| Nurhaci | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Reign | 17 February 1616 – 30 September 1626 (10 years, 225 days) |
| Predecessor | None (Dynasty established) |
| Successor | Hong Taiji |
|
|
|
| Predecessor | None (Awarded posthumously) |
| Successor | Hong Taiji |
| Spouse | Lady Tunggiya Empress Xiaocigao Empress Xiaoliewu 13 concubines |
| Issue | |
| Princess Donggo Cuyen, Crown Prince Daišan, Prince Li Abai, Duke of Zhen Tangguldai, Duke of Fu Manggūltai Princess Nunje Tabai, Duke of Fu Abatai Mangguji, Princess Hada Hong Taiji, Emperor Taizong of Qing Babutai, Duke of Zhen Degelei, Beile Mukushen Babuhai, Duke of Zhen Daughter Daughter Daughter Ajige, Prince Ying Laimbu, Duke of Fu Dorgon, Prince Rui Daughter Dodo Fiyanggu |
|
| Full name | |
| Chinese: Aixin-Jueluo Nǔ'ěrhāchì 努爾哈赤 Manchu: Aisin Gioro hala-i Nurhaci ᠠᡳᠰᡳᠨ ᡤᡳᠣᡵᠣ ᠨᡠᡵᡥᠠᠴᡳ |
|
| Era name and dates | |
| Tiānmìng 天命 Manchu: Abkai fulingga: 1616 - 1626 |
|
| Posthumous name | |
| Chéngtiān Guǎngyùn Shèngdé Shéngōng Zhàojì Lìjí Rénxiào Ruìwǔ Duānyì Qīn'ān Hóngwén Dìngyè Gāo Huángdì 承天廣運聖德神功肇紀立極仁孝睿武端毅欽安弘文定業高皇帝 Manchu: Dergi hūwangdi |
|
| House | House of Aisin Gioro |
| Father | Taksi |
| Mother | Lady Hitara |
| Born | 21 February 1558 |
| Died | 30 September 1626 (aged 68) Ningyuan, Manchuria |
Nurhaci (Manchu: ; simplified Chinese: 努尔哈赤; traditional Chinese: 努爾哈赤; pinyin: Nǔ'ěrhāchì; alternatively Nurhachi; 1559 – 30 September 1626) was an important Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late sixteenth century in Manchuria. Nurhaci was part of the Aisin Gioro clan, and reigned from 1616 to his death in September 1626.
Nurhaci reorganized and united various Jurchen tribes (the later "Manchu"), consolidated the Eight Banners military system, and eventually launched an assault on Ming Dynasty and Korea's Joseon Dynasty. His conquest of China's northeastern Liaoning province laid the groundwork for the conquest of the rest of China by his descendants, who would go on to found the Qing Dynasty in 1644. He is also generally credited with the creation of a written script for the Manchu language.
Contents |
Nurhaci is written as in the Manchu language. Regarded as the founding father of the Qing Dynasty, he is given the customary temple name of Taizu, which is traditionally assigned to founders of dynasties. His name is also alternatively spelled Nurgaci, Nurhachi, or Nu-er-ha-chi (the last of these simply the transcription of the Chinese characters used to write his name).
Nurhaci was the last chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens and First Khan of Later Jin Dynasty. His title in Manchu as Khan was Geren gurun-be ujire genggiyen Han (“Brilliant Khan Who Benefits All Nations”). His Chinese reign name was Tianming (Chinese: 天命; Manchu: ᠠᠪᡴᠠᡳ ᡶᡠᠯᡳᠩᡤᠠ Abkai fulingga), in Mongolian Tengri-yin Süldetü. He was given a posthumous name in 1736 (see infobox), the shortened form of which was "Emperor Gao" (Chinese: 高皇帝).
Nurhaci was born in 1559. Being a member of the Gioro clan of the Suksuhu River tribe, Nurhaci also claimed descent from Möngke Temür, a Mongol-Jurchen headman who lived some two centuries earlier. According to Chinese sources, the young man grew up as a soldier in the household of Ming Dynasty General Li Chengliang in Fushun, where he learned Chinese. He named his clan Aisin Gioro around 1612, when he formally ascended the throne as Khan of Later Jin.
In 1582 his father Taksi and grandfather Giocangga were killed in an attack on Gure (today a village in Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County) by a rival Jurchen chieftain Nikan Wailan ("Nikan Wailan" means "Secretary of Chinese people" in Jurchen language, thus his existence is suspected by some historians.) while being led by Li Chengliang. The following year, Nurhaci began to unify the Jurchen bands around his area.
In 1584, when he was 25, he attacked Nikan Wailan at Tulun (today a village in Xinbin too) to avenge the deaths of his father and grandfather, who are said to have left him nothing but thirteen suits of armor. Nikan Wailan fled away to Erhun, which got attacked by Nurhaci again in 1587. Nikan Wailan this time fled to Li Chengliang's territory. Later, as a way to build relationship, Li gave Nikan Wailan to Nurhaci, who beheaded Nikan Wailan immediately. With Li's support, Nurhaci gradually grew his strength in the following years.
In 1593, the nine allied tribes of Yehe, Hada, Ula, Hoifa, Khorchin, Sibe, Guwalca, Jušeri, and Neyen attacked Nurhaci but all were completely defeated at the Battle of Gure.
From 1599 to 1618, Nurhaci engaged on a campaign on conquering the four Hulun tribes. In 1599, he attacked the Hada, finally conquering the Hada in 1603. Then in 1607, with the death of its beile Baindari, Hoifa was conquered, followed by an expedition against Ula and its beile Bujantai in 1613 and finally defeating Yehe and its beile Gintaisi at the Battle of Sarhu in 1619.
In 1599, he had two of his translators, Erdeni Bagshi and Dahai Jarguchi, create the Manchu alphabet by adapting the Mongolian script.
In 1606, he was granted the title of Kundulun Khan by the Mongols.
In 1616, Nurhaci declared himself Khan (King) and founded the Jin Dynasty (aisin gurun), often called the Later Jin. He constructed a palace at Mukden (present-day Shenyang) in Liaoning province. (The earlier Jin Dynasty of the twelfth century had also been formed by the Jurchen.) Jīn was renamed Qīng by his son Hong Taiji after his death in 1626, but Nurhaci is usually referred to as the founder of the Qing dynasty.
Only after he became khan did he finally unify the Ula (clan of his consort Lady Abahai, mentioned below) and the Yehe (clan of his consort Monggo, along with the last Empress Dowager Cíxǐ, and many more consorts of Qing Emperors in between).
In 1618, Nurhaci commissioned a document entitled the Seven Grievances in which he enumerated seven grievances against the Ming and began to rebel against the domination of the Ming Dynasty. A majority of the grievances dealt with conflicts against Yehe, and Ming favouritism of Yehe.
Nurhaci led many successful engagements against the Ming Dynasty, the Koreans, the Mongols, and other Jurchen clans, greatly enlarging the territory under his control. Finally in 1626 Nurhaci suffered the first serious military defeat of his life at the hands of the Ming general Yuán Chónghuàn. Nurhaci was wounded by Yuan's Portuguese cannon (紅衣大炮) in the Battle of Ningyuan. Unable to recover either physically or mentally, he died 2 days later at a little town called De-A Man (靉福陵隆恩門) on 30 September, at the age of 68. His tomb (Chinese: 福陵; pinyin: Fúlíng) is located east of Shenyang.
Among the most lasting contributions Nurhaci left his descendants was the establishment of the so-called Eight Banners, which would eventually form the backbone of the military that dominated the Qing empire. The status of Banners did not change much over the course of Nurhaci's lifetime, nor in subsequent reigns, remaining mostly under the control of the royal family. The two elite Yellow Banners were consistently under Nurhaci's control. The two Blue Banners were controlled by Nurhaci's brother Šurhaci until he died, at which point the Blue Banners were given to Šurhaci's two sons-Chiurhala and Amin. Nurhaci's eldest son-Cuyen- controlled the White Banner for most of his father's reign - until he rebelled. Then the Bordered White Banner was given to Nurhaci's grandson and the Plain White was given to his eighth son and heir, Hong Taiji. However, by the end of Nurhaci's reign, Hong Taiji controlled both White Banners. Finally, the Red Banner was run by Nurhaci's second son Daishan. Later in Nurhaci's reign, the Bordered Red Banner was handed down to his son. Daishan and his son would continue holding the two Red Banners well into the end of Hong Taiji's reign.
As noted, Nurhaci was succeeded by his eighth son, Hong Taiji. It is said Hong Taiji took the throne by coercing his father's third consort Lady Abahai to commit suicide, in order to block the succession of his younger brother Dorgon. The reason such intrigue was necessary is that Nurhaci had left the two elite Yellow Banners to Dorgun and Dodo, who were the sons of Lady Abahai. Hong Taiji exchanged control of his two White Banners for that of the two Yellow Banners, shifting their influence and power from his young brothers onto himself. At the same time, by forcing Lady Abahai to follow her husband into death, he assured that there would be no one to support the 15-year-old Dorgon or 14-year-old Dodo.
Nurhaci had a total of 16 consorts:
Four of Nurhaci's consorts held the rank of Side Chamber Consort (側妃; Ze Fei):
Five of Nurhaci's consorts held the rank of Ordinary Consort (庶妃; Shu Fei):
| Ancestors of Nurhaci | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Information concerning Nurhaci can be found in later, propagandistic works such as the Manchu Veritable Records (in Chinese Mǎnzhōu Shílù 滿洲實錄, in Manchu the Yargiyan kooli.) Good contemporary sources are also available. For instance, much material concerning Nurhaci's rise is preserved within Korean sources such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (Joseon Wangjo Sillok朝鮮王朝實錄), especially the Seonjo Sillok and the Gwanghaegun Ilgi. Indeed, the record of Sin Chung-il's trip to Jianzhou is preserved in the Seonjo Sillok.
The original Manchu language records from Nurhaci's reign also survive. A revised transcription of these records (with the dots and circles added to the script) was commissioned by the Qianlong emperor. This has been translated into Japanese, under the title Manbun roto, and Chinese, under the title Manwen Laodang (Chinese:满文老襠). A project is currently under way at Harvard to translate them into English, as The Old Manchu Chronicles.[1]
The remains of Nurhaci are used as a plot device in the beginning of the 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
|
Nurhaci
Born: 1558 Died: 30 September 1626 |
||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Taksi |
Chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens 1583-1616 |
Succeeded by Hong Taiji |
| Preceded by none (Dynasty established) |
Khan of Later Jin 1616-1626 |
|