Bruno De Nicola

The Queen of the Chaghatayids: Orghīna Khātūn and the rule of Central Asia

When Chinggis Khan died in 1227, his sons inherited different parts of the empire that had been built by their father. Chinggis Khans second son, Chaghatai (d. c. 1241), became the ruler of the lands of present-day Central Asia, conforming the origin of what became to be known as the Chaghataid Khanate. After the death of its founder, this political entity experienced a long succession crisis that lasted for a decade until a woman, Orghīna Khātūn, took control of the khanate in the name of her son. Although a ruling woman is not an exceptional case in the Mongol empire, she was the first and only woman that ruled over the Chaghataid Khanate, and that did so peacefully and without major upheavals for nine years. Additionally, she did not adopt a passive role but was involved in the running of the khanate, playing her cards in the always-unstable political arena of the Mongol empire. This article looks at the ascension to the throne, the reign and the legacy of this Mongol woman in Mongol Central Asia by contextualising her rule within the history of the region in general and in that of the Mongol empire in particular.

Patrons or murids? Mongol women and shaykhs in Ilkhanid Iran and Anatolia

Abstract The interactions between the Mongols and religious leaders from different confessions have been documented since the early period of the Mongol Empire. When the Mongols conquered Iran and Anatolia and established the Ilkhanid dynasty, the interaction between the Mongol court and Sufi shaykhs became more apparent. Mongol courtly women (khātūns), who had enough economic capability and financial autonomy, played an important role in securing political favour and economic support for religious leaders. This paper explores the interaction between courtly women and Sufi shaykhs in Ilkhanid Iran and Anatolia. Firstly, it investigates the role of Mongol women in religion and secondly, it examines their patronage activities. Finally, it addresses the personal interaction between some of these ladies and Shaykh Ṣafī al-Dīn Ardabīlī, which provides an interesting case study to facilitate an understanding of the relationship between khātāns and shaykhs in the fourteenth century.The interactions between the Mongols and religious leaders from different confessions have been documented since the early period of the Mongol Empire. When the Mongols conquered Iran and Anatolia and established the Ilkhanid dynasty, the interaction between the Mongol court and Sufi shaykhs became more apparent. Mongol courtly women (khātūns), who had enough economic capability and financial autonomy, played an important role in securing political favour and economic support for religious leaders. This paper explores the interaction between courtly women and Sufi shaykhs in Ilkhanid Iran and Anatolia. Firstly, it investigates the role of Mongol women in religion and secondly, it examines their patronage activities. Finally, it addresses the personal interaction between some of these ladies and Shaykh Ṣafī al-Dīn Ardabīlī, which provides an interesting case study to facilitate an understanding of the relationship between khātāns and shaykhs in the fourteenth century.

Letters from Mongol Anatolia: Professional, Political and Intellectual Connections among Members of a Persianised Elite

ABSTRACTIn thirteenth-century Anatolia, different confessions of Christian and Muslim followers coexisted within a variety of people of diverse cultural backgrounds, including Greek, Turkmen and Pe...ABSTRACT In thirteenth-century Anatolia, different confessions of Christian and Muslim followers coexisted within a variety of people of diverse cultural backgrounds, including Greek, Turkmen and Persian. Politically, this multicultural and multireligious environment was accompanied by the raise of several semi-nomadic Turkmen warlords that controlled different regions of the peninsula under the nominal rule of the Seljuq Dynasty of Rum. In this historical context, Anatolia witnessed a burst of literary activity in manuscript form favoured by the economic patronage of the ruling classes. In one of the surviving manuscripts of the period held at the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul, there is a unique munshaʼat (compilation of letters) written in Persian by a medical doctor of possible Iranian origin appointed in the second half of the thirteenth century to the regions of Kastamonu in north Western Anatolia. By looking at this rare compilation of letters, this paper reconstructs the little-known networks that existed among the members of a Persianised elite in Mongol dominated Anatolia arguing that these letters can offer a novel insight into the cultural life of the region.