15. 1200-1400- Mongol Women in A Pastoral World
A pesar de que el gran Gengis Kan fue el centro de atención de los historiadores del pasado sobre los imperios mongoles entre 1200 y 1400, las mujeres desempeñaron un papel vital en el éxito del imperio. Las hijas y esposas del kan gobernaron la mayor extensión de territorio de la historia mundial, y dondequiera que estuvieran las mujeres, sus vidas se vieron impactadas por las conquistas mongolas.
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Editores del Proyecto Remedial Herstory. "15. 1200-1400 - MUJERES MONGOL EN UN MUNDO PASTORAL". Proyecto Remedial Herstory. 1 de noviembre de 2025. www.remedialherstory.com.
Trigger Warning: This chapter references rape and sexual assault.
It is a bit mythical to suggest that with the arrival of agriculture, pastoralists just disappeared. In fact, they lived and thrived away from the river valleys and co-existed alongside agricultural societies for millennia – even today. In the Early Middle Ages, trade thrived throughout the booming Islamic and Chinese Golden Ages. Trade flourished not only on the old Silk Roads, but along sea roads between Africa and India made possible by monsoons. Across the Sahara Desert, vast caravans of 5,000 camels and hundreds of people would bring goods to West Africa and back. It is these trade networks that brought the violent arrival of the Mongols – pastoral peoples who again and again defeated their enemies.
Where were women in this history? Everywhere. Chinggis Khan believed that if women could keep a home in order, they could keep a territory in order, so he gave the women closest to him the power to govern the majority of conquered territories. Never before or since the rise of the Mongol Empire have individual women held so much power over land and people.
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Mujeres Pastorales
Pastoral women often held a higher status compared to their settled peers. They had fewer restrictions on their role in public life and were involved in productive as well as reproductive labor. Mongol women frequently acted as political advisors, and while misogyny was absolutely present, pastoral communities’ religious sermons showed some individual focus on women’s spiritual needs, as well as some authentic depictions of the complexity in women’s lives. The presence of such ideas and understanding in a religious context is significant, given the long history of preferential treatment toward men.
The pastoral roles of women can be seen most explicitly in the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), an initially small pastoral empire from the steppes of Mongolia. This empire was founded by Chinggis Khan, born Temujin. Long before his empire was built, Khan was raised by his resourceful mother, Hoelun, when their family was forced into exile. They reduced their reliance on pastoralism and ascribed to a hunter-gatherer like life. This was an enormous drop in social standing because they were poor, but Hoelun still built Temujin into the man who united the feuding and volatile Mongol clans in 1206 with his charisma and reliance on friends over kin.
Before and during the unification, the Mongols herded sheep, goats, yaks, and horses for their prolific cavalry. When Giovanni DiPlano Carpinia, a European visitor to Mongolia described Mongol women, he wrote,
Girls and women ride and gallop as skillfully as men. We even saw them carrying quivers and bows, And the women can ride horses for as long as the man; they have shorter stirrups, handle horses very well, and mind all the property. [Mongol] Women make everything: skin clothes, shoes, leggings, and everything made of leather. They drive carts and repair them, they load camels, and are quick and vigorous in all their tasks. They all wear trousers, and some of them shoot just like men.
Mongol women owned property, rode horseback as the men did, at times fought in battle, and served as regents or in religious roles. They made camps and transported supplies for the army. Raising children was the responsibility of both parents, and marriages were arranged by both families. Most widows remarried, usually to a male relative of their husbands to keep wealth in the family.
In ancient nomadic societies, some scholars suggested that wealthy men with multiple wives treated them equally. However, if that fantasy was ever possible, this was certainly not the case in terms of status among the Mongol wives. Mongol men could practice polygamy, though the first wife was given special status, and thus she and her children would inherit his property. Even though each wife had her own dwelling, servants, income, and received attention from the husband, there was a clear hierarchy. The senior wife, often the first one married, held the most importance and controlled the largest and wealthiest dwelling when the group stopped to make camp for short or long periods of time. The arrangement of wifely dwellings within each camp also followed a strict hierarchy, with the managing wife at the westernmost position and the most junior wife at the eastern end.
Children lived with their respective mothers, and older children had their own tents around their mother’s. Servants had smaller quarters behind the family they served. Concubines’ dwellings were positioned behind the wives but in front of the guards and officials. In this intense hierarchy, when multiple camp-managing wives were together, the camps were arranged by the status of the mistresses.
Nomadic women efficiently managed the camps, but it would be a big mistake to assume that because women had more freedoms that they were equal or even protected members of society. Some historians argue that the nomadic stress on bride-wealth degraded women to chattel, and they were effectively purchased by husbands like property. Further, Mongol women - both before and after the unification of the tribes - were often subject to rape and kidnapping during times of war.
Campamento mongol cerca del río Volga
Bienes muebles (n.) , posesión personal.
Canción china
En comparación, la dinastía Song en China fue una época terrible para las mujeres. Dos siglos antes de que Khan unificara los clanes mongoles, la dinastía Song reunificó China y gobernó desde finales del siglo XIX hasta el siglo XIV. Esto significó una disminución de la influencia de los nómadas esteparios, cuyas mujeres tenían vidas menos restringidas, y el retorno al confucianismo fundamentalista, lo que llevó a los chinos Song a mantener a las mujeres separadas en casi todos los ámbitos de la vida. Enfatizaban la debilidad, la delicadeza y la sexualidad de las mujeres.
El mejor ejemplo del aumento de las restricciones para las mujeres fue la nueva práctica del vendaje de pies. Este procedimiento consistía en romper y atar los pies de las niñas a un molde para que permanecieran siempre pequeños incluso en la edad adulta. El vendaje de pies era común entre las familias de la élite y posteriormente se generalizó en China. Servía para distinguir a las mujeres chinas de las bárbaras y campesinas, reforzaba la fragilidad femenina y enfatizaba su pequeño tamaño. Las madres imponían este doloroso procedimiento a sus hijas para mejorar sus perspectivas matrimoniales en el futuro y ayudarlas a competir con las concubinas por la atención de los hombres. El vendaje de pies se convirtió en un rito de paso y solía ir acompañado de hermosas zapatillas regaladas.
Sin embargo, la dinastía Song presenció algunas tendencias positivas para las mujeres. Estas continuaron trabajando en la industria textil, hilando hilos de seda y tejiendo telas de seda. En las ciudades, podían ser dueñas de negocios y restaurantes, o trabajar como empleadas domésticas y modistas. Los derechos de propiedad de las mujeres se expandieron cuando algunos funcionarios comenzaron a instar a la educación femenina para que las madres pudieran enseñar economía a sus hijos.
El efecto del vendaje de pies
Korea
Más al noreste, la expansión de la influencia china en Corea condujo también a la expansión del confucianismo allí. Esto incluyó los modelos chinos de vida familiar y comportamiento femenino. Las mujeres coreanas, acostumbradas a criar a sus hijos en casa de sus padres, debían ahora vivir con las familias de sus maridos. Las mujeres perdieron sus derechos a la herencia y al divorcio, y los hombres ya no eran enterrados en la parcela familiar de la esposa. Las mujeres de la élite, especialmente las viudas adineradas, fueron severamente restringidas debido a la creencia de que el dinero de las mujeres debía ser controlado. Si bien la práctica de la poligamia ya estaba bien establecida en Corea, para 1413, los hombres tenían que determinar qué esposa era principal y cuál secundaria para ajustarse al modelo chino. Al igual que los mongoles, la primera esposa tenía privilegios y estatus especiales.
En comparación, la vida pastoral con los mongoles puede parecer atractiva para algunos contemporáneos por estas razones, pero es importante recordar que el camino para convertirse en parte del Imperio mongol implicaba conquista, y pocos salían bien parados después de perder una batalla con los mongoles.
La cultura de la violación en la guerra
Tras la unificación de las tribus mongolas por Gengis Kan en 1206, el Imperio mongol se expandió rápidamente desde Mongolia hasta China y el resto de Eurasia. Demostraron una gran superioridad bélica en comparación con sus homólogos euroasiáticos, especialmente a caballo. Estaban mejor dirigidos, organizados y disciplinados. Sus ejércitos también crecían continuamente. Cuando los soldados enemigos eran conquistados, eran tomados como soldados, dispersados y redistribuidos en nuevas unidades, de modo que el ejército crecía constantemente y se creó una especie de revolución social, pues la lealtad tribal era sustituida por la lealtad a la unidad y al comandante. Los comandantes cabalgaban al frente y vestían la misma vestimenta que sus hombres.
Mientras los mongoles avanzaban sobre las ciudades, las mujeres estaban en la primera línea de las conquistas y ayudaban a gestionar el botín de guerra. Los ejércitos del Kan eran conocidos por su crueldad e innecesaria violencia hacia sus enemigos. El Kan declaró: «Quien se someta será perdonado, pero quienes se resistan serán destruidos junto con sus esposas, hijos y dependientes». Miles de familias enemigas que se negaron a rendirse fueron ejecutadas en masa . Las mujeres que sobrevivieron a menudo fueron esclavizadas.
Sin duda, los propios ejércitos de Gengis Kan también infligieron "castigos" a las mujeres en las regiones que conquistaron, incluyendo abusos físicos y sexuales, y violaciones. Sin embargo, Kahn impuso órdenes contra esto. Escribió leyes detalladas sobre el trato a las mujeres, incluyendo que incluso las mujeres casadas no tendrían relaciones sexuales hasta los 16 años, e incluso entonces, tendrían que ser ellas quienes iniciaran la relación con su esposo. Dado que su propia madre y esposa habían sido secuestradas y violadas, también promulgó leyes en todo el imperio contra la violación, el secuestro y la esclavitud.
Aunque proclamó estas protecciones para las mujeres, más tarde él mismo cometió estos horrores. Irónicamente, Khan solía capturar mujeres ordenadas por su belleza, y solo las más hermosas ingresaban en su harén, mientras que las aparentemente "menos hermosas" eran entregadas a sus hijos y comandantes. También utilizó la violencia sexual como disuasión para futuros enemigos y para aterrorizar a las mujeres conquistadas, prefiriendo acostarse con las esposas e hijas de los gobernantes enemigos derrotados para demostrar su dominio sobre el pueblo conquistado. Hoy en día, 16 millones de hombres pueden rastrear su linaje hasta Khan, evidencia de cuántas mujeres conquistadas fueron violadas a manos de él y sus descendientes.
Aunque existen varias versiones sobre su muerte, la más aceptada es que falleció a causa de las heridas sufridas al caer de un caballo en 1227. Uno de los relatos más cuestionables afirma que fue castrado y asesinado al intentar violar a una princesa Tangut, un grupo étnico nómada que gobernaba el Imperio Xi-Xia en el noroeste de China. Aun así, tras su muerte, el terrorismo sexual siguió siendo parte del imperio que él creó.
En masa (adj.) , en grupo; todos juntos.
Disuasorio (n.) , cosa que desalienta o tiene como objetivo desalentar a alguien de hacer algo.
Temujin tomando el título de Gengis Kan
Gobierno bajo las hijas del Khan
The Mongol Empire spread quickly and then fractured, stretching from China to Eastern Europe before geography proved limiting for them. They tried to invade Japan but failed, as seafaring was not their forte. They went for India, but the Himalayas were formidable. They invaded Europe, but abandoned it as a backwater region with inadequate grass for their horses. While conquest was brutal, the empire itself was tolerant of various religions and established a sophisticated structure of governance for such a large empire. Mongol women - particularly Khan’s daughters - showcased their administrative skills in managing territories and demonstrated their combat prowess alongside men during foreign conquests.
Börte was Khan’s first and favored wife. She and Temujin were betrothed at a young age and married at 17. At some point, she was captured by a rival clan and he decided to rescue her, and his success in doing so may have launched him on his path toward conquering the world. Little is known about her life, but she and Chinngis Khan had nine children, so her bloodline would help the expanding empire.
In Chinggis Khan’s lifetime, he arranged the empire to have nine parts with his piece at the center surrounded by the conquered territories governed by his and Börte’s daughters. Then the less stable territories - often on the fringes of the empire - were to be controlled by his sons. His vision appears to be that men went to war, women ruled. He executed this vision in the way he and Börte arranged the marriages of their daughters. His daughters inherited a Khan-like title which translates to "Princess Who Runs the State.” Their husbands, if they were mentioned in legal documents, were given the title gurugen, or son-in-law, and sent to war with the Mongol armies.
The daughters of Chinggis Khan played pivotal roles in his diplomatic and military endeavors. They strategically married leaders of influential tribes and nations neighboring the Mongols, such as the Ongud, Uyghurs, and Oirats. By doing so, they became diplomatic safeguards in various directions, solidifying alliances for Chinggis Khan.
For example, Khan and Börte’s daughter, Alakhai Bekhi, was set up in a political marriage to secure the region south of Mongolia called the Gobi Desert. At some point, the people revolted against their Mongol rulers. Her husband was killed, but she escaped back to the Mongol army. She married her stepson and regained stable control of the region. Another daughter, Checheyikhen, was sent to govern the Oirat people who lived near Kazakhstan today. Collectively, Börte’s daughters took control of the Silk Road and actively contributed to their father's campaigns in China and Persia.
However, after Chinggis Khan's death in 1227, his son Ögedei rejected his father’s preference for his daughters in governance. Ögedei tried to consolidate his power by killing female relatives. In 1237, after the death of his sister Checheyigen, he ordered the mass rape of four thousand Oirat girls to subjugate the Oirat people under his rule. How many women were raped is quite possibly an exaggeration, but the women who survived were either forced into his personal harem or left on the field to be doled others as sex slaves throughout his occupied lands.
He used this monstrous act to not only seize Checheyigen’s lands, but picked off the lands of his other siblings and his father’s other wives. There are also allegations of Ögedei orchestrating the assassination of Chinggis Khan's favorite daughter, Altalun, who ruled over the Uyghur territory. These actions marked a departure from Chinggis Khan's legacy and leadership style.
Coronación de Ögedei
Mujeres sucesoras del imperio
In the aftermath of Chinggis Khan’s death, Khan’s eldest sons were at odds jockeying for control of the empire. Because of an established military culture where men fought and women governed, the daughters of conquered kingdoms who had been married off to Khan’s descendants were poised to undo the empire that had subjugated their people. Known as “widow queens,” many conquered women assumed control when the governors of different parts of the empire died.
Three queens, in particular, forever altered Khan’s empire: Töregene, Sorghaghtani, and Chabi. The first two were conquered wives who had witnessed their fathers and brothers murdered by the Mongols as well as the deteriorated status of their people. Their trauma was not documented, but certainly their loyalty was not to their new husbands. Chabi, a relative of Borte, was also a contender for power in the post-Khan decades. Each used their status within the new government to subvert and control the empire.
Töregene selected Khan’s son, Ogedei, from a line up and married him. She ruled from his death in 1241 as regent for their son, Guyuk, and replaced all of her husband's advisors with her own, including a Persian woman named Fatima. Despite her help, when her eldest son, Guyuk, took power in 1246, he battled with his mother, claiming Fatima was a witch. Fatima was raped and tortured for days, then all her orifices were covered and she was drowned in the river. Töregene died in unknown circumstances around that same time.
Chabi was the wife of Kublai Khan, Chinggis Khan’s grandson and ruler of conquered China from 1260-1294. Unlike the other women, she was not a conquered wife, but one arranged per custom, from within Borte’s family. She arranged the lifelong care of the empress and royal women of the Song Dynasty once they were captured.
In China, Chabi mixed freely with men at social gatherings, rejected foot binding, and forced Khan into treating the Chinese better. She also designed new hats with brims to shade Mongol soldiers' eyes, patronized Tibetan Buddhism, and was notoriously frugal.
Across the empire, Sorghaghtani was the wife of Chinggis’s youngest son, Tolui. Sorghaghtani was an Eastern Christian from the steppe near Mongol territory. Tolui was a reckless drunk, and she was basically ruling in his name until he died of poisoning in 1232. As Mongol society dictated, she became the head of household and inherited his property. Guyuk tried to marry her to expand his power, but she refused, claiming loyalty to her deceased husband and a desire to properly raise her sons. This was significant, because Mongol women were expected to remarry. Her status as a single widow went against Mongol custom, but gave her power to try and maneuver politics to favor her sons.
She became regent for her sons in northern China, and she insisted that her sons be well educated to properly run the empire. She hand-selected their senior wives, encouraged those women to cooperate and work together to govern, ensured that each learned the languages of the people they would rule, and encouraged religious tolerance. She even donated to both Christian churches and Muslim mosques and schools. During her time in northern China leading her own territory, she helped with opening trade, encouraged the exchange of ideas throughout the empire, and advised Ogedei and other leaders about the dangers of exploiting their conquered people, which often meant greater tolerance and security for the people under the Khans.
In a particularly fiery episode, she collaborated with her nephew, Batu, the leader of the Golden Horde, in a plot against Guyuk. Following Guyuk's death from alcoholism, she and Batu orchestrated a strategic maneuvering of succession within the family to secure dominance for her sons. Her eldest son, Mongke, ultimately ascended as the next influential Khan, and to solidify their control, she and Batu carried out brutal purges against opposing branches of the family, specifically the Ogedeyids and Chagatayids, ensuring they would never pose a threat again. Consequently, her family maintained control over the Great Khanate until its existence concluded in 1368.
Sorghaghtani fell ill and died in February or March 1252. At that point, her sons controlled most of Chinggis Khan's empire at its greatest extent. As one of the most powerful people in the Mongol Empire, she helped to ensure its longevity and transition into the future. She was one of those rare figures that was well regarded in a number of different historical sources, and her importance to the Mongols may be rivaled only by Chinggis Khan himself.
The Mongol empire declined slowly and the power and respect given to Mongol queens also declined. A strong example of this was Khutulun, a prominent Mongol noblewoman and the renowned daughter of Kaidu, a cousin to Kublai Khan. Among Kaidu's offspring, Khutulun was the favored one, sought after for advice and political support. Some accounts suggest that Kaidu attempted to designate her as his successor to the khanate before his death in 1301. However, her male relatives rejected this choice. Following Kaidu's demise, Khutulun safeguarded his tomb alongside her brother Orus. She faced challenges from other brothers, like Chapar and relative Duwa, who sought succession.
This is especially remarkable because of how formidable and strong Khutulun was reported to be. Both Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din Hamadani documented their encounters with her. She was actively involved in Mongol military expeditions in Central Asia, and was trained in archery, wrestling, and horsemanship from her early years. As she matured, her wrestling prowess became so remarkable that she defeated elite male warriors in traditional competitions. Further, one suitor challenged her to a match and she so humiliated him that no marriage was arranged.
Tolui y Sorghaghtani
Ilustración de Khutulun luchando con un pretendiente de “Los viajes de Marco Polo”
Frugal (adj.) , ahorrativo o económico con respecto al dinero o la comida.
Sultanato de Delhi
De interés para los mongoles, pero a salvo de la conquista mongola al otro lado del Himalaya, el norte de la India presenció el surgimiento del Sultanato de Delhi en el siglo XIII. Allí, Razia Sultana se convirtió en la primera líder musulmana de la región en 1236. Comenzó su carrera política bajo el mando de su padre, Iltutmish, atendiendo las necesidades administrativas de su pueblo mientras este se encontraba en guerra. Él depositó su confianza en ella porque creía que sus hijos eran demasiado egoístas y se centraban en divertirse para gestionar adecuadamente los asuntos del estado durante su ausencia, e incluso después de su muerte. Por ello, la nombró su heredera, afirmando ante sus nobles que era la más capaz de sus hijos.
Sin embargo, los nobles no lo aceptaron del todo y designaron a su medio hermano tras la muerte de su padre. En respuesta, ella lideró con éxito una rebelión para reclamar el poder. No solo era una anomalía tener a una mujer como líder política, sino que, además, su rebelión se basaba en el apoyo popular. Ella galvanizó al pueblo, y este sería quien la llevaría al trono. Lideró un ejército desde Delhi para enfrentarlos, y tras algunas victorias clave, los nobles se vieron obligados a aceptar su autoridad. Aunque continuó enfrentándose a conflictos a lo largo de su reinado, incluyendo conflictos civiles entre sunitas y chiitas, así como incursiones de los mongoles, los nobles siguieron siendo su mayor obstáculo.
A pesar de su meteórico ascenso, cuando ascendió al trono en 1236, muchos de sus aliados y enemigos políticos aún esperaban que desempeñara un papel ceremonial mientras ellos, los hombres, manejaban los hilos entre bastidores, pero ella se negó a renunciar a su poder. Rompió cada vez más con la tradición para afirmar su autoridad y conectar mejor con el pueblo. Se vestía de hombre en público y cabalgaba por las calles a lomos de un elefante, como lo hacían los sultanes del pasado. Conectaba y aparecía regularmente entre el pueblo, en lugar de complacer a la nobleza. Incluso elevó a personas anteriormente esclavizadas a puestos de élite dentro de su administración y comenzó a crear una nueva clase de nobles entre sus partidarios para moderar su poder. Así, se enfrentó a la aristocracia, que finalmente lanzó su propia rebelión para deponerla en 1240 y comenzó a desmantelar la visión que tenía para Delhi. Intentaría una nueva rebelión, pero fracasó y murió en el intento.
Pintura en miniatura de Razia Sultana en la corte
Atabeg (n.) , título hereditario de nobleza de origen turco, que indica un gobernador de una nación o provincia que estaba subordinado a un monarca y encargado de criar al príncipe heredero.
Conclusión
Finalmente, los mongoles fueron expulsados de China en una rebelión y con el tiempo sufrieron un declive en el resto del país. Parte de este declive se debió a la reacción contra el liderazgo femenino y al rechazo a la reverencia de Gengis Kan por las consejeras y el gobierno de los territorios conquistados. Otra parte se debió a que las gobernantes conquistadas se esforzaron por instalar a personas no mongoles en puestos de poder dentro del gobierno.
Si bien el imperio era sinónimo de violencia física, los logros de los mongoles al unificar el comercio a través de la vasta red de Rutas de la Seda también propiciaron la mezcla de pueblos, lo que contribuyó a la propagación de la Peste Negra desde Asia central hacia el oeste. Según algunas estimaciones, entre el 50 % y el 90 % de las diversas poblaciones infectadas por la Peste Negra murieron.
Si bien no sobrevivió un Imperio Mongol unificado, sigue siendo el imperio más influyente del mundo, del que se sabe tan poco. Parte de la razón por la que se sabe tan poco sobre el Imperio Mongol se debe a que mantuvieron sus crónicas en secreto. La Historia Secreta de los Mongoles era un documento preciado, pero en algún momento, por razones desconocidas, un cronista desconocido arrancó una sección para ocultar las contribuciones de las mujeres mongoles. Solo se conserva un pequeño fragmento de ese texto, registrado por Gengis Kan en 1206, que dice: «Recompensemos a nuestras descendientes femeninas». De no haber sido por cronistas de otras naciones y territorios, como Marco Polo y otros, las historias de estas mujeres podrían haberse perdido.
En lugar del Imperio mongol, en China, Oriente Medio, Europa y partes de África, presenciaríamos un renacimiento, pero ¿lo harían las mujeres? ¿Qué legado dejarían los mongoles? ¿Cómo se reconstruiría el mundo euroasiático tras la llegada de los mongoles? ¿Qué papel desempeñarían las mujeres en ese esfuerzo?
