Gintaisi (

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

; died September 29, 1619), known as Jintaishi () or Jintaiji () in Chinese, was a

Jurchen Jurchen may refer to: * Jurchen people, Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century ** Haixi Jurchens, a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming Dynasty ** Jianzhou Jurchens, a grouping of ...

beile (chieftain) of the

Yehe Nara (Manchu language, Manchu: , Wade-Giles: nara hala, Chinese: , or ) is a clan name shared by a number of royal Manchu clans. The four tribes of the Hulun (alliance), Hūlun confederation () – Hada (), Ula (), Hoifa () and Yehe () – wer ...

tribal confederation. He was the younger brother of Narimbulu, and became one of the two beile of the Yehe tribe after the death of his brother which took place sometime before 1613. In 1613,

Bujantai Bujantai (Manchu: ; ) (died 1618) was a Jurchen ''beile'' (chieftain) of the Ula tribal confederation. Bujantai was descended from Nacibulu (納奇卜祿), the ancestor of the Nara lineages of Ula and Hada. Tradition spoke of Nacibulu as havin ...

the beile of the Ula tribe had fled to the Yehe after the defeat of his forces at the hands of

Nurhaci Nurhaci (14 May 1559 – 30 September 1626), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing (), was a Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th century in Manchuria. A member of the House of Aisin-Gioro, he reigned ...

. Gintaisi gave him protection and when attacked by Nurhaci, he appealed to the

Ming Chinese The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

for help. In 1615, he attempted to appease the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

on the west by marrying his cousin (who had eighteen years before been promised to Nurhaci) to the

Khalka The Khalkha ( Mongolian: mn, Халх, Halh, , zh, 喀爾喀) have been the largest subgroup of Mongol people in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by Borjigin khan ...

beile. The alliance with the Chinese in the end proved to be a futile arrangement, for in 1619 Nurhaci defeated a large Chinese army, together with its Yehe auxiliaries at the

Battle of Sarhu A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

and then proceeded to besiege Gintaisi in his own stronghold. Despite attempts at a settlement by Nurhaci's son,

Hong Taiji Hong Taiji (28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643), also rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing, was the second khan of the Later Jin ...

the future emperor who was also Gintaisi's nephew, the fighting continued until both Gintaisi and his cousin Buyanggu (布揚古) had been captured. Gintaisi was either executed by hanging or he committed suicide, but not before he allegedly cursed Nurhaci that as long as one of his descendants lived, even a female one, he or she would remember the clan's vendetta and bring down the

Aisin Gioro The House of Aisin-Gioro was a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as c ...

. With his death, the independent existence of the Yehe tribe came to an end and the last of the Jurchen tribes under the Hūlun (alliance) were brought under the control of Nurhaci, but many of its members, including his descendants, became prominent in the service of Nurhaci and of the succeeding Manchu emperors. Even the

Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu people, Manchu Nara (clan)#Yehe Nara, Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese nob ...

traced her descent back to the Yehe division of the

Nara clan Nara (Manchu: , Wade-Giles: nara hala, Chinese: , or ) is a clan name shared by a number of royal Manchu clans. The four tribes of the Hūlun confederation () – Hada (), Ula (), Hoifa () and Yehe () – were all ruled by clans bearing this ...

, and recognized Yangginu, the father of Gintaisi, as her great ancestor.

References

* * Veit, Veronika (2007). ''The Role of Women in the Altaic World''. Harrassowitz Verlag. {{ISBN, 978-3-447-05537-6 History of Manchuria Jurchens 1619 deaths