Khutulun ({{circa, 1260 – {{circa, 1306), also known as Aigiarne,{{Cite book, title = Il Milione, last = Polo, first = Marco, publisher = L'Unità –

Editori Riuniti Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Histor ...

, year = 1982, chapter = De la Grande Turchia Aiyurug, Khotol Tsagaan or Ay Yaruq ({{lit, Moonlight) was a Mongol noblewoman and wrestler, the most famous daughter of

Kaidu Kaidu (Middle Mongol: , Modern Mongol: / , ; ; c. 1230 – 1301) was a grandson of the Mongol khagan Ögedei (1185–1241) and thus leader of the House of Ögedei and the ''de facto'' khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a division of the Mongol Em ...

, a cousin of

Kublai Khan Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of ...

. Her father was "most pleased by her abilities", and she accompanied him on military campaigns. Both

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

and

Rashid al-Din Hamadani Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb ( fa, رشیدالدین طبیب;‎ 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, fa, links=no, رشیدالدین فضل‌الله همدانی) was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilk ...

wrote accounts of their encounters with her.

Life

Khutulun was born about 1260. Jack Weatherford �
The Wrestler Princess
in '' Lapham’s Quarterly'' By 1280, her father Kaidu became the most powerful ruler of Central Asia, reigning in the realms from western

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

Oxus The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

, and from the

Central Siberian Plateau The Central Siberian Plateau (russian: Среднесибирское плоскогорье, Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; sah, Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Gre ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Marco Polo described Khutulun as a superb warrior, one who could ride into enemy ranks and snatch a captive as easily as a hawk snatches a chicken. She assisted her father in many battles, particularly against the

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

of her cousin the

Great Khan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

– Kublai (r. 1260–1294). Khutulun insisted that any man who wished to marry her must defeat her in wrestling. Winning horses from competitions and the wagers of would-be suitors, it is said that she gathered a herd numbering ten thousand. Sources vary about her husband's identity. Some chronicles say her husband was a handsome man who failed to assassinate her father and was taken prisoner; others refer to him as Kaidu's companion from the Choros clan. Rashid al-Din wrote that Khutulun fell in love with

Ghazan Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son o ...

, Mongol ruler 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 ...

. Of all Kaidu's children, Khutulun was the favorite, and the one from whom he most sought advice and political support. According to some accounts, he tried to name her as his successor to the khanate before he died in 1301. However, his choice was declined due to her male relatives. When Kaidu died, Khutulun guarded his tomb with the assistance of her brother Orus. She was challenged by her other brothers including Chapar and relative

Duwa Duwa (; died 1307), also known as Du'a, was khan of the Chagatai Khanate (1282–1307). He was the second son of Baraq. He was the longest reigning monarch of the Chagatayid Khanate and accepted the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty as ...

because she resisted their succession. She died in 1306.

In popular culture

Khutulun is thought to be the basis for the character of

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

, who has been the subject of a number of Western works. While in Mongol culture she is remembered as a famous athlete and warrior, in Western artistic adaptations she is depicted as a proud woman who finally succumbs to love.

François Pétis de la Croix François Pétis de la Croix (1653–1713) was a French orientalist. He was born in Paris, the son of the Arabic interpreter of the French court and author, also named François Pétis de la Croix (1622–1695) and inherited this office at ...

's 1710 book of Asian tales and fables contains a story in which Khutulun is called Turandot, a Persian word (Turandokht توراندخت) meaning "

Central Asian Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the form ...

Daughter", and is the nineteen-year-old daughter of Altoun Khan, the Mongol emperor of China. In Pétis de La Croix's story, however, she does not wrestle her suitors, and they do not wager horses; rather, she has them answer three riddles, and they are executed if they cannot solve them.

Carlo Gozzi __NOTOC__ Carlo, Count Gozzi (; 13 December 1720 – 4 April 1806) was an Italian ( Venetian) playwright and champion of Commedia dell'arte. Early life Gozzi was born and died in Venice; he came from a family of minor Venetian aristocracy, the T ...

wrote his own version 50 years later, a stage play in which she was a "tigerish woman" of "unrelenting pride".

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

translated and adapted the play into German as ''Turandot, Prinzessin von China'' in 1801. The most famous version of ''Turandot'' is

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

's operatic version, which he was working on when he died in 1924. There are many stories and novels about Khutulun presented by Mongolian writers, such as ''Khotolon'' by Purev Sanj, ''Kaidu's wonderful daughter Khutulun'' by Ch.Janchivdorj, ''Khotol Tsagaan'' by

Oyungerel Tsedevdamba Oyungerel Tsedevdamba (; born 26 October 1966 in the Tarialan district of the Mongolian People's Republic) is policy advisor for human rights and public participation to the President of Mongolia, Khaltmaagiin Battulga. Oyungerel is a member of t ...

, ''The Story of Kaidu Khan'' by Batjargal Sanjaa, and '' Princess Khutulun'' by B. Shuudertsetseg. Khutulun is portrayed by

Claudia Kim Kim Soo-hyun (born January 25, 1985), also known as Claudia Kim, is a South Korean actress and model. She has appeared in the television series ''Queen of the Game'' (2006–2007) and ''Marco Polo'' (2014–2016), as well as the films '' Avengers ...

in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

series ''Marco Polo''. Khutulun was the name chosen for a popular racehorse in Australia 2011–2019, which was bought by Grand Syndicates for just A$16,000 and eventually won nearly A$500,000 in prize money. On 3 December 2021, Shuuder Productions and Voo Broadcasting released the film ''Princess Khutulun''. The movie is based on the novel ''Khotol Tsagaan Gunj'' by Mongolian author

Baatarsuren Shuudertsetseg Baatarsuren Togtokhbayar ( mn, Баатарсүрэнгийн Тогтохбаяр; born January 18, 1971), known by her pen name Shuudertsetseg ( mn, Шүүдэрцэцэг) is a Mongolian journalist, author, filmmaker, and humanitarian. Sh ...

and takes place during the Yuan Dynasty.{{Cite web, title=History in Yuan Dynasty first shown in ‘Khutulun Princess’ film, url=https://www.montsame.mn/en/read/285274, access-date=2022-01-19, website=MONTSAME News Agency, language=en Actress Tsedoo Munkhbat played the starring role.

References

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Life

In popular culture

References

Further reading