Research on the royal families of the Mongol Empire through the old persian manuscripts.

1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 05301045
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Co-operative Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Asian history
• Research Institution: THE TOYO BUNKO
• Principal Investigator: SHIMO Hirotoshi THE TOYO BUNKO,Research Department, Researcher, 研究部, 研究員 (80142058)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MATSUDA Koichi Osaka International University, Faculty of Management and Information Science, P, 経営情報学部, 教授 (70142304) ; KATO Kazuhide Tokai University, School of Letters, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (60056091) ; KITAGAWA Seiichi Hirosaki University, Faculty of Humanities, Professor, 人文学部, 教授 (50001813) ; KOYAMA Koichiro Hokkaido University, Faculty of Letters, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (00002163) ; HONDA Minobu Nagoya University of Commerce and Business Administration, Department of Commerc, 商学部, 教授 (50000526)
• Project Period (FY): 1993 – 1995
• Keywords: tribal confederation / royal clan / quasi-royal family / relatives by marriage / otegu bogol

Research Abstract

Ghazan Khan, who ascended the throne at a critical point for the survival of the Il-khanids, ordered his chief minister Rashid al-Din to compile a history of the Mongols (the Tarikh-i Ghazam). Through the process of its compilation he aimed at reconfirming the strong ties between the Mongol leaders (nokod) under his command and the descendants of Chinggis Khan, strengthening the unity between them, and establishing a stable regime. Many of the entries in the heart of the Tarikh-i Ghazani, the section on tribes at the beginning of the work, were dictated by Ghazan Khan himself. Although the Tarikh-i Ghazani was modified to serve as the history of the Mongols in the Jami'al-Tavarikh and many of the entires in the section on tribes were cut out, new information was added in the Mongol genealogies attached to the Jami'al-Tavarikh. The original text of the Tarikh-i Chazani has been lost, the Istanbul manuscript (Revan kosku 1518) of the history of the Mongols in the Jami'al-Tavarikh is the closest to the the original text of the Tarikh-i Ghazani of any of the surviving manuscripts. In these texts, the Mongolian technical term "nokor" (pl. nokod) is recorded by the persian translation "amir-i buzurg", the adjective "buzurg"(meaning "large" or "great") being used as a noun to mean "Chinggis Khan", "the Chinggisids", or "the royal clan". Previous researchers have been unable to understand the frequency occurring term amir-i buzurg as anything other than a genetic term meaning "great amir", and they have consistently overlooked these two sources, but on the basis of an analysis of these sources, I have given concrete proof that : "The Mongol empire was a nomadic tribal confederation with the Chinggisid royal clan and specified quasi-royal tribes occupying the nucleus and joining with the common tribes, as one in a long line of nomadic empires of this type including the Hsiung-nu, the Turkish khaghanate, and the Uighurs."