The Tatars

Who rules

Name

not known for 1 January 1200; a leader called Zuxu in the Jin account submitted in 1198 and died soon afterwards; Jali Buqa is named as a Tatar leader in 1201

Title

Heads of the Tatar tribes (no overall chief named for 1 January 1200)

Since

after Megujin Se'ultu's death in 1196

Confidence

low

Rashid lists the Tutuqliut, Alchi, Chagan, Quin, Terat and Barqut as the six; Wikipedia's summary of Rashid gives nine (Tutuqliut, Alchi, Quin, Birkuy, Terat, Tamashi, Niuchi, Buyiriut, Aiyiriut).

Overlord

The Jin claim them; they declared themselves independent in 1190 (Timeline of the Jurchens) or revolted in 1195 (Medievalists.net), were punished in 1196, and a Tatar leader submitted to the Jin again in 1198 (English Wikipedia, Rise of Genghis Khan).

What the realm holds

• Pastures round Buir Nur, Hulun Nur and the Khalkha
• Fisheries of the lakes
• The road to the Jin markets
• Herds

How it was acquired

By ancient use.

Allies and rivals

Enemies: Temujin and Toghrul (1196 war); the Onggirat (the Jin and the Tatars attacked them together in 1195); the Jin on and off (revolt of 1190 or 1195, punishment of 1196, submission of 1198). Neighbours: Dorben, Qatagin, Saljiut; English Wikipedia has Tatars, Onggirat and these clans together in the coalition against Temujin that follows the Tayichi'ut war.

The realm that morning

Not pinned winter camps; the campaign board puts the orda at 48.5 N, 117.5 E between the two lakes. On the Jin account a Tatar leader submitted in 1198 and died soon after, so the tribes stand as Jin clients with no named head; the Mongol sources add nothing. The border is watched.

Military

Tribal levies on horse. No numbers.

Threats

• Another Jin sweep from the boundary trench
• Kereyit and Mongol revenge
• Quarrels between the tribes

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 to 1201The Tatars send help to Jamuqa's coalition.Depends on: Jamuqa is raised gurkhan in 1201. Stopped by: Jin action on their border; a second punishing campaign.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1202 (one line)Temujin and Toghrul destroy them (the council at Dalan Nemurges decides to kill the men taller than a linchpin).Depends on: Their joining Jamuqa's coalition in 1201. Stopped by: Peace with the Jin and Mongols.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry tatar-orda (48.5, 117.5): kept. The campaign board entry note 'recently mauled by a Jin, Kereit and Mongol coalition, still a distinct power': agreed.
• Wikipedia's Tatar confederation page gives no 1196 campaign; the Timeline of the Jurchens and Medievalists.net do.
• The Tatar break with the Jin is 1190 on the Timeline of the Jurchens and 1195 on Medievalists.net's reading of the Servan Khaalga inscription; they may be two events or one with two dates.
• English Wikipedia (Rise of Genghis Khan) names the Tatar leader of 1195 to 1198 as Zuxu: he quarrels over the loot in 1195, is beaten in 1196, submits, rebels the same year, submits again in 1198 and dies soon after. The Mongol accounts have Megujin Se'ultu killed on the Ulja in 1196. They may be two men or two names for one; we do not resolve it.

Evidence: Jin, Persian and Mongol sources agree on the 1196 war; positions of the tribes in 1200 are inferred.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Drawn on the lake basins; edges to Dorben, Qatagin and Onggirat are guesses.

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.

• 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
• History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
• Full Record of the Mongol Tatars, Zhao Gong (趙珙), formerly attributed to Meng Gong (孟珙) (1221). The earliest outside description of the Mongols, by a Song envoy sent to the Mongol commander Muqali at Yanjing (Beijing) in 1221. Read online