Magnates and their honours · Jamuqa's following · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Jamuqa

Jamuqa is of the Jadaran, a Mongol clan of Turkic descent, and is Temujin's anda: they swore brotherhood as boys on the Onon and again about 1181, after the rescue of Borte, and lived together in one camp for a year and a half before Jamuqa said, 'Let us part'.

He stands for the old aristocracy against a khan who raises his companions from any clan. He beat Temujin at Dalan Balzhut and boiled prisoners in cauldrons, and lost many followers over it. After Dalan Balzhut the sources are nearly silent about him. English Wikipedia (Rise of Genghis Khan) says he withdrew east of Temujin's upper Kherlen, that the Tayichi'ut joined him out of fear of Temujin, and that he rode with Temujin and Toghrul in a Merkit raid in 1191 and, in 1199, against Buyiruq beyond the Altai.

He is not a gurkhan; that title is a later year's. In 1200 he is a chief of a clan with a long memory of grievance and a name that clans which fear Temujin will rally to. When Altan, Khuchar and Sacha Beki raised Temujin khan, Jamuqa sent to Altan and Khuchar, 'Why have you done this to us?', and told them to see that his anda's mind was at rest and to serve him well (Kahn/Cleaves, p.

49).

Who he is

Name
Jamuqa
Title
Chief of the Jadaran (Jajirat), styled Sechen 'the wise'
Since
not pinned
Born
not known; of Temujin's generation (a boyhood anda at age eleven, about 1173)
Family
Younger brother Taicar (killed before Dalan Balzhut). Wives and children not known.
Confidence
low

No source dates his camp that winter.

What it holds

  • The Jadaran, their herds and their pastures (placed on the middle Kherlen and lower Ulz by guess)

How it was acquired

By descent.

Allies and rivals

Anda and rival of Temujin (but see the 1199 note); friend of the Tayichi'ut; later of the Merkit, Naiman and the coalition.

How things stand that morning

Camp not pinned; east of Temujin's upper Kherlen on Wikipedia's account of the parting.

Military

His clan levy; no numbers.

Threats

  • Temujin's growth
  • Toghrul

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

  1. 1200Sits out the Tayichi'ut war or sends scant help.Depends on: The coalition is not yet built. Stopped by: A call from Tarqutai that he answers.

Later, on the likely course

  1. Autumn 1201 (one line)Elected gurkhan on the Ergune by the clans hostile to Temujin.Depends on: The Tayichi'ut war of 1200 and the fear of Temujin. Stopped by: Temujin's diplomacy or a Jin move.

Where the sources disagree

  • English Wikipedia (Rise of Genghis Khan) has Jamukha with Temujin, Toghrul and Jakha Gambhu in a Merkit raid in 1191 (he was angry that the others came three days late) and with Temujin and Toghrul against Buyruq west of the Altai in 1199; the Secret History's order puts the Naiman fights after Koyiten. Treat his standing with Temujin and Toghrul on 1 January 1200 as open.
  • The same page has the Khongirad and others name him gur-khan after a defeat of his forces by Temujin in 1201, and puts Koyiten in 1202; we keep autumn 1201 for the election and Koyiten after it.

On the map: A guess: the sources do not place him.

Primary sources for Jamuqa's following

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
  • The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles: the Turkic and Mongol tribes and the life of Chinggis Khan, Rashid al-Din Hamadani (about 1300 to 1311, in the Ilkhanate). The fullest description of who held what on the steppe around 1200, written a century later from Mongol court records (the Altan Debter) and from informants such as Bolad Chingsang. Read online
  • History of the Yuan, Song Lian (宋濂) and the Ming history office (1369 to 1370). Juan 1, the annals of Taizu (Chinggis Khan), gives a dated outline of Temujin's early wars drawn from the same lost Altan Debter as the Shengwu qinzheng lu: the Tatar war with the Jin in 1196, the Merkit and Naiman campaigns, the Tayichi'ut war, Jamuqa's coalition of 1201 and the Tatar and Kereyit wars of 1202 and 1203. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. The Secret History of the Mongols, transl. and commentary Igor de Rachewiltz (Brill 2004; shorter edition ed. J. C. Street, Western Washington University 2015)
  2. Rashid al-Din, Jami' al-tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), transl. W. M. Thackston
  3. Jamukha (Wikipedia)
  4. Battle of Dalan Baljut (Wikipedia)
  5. Rise of Genghis Khan (Wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.