Türgesh Explained

Conventional Long Name:Türgesh Khaganate
Common Name:Türgesh
Era:Early Middle Ages
Status:Khaganate
Year Start:699
Year End:766
Image Map2:Türgesh Khaganate, borders.svg
Image Map2 Size:300px
Image Map2 Caption:Approximate borders of Türgesh Khaganate (white line).
P1:Western Turkic Khaganate
P2:Second Turkic Khaganate
S1:Karluk Yabghu
S2:Oghuz Yabgu State
Capital:Taraz
Suyab
Common Languages:Old Turkic
Religion:Tengrism
Leader1:Üch Elig
Year Leader1:699–706
Leader2:Ata Boyla Qaghan
Year Leader2:–766
Title Leader:Türgesh Kagans

The Türgesh or Türgish (:|Türügeš budun|Türgesh people; ; Old Tibetan: Du-rgyas)[1] [2] were a Turkic tribal confederation. Once belonging to the Duolu wing of the Western Turkic On Oq elites, Türgeshes emerged as an independent power after the demise of the Western Turks and established a khaganate in 699. The Türgesh Khaganate lasted until 766 when the Karluks defeated them. Türgesh and Göktürks were related through marriage.[3]

Name

Atwood (2013), citing Tekin (1968), etymologizes the ethnonym Türgiş as contains gentilic suffix affixed onto the name of lake Türgi-Yarğun, which was mentioned in Kültegin inscription.[4] [5] [6]

Tribal composition

By the 7th century, two or three sub-tribes were recorded: "Yellow" Sarï Türgesh tribe Alishi (阿利施) and the "Black" Qara Türgesh tribe(s) 娑葛 (Suoge < *Soq or *Saqal) - 莫賀 (Mohe < *Bağa).[7] To the Black Türgesh sub-tribe, Chebishi (車鼻施) (*çavïş, from Old Turkic *çabïş[8] or Sogdian čapīş "chief"[9]), belonged 8th century Türgesh chor and later khagan Suluk.[10] [11] [12] [13] The Turgesh Khaganate also contained remnants of the Western Turkic Khaganate: Suluk's subordinate Kül-chor belonged to the Duolu tribe Chumukun (處木昆), who lived south of Lake Balkash between Türgesh and Qarluq. Tang general Geshu Han was of Duolu Turgesh extraction[14] and bore the Nushibi tribal surname Geshu (阿舒).[15] Chinese historians, when naming the Duolu Turk tribes, might mention Khalajes along with the Türgesh, under the common appellation 突騎施-賀羅施 (Mand. Tūqíshī-hèluóshī; reconstructed Old Turkic *Türgeş-Qalaç).

A late-7th century Uyghur chief was also surnamed Türgesh.[16]

Timeline

See also: Timeline of the Türgesh.

Foundation of the Turgesh Khaganate

Prior to independence, the Turgesh were ruled by a subordinate tutuk, later shad, of the Western Turkic Khaganate's Onoq elites. Turgesh leaders belonged to Duolu division and held the title chur. A Turgesh commander of the Talas district and the town of Balu possessed a name symbolizing some sacred relation to a divine or heavenly sphere. The first Turgesh Kaghan Wuzhile (Chinese transcription 烏質 Wuzhi means "black substance") was a leader of a Manichaean consortium known as yüz er "hundred men". He established the Turgesh Khaganate in 699. He had driven out the Tang protégé Böri Shad. In 703 he captured Suyab and set up his authority on the territory from Chach to Turfan and Beshbaliq.[17] In 706 his son Saqal succeeded him. Both khagans had a church rank of Yuzlik according to Yuri Zuev.[18]

Saqal attacked the Tang city of Qiuci (Kucha) in 708 and inflicted a defeat on the Tang in 709. However Saqal's younger brother Zhenu rebelled and sought military support from the Qapagan Khaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate in 708. Qapaghan Khagan defeated the Turgesh in 711 in the Battle of Bolchu, and killed both Saqal and Zhenu.[19] The defeated Turgesh fled to Zhetysu. In 714 the Turgesh elected Suluk as their khagan.

Timeline of Suluk

In 720 Turgesh forces led by Kül-chor defeated Umayyad forces led by Sa'id ibn Abdu'l-Aziz near Samarkand.

In 722 Suluk married the Ashina Princess Jiaohe.

In 724 Caliph Hisham sent a new governor to Khorasan, Muslim ibn Sa'id, with orders to crush the "Turks" once and for all, but, confronted by Suluk on the so-called "Day of Thirst", Muslim hardly managed to reach Samarkand with a handful of survivors, as the Turgesh raided freely.

In 726 the Turgesh attacked Qiuci (Kucha).

In 727 the Turgesh and the Tibetan Empire attacked Qiuci (Kucha).

In 728 Suluk defeated Umayyad forces while aiding the Sogdians in their rebellion, and took Bukhara.

In 731 the Turgesh were defeated at the Battle of the Defile by the Arabs, who suffered enormous casualties.

In 735 the Turgesh attacked Ting Prefecture (Jimsar County).

In the winter of 737 Suluk, along with his allies al-Harith, Gurak (a Sogdian leader) and men from Usrushana, Tashkent and the Khuttal attacked the Umayyads. He entered Jowzjan, but was defeated by the Umayyad governor Asad at the Battle of Kharistan.

Kül-chor

Following his defeat Suluk was murdered by his relative Kül-chor. Immediately, the Turgesh Khaganate was plunged into a civil war between the Black (Kara) and Yellow (Sary) factions. Kül-chor of the Sary Turgesh vanquished his rival Tumoche of the Kara Turgesh. In 740 Kül-chor submitted to the Tang dynasty but rebelled anyway when he killed the Turgesh puppet sent by the Tang court in 742. He was then captured and executed by the Tang in 744. The last Turgesh ruler declared himself a vassal of the recently established Uyghur Khaganate. In 766 the Karluks conquered Zhetysu and ended the Turgesh Khaganate.

Legacy

Tuhsi and Azi might be remnants of the Türgesh, according to Gardizi,[20] as well as Khalaj.[21] [22] [23] The Turgesh-associated tribe Suoge, alongsides Chuyue and Anqing, participated in the ethnogenesis of Shatuo Turks.[24] [25]

According to Baskakov, the ethnonym Türgesh survives in the name of the seok Tirgesh among Altaians.[26]

List of Türgesh Khagans

  1. Wuzhile (699–706)
  2. Suoge (706–711)
  3. Suluk (716–738)
  4. Kut Chor (738–739)
  5. Kül Chor (739–744)
  6. El Etmish Kutluk Bilge (744–749)
  7. Yibo Kutluk Bilge Juzhi (749–751)
  8. Tengri Ermish (753–755)
  9. Ata Boyla (750s – 766)

References

Sources

Notes and References

  1. http://irq.kaznpu.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=16&m=1 Bilge kagan’s Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIK
  2. Venturi, Federica (2008). "An Old Tibetan document on the Uighurs: A new translation and interpretation". Journal of Asian History. 1 (42): 30. .
  3. Muharrem Ergin (1975), Orhun Abideleri (in Turkish), p. 80.
  4. Tekin, Talât. (1968). Grammar of Orkhon Turkish. Bloomington: Indiana University. p. 107, 269, 387.
  5. Atwood, Christopher P., "Some Early Inner Asian Terms Related to the Imperial Family and the Comitatus" (2013). Central Asiatic Journal. 56(2012/2013). p. 69 of 49–86, note 113.
  6. https://bitig.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=15&m=1 Kültegin Inscription
  7. François THIERRY, "Three Notes on Türgesh Numismatics", Proceedings of the Symposium on Ancient Coins and the Culture of the Silk Road, Sichou zhi lu guguo qianbi ji Silu wenhua guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 絲綢之路古國錢幣暨 絲路文化國際學術研討會 論文集, Shanghai Bowuguan, décembre 2006, Shanghaï 2011, 413–442.
  8. Clauson, Gerard (1972), “çavuş”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 399
  9. Ashurov, Barakatullo (2013) Tarsākyā: an analysis of Sogdian Christianity based on archaeological, numismatic, epigraphic and textual sources. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London. p. 40-41
  10. Zizhi Tongjian, vol 211
  11. http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/tuergishs.html Tuqishi 突騎施, Türgiš
  12. Book: History of civilizations of Central Asia. 1992–1999. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. Dani, Ahmad Hasan., Masson, V. M. (Vadim Mikhaĭlovich), 1929–, Harmatta, J. (János), 1917–2004., Litvinovskiĭ, B. A. (Boris Abramovich), Bosworth, Clifford Edmund., Unesco.. 8120814096. 1st Indian . Delhi. 346. 43545117.
  13. Inaba, M. "Nezak in Chinese Sources?" Coins, Art and Chronology II. Ed. M. Alram et.al. (2010) p. 191-202
  14. Book: Xiong, Victor Cunrui. Capital Cities and Urban Form in Pre-modern China: Luoyang, 1038 BCE to 938 C. 2016. Routledge. Asian States and Empires (Book 13). 151. 9781317235569.
  15. Kenzheakhmet. Nurlan. "Ethnonyms and Toponyms" of the Old Turkic Inscriptions in Chinese sources. 2014. Studia et Documenta Turcologica. II. 303.
  16. Golden, Peter B. The Turkic Word in Mahmud al-Kashgari, p. 530, note 138
  17. Klyashtorny S.G., The second Türk Empire (682–745). In: History of civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. III. The crossroads of civilizations: 250 to 750 AD. Editor: B. Litvinsky. Co-editors: Zhang Guang-da and R. Shabani Samghabadi.UNESCO publishing, 1996. – Pp. 335-347. (here: 346.); V.A. Belyaev, S.V. Sidorovich, Tang Tallies of Credence Found at the Ak-Beshim Ancient Site. Numismatique Asiatique. A bilingual French-English review. Revue de la Société de Numismatique Asiatique n° 33, Mars 2020. p. 50.https://www.academia.edu/42322233/Tang_Tallies_of_Credence_Found_at_Ak-Beshim_Ancient_Site
  18. Book: A., Zuev, I︠U︡.. Rannie ti︠u︡rki : ocherki istorii i ideologii. 2002. Daĭk-Press. 978-9985-441-52-7. Almaty. 52976103.
  19. [Yury Zuev|Yu. Zuev]
  20. Yu. Zuev. (2002) Early Turks: Sketches of history and ideology Almaty. p. 153 (in Russian)
  21. [Lev Gumilyov|Gumilyov, L.]
  22. Pylypchuk, Ya. "Turks and Muslims: From Confrontation to Conversion to Islam (End of VII century – Beginning of XI Century)" in UDK 94 (4): 95 (4). In Ukrainian
  23. Minorsky, V. "Commentary" on "§17. The Tukhs" in Ḥudūd al'Ālam. Translated and Explained by V. Minorsky. pp. 300–304
  24. Golden, Peter Benjamin (1992). "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis And State Formation in the Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East". Turcologica. 9. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. . p. 165
  25. Christopher P.. Atwood. The Notion of Tribe in Medieval China: Ouyang Xiu and the Shatup Dynastic Myth. Miscellanea Asiatica. 2010. 16. 693–621.
  26. [Nikolai A. Baskakov|Baskakov N.A.]