Ligdan Khan

Ligdan Khan (* 1592 , † 1634 ) was the last independent khagan of the Mongols . With his fall, Mongolia gradually submitted to Manchu rule.

government

Ligdan Khan came from the descendants of Batu-Möngke Dayan Khan's eldest son Toro Bolod († 1523) and as such was nominally the Khagan of the Mongols, as this dignity was passed on in his family. In practice, however, he was only the tribal leader of the Chakhar on the Liao River (in Liaodong ). He dominated the left, i.e. H. the eastern wing of the Mongols and the other Mongol tribes opposed his claims to power as well as those of his immediate predecessors. Similar to his relatives among the Khalka , Tümed and Ordos, Ligdan Khan was a promoter of Lamaism in Mongolia.

The Khagan fought since 1619 unsuccessfully against the growing pressure of the Manchu under Nurhaci († 1626) and Hung Tayiji (also: Abahai, † 1643). In that year Nurhaci had destroyed the Yehe-Jurchen , with whom the Khagan had a marriage alliance, and had also achieved an impressive military success against Ming China . Ligdan thereupon warned Nurhaci in a letter, but he was not impressed and in a letter in reply he calculated his military weakness (1619/20).

At first both sides avoided war against each other and instead tried to secure the military preponderance through multi-layered alliances and counter-alliances with the Mongol tribes . It seems that Ligdan Khan and his tribe showed little delicacy in these rivalries. He arbitrarily stole herds and families from his followers and was unable to subordinate his subjects in a peaceful manner, but instead held them together by force. In the mid-1620s, Ligdan Khan's support in the left wing began to dwindle seriously and his revenge campaigns against the renegades were unsuccessful as he faced the reaction of the Manchu and the outrage of other Mongol leaders. In 1628 he suffered a heavy defeat against the tribes of the right wing: Qaracin, Tümed and Ordos, which were also joined by the Abaya and numerous Khalka. At the beginning of the 1630s, other groups from the left wing left him.

When Hung Tayiji officially declared war on him in the spring of 1632, his power base had already been eroded and he was only supported by the Northern Khalka, who were under Chogtu († 1637). Ligdan Khan had to flee with his Chakhar (around 100,000 people) and died in 1634 on the Kukunor , pursued by a Manchu army . His widow and underage sons Ejei and Abunai then became a plaything of different interests and fell into the hands of the Manchu. Ejei (1622–1641) gave Hung Tayiji the Yüan imperial seal - allegedly recovered through miraculous circumstances - and thus the khanate.

literature

• Michael Weiers (Ed.), The Mongols: Contributions to their History , Darmstadt 1986