Ragibagh Khan Explained

Tianshun Emperor of Yuan

11th Khagan of the Mongol Empire
(Nominal due to the empire's division)
Emperor of China
(7th Emperor of the Yuan dynasty)
Reign:October 1328 – 14 November 1328
Coronation:October 1328
Succession:Emperor of the Yuan dynasty
Full Name:Mongolian:
Chinese: 阿剌(里)吉八
Ragibagh
Era Dates:Tianshun (天順) 1328
Posthumous Name:None
Temple Name:None
Predecessor:Taiding Emperor
Successor:Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür
Royal House:Borjigin
Dynasty:Yuan
Father:Yesün Temür
Mother:Babukhan
Birth Name:Tainshun
Birth Date:1320

Ragibagh (Mongolian: Рагибаха[1] or Ражабаг;[2] [3] ; Arigabag), also known by his era name as the Tianshun Emperor of Yuan, was a son of Yesün Temür (Taiding Emperor) who was briefly installed to the throne of the Yuan dynasty of China in Shangdu in 1328. Although he should have been the seventh ruler of the Yuan dynasty in succession to his father Yesün Temür, he was dethroned by his rival Tugh Temür (Emperor Wenzong) who was installed by a coup before Ragibagh's succession. Apart from Emperor of China, he is regarded as the 11th Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire.[4] He was the shortest-reigning Yuan emperor.

Life

Ragibagh was the eldest son of Yesün Temür. His mother Babukhan Khatun came from the Khunggirad clan, who had held power through marriage to the imperial family. He became Crown Prince at infancy in 1324. In August 1328 when Yesün Temür suddenly died in Shangdu, he was installed by the powerful Muslim officer Dawlat Shah there in the next month.

However, Yesün Temür's sudden death triggered an uprising of an anti-mainstream faction who had been dissatisfied with monopolization of power by Yesün Temür's aides including Dawlat Shah who had served him since he was stationed in Mongolia as Jinong. In the eighth month, the Mongolized Qipchaq commander El Temür, who was stationed in Dadu, launched a coup and called for installation of Khayishan's son. Tugh Temür was welcomed into Dadu in the same month in which Ragibagh ascended to the throne.[5]

The civil war known as the War of the Two Capitals soon broke out. Ragibagh's army broke through the Great Wall at several points and advanced on Dadu; but was severely defeated by El Temür's troops. At the time, most of Ragibagh's army were involved on the Great Wall front, and the Shangdu court was compelled to surrender on the very next day.[6] Dawlat Shah and most of the leading loyalists were taken prisoner and later executed by the Dadu faction after surrender; but Ragibagh is said to have disappeared after that, evidently murdered.[7]

Name

Due to scarcity of historical sources and their multilinguality, Ragibagh's name has a lot of variants. The Tibetan Red Annals (Hu lān deb ther) calls him "ra khyi phag" . The later Mongolian chronicles such as the Erdeni-yin tobchi and the Altan tobchi spell him Radzibaγ or Raǰibaγ. The History of the Yuan refers to him as A-su-ji-ba (阿速吉八), but it is apparently a misspelling of A-la-ji-ba (阿剌吉八). The initial "a" prevents the word from starting with "r" in Mongolian. It looks like a modern Mongolian painter Ts.Mandir interpreted his name as "Asidkebe" (Ашидхэв). According to some scholars, his name was from Sanskrit "rāja-pika" (Sanskrit: राज पिक), which means "king cuckoo".[8] He is also commonly known as the Tianshun Emperor based on his era name.

See also

References

  1. Saghang Sechen: «Erdeniin Tobchi».
  2. Book: . Altan Tobchi . Арван гуравдугаар хуудас . Mongolian . Мөн тэр жилд Ражабаг хаан дөчин хоног суугаад халив..
  3. The emperor's name is spelled in several ways. Ч.Содбилэг 2010 онд хэлэхдээ: «Зураач Т.Мандир Ашидхэв гэсэн. Монгол сурвалж бичгүүдэд Рачибаг, Рагибаха гэж бичсэн байдаг» (In Mongolian sources, it is written as Rachibagh and Ragibaha). Based on Ашидхэв (асужиба) written in the scriptures of the Chinese History of Yuan, it written as Asuchibu (阿速吉八) or Alijibu (阿里吉八). Compared with other texts, "速" is apparently a misspelling of "剌".
  4. Web site: Их хаадын хураангуй . 2009-06-27 . 2013-07-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130720112136/http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/01341/monkingstext.htm . dead .
  5. The Empire of the Steppes, by Rene Grousset, Naomi Walford, p. 321.
  6. Herbert Franke, Denis Twitchett, John King Fairbank-The Cambridge History of China: Alien regimes and border states, 907–1368, p. 544.
  7. Frederick W. Mote- Imperial China 900–1800, p. 471.
  8. Volker Rybatzki. Die Personennamen und Titel der mittelmongolischen Dokumente, Eine lexikalische Untersuchung.2006, p. 650.