Alaqush

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Alaqush Tegin Quri
King of Onguds
Reign? – 1211
PredecessorUnknown
Successor Zhenguo
Died1211
Spouse Alakhai Bekhi
Posthumous name
Chinese: 忠武, romanized: Zhōngwǔ, lit.  'Loyal and Martial'
Religion Nestorian

Alaqush Tegin Quri or Alaqush Digit Quri [1] (Persian : اولاقوش تیکین قوری, romanized: Alāqūsh Tīkīn Qūrī, Chinese :阿剌兀思剔吉忽里; pinyin :Āláwùsī Tījí Hūlǐ, died 1211) was a tribal leader of Onguds and a contemporary of Genghis Khan.

Contents

Biography

He was Nestorian ruler of Turkic ancestry who is first remembered by sources when he was approached by the Nayman prince Tayang Khan in 1203, who shared the same cultural and religious background with him. While the Naimans were negotiating for a possible alliance against Temujin, Alaqush secretly sent a messenger named Johannan to him, informing them of brewing troubles. [2] Tayang Khan soon was killed in 1204 and Alaqush Tegin formed an alliance with Genghis, pledging loyalty to him and receiving the hand of Genghis' daughter Alakhai Bekhi for his son Buyan Shiban in return in 1207. [3]

During the Mongol invasion of Northern China, Alaqush assisted Genghis Khan by handing over the passage through the Great Wall of China that he was guarding during his service to the Jin Dynasty. However, later Öngüds revolted against Genghis Khan in 1211 and killed both Alaqush and his son. Having suppressed the uprising eventually, Genghis Khan intended to execute all Ongud men taller than the cart axle, but was dissuaded by Alaqush's nephew Shigü (or Zhenguo in Chinese rendering) and Alakhai, thus, only the instigators of the murder were executed along with their families. Alakhai subsequently married Shigü.

Alaqush was posthumously awarded the title King of Gaotang (高唐王) by Emperor Chengzong of Yuan in 1305.

Family

Descendants of Alaqush continued to intermarry with the Borjigin family and retained special status within the empire for generations: [4]

References

  1. ↑ Atwood, Christopher P. (2020-11-04). Rashīd al-Dīn's Ghazanid Chronicle and Its Mongolian Sources. Brill. p. 61. doi:10.1163/9789004438217_005. ISBN   978-90-04-43821-7. S2CID   241131690.
  2. ↑ Grousset, René (1966). Conqueror of the World. Orion Press. pp. 146, 186, 190. ISBN   978-0-670-00343-3.
  3. ↑ Hope, Michael (2016). Power, politics, and tradition in the Mongol Empire and the Ilkhanate of Iran. Oxford. p. 40. ISBN   978-0-19-108107-1. OCLC   959277759.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Zhao, George Qingzhi (2008). Marriage as Political Strategy and Cultural Expression: Mongolian Royal Marriages from World Empire to Yuan Dynasty. Peter Lang. pp. 156–161. ISBN   978-1-4331-0275-2.
  5. ↑ Tang, Li; Winkler, Dietmar W. (2013). From the Oxus River to the Chinese Shores: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 261. ISBN   978-3-643-90329-7.
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