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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2007-03 > 1173282883


From:
Subject: Re: European link to the Mongols
Date: 7 Mar 2007 07:54:43 -0800
References: <mailman.4249.1173208158.30800.gen-medieval@rootsweb.com><1173242135.344495.248410@n33g2000cwc.googlegroups.com><mailman.4257.1173243261.30800.gen-medieval@rootsweb.com><1173255205.852428.111460@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com>
In-Reply-To: <1173255205.852428.111460@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com>


On Mar 7, 2:13 am, "" <>
wrote:
> Leo van de Pas napsal:
>
> > It is a pity Rafal Prinke doesn't follow gen-med anymore. Several years ago
> > he told me that Ghenghis Khan's wife Borke had been kidnapped and when he
> > found her she was pregnant with nr.29 in your list. Ghenghis Khan deeply
> > loved Borke and treated the son as his own
> > Such a pity (that Ghenghis was not the father).
> > Leo.
>
> AFAIK, the "Secret History of Mongols" is our only source on this
> issue. According to it, Börte was abducted by Merkits (one of Mongol
> tribes) and was rescued after several months. She gave birth to Yuchi
> shortly afterwards and it is therefore entirely possible that she was
> impregnated by some Merkit (probably their leader Chilger the
> Strong).
> When Ghenghis decided Yuchi to be his successor, his other sons were
> enraged and one of them (Chagatai? possibly; I am writing from memory
> and do not really remember right now) uttered something along "How
> could we allow to be ruled by a Merkit bastard?" Ghenghis in his reply
> denounced these opinions stating explicitly that he counts Yuchi as
> his eldest son.

Djuchi's name means "stranger"; that's not neccesarily a sign of
uncertainty on Temujin's part concerning his paternity, since he and
Borte were living as guests of another tribe at the time of Djuchi's
birth, and the name may be a reference to that. See Jack Weatherford's
"Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World". Unless some DNA
tests are done on surviving descendants of Djuchi and Genghis' other
sons, I don't suppose we'll ever really know who fathered him.


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