430 Krum, khan of the Bulgars
Arthur Voyce, The Moscow Kremlin: Its History, Architec-
ture, and Art Treasures(Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1954).
Krum, khan of the Bulgars (r. ca. 802–814)one of
Byzantium’s most fearful enemies
Krum was famous in history for the stunning victory his
Bulgarian army won on July 26, 811, over the Byzantine
emperor Nikephoros I (r. 806–815), who was killed.
Krum made a drinking cup out of the emperor’s skull. In
812 Krum seized Mesembria after his entreaties for peace
were turned down by the empire, and so he set about
conquering towns in Thrace and MACEDONIA. The fol-
lowing year he marched unsuccessfully on CONSTANTINO-
PLEbut captured ADRIANOPLEand carried off its citizens
to BULGARIA. His occupation of these places was brief. He
survived an assassination attempt by the Byzantines in
the meantime. Fortunately for Byzantium he died of a
hemorrhage the following year, on April 13, 814, while
preparing another expedition against Constantinople or
perhaps during another siege of the city.
See alsoBULGARIA ANDBULGARIANS.
Further reading:John V. A. Fine, The Early Medieval
Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth
Century(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991),
94–105; Steven Runciman, A History of the First Bulgarian
Empire(London: G. Bell, 1930), 51–70.
Kublai Khan (1215–1294)Mongol founder of China’s
Yuan dynasty
Born in Mongolia in 1215, the year that his grandfather,
JENGHIZ KHAN, burned Peking to the ground, Kublai
Khan was a member of the ruling line of one of the
largest empires in the world. By the time Kublai was pro-
claimed khan of all the MONGOLSin 1260, the empire
encompassed present-day Mongolia, southern RUSSIA,
northern China, Tibet, IRAN,IRAQ, and Afghanistan.
Little is known of Kublai Khan’s early life, save that
he was sent as governor of Hunan in 1240 and granted
land in northern China. Kublai was proclaimed khan on
May 5, 1260, just one month before the same title was
claimed by a younger brother, Arigh Böke (d. 1266),
who was supported by more conservative Mongols.
Kublai had earned their further distrust by settling
down, an unacceptable action for a nomad, and choos-
ing to live in China rather than in the Mongolian capital
of Karakorum. Arigh Böke’s stronghold at Karakorum
depended on imported supplies, so Kublai laid a TRADE
embargo on the city. A series of battles outside the city
in the spring of 1261 led to the surrender of Arigh Boke
in 1264.
CONQUESTS IN CHINA: THE YUAN DYNASTYKublai Khan next turned his attention back to China and
the subjugation of the southern Sung, who ruled south-
ern China in the early 1260s. The towns of Hsiang-yang
and Fan-ch’eng, on the Han River and on route to their
major strongholds on the Yangtze River, became the cen-
ter of the war. Kublai Khan’s forces set up a blockade that
lasted more than four years. In the end Kublai called in
two Muslim engineers to build machines that led to their
speedy surrender, opening the way south. The Sung
emperor was only four years old, and as the Mongol army
moved on the capital city of Hangchow, his grandmother,
the empress dowager Hsieh, tried vainly to bargain. Late
in January 1276 the empress dowager was obliged to sur-
render. Anxious to win the support or compliance of his
new subjects, Kublai prohibited the razing and pillaging
of the southern cities and farms and allowed the imperial
family to live. Kublai set out to govern as an outsider,
recruiting diverse advisers from among Confucians, Bud-
dhists, Tibetan lamas, and Muslims, as well as Mongols.
Government bodies were supposedly set up to oversee
equitable taxation and emergency relief and to ensure
impartial justice.KHAN’S LEGACY
Kublai’s aura of invincibility was somewhat shaken by
two losses trying to capture Japan when two typhoons
destroyed the invading army’s transport. The Great Khan
returned to concentrate on his domains in China.
Though becoming less and less concerned with affairs of
state, he still encouraged domestic and foreign TRADE,
promoted the sciences, such as astronomy and cartogra-
phy, patronized culture and the arts, and instituted a joint
Mongol-Chinese legal code. A paper currency was gradu-
ally adopted throughout the northern and southern
regions with great success; an attempted general alpha-
bet, designed to unify diverse scripts, met with signifi-
cantly less success. Roadways and a postal service were
much improved. These postal stations served as travelers’
inns, and were described by MARCOPOLO.
In old age Kublai Khan became morbidly obese,
suffering from gout and acute alcoholism, as well as
severe depression caused by the deaths of his favorite
wife and son. Kublai delegated more and more of his
authority to advisers and family members, spending
most of his time eating and drinking in solitude. Kublai
Khan died on February 18, 1294, at the age of 80. The
Yuan dynasty he founded in China was overthrown less
than a century later.
See alsoHULEGU.
Further reading: Marco Polo, The Travels, trans.
Ronald Latham (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1958);
Robert Marshall, Storm from the East: From Genghis Khan
to Khubilai Khan (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1993); David Nicolle, The Mongol Warlords:
Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hülegü, Tamerlane (New
York: Sterling, 1990); Morris Rossabi, Khubilai Khan: His
Life and Times(Berkeley: University of California Press,
1988).