Alakhai Bekhi

Alakhai Bekhi (Alagai Bäki; born c. 1191, died after 1230) was a daughter of Genghis Khan and his first wife Börte.[1] She played significant role behind the scenes during her father’s lifetime.[2]

Life

In 1206, the Ongud allies of Genghis Khan attended his great Kurultai and brought gifts from their lands. In recognition of their loyalty, Alakhai was betrothed to a relative, perhaps the son, of Alaqush of the Ongud. When she was about sixteen years old, she went south of the Gobi Desert, where the Ongud lived a semi-nomad life. This gave Genghis Khan a foothold beyond the Gobi Desert, where many sedentary kingdoms of large populations were located. Alakhai Beki supplied the Mongols with horses and provisions, whenever they came south.[3]

In 1211, the Ongud revolted against Alakhai and tried to kill her. She managed to escape, but her husband and other supporters were killed. She took two of her stepsons with her to the Mongol army. Genghis Khan then sent part of his army with her and the revolt was suppressed. Though Genghis planned on the widescale killing of male Onguds in retaliation, Alakhai persuaded him to only punish the murderers of her husband. After that Alakhai married her stepson Jingue and the Ongud remained loyal to her and Genghis Khan.[4] With Jingue she had a son named Negudei.

She was also left in charge of those Chinese territories conquered by her father after he withdrew back to Mongolia in 1215. He gave her the title "Princess Who Runs the State".[5] She regularly dispatched troops to aid her father in campaigns.

In 1225, after Jingue's death, she married Boyaohe, another stepson.[6] Her son Negudei died in battle in the 1230s. She then did work to promote the interests of Boyaohe's other children by arranging marriages for them to women of the Borjigin Clan.[7]

Alakhai promoted literacy and, according to a Chinese envoy, read daily. Medicine and religious text in specific held her interest.[8]

Notes
  1. McLynn, Frank (2015-07-02). Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World. Random House. ISBN 9781446449295.
  2. Weatherford, Jack (2010). The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire. New York: Crown Publishing Group. pp. xiii, 2.
  3. Weatherford (2010). p. 57.
  4. Weatherford (2010). p. 69.
  5. Weatherford (2010). p. 72.
  6. Women in power
  7. Weatherford (2010). p. 80.
  8. Weatherford (2010). p. 70.

Sources
  • Weatherford, Jack. (2010). The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. Broadway Paperbacks, New York.
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