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| Töregene | |
|---|---|
| Name | Töregene |
| Role | Empress Regent of the Mongol Empire |
| Reign | 1241–1246 (regency) |
| Predecessor | Ögedei Khan |
| Successor | Güyük Khan |
| Spouse | Ögedei Khan |
| Birth date | ca. 1170s |
| Death date | 1246 |
| Religion | Tengriism |
Töregene was a 13th-century empress regent of the Mongol Empire who consolidated power after the death of Ögedei Khan and before the enthronement of Güyük Khan. As senior wife of Ögedei Khan and mother of Güyük Khan, she navigated court factions among Cutchei, Kereit, Naiman, Kerait, and Jochi-linked interests. Her regency involved interactions with major figures and polities such as Möngke Khan, Tolui, Subutai, Batu Khan, Guyuk Khan, Chagatai Khanate, Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and the Chinese dynasties including the Jin dynasty and Southern Song.
Born into a noble family of the Onggirat clan, Töregene's early life intersected with aristocratic networks like the Borjigin and Barga. She married Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, linking her to the legacy of the Great Khan and to the political order established after the Mongol conquest of Central Asia. Her kinship ties connected her to leaders and lineages such as Tolui, Kaidu, Toghrul of the Kereit, Naiman chiefs, Jebe, Subutai, and court figures including Chagatai Khan and Batu Khan. During the era of the Pax Mongolica and campaigns like the Invasion of Khwarezmia and the Mongol invasion of Europe, Töregene's family gained prominence among camp politics, steppe alliances, and marital diplomacy involving clans such as the Oirat and Khongirad.
Following the 1241 death of Ögedei Khan at Karakorum, Töregene asserted authority amid succession struggles involving Ögedei's lineage and the Toluid faction led by Tolui and his sons. She leveraged connections with influential emirs including Kadan, Eljigidei, Chagaan, and commanders like Buri and Chormaqan Noyan, while negotiating with western princes such as Batu Khan and Sartaq. Töregene convened councils at Karakorum and in the steppes, mobilizing support from aristocrats associated with Khwarazm, Transoxiana, Khorasan, and the Volga regions. Her rise entailed sidelining rivals from houses allied to Shigi Qutuqu and engaging envoys from polities like the Kingdom of Hungary, the Papal States, the Kievan Rus' principalities, and the Byzantine Empire.
As regent, Töregene instituted administrative changes that affected salaried posts and provincial governorships tied to figures like Möngke Khan, Güyük Khan, Arghun, and Sorghaghtani Beki. She dismissed several high officials sympathetic to the Toluid interest and appointed loyalists including Fatima, Masud, and Chagatai appointees to key positions; these moves provoked reactions from commanders such as Subutai and governors in Bukhara, Samarkand, and Maragha. Töregene managed relations with neighboring states: she received envoys from the Song dynasty, negotiated trade and tribute with the Khitan remnants, and weighed interventions in the Caucasus and Persia where rulers like Ala ad-Din Muhammad II and dynasties such as the Salghurids and Ayyubids were relevant. Her fiscal decisions impacted caravan routes connecting Silk Road cities including Kashgar, Dunhuang, Bukhara, and Tbilisi.
Töregene oversaw campaigns directed by generals such as Chormaqan, Baiju Noyan, and Sartaq's allies, coordinating operations across theaters from the steppes to Anatolia. She authorized operations against the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and supported incursions into Anatolia that implicated commanders like Bayju and involved confrontations with Byzantine and Armenian forces of Nicaea and Armenian Cilicia. Diplomatically she balanced relations with European powers including the Kingdom of France, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Poland, and the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia as envoys sought alliances against Mongol pressures. Töregene also engaged with clerical and imperial actors such as the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, while managing vassal obligations from client rulers in Georgia and Armenia and negotiating marriage alliances connecting houses like the Khongirad and Onggirat.
Töregene's regency reconfigured succession dynamics culminating in the enthronement of Güyük Khan in 1246. Her tenure influenced later power struggles between the Ögedeid, Toluid, Jochid, and Chagatai lines, affecting figures such as Möngke, Kublai Khan, Hulagu, Ariq Böke, and Kadan. Historians compare her role to other steppe regents like Sorghaghtani Beki and link her policies to developments in the Ilkhanate, Golden Horde, and Yuan dynasty. Töregene's patronage patterns and court purges shaped the careers of nobles like Eljigidei, Chagaan, and Fatima, and set precedents referenced during later assemblies such as the kurultai that ratified imperial authority. Her death and the transition to Güyük Khan reopened factional contests that contributed to the later consolidation under Möngke Khan and the Toluid ascendancy.
Category:13th-century Mongol rulers Category:Women in war Category:Regents