Bayanchur Khan

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Bayanchur Khan
Monarch
Reign Uyghur: 747 - 759
Father Guli Peilo

Bayanchur Khan (known also as Moyanchur Khan[1]) (traditional Chinese: 藥羅葛磨延啜; pinyin: Yàolúogě Mòyánchùo)[2], was an Uyghur khagan from 747 to 759 AD. His official titles were "Ay Tengrida Qut Bolmish" and "El Tutmish Bilge Qaghan" ("born with glory on Moon Heaven" and "state governing wise ruler"). His Tang Dynasty-invested title was Yingwuweiyuanpiqiejuo Khan (英武威遠毗伽闕可汗) or Yingwu Khan (英武可汗) in short. He was succeeded in the Uyghur Khaganate by his son Bogu Tekin (759-779 A.D.)

Bayanchur succeeded his father, Guli Peilo,[3] who had headed the rebellion against the Göktürks, annihilated them and had established in 744 the Uyghur Khaganate ( known as third uyghur " El " or khaganate ).

Bayanchur Khan belonged to the ruling Yaghlaqar ("people of the Sun") tribe of the on-uyghur confederation of ten tribes ( known as northern alliance ) and toquz-oghuz confederation of nine tribes ( known as southern alliance ). At that time both allied confederations adopted a name, Uyghur, meaning "united" and composed of two elements: Uy or Uymak ("to bond") and Ghur ("consent"), i.e. " free people (Erkin Budun), voluntarily bound into an alliance ".[4]

In 751, Bayanchur established the new capital in the Orkhon Valley and named it Ordu- Balik. It was built with help of the invited Chinese and Sogdian builders at the foot of the sacred Otukan. The city had city walls made of brown bricks and was probably ringed with a rectangular moat. There was a detached citadel fortified by walls with two gates and watch towers, where the Khagan and his nobles lived with their families.

About seven years later, Ordu- Balik was followed by Bai-Balik ("rich city") on the Selenge River. Its construction was a result of the empire's expansion north to Lake Baikal ("rich lake").

Bayanchur Khan died soon after ending his successful expedition against "wild people" or tribes of the Sayan Mountains in 759 A.D., during a feast devoted to this victory. Por-Bajin was among seventeen brick forts that had been erected during that and previous khagan expeditions ( 751, 756 ) in Tuva with permanently stationed garrisons to guard the sources of the Yenisei River and northern borders of the Khaganate. The purposes of these expeditions were a neutralization of the emerged and permanently growing threat from the North - an allegation which proved to be fatally true in 840 A.D., when the Uyghur Empire collapsed.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Rene Grousset, The Empire of The Steppes, 1970, p.567: From Chinese transcription Mo-yen-cho, Schlegel has postulated a Turkic name Moyun-chor; whereas, as Pelliot notes, the equivalent would more probably be Bayan-chor (Pelliot, "A propos des Comans," JA [1920], p. 153). The Uigur title of this prince is Tangrida qut bulmysh il ytmish bilga qagan. In the Orgötü valley, between the Orkhon and the Selenga, his tomb has been found, and on it an inscription still in ancient or "runic" Turkic.
  2. ^ E.g., Bo Yang Edition of the Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 53.
  3. ^ This is a Chinese transcription of the title. His real-life Uyghur name is unknown, while the official titles were El Etmish, Kutluk, Bilge, Kul Qaghan, i.e., "state settled", "glorious", "wise", and "mighty ruler".
  4. ^ Element " Ghur " can be found in the word " Ghurkhan "- the karakhitai Khan, elected by Council of tribes in accordance with consensus and in the word " Khur + Altai " (Kurultai) - political and military Council of all Altai tribes since around III century A.D.

[edit] References

Lev Gumilev. Ancient Turks. Kyzyl, 2004.
Turghun Almas. The Uyghurs ("Uyghurlar"). Almaty, Kazakhstan, 1992 (In the Uyghur language. Published originally in China, then banned with all issues being seized. Republished in Almaty)

[edit] External links