Trial in the case of the Poisoning of Ögedei Khan in the Context of Contradictions between Different Groups of Sources

Abstract

Research objectives: The article provides an analysis of conflicting reports in the sources on the trial for the poisoning of Khan Ögedei, who died at the end of 1241. Research materials: Although the sources of the imperial circle (Juvaini, Rashid al-Din) describe in detail the trials of individual representatives of the nobility after the son of Ögedei, Guyuk, came to power in 1246, they do not report anything about the trial regarding the violent death of the former ruler. Nonetheless, direct information about the arrest of a certain daughter of Chingis Khan on charges of murdering Ögedei, which occurred immediately after the enthronement of Guyuk, is contained in the report of Plano Carpini, present at the kurultai. Rashid al-Din’s report, which is an example of imperial historiography, does not contain direct references to this but provides indirect reports about the murder of Chingis Khan’s daughter by the Ögedeids. Simultaneously, the official imperial texts date the most high-profile trial of Chingis Khan’s brother Temuge-Otchigin and his execution to the time after enthronement, but Plano Carpini refers to this event as happening before that. Results and novelty of the research: The author concludes that the report of the papal legate reflects real events to a greater extent, while the versions of Juvaini and Rashid al-Din are the result of imperial censorship, which purposefully concealed events that were contrary to Chingisid intra-family ethics.