Kheshig

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Enthronization of a Mongol ruler. Double-page illustration of Rashid-ad-Din's Gami' at-tawarih. Tabriz (?), 1st quarter of 14th century.
Enthronization of a Mongol ruler.
Kheshig
Keshik
CountryMongol Empire
Qing dynasty
BranchCavalry (ranged)

Kheshig (

bodyguards for the emperors and other important nobles. They were divided into two groups: the day guard (Torguud) and the night guard (Khevtuul). They were distinct from the regular army and would not go to battle with them, instead staying back on guard duty. Their supreme commander was called the Cherbi.[1]

Because the Mongol Empire spanned most of

Persia who watched the King's person at night were also called Keshikchi.[2]

History

The assassination of the leaders of rival

Toghoril (Wang Khan) had an imperial guard, Torguud. According to an oral tradition, their descendants could be Torghut people. After the defeat of Wang Khan in 1203, Genghis established the kheshig. The kheshig consisted mainly of sworn personal followers.[3]

At first, this consisted of 70 day guards (Torguud or tunghaut) and 80 night guards (khevtuul).

noblemen.[5] In the early days the guard was composed of 1,000 men. By the middle of Genghis Khan's reign, they had expanded to a tumen (10,000 men) commanded by Nayagha, an uncle of Bayan of the Baarin.[6]

The Kheshig was originally consisted

Ögedei
's old kheshig.

For his own bodyguards

Keshig.[10] Kublai created a new Imperial guard force, the suwei, of which half were Chinese and the other half ethnically mixed. By the 1300s even the Keshig were flooded with Chinese recruits.[11] The suwei were initially 6,500 strong but by the end of the dynasty it had become 100,000 strong. They were divided into wei or guards, each recruited from a particular ethnicity. Most wei were Chinese, while a few were Mongols, Koreans, Tungusic peoples, Kipchaks and Europeans/Middle Easterners including Alans and even one unit of Russians. The Keshig was converted into an administrative organisation instead.[12]

Units

Primary units

Supplementary units

Descent

Many elements in the Mughal Empire shared similar heritage to the Mongols. Such examples are Babur, who was a direct descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively.[15]

The

Mughal era, are believed to be descendants of the Kheshig who originated in the surrounding areas of Zamand and Keshik in Iran.[16]

The modern Mongolian

Heshigten Banner within Inner Mongolia in China.[17]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-81-908918-9-9
    .
  2. ^ Henry Hoyle Howorth History of the Mongols: From the 9th to the 19th Century, p.399
  3. ^ David Christian A history of Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia, p.396
  4. ^ Stephen G. Haw Marco Polo's China, p.166
  5. ^ George Lane Daily life in the Mongol empire, p.97
  6. ^ Richard A. Gabriel The great armies of antiquity, p.337
  7. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica, p.111
  8. ^ David M. Farquhar The Government of China Under Mongolian Rule: A Reference Guide p.272
  9. ^ Otto Harrassowitz Archivum Eurasiae medii aeivi [i.e. aevi]., p.36
  10. ISBN 978-0-521-24331-5
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-521-24331-5
    .
  12. ISBN 1846030986
    .
  13. ^ Richard A. Gabriel Genghis Khan's greatest general Subutai the valiant, p.37
  14. ^ Vincent Chen Sino-Russian relations in the seventeenth century, p.34
  15. ^ Adams, William Henry Davenport (1892). Warriors of the Crescent. D. Appleton.
  16. ISBN 9780706927528
    .
  17. ISBN 978-90-04-21635-8
    .

External links
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