Jack Weatherford

by The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire

  Producing a book depends on far more than writing. It is a group endeavor in which dozens of people contribute crucial pieces, but, in the end, the author, somewhat unfairly, gets the credit. In thirty years of work together, my agent, Lois Wallace, has always guided and encouraged my work. I have been with Crown Publishers almost as long as I have been with Lois Wallace. I have benefited from working with some of the finest talents I have known in my career. In our generation together, many have married, given birth, or adopted children, and some have retired or moved on to new challenges. Yet they all remain a part of my work. Rachel Klayman took a chance in accepting this book for publication, and Lucinda Bartley put in tremendous work to edit it repeatedly. Their diligence and enthusiasm made it possible for me to complete this project.

  The nation of Alan Goa, Genghis Khan, Manduhai Khatun, and Dayan Khan still lives today. As in any democracy, the people have different views and ideologies, yet they are all united in honoring the history and culture of their Mongol ancestors. They have helped me in seemingly every way that they could. From the guards at the doors to the ministers of parliament, from teachers in the rural classrooms to the ministers of state in Ulaanbaatar, and from library clerks to the president, first lady, and prime minister—all encouraged and assisted me throughout the six years of work on this project. They made my work possible, and, more important, they are the ones who give it meaning.

  From herders to parliament members, Mongolians never tired of teaching me about their culture and place of birth, torson nutag, within Mongolia. Because of the subject of my investigations, individuals frequently wanted me to tell the story of a particular queen, hero, or divinity for whom their mother or daughter was named. Sometimes they encouraged me to meet their grandmother as the best living example of the true ideal of Mongol womanhood. They wanted to highlight the importance of their home area or to stress the neglected virtues of a special type of camel or way of singing. They had a preferred spelling or pronunciation of a name, or hoped I could explain that the milk of their district had just the right amount of fat and the best flavor, and was used in the past by doctors to cure certain diseases. I treasure each of these accounts in my memory even if, in the end, I was not able to incorporate them into this book.

  Throughout my research, I relied upon scholars whom I never met and who often work in anonymity without receiving the attention and honor that they deserve. They glean the historic and linguistic fields searching for grains of information about Mongolian life, history, and culture. They study, translate, catalog, and preserve the texts and manuscript fragments of the past. They analyze archaic scripts, compare spellings, and chase down the etymologies of unusual suffix combinations. I greatly admire and appreciate their scholarship.

  I hope that the readers of this book will go on to explore the many works about Mongolia, listen to the music of its great artists, and perhaps one day find the white road that leads them to visit the beautiful land and taste the pure water of Mongolia.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jack Weatherford holds the DeWitt Wallace Chair of Anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota and an honorary position at Chinggis Khaan University in Mongolia. In 2007 he received the Order of the Polar Star, the highest award for service to the Mongol nation.

  Copyright © 2010 by Jack Weatherford

  Illustrations © 2010 by N. Bat-Erdene

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  www.crownpublishing.com

  CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Weatherford, J. McIver.

  The secret history of the Mongol queens/Jack Weatherford.

  p. cm.

  1. Genghis Khan, 1162–1227—Family. 2. Queens—Mongolia—History.

  3. Daughters—Mongolia—History. 4. Women—Mongolia—History.

  5. Inheritance and succession—Mongolia—History. 6. Mongols—History.

  7. Mongols—Biography. 8. Mongolia—Kings and rulers—Biography.

  9. Mongolia—History. 10. Mongolia—Biography. I. Title.

  DS22.W39 2010

  950′.20922—dc22

  2009020822

  eISBN: 978-0-307-58936-1

  v3.0