forty-nine princes from sixteen Mongol tribes present. The Khalka princes Soloj and Gombodorz made contact with Hung Tayiji and from 1636 paid a symbolic tribute of eight white horses and a white camel, but otherwise kept their distance. It was only between 1688 and 1691 that the Khalka submitted to the protection of the Manchu emperors of China.
2. ↑ He was not a Genghiside and therefore could not become Khan without provoking resistance, but had to be content with the title Khungtaidschi . According to Baibagas (d. Approx. 1630), his brother Gushri Khan (d. 1655), both from the Oirat Choschuten and descendants of Jochi Qasar, a brother of Genghis Khan, was the nominal Khan. See Perdue: China Marches West , p. 105.
3. ↑ See M. Weiers, Geschichte der Mongolen, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 185ff.
4. ↑ His repeated requests for firearms were refused in 1639 and 1650.
5. ↑ These were the sons of Baibagas (died approx. 1630) and nephews of the above. Khundelen Tayiji (d. 1648). Uchirtu Secen sat on Lake Zaisan and was only attacked and killed by Khungtaiji Batur's successor Galdan in 1677 , which marked the extensive reunification of the tribes.

literature

• Peter Perdue : China Marches West. The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia . University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2005, ISBN 0-674-01684-X .
• Michael Khodarkovsky: Where Two Worlds Met. The Russian State and the Kalmyk Nomads, 1600-1771. University Press, Ithaca 1992, ISBN 0-8014-2555-7 .
• Michael Weiers (Ed.): The Mongols. Contributions to their history . Scientific book club, Darmstadt 1986, ISBN 3-534-03579-8 .
• René Grousset : The steppe peoples. Attila, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane ("L'empire des steppes", 1979). Magnus-Verlag, Essen 1975.
• Henry Hoyle Howorth: History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century, Part 2: The So-Called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia . Franklin Press, New York 1972 (reprint of the London 1880 edition).