Secret History of the Mongols

Secret History of the Mongols
Цэндийн Дамдинсүрэн · Public domain · source
Name	Secret History of the Mongols
Author	anonymous
Country	Mongol Empire
Language	Middle Mongolian
Subject	History, biography
Genre	Chronicle
Release date	13th century

Secret History of the Mongols is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language, composed in the mid-13th century as a dynastic chronicle and political testament. It narrates the rise of Temüjin and the foundation of the Mongol Empire, intertwining biographical episodes, oral tradition, and ritual material to inform succession, legitimacy, and identity. The work shaped later historiography, influenced nomadic and imperial institutions, and remains indispensable to studies of Eurasian history, comparative literature, and philology.

Authorship and Dating

Scholars attribute composition to anonymous court scribes or members of the aristocratic milieu surrounding Ögedei Khan, Güyük Khan, and Möngke Khan, with hypotheses invoking witnesses from the camps of Temüjin and Börte. Radiocarbon-style relative dating situates the text after the Battle of the Kalka River and before the reign of Kublai Khan, with internal allusions to the Yuan dynasty, Jurchen Jin dynasty, Khwarazmian Empire, and campaigns in Xia (Western Xia). Comparative philology links Middle Mongolian forms in the manuscript with dialects attested in sources like Rashid al-Din's Jami' al-tawarikh and the Yuan shi, while cross-references to Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, William of Rubruck, and Friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine help refine chronological hypotheses.

Content and Structure

The narrative opens with genealogies of the Borjigin lineage—ancestors such as Bodonchar Munkhag and Yesügei—and progresses through Temüjin’s youth, alliances with figures like Jamukha and Taraqai Beki, and decisive defeats of rivals including Naiman leaders and the Keraites. The central sections describe the Kurultai assemblies that elevate Temüjin to Genghis Khan and record laws later formalized as Yassa ordinances, while campaigns recount battles at Dalan Balzhut, sieges at Bukhara during wars with the Khwarazmian Empire, and operations across the Volga against the Kipchaks and Cumans. The work intersperses praise-poetry for leaders such as Subutai, Jebe, and Tolui with moralizing episodes involving Börte and rituals linked to the Tengrism corpus and shamanic practice.

Historical Reliability and Significance

Historians weigh the chronicle against contemporaneous records like Rashid al-Din and Chinese dynastic histories to assess bias, hagiography, and retrospective legitimation. Archaeologists correlate its campaigns with material evidence from sites associated with the Silk Road, Samarkand, Khwarazm, Sarai Batu, and steppe burial mounds excavated near Altai Mountains and Mongolia. Military historians compare tactical descriptions with accounts of leaders such as Subutai and maneuvers at the Battle of Yehuling and the Battle of Mohi, while legal historians analyze its echoes in the Yuan Code and later Mongolian customary law. Although the text idealizes the Borjigin, numismatists, epigraphers, and linguists use it alongside inscriptions like the Stele of Yisüngge and the Bugut inscription to reconstruct 13th-century institutions.

Manuscripts and Translations

The principal extant copy exists in a 17th-century manuscript preserved in Beijing collections, transcribed into Classical Mongolian script and later rendered in Manchu and Chinese commentaries, while fragments and citations survive in Persian chronicles and Rus' annals. Key editions include collations by Ruy González de Clavijo-era compilers and modern critical editions prepared by scholars in Russia, Japan, Germany, France, and United States research centers. Major translations appear in Latin-era compilations, German academic editions, Russian philological studies, and English translations that engage with work by Igor de Rachewiltz, Nicholas Poppe, Paul Pelliot, György Kara, and others. Comparative manuscript work references archives in Saint Petersburg, Paris, Ulaanbaatar, Beijing, London, and Vatican Library holdings.

Literary Style and Themes

The chronicle blends epic tropes, genealogical cataloguing, and oral formulae akin to steppe oralists and bards, echoing motifs from Epic of Manas and Turkic runic inscriptions. Recurring themes include divine sanction via Tengri, loyalty and betrayal among nobles like Jamukha and Sebeedei, the tension between kinship and meritocracy exemplified by Ögedei and Tolui, and cosmopolitan encounters across the Silk Road with actors such as Khitan, Uyghur, Tangut, and Persian polities. The text's diction preserves Middle Mongolian morphosyntax that informs reconstruction of Proto-Mongolic and contact linguistics with Old Uyghur, Middle Chinese, Old Turkic, and Mongolian script transmission.

Influence and Legacy

The chronicle shaped later historiography in the Yuan dynasty court and influenced imperial legitimization in successor states like the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and Chagatai Khanate. It informed modern nationalist movements in Mongolia and cultural revivals invoking figures such as Genghis Khan and Börte, while inspiring literary treatments by 19th- and 20th-century authors across Russia, China, Japan, and Europe. Its philological impact extends to institutions like the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts and university departments at Harvard University, University of Tokyo, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, École pratique des hautes études, and Moscow State University, shaping curricula in Eurasian studies, comparative literature, and historical linguistics. Contemporary debates leverage the chronicle in discussions of identity, heritage law, and UNESCO cultural listings in Ulaanbaatar and beyond.

Category:13th-century books Category:Mongolian literature Category:Mongol Empire