Yujiulü Anagui (

Rouran The Rouran Khaganate, also Juan-Juan Khaganate (), was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.*Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000)"Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organizati ...

: Anakay; ;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Yùjiǔlǘ Ānàguī) (?–552) was ruler of the

(520–552) with the title of Chiliantoubingdoufa Khagan (敕連頭兵豆伐可汗).

First reign

His reign started with troubles. First rebellion started after 10 days of his coronation when his brother-in-law Qilifa Shifa (俟力發示發) rose against him, killing Anagui's younger brother Yujiulü Yijufa (郁久閭乙居伐) and his mother Hou Luling (侯呂陵) on his attack, paving way for Anagui's cousin

Yujiulü Poluomen Yujiulü Poluomen () was a khagan of Rouran with the title Mioukesheju Khagan (彌偶可社句可汗). He was a grandson of Yujiulü Nagai and a cousin of Yujiulü Anagui. Reign He proclaimed himself khagan after coup against Yujiulü Anagui b ...

. Having lost the fight, Anagui fled to Northern Wei. Emperor Xiaoming sheltered him and ordered his advisors to bring him to palace. As Khagan asked for troops to regain his throne, emperor recognized him but postponed any idea of going to war. Restless Anagui bribed

Yuan Cha Yuan Cha () (died June 525), courtesy name Bojun (伯雋), nickname Yecha (夜叉), was an official of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty of China, who initially came to power as the brother-in-law of Emperor Xiaoming's mother and regent Empres ...

to leave capital. Emperor suddenly changed his idea when Anagui was about to leave in 521, helped him from martial and economic perspective.

Second reign

Back in Rouran, Qilifa Shifa this time opposed

, invading his domains. Poluomen's further defeat by

Gaoche The Tiele (, Mongolian ''*Tegreg'' " eople of theCarts"), also transliterated as Dili (), Chile (), Zhile (), Tele (), also named Gaoche or Gaoju (, "High Carts"), were a tribal confederation of Turkic ethnic origins living to the north of Chin ...

forced Northern Wei to divide Rouran between Anagui and Poluomen in order to establish stability. Anagui resided in Huaishuo (modern Guyang,

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

), while Poluomen ruled from Xihai (modern Ejin, Inner Mongolia). Poluomen later fled to Hephtalites in 524, but was arrested and brought to Northern Wei court, who executed him and made Anagui ruler of both parts of the khaganate. Swaying unto Chinese influence, Anagui reformed Rouran after Chinese bureaucracy, made a Han Chinese his chancellor. In 522, he asked for millet for sowing and received 10000 bags from China. However his agricultural project didn't work out, therefore he started to raid Wei frontier towns due to hunger in 523. Later in 525, he answered Wei call for suppressing revolt in

Six Frontier Towns The Six Frontier Towns (Traditional Chinese: 六鎮; Simplified Chinese: 六镇), also known as Northern Frontier Towns (北镇), refers to six military towns in the Hetao region that the Northern Wei government built during Huangshi era and Yanhe ...

with 100.000 strong Rouran army, plundering rebellious people. He tried to maintain balance between Wei and Liang following years, sending gifts to both parties. He asked for a princess in marriage in 533, a request that was accepted. Emperor Xiaowu sent a cousin of his,

Princess Lanling Princess Le'an (), also Princess Lanling () (fl. 530s), was the consort of the Rouran khagan Yujiulü Anluochen. She was born into the imperial house of the Eastern Wei dynasty and was a descendant of Tuoba Yulü of the Dai dynasty and of Empress ...

(蘭陵公主) as his bride. In 535, he managed to get another princess for his family, this time to his brother Yujiulü Tahan (郁久閭塔寒), who was married to Princess Huazheng (化政公主), daughter of a Northern Wei official Yuan Yi (元翌). He also forced Emperor Wen to divorce

Empress Yifu Empress Yifu (乙弗皇后, personal name unknown) (510–540), formally Empress Wen (文皇后, literally "the civil empress"), was an empress of the Xianbei-led Chinese Western Wei dynasty—a branch successor state of Northern Wei. Her husban ...

and marry Yujiulü Anagui's daughter. Emperor Wen agreed, and divorced Empress Yifu, making her a Buddhist nun. He then married Yujiulü Anagui's daughter and created her empress. For a while, this brought peace with Rouran. In 540, she was pregnant when Rouran launched a major attack on

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

— causing the Western Wei officials to believe that the attack was launched because she was jealous of the former Empress Yifu, who was by then a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

nun. Emperor Wen, under pressure, ordered Empress Yifu to commit suicide. Later in the year, when Empress Yujiulü herself was about to give birth, she heard unusual barking noises in the palace, and she suspected them as from the spirit of Empress Yifu. She therefore grew depressed, and she died either during or shortly after childbirth in 540. Eastern Wei regent

Gao Huan Gao Huan () (496 – 13 February 547), Xianbei name Heliuhun (賀六渾), formally Prince Xianwu of Qi (齊獻武王), later further formally honored by Northern Qi initially as Emperor Xianwu (獻武皇帝), then as Emperor Shenwu (神武皇帝 ...

skillfully used this opportunity, sent Zhang Weiquan, who transmitted a letter to the Khagan. The letter said that

Yuwen Tai Yuwen Tai () (505 – 21 November 556According to Yuwen Tai's biography in ''Book of Zhou'', he died aged 52 (by East Asian reckoning) on the ''yihai'' day of the 10th month of the 3rd year of the reign of Emperor Gong of Western Wei. This corre ...

killed Emperor Wen, poisoned the empress and wants to destroy the

. At the military council, the nobles of Rouran spoke in favor of recognizing Eastern Wei. Anagui paid a small tribute in recognition of Eastern Wei. After lengthy negotiations, Gao Huan decided to send Princess Le'an (樂安公主) for

Yujiulü Anluochen Yujiulü Anluochen (; pinyin: Yùjiǔlǘ Ānluóchén) (?–554) was the last khagan of the Rouran (553–554) in the east. He was the son of Yujiulü Anagui. During reign of Anagui He was married to Princess Le'an (乐安公主), daughter of Ga ...

. In 541, the khagan sent 1,000 horses and asked to bring the princess, who was now renamed

(蘭陵公主). In view of the importance of an alliance with the Rouran, Gao Huan personally presided the collection of the dowry and led the princess and her retinue to Rouran. Anagui was very pleased with the marriage. This year he also ended the

threat for once and all. The alliance with Eastern Wei turned out to be quite bountiful. Now northern China was weakened by the civil war between Western and Eastern Wei (between the

and

, the actual rulers) and the Rouran didn't fear devastating invasions of their lands. Population increased and Anaguy became one of the strongest rulers in the region. His Han Chinese secretary of the khagan, persuaded him not to sign the messages as a vassal - but as an equal sovereign. Anagui often switched between sides. In fall 545, due to an alliance between Western Wei and Rouran to attack Eastern Wei, Gao Huan sued for peace with Rouran by requesting a marriage between a daughter of Anagui and

Gao Cheng Gao Cheng (; 521–549), courtesy name Zihui (子惠), formally Prince Wenxiang of Bohai (勃海文襄王), later further posthumously honored by Northern Qi as Emperor Wenxiang (文襄皇帝) with the temple name Shizong (世宗), was the paramou ...

. Yujiulü Anagui refused, stating that it would only be sufficient if Gao Huan himself married her. Gao Huan himself initially refused, but Princess Lou, Gao Cheng and Wei Jing all persuaded him otherwise, and he married Yujiulü Anagui's daughter, referring to her as the

Princess Ruru Princess Ruru of Northern Qi (蠕蠕公主) (530 CE – 6 May 548 CE) was the consort of Gao Huan, the regent of Eastern Wei, and later of Gao Cheng. She was the daughter of Anagui, the famed khan of the Rourans. Biography She was born in Mobei ...

(蠕蠕公主). To facilitate this marriage, Princess Lou moved out of the mansion, but Gao Huan and Princess Lou were not formally divorced. Next year, in 546, his bannerman Ashina Tumen suppressed a Tiele revolt against Rouran. Following this, Tumen felt entitled to request of the Rouran a princess as his wife. Anagui sent an emissary to Bumin to rebuke him, saying, "You are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words?".Burhan Oğuz, ''Türkiye halkının kültür kökenleri: Giriş, beslenme teknikleri'', İstanbul Matbaası, 1976, p. 147
«Demirci köle» olmaktan kurtulup reisleri Bumin'e
Tumen got angry, killed Anagui's emissary, and severed relations with the Rouran Khaganate, started an open revolt with help of

Death and succession

Some time between February 11 - March 10, 552, Anagui was defeated by Tumen (Bumin) in the north of Huaihuang (in present-day

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the south ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

) and committed suicide.

Linghu Defen Linghu () is a Chinese compound surname. During the Zhou Dynasty, a general, Wei Ke ( 魏顆) scored many victories for Zhou and was granted the city of Linghu. All his descendants took the compound surname Linghu. Notable people * Bruce Linghu ...

et al., ''

Book of Zhou The ''Book of Zhou'' (''Zhōu Shū'') records the official history of the Xianbei-led Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties of China, and ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. Compiled by the Tang dynasty histori ...

'', Vol. 50. Following the defeat, Anagui's son Anluochen fled to

Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It ruled the eastern part of northern China ...

, while his uncle

Yujiulü Dengshuzi Yujiulü Dengshuzi (; pinyin: Yùjiǔlǘ Dèngshūzǐ) (?–555) was the last western khagan of the Rouran. He was a cousin of Anagui. Reign He was enthroned in March 553 by remnants of Rouran and support of Western Wei in Woye (modern northern ...

succeeded him under protection of

. Another relative,

Yujiulü Tiefa Yujiulü Tiefa (, r. 552–553) was the successor to Yujiulü Anagui in the eastern part of Rouran. He was proclaimed khagan by remnants of Rouran in 552. But he ruled only briefly until his death at the hands of Khitans in February 553. He was su ...

declared himself khagan in east of

Gobi The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast ...

Family

He was married to Princess Lanling (蘭陵公主), daughter of Yuan Yi, Prince Qinghe Wenxian (清河文獻王元懌; 488–520) and granddaughter of

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei ((北)魏孝文帝) (October 13, 467 – April 26, 499), personal name né Tuoba Hong (拓拔宏), later Yuan Hong (元宏), was an emperor of the Northern Wei from September 20, 471 to April 26, 499. Under the r ...

. He had following children: *

Empress Yujiulü Empress Yujiulü (郁久閭皇后, personal name unknown) (525–540), formally Empress Dao (悼皇后, literally "the untimely-dead empress"), was an empress of the Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were a Proto-Mongolic ancient nomadic people that ...

(525-540) - Empress of

(530 - 6 May 548) - Consort of

Sources

Mongol khans Rouran rulers 472 births 552 deaths Suicides in China Ancient people who committed suicide {{Rouran rulers