Tardu or Tardush Yabghu was the second yabghu of the

Western Turkic Khaganate The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate () was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after the split of the First Turkic Khaganate (founded in the 6th century o ...

(c. 575–603), and ninth

Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

of the

First Turkic Khaganate The First Turkic Khaganate, also referred to as the First Turkic Empire, the Turkic Khaganate or the Göktürk Khaganate, was a Turkic khaganate established by the Ashina clan of the Göktürks in medieval Inner Asia under the leadership of Bu ...

(599–603). He was the son of Istämi.

Names

The regnal name in Turkic was Tarduš (),

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the ...

: , ,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ,

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles ( ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's '' A Chinese–English Dictionary'' ...

: , personal name: , , ). According to Lev Gumilev his personal name was Kara-Churin-Turk (Кара Чурин Тюрк).Lev Nikolayrviç Gumilev: ''Eski Türkler ''(trans. D.Ahsen Batur) Selenge yayınları, İstanbul, 2002 p. 140, 550 However, when he subjugated the eastern half after the death of Tulan Qaghan, he assumed the regnal name Bilge (Wise) Khagan.

Background

The Turkic Khaganate was a vast khaganate (empire); from

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

and the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against vario ...

to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. It was impossible to govern the whole khaganate from a certain capital. So while the eastern part was directly ruled by the ''

khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

'' (emperor), the western part was governed by the '' yabghu'' (vassal) on behalf of the ''khagan''. The capital of the west was Ordukent (Suyab) (present-day

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

). Istemi, who was the ''khagan'''s brother, was the first and Tardu (İstemi's son) was the second ''yabgu''.

Years of civil war

Tardu became the ''yabgu'' in c. 575. That year, he met the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

ambassador Valentinius. Being a very ambitious ''yabgu'', he was planning to seize power in the entire khaganate. He saw his chance in 581 when ''khagan''

Taspar Taspar Qaghan ( Sogdian: ''t’asp’r γ’γ’n'') or Tatpar Qaghan (Sogdian: ''t’tp’r x’γ’n'', Rouran: ''Tadpar qaɣan''; Old Turkic: 𐱃𐱃𐰯𐰺𐰴𐰍𐰣 Tatpar qaγan, 佗缽可汗/佗钵可汗, Pinyin: tuóbō Kèhán, Wade ...

died. Taspar had announced his preference for Talopien (son of Muqan Qaghan) instead of his son Anluo. But Göktürk ''

kurultai A kurultai (, ),Derived from Russian language, Russian , ultimately from Middle Mongol ( ), whence Chinese language, Chinese 忽里勒台 ''Hūlǐlēitái'' (); ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (). also called a qurultai, was a political and military counc ...

'' (council of tribal leaders), which was authorized to appoint the new ''khagan'', refused to follow the former ''khagan'''s will and appointed the former ''khagan'''s son, who in turn acknowledged

Ishbara Qaghan Ishbara Qaghan (, ) (c. 540 – 587) was the first son of Issik Qaghan, grandson of Bumin Qaghan, and the sixth khagan of the Turkic Khaganate (581–587). Name His birth name was recorded as either Ashina Shetu or Nietu () in Chinese sourc ...

as the new ''khagan''. This gave Tardu the necessary cause to interfere. He sent an army to back Talopien. Ishbara applied to Sui China for protection and both sides were played off each other by China.

Later years

While the east part of the khaganate suffered from civil war, Tardu was waiting for a suitable moment to realize his plans. After the Battle of the Blarathon in 591 in

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

Bahram Chobin Bahrām Chōbīn () or Wahrām Chōbēn (Middle Persian: ; died 591), also known by his epithet Mehrbandak ("servant of Mithra"), was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as Bahram VI (). So ...

who was a short-term Sasanid emperor, sought asylum in Western Turks. In 599 Tardu declared himself to be ''khagan'' of the united khaganate (east and west)Melek Tekin: ''Türk tarihi'', p. 87, Milliyet yayınları, 1991 But his new status was not recognised widely. Probably to persuade the ''kurultai'', he began a campaign against China. But unlike the Turks of the eastern part, his target of the campaign was too far away and his army suffered intensely from the poisoned water wells during the long expedition through the steppe. Finally, he had to retreat without serious combat, but this defeat was disastrous for him. After a rebellion of his subjects, he disappeared (was likely killed) in 603 or 604. He was succeeded in the west by Niri Qaghan, a son of Talopien.

Family

He was father to Tulu () and Külüg Sibir. Sheguy and Tong Yabghu were his grandsons through Tulu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tardu Göktürk khagans 603 deaths 6th-century monarchs in Asia Ashina house of the Turkic Empire Year of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain