A distinctive feature of Mengu’s military and political activities is that his reign marked the final period of unity for the empire founded by Genghis Khan, after which it gradually disintegrated, giving rise to the Yuan Empire, the Ulug Ulus (Golden Horde), the Chagatai Khanate, and the Ilkhanate. Mengu Khan—the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1251 to 1259—effectively became the last ruler whose efforts to preserve the empire’s unity, though they bore fruit, could not prevent its subsequent inevitable disintegration. However, it cannot be said that all his deeds vanished without a trace. Mengu’s policies allowed the descendants of Genghis Khan to maintain their dominance over the conquered peoples for many years.
- Mengu Kagan was a well-known figure among the empire’s leaders. He belonged to the third generation of rulers from the lineage of Genghis Khan during the empire’s formative era.
- The first generation (Genghis Khan, Boorchu, Mukhali, Jebe) united the Mongols and laid the foundation for the state.
- The second generation (Ugedei, Tolui, Jochi, Subedei) transformed the state into an empire.
- The third generation (Batu, Guyuk, Mengu, Hulagu, Kublai) brought the empire to the height of its power, but they also laid the groundwork for its collapse by establishing their own states.
However, Subedei can be classified as belonging to either the second or the first generation.
The biography of Mengu (the Turkic variant of his name), or Munke (the Mongolian variant), or Xian-zong, as he is known by his posthumous name meaning “Exemplary Ancestor,” is largely known from the Chinese historical chronicle Yuan Shi. But while the Yuan Shi, which includes him among the first great emperors of the Yuan, is based on contemporary sources, Mengu’s biography was compiled during the subsequent Ming dynasty; the chronicles of Persian authors (Juvayni, Rashid al-Din), were written by contemporaries of his reign, though not without subjectivity, since they were commissioned by the Hulaguid Ilkhans—Mengu’s closest relatives. Also of interest are the records of the French Franciscan monk Guillaume Rubruk, who traveled to Karakorum in 1253–1255 and personally interacted with Mengu.
Several issues should be highlighted that arise when studying the life and activities of this ruler:
1) the peculiarities of Mengu’s position among the Chingizids, which contributed to his ascension to the khan’s white felt throne;
2) the circumstances of his rise to power, to which he had little claim by birthright;
3) the nature of his efforts in domestic and foreign policy, aimed at preserving the integrity and unity of the empire, and their outcome;
4) Mengu’s personal qualities as a ruler, which differed significantly from the image of a “wild nomadic conqueror.”
Mengu’s father, Tolui—an outstanding military leader with serious political ambitions—after Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, hoped to consolidate his power himself, despite his father’s will to transfer the throne to Ögedei; serving as his regent from 1227 to 1229, he delayed the convening of the elective kurultai. However, the other descendants of Genghis Khan did not support his claims and elected Ögedei. As a result, the Tolui clan found itself in a very ambiguous position. On the one hand, he was the otchigin—the youngest member of the clan, who was supposed to receive a family fief. But on the other hand, the headquarters of the Great Khan Ugedei had been established in the ancestral yurt. Consequently, the Tolui clan did not receive any separate fief. Given the ambitions of this outstanding commander and the large number of his descendants, it is not surprising that Tolui could not so easily accept Ugedai’s election as Great Khan.
One consequence of this was the Toluiids’ active interest in military campaigns that might grant them their own territories. But this entire situation placed Tolui’s descendants in a unique position among the Chinggisids as those without their own fief. Perhaps, had Tolui remained alive, the political struggle within the nascent empire would have become more complicated, but he died in 1232, and his descendants lacked powerful patrons and found themselves in a subordinate position compared to the others.
The children of Genghis Khan’s eldest son, Jochi, who died during his father’s lifetime, could have found themselves in a similar situation, but this lineage had been assigned its own fief from the very beginning. As a result, the Toluiids found themselves dependent on their other relatives. At the head of this branch of the Chinggisids, Ugedei placed Tolui’s widow, Sorkuktani-beki, who came from the Kereit tribe. In Mongol history, remarkable women often appeared—wise women who guided their husbands toward great deeds. This tradition dates back to Alan-Goa, the foremother of the Mongols; later, this role was taken on by Oelun, the wife of Yesugei and mother of Genghis Khan, then by Borte, Genghis Khan’s senior wife, and finally by Sorkuktani-beki—the mother of Mengu, Hulagu, and Kublai. After Tolui’s death, Ugedei intended to marry her to his son Guyuk, but she refused under the plausible pretext of caring for her children, and Guyuk himself showed no particular enthusiasm for this marriage.
Mengu appears on the historical stage toward the very end of his father’s life: in 1230, at the age of 22, he fought alongside Tolui in the war against the Jin Empire. He next appears in the account of the kurultai of 1235. Rashid al-Din emphasizes his important role at this assembly of the Chinggisids, when the decision was made to launch a campaign to the West, which Ugedei himself had initially intended to lead. It was Mengu who delivered a wise speech stating that the Great Khan should devote himself to pleasures, while waging war was the task of his kinsmen and subjects.
This was one of the manifestations of Mengu’s and his entire clan’s dependence on Ögedei’s favor. Although sources emphasize the Great Khan’s special regard for Mengu, a ruler’s favor is an unstable thing. And the Toluiids were well aware of this. When Ugedei, by his own will, removed two thousand warriors of the Suldus tribe from their authority and transferred them to his son Kuden, Mengu, his brothers, and the military commanders wanted to rebel, but the wise Sorkuktani-beki ordered them to submit and accept the will of the khan, on whom they were entirely dependent. Although this subsequently affected the Toluiids’ attitude toward the Ugedai clan.
Mengu, together with his younger brother Bujek, were active participants in the Western Campaign of 1235–1240. Overall, Mengu enjoyed a fairly high reputation as a commander. He was entrusted with important missions requiring swift action against a mobile enemy or reconnaissance. According to Yuan Shi, Mengu personally entered the battle during the siege of Ryazan. Between the campaigns against Northeastern and Southern Rus’, the commander carried out one of his major military feats—the defeat of the Polovtsian leader Bachman in 1238. On the eve of a major campaign to the west, it was impossible to leave unconquered Polovtsian forces in the rear, and Mengu, along with Budzhek (and possibly Subedei), pursued and destroyed the enemy, who was skillfully maneuvering across the Volga steppes.
Mengu is mentioned in Russian chronicles as the commander of the vanguard troops that captured Chernigov in 1239 and advanced to Kiev, and as a participant in the siege of Kiev in 1240. However, the latter is likely incorrect. Before the start of the campaign against Southern Rus’, Guyuk and Mengu, on Ugedei’s orders, left the army and returned to their hordes. This marked the end of their participation in the great Western campaign into Europe. Sources report that in 1240, Mengu and Guyuk fought against the Ases in the North Caucasus. In this context, it is worth mentioning the relationship between Mengu and Guyuk. They often acted together.
Apparently, Mengu’s dependence on Ugedei also bound him to Guyuk as the eldest son of the Great Khan. The two of them participated in the campaign against the Polovtsians in 1236, thereby securing the southern flank of the Mongol forces marching westward, and together they led joint operations against the Ases. Mengu’s status in these events was lower than that of the khan’s son; consequently, Guyuk at that time was the pillar to whom Mengu tied his future. Interestingly, during Guyuk’s reign, there were no apparent disagreements between him and Mengu. Mengu participated in Güyük’s election and swore an oath to pass the throne on to his lineage. He investigated the case of Temüge-Otchigin, Genghis Khan’s younger brother, who had sought to seize power through a coup and was executed.
Nevertheless, the Tolui clan’s constant dependence on the Ugedei clan weighed heavily on the former. In the brewing conflict between Guyuk and Batu, who ruled the Jochi ulus, the Tolui clan sided with Batu, albeit tacitly. Thus, Sorkuktani-beki informed Batu of Guyuk’s army’s advance toward him. The desire to free themselves from subordination to the descendants of Ugedai and to occupy, at the very least, an equal position among the descendants of Genghis Khan likely became one of the main factors in the subsequent relations between Batu and Mengu.