In my forthcoming novel Maiden Forgotten, we meet the Tatar princesses in Chapter 6, which describes the great meeting that Chinggis Khan called in the summer of 1206. There, he was enthroned before all of his people, taking the title by which he is known today. (Although, in the English-speaking world, we are used to calling him Genghis Khan, that title has been transliterated through the Persian alphabet. This is why most scholars prefer to call him Chinggis Khan, as it is closer to the original Mongolian.)
During this meeting he divided Mongolia up between the four sons of his chief wife. Then he rewarded his wives.
Like most clan chiefs, Chinggis Khan had several wives. There was Börte, his chief wife, the mother of his four heirs. There was Ibaqa, the Kereit princess, niece of the man who mentored him during his difficult youth. There was Khulan from the Merkits, a clan that was responsible for the kidnapping of his chief wife. (Chinggis Khan’s first military engagement was the raiding party he led, which got her back.) Then there were the Tatar princesses, whom I refer to in the novel as Lady Success and Lady Fortune.
Both ladies were the daughters of Yeke Cheren, the clan leader. As usual, Chinggis Khan acted mercilessly towards the Tatar leader, having him executed before engulfing the Tatars and forcing them to follow him. And that is how he met Fortune. Like many female hostages, she had to be remarkable to survive. Somehow, she managed to charm this vicious conqueror into falling in love with her. Once she was secure in his good graces, she told him about her sister. According to The Secret History of the Mongols, Fortune modestly suggested to Chinggis Khan that he should find this sister and marry her, as she was “superior” to herself.
So what was really going on?
It seems that Fortune was trying to save her people. By the time Chinggis Khan married her, almost nothing was left of the Tatar clan. Their men were dead, their livestock divided, their tents and belongings given to others. Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters had been parceled out amongst Chinggis Khan’s followers. By suggesting to her new admirer that he should marry Success, Fortune was trying to save a beloved sister’s life. She must have been persuasive, because it seems that Chinggis Khan lost no time in finding her sister, capturing her, and then marrying her.
Obviously, Chinggis Khan was a vicious conqueror who was not known for being kind to his captives. But he did have a few good qualities. One of them was his ability to judge character. Once he got to know his new wives, he appreciated their intelligence and education, placing them in charge of some of the camps. This required a great deal of management as each camp has to be taken down and put up somewhere else at least twice a year.
He must have been pleased with their management skills, because shortly afterwards, the sisters asked Chinggis Khan if they could take in two young Tatar boys, who were brothers. Chinggis Khan agreed, and the boys went to work for Success, in her kitchen. Sometime later, Success went to him again, requesting that she be allowed to collect their remaining families. Again, Success must have timed her request well, for Chinggis Khan actually allowed her to collect up the very few remaining Tatars.
In this way, the Tatar princesses saved the lives of as many of their people as they could.
Success (the more famous sister) is known to history as Yesui. Fortune (the modest sister) is known to history as Yesugen.
