Successors of Jenghiz Khan
Jean de Meun(Jehan Meung Chopinel, Clopinel) See
ROMAN DE LAROSE.
Jenghiz Khan(Genghis, Chinggis, Chingus, Temujin)
(ca. 1154–1227)Mongol chieftain
Jenghiz Khan was the creator of the Mongol nation and
the founder of one of the largest empires that ever
existed. Jenghiz Khan, whose original name was Temu-
jin, was born about 1160 on the banks of the river
Onon in the far northeastern corner of present-day
Mongolia. He was left an orphan at the age of nine; his
father, Yesugei, was killed by the Tatars, who in the sec-
ond half of the 12th century had replaced the MONGOLS
as the dominant tribe in eastern Mongolia. Temujin’s
mother was then deserted by her husband’s followers,
who wished to prevent his succession to his father’s
position. The family was reduced to conditions of great
hardship.
After Temujin had grown into manhood, he was
taken prisoner by another group of Mongols, who
intended to keep him in perpetual captivity. However, he
escaped and soon became the protégé of the ruler of the
Keraits, a Christian tribe in central Mongolia. It was with
their aid and another young Mongol chieftain and their
friend, Jamuka, that Temujin was able to rescue his wife,
who had been carried off. He then wiped out the Tatars
and overthrew his allies the Keraits after reorganizing the
Mongol military. It was at this time in 1206 that a num-
ber of Mongol princes acclaimed Temujin as their ruler,
giving him the title by which he is known in history,
Jenghiz Khan or Genghis Khan, which can mean “Uni-
versal Monarch.”EXPANSION
By 1205, Jenghiz Khan had already attacked the
Tanguts, a people of Tibetan origin in China, and two
further campaigns against them in 1207 and 1209