Eljigidei Noyan (, d. 1251) was a

Mongol 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 member ...

commander in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Career

He was a commander of the

kheshig Kheshig ( Mongolian: Khishig, Keshik, Khishigten for "favored", "blessed") were the imperial guard for Mongol royalty in the Mongol Empire, particularly for rulers like Genghis Khan and his wife Börte. Their primary purpose was to act as bodyguards ...

during reign of Ögedei. Following the election of Güyük in 1246, he replaced Baiju, Batu's protégé. He departed from Mongolia in September 1247 and arrived in Talas in April 1248, which coincided with Güyük's death. Upon arrival in

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

, he stationed in Badghis region. Supposedly possessed of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

sympathies like the khan, Eljigidei was ordered to advance into

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and planned an advance on

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. This advance was, ideally, to be conducted in alliance with

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

, in concert with the Seventh Crusade. However, Güyük's sudden death made Eljigidei postpone operations until after the

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

. Still, Eljigidei wrote a letter from his camp in Khorasan. Apparently Eljigidei never managed to hold real command but only on paper. After the election of Möngke, however, Eljigidei and his two sons were implicated in an aborted conspiracy to declare the election invalid. Though supposedly innocent, Eljigidei was arrested and put to death as well in winter of 1251 or 1252. Baiju was subsequently returned to command in Persia.

References

1250s deaths 13th-century Mongolian people Year of birth unknown 13th-century Iranian people Mongol Empire people {{iran-mil-bio-stub Generals of the Mongol Empire