In light of the far-reaching influence of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Western sphere initiated research and investigation of the Mongols. Consequently, numerous bilingual historical resources arose that could be studied and analyzed alongside relevant Chinese documents. The three archival documents detailing the legacy of the Ilkhanate, ʿAṭā Malek Joveynī's Tārīx-e Jahāngušāy, Rašīduddin's Jāmiʿ al-tawārīx , and Šarafuddn's Tārīx-e Waṣṣāf, different levels of documentation exist for the beginnings of the Mongol tribes. The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīx combined the limited view of the Mongol tribal descent with the Turkic tribal structure, integrating legends and historical facts to produce a set of Mongol tribal lineages. The Tārīx-e Waṣṣāf presents its narrative of the Mongol tribes, which is distinct from the Tārīx-e Jahāngušāy and the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīx . These tribes were categorized into three distinct groups: the blood relations, the marital relations and the others. Most notably, the Suldus and Jalairs were part of the "marital relations" clans, reflecting the social history of a minority clan in the Ilkhanate era. In particular, the author inherited Joveynī's rudimentary concept of Mongol tribes in the Tārīx-e Jahāngušāy, equating the Mongols with the Dada (i.e., Tatar), which matched the Yuan Dynasty's unsophisticated understanding of Mongol ethnicity. Both the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīx and Tārīx-e Waṣṣāf provide different perspectives on how the Mongol tribes evolved and merged over time. The Tārīx-e Waṣṣāf documents the categorization of Mongol tribes, revealing that the once unimaginable social hierarchy based on birth has already changed.

Authors:
Wu Han Qi, Inner Mongolia University, China

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Hanqi 罕奇 Wu 乌 is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Department of Mongolian History, Inner Mongolia University in China

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