The Yenisei Kyrgyz

Who rules

Name

Not known for 1200. In 1207 the sources name Yedi Inal, Aldier and Olebek-tegin

Title

Princes (inal) of the old khagans' line; a ruler of the whole is not known for 1200

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

Claimed descent from the Kyrgyz khagans of the Ajo clan (Russian summaries of Rashid and Bartold)

Confidence

low

Wikipedia on the Kyrgyz Khaganate and the Yenisei Kyrgyz; Russian summaries of Rashid al-Din on 1207 (zolord.ru); Zoriktuev. Names are of 1207 and later.

Overlord

Possibly a tributary of the Qara Khitai (Grousset and the Wikipedia article on the Qara Khitai say vassalised after 1134; Wikipedia's article on the Kyrgyz Khaganate calls this speculation). Not pinned.

What the realm holds

• Peoples: the Kyrgyz tribes of the Minusinsk basin and the Kem-Kemjiut of Tuva (no count)
• Pastures and farmland of the Abakan, the Yenisei and the Minusinsk steppes; hunting grounds in the Sayan forests
• Iron and gold working; the fur tribute of the forest peoples north of them (not shown for 1200)
• Camps and wooden-walled princely seats (sites not known; the Chinese account of 841 shows an ordu in the forested mountains behind wooden walls)

How it was acquired

Inheritance from the khaganate of 840-925; the later fragmentation is undated.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours and sometimes rivals of the Oirat (west Sayan and Tuva forest), of the Naiman (the Altai and Tannu-Ola), and of the forest peoples (Tubas, Telengit). No war with any of them is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200.

The realm that morning

Independent and at peace so far as is known. Whether tribute goes to the Naiman, the Qara Khitai or no one is not pinned; the Naiman fall of 1204 would end any Naiman claim. The Kyrgyz princes of 1207 are not shown in office in 1200.

Wealth

Furs (sable and squirrel), iron, gold, tin, horses, cattle and sheep, a little farming on the Minusinsk irrigated lands; trade with the Uyghurs and the Mongolian steppe.

Military

Mounted and foot warriors under the princes; the Rashid summary speaks of tumens (units of ten thousand) but no number can be trusted. Wooden stockades.

Threats

• The Naiman or the Merkit pushing north
• The Mongols after 1206 (the conquest is 1207)

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. 1200 (nothing dated)No act of the Kyrgyz inal or princes is dated to 1200 in the sources read.Depends on: Nothing in play reaches the Minusinsk basin. Stopped by: Not applicable.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1207Jochi comes through the Oirat country and the Kyrgyz princes submit; a rising in 1217 is put down.Depends on: Temujin's mastery of Mongolia. Stopped by: A Naiman or Merkit comeback.

Places of note

• Abakan and the Minusinsk basin: The centre of the Kyrgyz country on the lower Abakan; a modern city used as a locator, not a 1200 site.

Where the sources disagree

• The Wikipedia article on the Kyrgyz Khaganate lists 'Khagan-Kirghiz' as a capital from the mid-twelfth century but gives no place; we could not place it. The Kemijkath capital named in the Hudud al-'alam (982) is also unplaced (Tuva or Minusinsk).

Evidence: No Kyrgyz source of 1200 and no dated archaeology found; the picture comes from 840-925 sources and the 1207 submission.

On the map: Polygons follow the old Kyrgyz homeland; the 1200 reach into the Sayans and Tuva is thin.

Primary sources for this realm

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.

• 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