2017. Vol. 5, no. 4. Stephen Pow

2017. Vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 698-725

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2017-5-4.698-725

   THE LAST CAMPAIGN AND DEATH OF JEBE NOYAN

Stephen Pow
Central European University
Budapest, Hungary
Pow_Stephen@phd.ceu.edu

Research objectives: Despite Jebe Noyan’s importance to the establishment of Chinggis Khan’s empire, he remains a shadowy figure, and much uncertainty still exists on when he died, and in what circumstances. While also providing an overview of his background and military career as it is recorded in the sources, the main objective was to discover when and how Jebe Noyan died. That is, the aim was to find clues in the sources that help make sense of his disappearance from records around 1223.
Research materials: A diverse range of primary sources originating from a variety of medieval societies was consulted. The most important sources were the Russian Novgorod and Galicia-Volhynia Chronicles which offer the most detail on the last campaign that we know Jebe participated in. Two biographies from the Yuan Shi was consulted for additional details. Persian sources (Juvaini, Rashiduddin), Arabic sources (Ibn al-Athir), and Caucasus sources (the Georgian Chronicle) were also explored, along with the views of a number of scholars in secondary literature.
Research results and novelty: The main finding is that the Novgorod First Chronicle appears to describe Jebe Noyan’s death roughly a week before the Battle of the Kalka. This is a novel argument as Jebe is widely thought to have died after his putative return to Mongolia. Another important finding is that the primary sources do not support the view that Jebe and Sübe’etei’s 1221–1223 campaign around the Caspian Sea was an exploratory raid; rather they tend to record that the objective was conquest.

Keywords: Jebe, Mongol Empire, Kipchaks, Medieval Russia, Battle of the Kalka, Chinggis Khan, Golden Horde, Russian Chronicles

For citation: Pow S. The Last Campaign and Death of Jebe Noyan. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2017. Vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 698–725. DOI: 10.22378/2313-6197.2017-5-4.698-725

Dedication

This paper is dedicated to the memory of a friend, Jeff Morris. I first discussed this historical problem with him.

REFERENCES

  1. Berezhkov N. Khronologiya russkogo letopisaniya [Chronology of Russian Chro­nicles’ Writing]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1963. 376 p. (In Russian)
  2. Ipat’evskaya letopis’ [Hypathian Chronicle]. Shakhmatov A.A. (red.). Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisey. Tom II [Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles. Vol. 2]. Saint Petersburg, Tipografiya A.A. Aleksandrova, 1908. xvi p. + 938 cols. + 87 p. (In Russian)
  3. Novgorodskaya Pervaya letopis’ starshego i mladshego izvodov [Novgorod First Chronicle according to the Oldest and Younger Transcripts]. Nasonov A.N. (red.). Moscow–Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1950. 561 p. (In Russian)
  4. Allsen T.T. Mongol Census Taking in Rus, 1245–1275. Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 1981. No. 5, pp. 32–53.
  5. Allsen T.T. Prelude to the Western Campaigns: Mongol Military Operations in the Volga-Ural Region, 1217–1237. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi. Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1983. No. 3, pp. 5–24.
  6. Atwood C. The Date of the ‘Secret History of the Mongols’ Reconsidered. Journal of Song-Yuan Studies. 2007. No. 37, pp. 1–48.
  7. Atwood C. The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York, Facts on File, 2004. x + 678 p.
  8. Bak J., Rady M. (trans.). Master Roger’s Epistle to the Sorrowful Lament upon the Destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Tatars. Budapest, Central European University Press, 2010. 326 p.
  9. Barthold W. Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion. Minorsky T., Bosworth C.E. (trans.). London, Luzac, 1968. 596 p.
  10. Boyle J. (trans.). Ala al-Din Ata Malik Juvaini, The History of the World Conqueror. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1958. 763 p.
  11. Bretschneider E. Medieval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources. 2 Vols. London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., 1910. Vol. 1. xii + 334 p.
  12. Brundage J. (trans.). The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1961. xliii + 288 p.
  13. Buell P.D. Historical Dictionary of the Mongol Empire. Lanham, Scarecrow Press, 2003. xliv + 335 p.
  14. Chambers J. The Devil’s Horsemen. Edison, Castle Books, 2003. xii + 190 p.
  15. Davis P. Masters of the Battlefield. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013. xiv + 607 p.
  16. de Rachewiltz I. (ed.). In the Service of the Khan. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1993. xliv + 763 p.
  17. de Rachewiltz I. (trans.). The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century. Leiden, Brill, 2006. cxxvi + 1347 p.
  1. D’Ohsson C. Histoire des Mongols depuis Tchinguiz-Khan jusqu’`a Timour Bey ou Tamerlane. 4 Vols. Amsterdam, Van Cleef, 1834. Vol. 1. xivi + 727 p. (In French)
  2. Fennel J. The Crisis of Medieval Russia. New York, Longman, 1983. xiii + 206 p.
  3. Gabriel R. Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan’s Greatest General. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. xii + 164 p.
  4. Golden P. Tushi: The Turkic Name of Jochi. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 2002. No. 55, pp. 143–151.
  5. Grousset R. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1970. xxx + 687 p.
  6. Habibi A. (ed.). Minhaj Siraj Juzjani, Tabakat-i-Nasiri. 2 Vols. in 1. Tehran, 1984. (In Persian)
  7. Halperin C. The Tatar Yoke. Columbus, Slavica Pub, 1986. 231 p.
  8. Houdas O. (trans.). Histoire du Sultan Djelal ed-din Mankobirti Prince du Kharezm par Mohammed en-Nesawi. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1895. (In French)
  9. Howorth H. History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century. 2 Vols. London, Burt Franklin, 1880. Vol. 1.
  10. Jones S. (trans.). Kartlis Tskhovreba: A History of Georgia. Tbilisi, Artanuji Publishers, 2014. 443 p.
  11. Martin H.D. The Rise of Chingis Khan and His Conquest of North China. New York, Octogon Books, 1971. xvii + 360 p.
  12. Michell R., Forbes N. (trans.). The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016–1471. London, Camden Society, 1914. xliii + 237 p.
  13. Nesawi M. History of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankobirti or Tarikh-e Jalali. Tehran, 1945.
  14. Nicolle D., Shpakovsky V. Kalka River 1223. Oxford, Osprey Military, 2001. 96 p.
  15. Olbricht P., Pinks E. (eds.). Meng-ta Pei-lu und Hei-ta shih-l¨ueh: Chinesische Gesandtenberichte über die Frühen Mongolen 1221 und 1237. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1980. 264 p. (In German)
  16. Painter G. (trans.). The Tatar Relation. The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation. Skelton R. et al. (ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995, pp. 75–101.
  17. Pelliot P., Hambis L. (trans.). Histoire des Campagnes de Gengis Khan, Cheng-wou ts’in-tcheng lou. Leiden, Brill, 1951. xxvii + 485 p. (In French)
  18. Perfecky G. The Hypatian Codex, Part II: The Galician-Volynian Chronicle. Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies 16:2. Munich, 1973. 159 p.
  19. Qazvini M. Alāʾ-al-Din ʿAṭā-Malek Jovayni, Tariḵ-e jahāngošāy. Tehran, 2012. (In Persian)
  20. Ratchnevsky P. Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991. 328 p.
  21. Raušan M., al-Mūsawī M. (eds.). Rašīd-ad-Dīn Faḍlallāh, Ǧāmiʻ at-tawārīh̲. Tihrān, 1994–1995. Vol. 1.1. (In Persian)
  22. Raverty G. (trans.). Minhaj Siraj Juzjani, Tabakat-i-Nasiri: A General History of the Muhammadan Dynasties of Asia. London, 1881.
  23. Richards D.S. (trans.). Ibn al-Athir, The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period from al-Kamil fi’l-ta’rikh. Part 3: The Years 589–629/1193–1231: The Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol Menace. Aldershot, Ashgate, 2008. viii + 331 p.
  24. Song Lian 宋濂. Yuan Shi 元史 [History of Yuan Dynasty]. Beijing, Zhong Hua Book Company, 1976. (In Chinese)
  25. Szentpétery I. Scriptores rerum hungaricarum tempore ducum regumque stirpis arpadianae gestarum. 2 Vols. Budapestini, Academia litter. hungarica atque Societate histor. hungarica in parten impensarum venietibus, typographiae Reg. universitatis litter. hung. sumptibus, 1937–1938. Vol. 2. 681 p. (In Latin)
  26. Thackston W. (trans.). Rashiduddin Fazlullah’s Jami’u’tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles. Cambridge, Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1999.
  27. Thomson R. (trans.). The Historical Compilation of Vardan Arewelc’i. Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 1989. No. 43, pp. 141–224.
  28. Uhrin D. Kutyafejűek és marhalábúak. Mongol törzsnevek a Historia Tartaro­rumban. Vilàgtörténet. 2015. No. 37, pp. 43–59. (In Hungarian)
  29. Yamaguchi I. The First Raid of Mongols on Russia. 鳥取環境大学紀要 [Tottori Kankyō Daigaku Kiyō]. 2003, pp. 1–11.
  30. Zenkovsky S., Zenkovsky B. (trans.). The Nikonian Chronicle. 4 Vols. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984–1989. Vol. 2. xxxix + 332 p.
  31. Pow S. The Last Campaign and Death of Jebe Noyan. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Vol. 27. Is. 1, pp. 31–51.

About the author: Stephen Pow – M.A. (History), PhD Candidate, Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-0397 (Nádor utca 9, 1051 Budapest, Hungary). E-mail: Pow_Stephen@phd.ceu.edu

Received  August 23, 2017   Accepted for publication  November 16, 2017
Published online  December 29, 2017