"Get up early and go to bed late"
Genghis Khan to his daughter, Checheyigen, on her wedding day
One of the fascinating factoids about the Mongol nation and its leader Temujin, or Genghis Khan, was his pragmatism in both conquest and rule. Having secured leadership over the Mongol steppe clans, he turned to his children’s marriage alliances to enlarge and strengthen the empire. This was accomplished primarily through his daughters.
As the steppe’s dominant power broker, Temujin was able to extract some hefty terms from his prospective in-laws. Not only did the matches ensure solidarity between the Mongols and other nations, but Temujin demanded, and received, absolute control over their tribal governance.
Each of his four daughters’ husbands occupied territory arranged roughly to the north, south and west of the Mongol nation. For Checheyigen, her fate resided in the north, with a tribe of forest people called the Oirat. They lived in bark huts, hunted the wild beasts for food and kept reindeer as riding and draft animals, since horses could not survive the harsh taiga environment. She married Inalchi, the son of the Oirat chief.
One of Temujin’s first acts upon completion of the nuptials was to summon his son-in-law for war duty. Then he appointed his daughter as tribe ruler. “As the daughter of your khan father,” he told her, “so shall you rule the Oirat people.”
With Checheyigan ruling the Oirat, and the son-in-law conveniently absent, Temujin now controlled the northern trade routes all the way to the Arctic. The land teemed with exotic wildlife whose hides and furs were prized by the myriad merchants who traversed the Silk Roads to the south. In addition, horns, teeth and tongues of elk and reindeer were valued for potions, medicines and talismans. These goods allowed the Mongols to enrich themselves through trade and eventually led to Mongol control of the entire Silk Roads network. This was coupled with more than a century of peace and prosperity throughout Central and Eastern Asia - a period termed by historians as Pax Mongolica.
Despite the deserved bloodthirsty reputation of Genghis Khan and his armies, Temujin was still a dad, and especially close with the children he fathered with his beloved principal wife, Borte. When it came time for them to leave home and join in marriage with strangers in a far away land, he made certain to impart some words of wisdom — fatherly advice that rings true even today. “Be sincere always,” he said. And the simple words that headline today’s post: “Get up early and go to bed late.” One can almost imagine him shedding a tear as his daughters rode out of sight.
I love how you are bringing these characters to life. It is fascinating to think of Khan as a parent.