Women and the Making of the Mongol Empire

A wide-ranging study of the critical roles that women played in the history of the Mongol conquests and empire.

Anne F. Broadbridge (Author)

9781108441001, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 July 2018

362 pages, 47 b/w illus. 3 maps 5 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.6 kg

'Broadbridge's book will be a bonanza of information for future anthropologists, women's studies scholars, and sociologists. Scholars in Mongolia, China, the Middle East, and Russia will ?nd her work engaging and invaluable. Hers is and will remain the best pioneering work on the subject. Broadbridge, more than any other scholar, has laid the groundwork for what will follow.' David Curtis Wright, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

How did women contribute to the rise of the Mongol Empire while Mongol men were conquering Eurasia? This book positions women in their rightful place in the otherwise well-known story of Chinggis Khan (commonly known as Genghis Khan) and his conquests and empire. Examining the best known women of Mongol society, such as Chinggis Khan's mother, Hö'elün, and senior wife, Börte, as well as those who were less famous but equally influential, including his daughters and his conquered wives, we see the systematic and essential participation of women in empire, politics and war. Anne F. Broadbridge also proposes a new vision of Chinggis Khan's well-known atomized army by situating his daughters and their husbands at the heart of his army reforms, looks at women's key roles in Mongol politics and succession, and charts the ways the descendants of Chinggis Khan's daughters dominated the Khanates that emerged after the breakup of the Empire in the 1260s.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Notes on transliteration
Introduction
1. Women in steppe society
2. Hö'elün and Börte
3. Conquered women
4. Women and the guard, the army and succession
5. Sons-in-law, daughters and conquests
6. Töregene
7. Oghul-Qaimish and Sorqoqtani
8. Consort houses in the successor Khanates
9. Consort houses in the Ilkhanate
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Asian history [HBJF]