Tayisung Khan, Emperor Taizong of Northern Yuan
Encyclopedia
Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha (or Toγtoγa Buqa) (1416–1453) was a Khan
of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia
. He was enthroned as the Khagan
of the Great Yuan. Under his nominal rule, the western Mongols (Oirats) successfully reunited the entire Mongols and seriously threatened Ming China for the first time since 1409
.
led by Mahamud (Bahamu, Batula) and western Mongol clans led by Gulichi's family left the throne of khan vacant for several years as Mongol nobles who held the real power struggled for dominance. The central and eastern Mongol clans, in the meantime, proclaimed Adai
as the great khan shortly after Oyiradai’s death in 1425, and the legitimacy of the Oirats, the leading clan of western Mongols was threatened, at least in name.
Toghtoa Bukha (or Toγtoγa Buqa) was the eldest son of Ajai who was a posthumous son
of Emperor Elbeg (d.1399) and Öljeitü the Beauty. While wandering with his brothers in western Mongolia, Toghtoa Bukha met Mahamud's son and successor, Toghan taishi
, of the Four Oirats
. The latter married him to his daughter and wanted to use him as pawn. The Oirats crowned Toghtoa Bukha as their own khagan
in 1433. This resulted in half a decade of the simultaneous existence of two khans supported by opposing Mongol clans.
, which inevitably lead to conflicts with powerful Oirats nobles who held the real power. Although the Oirats shared the same ambition of recover the former glory of Genghis Khan
with the new Khan, they were well aware that they must make peace with the Ming Dynasty
first so that they could unify all Mongols before their conquest of expansion. The Oirats therefore were careful not to enrage the Ming by not officially proclaiming Yuan which was expulsed by native Chinese from Dadu
, and obtained help from the Ming court to defeat the eastern Mongols
, killing Adai Khan in the process in 1438.
After the latter's death, Toghan reinstalled Toghtoa Bukha on the throne with the title of Bogd Khagan Tayisung of the Great Yuan before the eight white yurts of Genghis Khan in 1439. Tayisung Khan on the other hand, felt that the Ming was already weakened and not worth worrying about, openly reclaimed the era of the Yuan by proclaiming himself as the Tayisung (Taizong) of the Great Yuan, a move supported by most Mongol populace, except the Oirats, who felt it was not the time yet and they needed time to consolidate their gains first. Fortunately, Ming China was indeed weakened to the point that it could no longer launch any deep strike into the Mongol heartland like Yongle Emperor
had done, and all Ming could do was to show its disapproval by calling Tayisung Khan of the Northern Yuan instead of Taizong (太宗) of the Great Yuan.
Tayisung Khan made Toghan's son, Esen, taishi and his younger brother, Agbarjin
, jinong
soon after Toghan's sudden death in the same year.
During the reign of Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha, Esen subjugated the Jurchens
in Manchuria
, the Chagatayids
in Hami (Qara Del) and the Uriankhai
s (Tuvans
) in Siberia
.
. Esen first focused on Hami Oasis where the another Borjigin
prince, descendant of Chagatai Khan
, ruled. The prince was an ally of the Ming court. Repeated raids and threats of Esen forced him to surrender in 1448.
The Ming established the Three Guards which consisted of the surrendered Mongols (Doyin Uriyanghkahi, Taining and Fuyu) in the late 14th century. Esen then took Gansu
, forcing the Fuyu guard to flee, and appointed his own governor in the area. Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha personally attacked the Three Guards. After that, Esen also plundered the Doyin Uriankhai guard, forcing them to surrender. With the submission of the Three Guards, the Mongol threat to China became direct.
When the Ming refused the Mongols to add the number of Mongol envoys to China and give a Chinese princess, Esen planned to invade Ming China. Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha did not first support it. However, he was induced to led the easternmost force of the Uriankhais (Uriyanghkai) to Liaodong in 1449. He besieged the city and ravaged its outskirts for 40 days while Esen crushing the Ming armies en route to Beijing
.
After capturing
the Ming Emperor, Zhengtong
, and raising the siege of Beijing, the Mongols returned northwards. Tayisung Khan treated the captured Emperor kindly. Esen and he decided to send him back in 1450.
where Tayisung Khan stationed. Because most of the eastern Mongols deserted to the Oirats, the Khan's troops were defeated in the land of Turfan and he fled towards the Khentii Khan mountains and the Kherlen River
with a few of his entourages. As Tayisung Khan fled, he was killed by his former father-in-law, Tsabdan, in 1453 who later defeated to Esen.
.
His known wives and children included:
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
. He was enthroned as the Khagan
Khagan
Khagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...
of the Great Yuan. Under his nominal rule, the western Mongols (Oirats) successfully reunited the entire Mongols and seriously threatened Ming China for the first time since 1409
Battle of Kherlen
The battle of Kherlen was a battle between Borjigin Mongolia and Ming China that took place at the banks of Kherlen River in Mongolia on 23 September 1409....
.
Early life
After the emperor Oyiradai’s death in 1425, the internecine war among OiratsOirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
led by Mahamud (Bahamu, Batula) and western Mongol clans led by Gulichi's family left the throne of khan vacant for several years as Mongol nobles who held the real power struggled for dominance. The central and eastern Mongol clans, in the meantime, proclaimed Adai
Adai Khan
Adai was the Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. After the prominent eastern Mongolian chancellor, Arughtai, threw his allegiance to him, he briefly reunited most of the Mongols under his banner.- Lineage and early life :...
as the great khan shortly after Oyiradai’s death in 1425, and the legitimacy of the Oirats, the leading clan of western Mongols was threatened, at least in name.
Toghtoa Bukha (or Toγtoγa Buqa) was the eldest son of Ajai who was a posthumous son
Posthumous birth
A posthumous birth is a birth of a child after the death of a parent. A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person...
of Emperor Elbeg (d.1399) and Öljeitü the Beauty. While wandering with his brothers in western Mongolia, Toghtoa Bukha met Mahamud's son and successor, Toghan taishi
Mongolian nobility
The Mongolian nobility arose in the 10-12th centuries, became prominent in the 13th century, and essentially governed Mongolia until the early 20th century....
, of the Four Oirats
Four Oirats
The Four Oirats or the Alliance of the Four Oirat tribes was the confederation of the Oirat tribes, which marked the rise of the Western Mongols in Mongolian history.Despite the universal currency of the term Four Oirats among Eastern Mongols and Oirats and numerous explanations by...
. The latter married him to his daughter and wanted to use him as pawn. The Oirats crowned Toghtoa Bukha as their own khagan
Khagan
Khagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...
in 1433. This resulted in half a decade of the simultaneous existence of two khans supported by opposing Mongol clans.
Reign
Toghtoa Bukha Khan was an ambitious khan wanting to obtain real power and recover the former glory of the Yuan DynastyYuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
, which inevitably lead to conflicts with powerful Oirats nobles who held the real power. Although the Oirats shared the same ambition of recover the former glory of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
with the new Khan, they were well aware that they must make peace with the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
first so that they could unify all Mongols before their conquest of expansion. The Oirats therefore were careful not to enrage the Ming by not officially proclaiming Yuan which was expulsed by native Chinese from Dadu
Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu refers to a city which is now Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China...
, and obtained help from the Ming court to defeat the eastern Mongols
Khorchin
Khorchin is a subgroup of the Mongols that speak the Khorchin dialect of Mongolian and predominantly live in southeastern Inner Mongolia....
, killing Adai Khan in the process in 1438.
After the latter's death, Toghan reinstalled Toghtoa Bukha on the throne with the title of Bogd Khagan Tayisung of the Great Yuan before the eight white yurts of Genghis Khan in 1439. Tayisung Khan on the other hand, felt that the Ming was already weakened and not worth worrying about, openly reclaimed the era of the Yuan by proclaiming himself as the Tayisung (Taizong) of the Great Yuan, a move supported by most Mongol populace, except the Oirats, who felt it was not the time yet and they needed time to consolidate their gains first. Fortunately, Ming China was indeed weakened to the point that it could no longer launch any deep strike into the Mongol heartland like Yongle Emperor
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor , born Zhu Di , was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His Chinese era name Yongle means "Perpetual Happiness".He was the Prince of Yan , possessing a heavy military base in Beiping...
had done, and all Ming could do was to show its disapproval by calling Tayisung Khan of the Northern Yuan instead of Taizong (太宗) of the Great Yuan.
Tayisung Khan made Toghan's son, Esen, taishi and his younger brother, Agbarjin
Agbarjin
Agbarjin or Akbarjin was the khagan claimant of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. He was the youngest brother of Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha....
, jinong
Jinong
Jinong was a title of the Mongols. It was derived from Chinese Jinwang although some historians have suggested it originates from Qinwang...
soon after Toghan's sudden death in the same year.
During the reign of Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha, Esen subjugated the Jurchens
Jurchens
The Jurchens were a Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century, when they adopted the name Manchu...
in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, the Chagatayids
Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
in Hami (Qara Del) and the Uriankhai
Uriankhai
"Uriankhai" , also known as Urianhai or Uryangkhai, is a term applied to several neighboring ethnic groups...
s (Tuvans
Tuvans
Tuvans or Tuvinians are Turkic peoples living in southern Siberia. They are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation...
) in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
Conflict with Ming China
Tayisung Khan was far more inclined towards peaceful relations with Ming China than his commander Esen. He kept a friendly relationship with the Ming court. His taishi, Esen, was very ambitious man who wanted to restore the glory of the Mongol EmpireMongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
. Esen first focused on Hami Oasis where the another Borjigin
Borjigin
Borjigin , also known as the Altan urug , were the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors....
prince, descendant of Chagatai Khan
Chagatai Khan
Chagatai Khan was the second son of Genghis Khan and first khan and origin of the names of the Chagatai Khanate, Chagatai language and Chagatai Turks....
, ruled. The prince was an ally of the Ming court. Repeated raids and threats of Esen forced him to surrender in 1448.
The Ming established the Three Guards which consisted of the surrendered Mongols (Doyin Uriyanghkahi, Taining and Fuyu) in the late 14th century. Esen then took Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
, forcing the Fuyu guard to flee, and appointed his own governor in the area. Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha personally attacked the Three Guards. After that, Esen also plundered the Doyin Uriankhai guard, forcing them to surrender. With the submission of the Three Guards, the Mongol threat to China became direct.
When the Ming refused the Mongols to add the number of Mongol envoys to China and give a Chinese princess, Esen planned to invade Ming China. Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha did not first support it. However, he was induced to led the easternmost force of the Uriankhais (Uriyanghkai) to Liaodong in 1449. He besieged the city and ravaged its outskirts for 40 days while Esen crushing the Ming armies en route to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
After capturing
Tumu Crisis
The Tumu Crisis ; also called the Crisis of Tumubao or Battle of Tumu Fortress , was a frontier conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 1, 1449 and the loss of an army of 500,000 men to a much smaller force....
the Ming Emperor, Zhengtong
Zhengtong Emperor
Zhu Qizhen was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled as the Zhengtong Emperor from 1435 to 1449, and as the Tianshun Emperor from 1457 to 1464....
, and raising the siege of Beijing, the Mongols returned northwards. Tayisung Khan treated the captured Emperor kindly. Esen and he decided to send him back in 1450.
Decline
Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha's consort was the elder sister of Esen who persuaded the Khan to made his sister’s son as crown prince so that he would become the future khan. The request was denied, and Tayisung Khan and Esen went to war in 1451. Esen promised Tayisung Khan's brother, Agbarjin, the throne of Emperor instead. Esen and Agbarjin besieged KarakorumKarakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
where Tayisung Khan stationed. Because most of the eastern Mongols deserted to the Oirats, the Khan's troops were defeated in the land of Turfan and he fled towards the Khentii Khan mountains and the Kherlen River
Kherlen River
Kherlen River is a river of 1,254 km length in Mongolia and China.-Course:The river has its origin in the south slopes of the Khentii mountains, near the Burkhan Khaldun mountain in the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area, about 180 km northeast of Ulaanbaatar...
with a few of his entourages. As Tayisung Khan fled, he was killed by his former father-in-law, Tsabdan, in 1453 who later defeated to Esen.
Family
Toghtoa Bukha had two younger brothers, Agbarjin and ManduulManduulun Khan
Manduul Khan , was the Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia, and he was the younger brother of Tayisung Khan, Emperor Taizong of Northern Yuan , but the two had different mothers.After the death of Mulan Khan, the position remain vacant for nearly a decade as warring Mongol clans...
.
His known wives and children included:
- An Oirat princess, daughter of Toghan taishi. She bore a son named Abdan.
- Altagana of the Khorlad tribe. The Khan and her son was Molon (Mulan)Mulan KhanMulan Khan , was the Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia and he was the eldest son of Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha). Mulan Khan succeeded his younger brother Markörgis Khan in 1465 and it was prophesied "By you the great people will regain strength in legal order. Ascend to throne...
. - Samar taifu who bore MarkörgisMarkörgis KhanMarkörgis was a Mongol Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. Some scholars believe his name is Christian name....
.