Borte is mentioned throughout The Secret History of the Mongols, including her early betrothal to Genghis, her kidnapping and resulting pregnancy with Jochi, and her decision to separate Genghis from Jamuka at the beginning of their feud. I took liberties with her role as a seer, for while modern Mongolia has female shamans, there is no mention of Borte fulfilling that role, although she did loathe Genghis’ seer, Teb Tengeri. Also, while it is unlikely that Jamuka was ever in love with Borte, he did help Genghis retrieve her from the Merkid and scorned his own wife as a “babbling fool.” Many clan leaders claimed to have sent their daughters to marry Genghis, but the historical texts typically record only four official wives: Borte, Yesui, Yesugen, and a young woman named Khulan, Genghis’ favorite wife in his old age. However, a Naiman woman named Gurbesu is sometimes referred to as another of Genghis’ wives, and it was her story I chose to include. Regardless of Genghis’ number of official and unofficial wives, Borte remained his first wife, his “wise queen,” and the mother of all his male heirs. And while it’s unlikely that Borte was present at Genghis’ deathbed, I couldn’t resist the chance to allow her to usher her beloved warrior husband into the next life.
The historical record confirms that Genghis had at least six daughters but it remains tight-lipped about the identities of their mothers. In a story with a complicated character list, I chose to focus only on Alaqai and Al-Altun in order to highlight the differences between two of Genghis’ daughters. One of his daughters (likely his youngest, although history failed to record her name) did order the destruction of Nishapur in revenge for her husband’s death in battle, and Alaqai argued for mercy when the Onggud revolted against her, marrying first Ala-Qush, then Jingue, and finally Boyahoe. The details of Alaqai’s death are lost to history, so I chose to have her survive long enough to see Sorkhokhtani’s son installed as Khan.
History mentions Fatima, a Tajik or Persian captive from the campaign in the Middle East who went on to become Toregene’s closest adviser. The siege of Nishapur is recorded in great detail, so it’s possible that Fatima was taken as a slave during that battle and later became Toregene’s “sharer of intimate confidences.” While most scholars agree that Shigi was the author of The Secret History of the Mongols, it appears that the original text ended in 1228 CE, after Genghis’ death, and information about Ogodei’s reign was added at a later time, allowing me to imagine that perhaps someone else—Fatima, in this case—was a coauthor, or even wrote a concurrent history. The relationship between Shigi and Toregene is entirely a product of my imagination, but Shigi did serve as judge and historian during both Genghis’ and Ogodei’s reigns, and Toregene ruled as regent until Güyük came of age. Tragically, the end of Fatima’s story is based in fact, and imagining her brutal demise at Güyük’s hands was the most horrific part of this story to write. Toregene disappears from history shortly after refusing to allow Güyük to arrest Fatima, and Shigi died of unknown causes in 1250 CE, four years after Toregene. She may have died of natural causes, although at least one Muslim historian claims that Güyük was so villainous as to have his own mother assassinated.
Sorkhokhtani Beki is far from a household name, but Genghis’ wily daughter-in-law deserves the accolade of being one of the most influential women in history. It was she who served as regent for Genghis’ ancestral lands after Tolui’s death and then maneuvered her sons in a power grab against Güyük and Oghul Ghaimish, finally organizing a ruthless purge of Güyük’s supporters to ensure that Möngke, and later Kublai, would remain secure on their thrones.
While I tried to remain true to history, the scope and staggering cast of characters in this book forced me to take some liberties. For ease of reading, I severely condensed the timeline in the latter half of the book. So while the major events are in the correct order, they unfolded over the course of many more years or even decades. Several historical characters have been omitted from the story, including Borte’s other daughters with Genghis, and Toregene and Sorkhokhtani’s other sons. While Al- Altun was ruler of the Uighurs and one of Genghis’ eldest daughters, some scholars believe that it was Genghis’ youngest daughter, Tumelun, who ordered the destruction of Nishapur. I chose to combine both historical women into one daughter: Al-Altun. In addition, I combined Jochi’s character with that of Jelme, one of Genghis’ adopted brothers. It was Jelme who was present when Genghis was injured in the neck, and not Jochi.
This book is the result of much sweat and tears. (And not just my own!) My agent, Marlene Stringer, encouraged me to keep writing about women whom few people have ever heard about, and my editor, Ellen Edwards, made this novel much more than I ever could have achieved alone. Eileen Chetti did a phenomenal job copyediting for continuity. My fearless first readers—Renee Yancy, Jade Timms, and Stephanie Dray—read the terrifying first draft of this novel and listened to me sob over cyberspace when I swore that Genghis Khan and his women were going to conquer me. I’m indebted to Mariah McCoy for allowing me to live vicariously through her travels to Mongolia, and I never would have survived to write the last page without the moral support of Kristi Senden, Megan Williams, Claire Torbensen, Eugenia Merrifield, Cindy Davis, and Katie Hill. I promise to keep plying you all with cookies if you keep listening to me rant about obscure historical figures.
My family deserves a parade for their patience in putting up with me while I fought to weave the stories of these very different, very foreign women into one coherent novel. Thank you, Dad, Daine, and Hollie, for your enthusiastic support. Stephen, you deserve several very large statues for never giving up on me, and for keeping the freezer stocked with ice cream cake to fuel my late-night writing sessions.
Lastly, to Isabella . . . You’re my little monkey, but you’re already growing up to be as fierce as any tiger queen.
Further Reading on the Empire of Genghis Khan
Avery, Martha. Women of Mongolia. Seattle, WA: Asian Art and Archaeology, 1996.
Axworthy, Michael. Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran. New York: Basic Books, 2008.
Fitzhugh, William, et al. Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2013.
Foltz, Richard. Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
Khan, Paul, translator. The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan. Boston: Cheng and Tsui Company, 1998.
Khayyám, Omar. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald. 1889.
Maulana Jalalu-’D-Din Muhammed I Rumi. Masnavi i Ma’Navi, translated by E. H. Whinfield. 1898.
Polo, Marco. The Travels. New York: Penguin Classics, 1958.
Rossabi, Morris. The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Stewart, Stanley. In the Empire of Genghis Khan. Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2000.
Waugh, Louisa. Hearing Birds Fly: A Nomadic Year in Mongolia. London: Abacus, 2003.
Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004.
Weatherford, Jack. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2010.
Whitfield, Susan. Life Along the Silk Road. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999.
William of Rubruck. The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Part of the World, 1253–1255, translated by W. W. Rockhill. 1900.
PHOTO BY KATHERINE SCHMELING PHOTOGRAPHY
Stephanie Thornton is a writer and history teacher who has been obsessed with infamous women from ancient history since she was twelve. She lives with her husband and daughter in Alaska, where she is at work on her next novel.
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A CONVERSATION WITH STEPHANIE THORNTON
Q. What a terrific novel! Am I correct in think
ing that no one has ever before fictionalized the story of Genghis Khan’s women? What made you want to tell their story?
A. While there are a number of novels about Genghis Khan, I’m not aware of any that focus solely on his women. I actually chanced upon both of Jack Weatherford’s nonfiction books and was especially intrigued by The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire. We all know the name Genghis Khan, but few people know anything about his wives and daughters. It seemed to me that these women were begging to have their story told, and I was happy to oblige!
Q. What do you think distinguished the women of ancient Mongolia from women of other times and places?
A. There are a number of exceptionally accomplished women throughout ancient history—Pharaoh Hatshepsut, Empress Theodora, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, to name a few—but as a general rule, Mongol women had to be incredibly tough to survive not only the harsh environment of the steppes, but also the often brutal lives that involved raiding and, later, violent political intrigue. These women truly were the rulers of the hearth and home, raising the children, tending the animals, and performing the backbreaking labor of eking out a living on Mongolia’s grasslands. Giovanni DiPlano Carpini, an envoy from Pope Innocent IV, claimed that Mongol women “carry quiver and bows . . . they drive carts and repair them, load camels, and are quick and vigorous in all their tasks.” In addition, we have records of Genghis’ wives occasionally accompanying him during his conquests and evidence of Mongolian women being present at various sieges, such as Genghis’ youngest daughter, who ordered the slaughter at Nishapur.
Q. It’s interesting to me that The Secret History of the Mongols, a major source for your novel, is a historical text focusing almost solely on the exploits of Genghis, his sons, and his generals. Do we know how the manuscript survived, what language it was originally written in, and when it was first translated?
A. Likely first written in the Uighur script, the family history is a mix of history, folklore, and poetry that was begun shortly after Genghis’ death in 1227 CE. Only members of the royal family had access to the text, and certain sections of the manuscript were censored during antiquity, namely, the portions dealing with Genghis’ daughters. Jack Weatherford recounts one section in which Genghis Khan states, “Let us reward our female offspring,” yet the next section of the text has been removed. While Borte’s role in Genghis’ early life is faithfully chronicled, the manuscript remains mysteriously silent about the role of the Khan’s daughters.
The earliest translations of The Secret History of the Mongols were written in Chinese, and the text was translated into modern Mongolian from 1915 to 1917, and finally published in English by Francis Woodman Cleaves in 1982. Interestingly, during World War II, the Soviets, Germans, and Japanese all sought translations of the then recently discovered text in order to glean military knowledge from the conquests of Genghis Khan, and during the Cold War, the Russians sought to suppress the manuscript to avoid promoting Mongolian patriotism.
Q. You make Genghis Khan a likable character, despite his violent conquest of vast stretches of territory and his responsibility for untold human slaughter. I’ve also heard that an astonishing number of people on the earth carry some of his DNA. If success is defined by biology, then that must make him one of the most successful men to have ever lived! You suggest that on the plus side, he ushered in the rule of law, record keeping, and methods of communication over vast distances, and later, his daughters built hospitals and schools. Ultimately, what legacy did the empire of Genghis Khan and his descendants leave behind?
A. One of the most enduring legacies of Genghis Khan might be the genetic link between the ancient Golden Family and the fact that approximately 8 percent of men in the regions of the former Mongol Empire (about 0.4 percent of the world’s modern population) may be descended from the Great Khan and his male relatives through the star-cluster C3c sublineage, a result of their many marriages, rapes, and concubines, and the fact that the Mongols tended to decimate the male populations of those they conquered. However, Genghis Khan left the world more than just his DNA. While the Mongols didn’t build great stone pyramids or massive cities, they successfully integrated a polyglot of world cultures and religions into one cohesive empire, the greatest empire seen throughout history. The Mongols were brilliant conquerors, but more than that, they were masters at assimilating the best from the cultures they conquered, and it was along Mongol roads that silks, spices, religions, and new technologies spread throughout Asia and into Europe. So, while Genghis Khan certainly earned the accolade of the world’s greatest conqueror, he was also a master of propaganda and an effective administrator, and he encouraged the creation of the Jasagh law code. I’d say those accomplishments have more than earned him a place in history’s hall of fame!
Q. Do we have a sense of what made Genghis Khan such a successful conqueror?
A. Genghis Khan’s name was enough to make the Persians, Chinese, and Europeans quiver with fear, and for good reason. The Mongols were the finest horsemen in the world, brutal and fearless. Mongol children were taught to ride almost before they could walk, and the Mongol cavalry were fast and well armed, carrying bows, shields, lassos, daggers, axes, and swords. They carried a variety of arrows, including ones that whistled to distract the enemy before larger and more lethal versions sailed in. Genghis also favored the use of propaganda, stories that his soldiers had chisels for noses, could subsist off dew, and could ride the wind, while the Khan himself was molded from impenetrable copper. He also used his scholars’ pens to spread word of inflated casualty lists to cities he planned to siege in the hope of easy surrenders. In addition, the Mongol army was supported by their women, and there are accounts of Mongol women carrying quivers and bows as well as remaining home to administer to the Mongol camps.
Q. You say in your author’s note that Sorkhokhtani “deserves the accolade of one of the most influential women in history.” Can you expand on that? Was she the one who ensured that Genghis Khan’s empire would have a lasting legacy, and if so, how?
A. The rivalry between Sorkhokhtani and Oghul Ghaimish actually lasted three years, a contest that Sorkhokhtani won after waiting her entire life to seize power for her sons. While Genghis’ sons were inept, Sorkhokhtani shaped all of her sons into capable men who followed their mother’s example of being highly educated while also respecting Mongolian law and the wide range of faiths present in their empire. And it was Sorkhokhtani who conspired with Batu Khan and organized the khurlatai to have Möngke elected as Great Khan, effectively usurping power from Ogodei’s inept side of the family. Historian Jack Weatherford even goes so far as to say that Sorkhokhtani stands second to only Genghis Khan, a statement I would agree with.
Q. The ancient Mongol culture of Genghis Khan seems so foreign to us today, so much a part of the vast grasslands of central Asia, and so incredibly violent. Given the climate’s extremes of hot and cold, the limited natural resources, and the constant danger from marauding groups, it must have been an incredibly tough life. Can you comment on that?
A. Life in Mongolia, both ancient and modern, is a constant fight for survival against the elements. Even today, the winter slaughter is a key element in providing enough food for Mongols to survive the winter while also eliminating excess livestock that would have to be fed throughout the harshest months of the year. Of course, in Genghis’ time the Five Snouts ate the grass and the people relied on those horses, sheep, goats, camels, cattle, and yaks for everything from food, to shelter, to the dung with which they lit their fires. The animals also provided transportation for their nomadic existence and for conquest. While subsisting on solely meat and dairy doesn’t sound very healthy to those of us who are told to eat our fruits and vegetables every day, this diet allowed Mongol soldiers to travel vast distances while carrying their food with them via reserve horses. In fact, as the Mongols were known as Tatars in the West, the term “steak ta
rtare” may have come from the Mongol practice of placing meat under their saddles to be tenderized and then eaten raw. In addition, their protein-heavy diet may have given them an edge fighting against sedentary peoples whose grain-based diets rotted their teeth, stunted their growth, and left them susceptible to diseases.
Q. By and large, you describe Genghis Khan’s sons and grandsons as drunken louts. Do you have any sense of why they turned out so badly?
A. Genghis Khan was possibly the greatest conqueror the world has ever seen (only Alexander the Great can really match him), but he was a terrible father if one judges him on the way his sons turned out. Genghis’ sons grew up in their father’s very large shadow but likely feared him and were more intent on wrestling, racing horses, and drinking than on learning how to rule. I suspect Genghis was too busy conquering the world to worry about reining in his sons’ excesses, a decision that would threaten to destroy his empire once he was gone.
Genghis’ grandsons, on the other hand, were more of a mixed bag. Güyük was certainly cruel, ordering Fatima’s brutal execution and possibly murdering his own mother, but Möngke made significant reforms within the empire and Kublai founded the Yuan dynasty, which was popularized in Marco Polo’s famous travelogue.
Q. This is your third novel. Has your writing process changed since you began writing?
A. My writing process has always been to squeeze in a few hours of work after I’m done teaching and grading papers, and my daughter is asleep for the night. The Tiger Queens took me a year and a half to write and presented unique challenges due to its vast character list, its immense scope of time, and the staggering amount of land covered by the Mongolian Empire. While I always read historical texts from the era before I begin writing, and numerous secondary sources as I write, The Tiger Queens involved much more research, so I could write about not only Genghis’ generation, but also his sons’ and grandsons’, as well as describe the cultures of the Mongols, Onggud, Uighurs, and Persians. There was so much more that I wanted to include; this book could have easily been two hundred pages longer!
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