Türgesh Khaganate, in: Encyclopedia of Empire, ed. John M. McKenzie et al. (Wiley Blackwell: Chichester/Hoboken 2016)

The Encyclopedia of Empire Editor-in -Chief John M. MacKe nzie Assistan t Editor Nigel R. Dalziel Associate Editors Michael W. Charney Nicholas Douman is Volume IV S-Z WI LEY Blackwell This edition first published 2016 e 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Registered Office John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, P019 8SQ, UK Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, P019 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of John M. MacKenzie to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been as erted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. lf professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cata/oging-in-Publication Data 9781118440643 (cloth) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover image: Front 1-r: Battle of Fuchou, 1844 (e Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy); Peruvian gold mask (C carlo photos I iStockphoto); Detail from Trajan's Column showing campaigns in Dacia, AD I 13 (C Adam Eastland Rome I Alamy); Russian marines, Crimea, 2014 (© epa european pressphoto agency b. v. / Alamy). Spine: Sultan Selim (r.1789-1807) receiving a high official of the Ottoman Empire at a religious holiday, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul (The Granger Collection / Topfoto) Set m 10 12.5pt Mm1on by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India Pnnted and bound in Smgapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd 2016 2122 TUKULOR EMP IR E Ly-Tall, M. and D. Robinson. 1987. "The Western Sudan and the Coming of the French." In }. F. A. Ajayi and M. Crowder (Eds.), History of West Africa, Volume 2 (new ed.). London: Longman. Ouane, I. 1952. L'Empire toucouleur d'E/ Hadj Omar. L'Enigme du Macina. Monte Carlo. Robinson, D. 1988. "French Islamic Policy and Practice in Late Nineteenth Century Senegal." Journal of African History, 29. Robinson, D. 1997. "An Emerging Pattern of Cooperation between Colonial Authorities and Muslim Societies in Senegal and Mauritania." In D. Robinson and J-L. Triaud (Eds.), Le Temps des Marabout. Paris: Karthala. Robinson, D. 1999. "Tokolor." Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. Robinson, D. 2000. "Malik Sy, Teacher in the New Colonial Order." In D. Robinson and J-L. Triaud (Eds.), La Tijaniyya. Paris: Karthala. Robinson, D. and J-L. Triaud (Eds.) 1997. Le Temps des Marabouts. Paris: Karthala. Robinson, D. and J-L. Triaud (Eds.) 2000. La Tijaniyya. Paris: Karthala. Tulunid Empire See EGYPT: 3. EARLY MEDIEVAL Ture (Toure) Empire See WASSALOU (MANDINKA) EMPIRE Tiirgesh Khaganate SOREN STARK system of ten tu men, army units of 10 OOO warriors each (called shi xing - "ten family names" in Chinese sources, in combination with OTurk. oq oq - "ten arrows") in 635 or 638 by the Western Tiirk khagan Shaboluo (Ishbara) Dielishi (Chavannes 1903: 27-28, 34, 56, 60; Stark 2006/2007) Here, the word "Turgesh" appears - together with "Khalach," the name of another western Turkic tribe - in the title of the commander of one of the five Dulu tribes (constituting the left/eastern wing of the "Ten arrows"), called "Turgesh-Khalach Chor" (tuqishi heluoshi chuo). As part of the Dulu wing the Turgesh had their seats somewhere east of the Chu River, perhaps in the Upper Iii valley. It is not entirely clear whether the components ("tribes") of the "Ten arrows," including the Tiirgesh, are ultimately based on tribal structures pre-dating Turk rule in the area, or the result of an initial organization of the Western Tiirk polity into army units. Even if the latter is the case (as appears likely), it is certainly possible that over time such original army units gradually turned into secondary tribes with a tribal identity, as can be observed in later contexts through out the Eurasian steppes (Stark 2006/2007: 170). At any rate, by the end of the 7th century we are able to vaguely perceive among them at least three sub-tribes (the Suoge, the Mohe, and the Alishi), divided into two major branches (the Yellow and the Black Turgesh). Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, USA FORMATION OF THE TORGESH EMPIRE ORIGINS OF TORGESH The "ethnonym" Turgesh is known to us from Old Turkic runic inscriptions of the 8th/9th centuries CE (tiirk[ii}S), Chinese (tuqish), Sogdian (twrkyS) and Arabic/Persian (turkash) language sources. It is first mentioned in the context of the (re)organization of the Western Tiirks into a In 658 the Western Tiirk and their nomadic subjects in the steppes north of the Tianshan had come under a Tang protectorate, turning their supreme rulers - all stemming from the royal lineage of the Turk, the house of Ashinas - largely into puppet khagans, appointed to guarantee Tang authority over the Western Tiirk for the next 40 years TORGESH KHAGANATE (Malyavkin 1984). Although they still received formal investiture as khagans from their tribesmen, these Ashinas puppets were largely dependent on the support of the Tang. With the waning of Tang power in the west during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian (690-705), however, this support dwindled, further weakening the position of the Ashinas puppet khagans vis-a-vis their nomadic subjects. In this situation, in 699, the leader of the Turgesh, a certain Wuzhile, carrying the title of a magha tarqan (mohe dagan, in Chinese rendering) from the clan of the Yellow Turgesh, rebelled against his Ashinas overlord Ashinas Huseluo (ruling the On Oq for the Chinese as Jiezhong Shizhu Kehan) and finally forced him into exile within Tang territories. The Turgesh now took over leadership among the remaining tribes of the On Oq with Wuzhile becoming khagan in the former lands of the Western Ttirk (Chavannes 1903: 43, 79; Beckwith 1987; Golden 1992: 139; Stark 2006/2007). His main camp-residence was situated northwest of the important city of Suyab (present-day Ak-Beshim in the Chu valley in Kirghizia), while a secondary residence was maintained in a settlement called Gongyue in Chinese literary and epigraphic sources, located in the Iii valley (at or near presentday Yining). The Turgesh army was organized into 20 regiments, each ideally comprising 7000 warriors. Although Wuzhile had usurped the throne from China's Ashinas protege, he instantly opened diplomatic channels to normalize relations with China. Pressed hard by the resurgent Ashinas-Ttirk in Central Mongolia (Kok Turk) and the rise of Tibet, the Chinese court acceded and bestowed upon Wuzhile the title of a "regional king of Huaide." At the same time, however, the Chinese court continued to maintain an Ashinas puppet in Dzungaria as a potential rival candidate for khaganal power over the people of the former Western Ttirk (Stark 2006/ 2007: 166). 2123 DEFEAT BY THE EASTERN TORK AND TEMPORARY DECLINE Wuzhile died in 707 and was succeeded by his son Suoge. Relationships with China deteriorated in 709 when bribed officials of the Chinese court backed a rival - a certain Kul Chor named Zhongjie - and Suoge retaliated by temporarily capturing a Tang garrison in the Tarim basin (Beckwith 1987). But more dangerous to his rule were the resurgent Ashinas-Turks in Inner Asia who had never accepted the Joss of their former western territories and considered the Turgesh to be illegitimate usurpers (Stark 2006/2007: 165-166). Already in 699, when Wuzhile had toppled the last Ashinas khagan of the On Oq, the then powerful ruler of the Eastern Turk, Qapaghan Khagan, had installed his son as On Oq khagan with the telling title "khagan who reconquers the west." An opportunity for intervention arose in 710 when Suoge's younger brother Zhenu revolted and fled to the Turk. He provided valuable intelligence that enabled a 20 OOO-strong Turk force in 711 to quickly push through the Gobi-Altai and the Tarbagatai and inflict a devastating defeat upon the Turgesh at a place called Yar·ish plain, just east of Lake Alakol. Suoge was captured and executed (as was his renegade brother) and the Ttirgesh were turned into a subject tribe, owing tributes and services to the Ttirk (Chavannes 1903: 44-45; Beckwith 1987: 75-76; Golden 1992: 139). However, Turk rule over the western Central Asian steppes did not last long because their push further, into Sogdiana down to the "Iron Gates" (the border with Tokharestan), met considerable resistance from a strong Muslim army (laying siege to Samarkand). In spring 713 its skilled commander, the Arab general-governor of Khorasan, Qutaybah ibn Muslim, eventually put the Turk expeditionary force in Sogdiana to flight, and finally, after a disastrous defeat at Beshbaliq/Beiting (with 2124 TORGE SH KHA GA NA TE a son of Qapagh an falling in battle) in 714, Turk forces retreated to Central Mongolia (Beckwith 1987: 78-80). RESURGENCE AND APOGEE UNDER SULU For a brief time Ashinas Xian, a membe r of the royal family of the Wester n Turk, capitalized on the power vacuum and occupied Suyab with the suppor t of the Tang (Beckwith 1987: 79-80). In the meantime, however, the Turgesh gradually regained their former strength under a certain Sulu, belonging to the Black Ti.irgesh branch and bearing the title "chor" (Chavannes 1903: 44-45, 81). He must have been a particularly talented and energetic leader, and - so we are told by the Jiu Tangsh u - "his subjects loved him and were fully at his service." In 715 he reopened diplomatic exchanges with the Tang, who, however, bestowed only minor titles on him (Beckwith 1987: 85; Stark 2006/2007: 165). Finally - after Qapagh an Khagan had been killed in May 716, prompting internal strife and rebellions among the Eastern Turk - Sulu felt strong enough to proclaim himself khagan in August/September 716. Although he continu ed to send tribute missions to China he was not formally recognized and thus secretly prepared for war. Finally, in summe r 717, Sulu made his move and, in alliance with Tibet, laid siege to Aksu and Uch-Tu rfan - both south of the Tiansh an in Tang territories. Although the Tang managed to drive the allied Turgesh-T ibetan forces off with an army of Qarluqs, led by Ashina Xian, they could not prevent the Turgesh from capturi ng the import ant city of Suyab in the west in 719. Finally, in December 719 the Tang recognized the new power in the western steppes and formally invested Sulu as khagan (Beckwith 1987: 90). The growing importa nce of the Turgesh within the contem porary concert of powers is neatly reflected in the fact that Sulu received, in winter 722, an Ashinas princess from the house of lstemi for marriage from the Tang emperor. Since Sulu lacked legitimization by royal descent, this must have been a very welcome enhanc ement of his prestige in the steppe world (Stark 2006/2007: 167). With their eastern flank secured, the Ti.irgesh could now turn their attention to the rich oasis principalities in the west. With their expansion into the Chu and Talas area the old western basis of the former Ti.irk Khaganate - the Tiirgesh inherited from their predecessors the claim to hegemony over the various oasis principalities in Ferghana, Chach, Ustrushana, Sogdiana, and Tokharestan - and the prospect of fabulous revenues from the rich trading centers there. However, this brough t them into conflict with the Arabs who had just conquered the lands east oflran up to Ferghana and Chach. Pressed hard financially by their new masters, most of these petty princes now eagerly turned to the emerging power in the steppes for help and protection against the Arabs. With this started some 20 years of Ti.irgesh campaigning in Mawar annahr and eastern Khorasan, earning Sulu tl1e nickname "Abu Muzahim" - "father of the fight" - from the Arabs (al-Tabari in Yarshater and Blankinship 1989a: 131 - 132). A first Tiirgesh army appeared pillaging before the gates of Samarkand in spring 721, and in 722 Sulu himself sojourned in Ferghana. Two years later, in 724, the Tilrgesh inflicted the first major defeat upon the Arabs on their way back from a campaign into Ferghana, remembered by Muslim historians as the "day of thirst." In 726 the Ti.irgesh campaigned as far south as Tokharestan, whose local kings considered Sulu as their "guardian" (al-Tabari in Yarshater and Blankinship 1989a: 34). Later the same year, Turgesh campaigning in the west was briefly interrupted by a conflict with the Tang, prompt ed by the mistrea tment of a Turgesh envoy and by the loss of 1000 horses TORGESH KHAGANAT E that the Tiirgesh had brought to Kucha for trade. In retaliation Sulu raided, in alliance with the Tibetans, the territories of China's "Four Garrisons" (si zhen) in the Tarim basin, but relations quickly normalized again in the following year (Skaff 2012: 279). The following year, 728, saw a full-scale uprising against Arab rule in Sogdiana with the Tiirgesh khagan forcefully campaigning in person in Sogdiana for the next four years, at the head of a large army composed of Tiirgesh tribesmen and allied Sogdian forces. As a consequence, the Arabs were almost entirely driven out of Sogdiana - at some point only Samarkand and Dabusiya were held by Arab garrisons and the Arab commander-in-chief was advised that "no governor of Khorasan should cross the river (Oxus) with less than 50,000 men" {al-Tabari in Yarshater and Blankinship 1989a: 74). Tiirgesh raiding parties even operated beyond the Oxus near Amul. The strain on Arab forces culminated in summer 731 in the "battle of the pass" (the Takhtakaracha pass between Samarkand in Kesh, now Shakhrisabz) where the Arabs under alJunayd al -Murri suffered, due to poor reconnaissance and tactical errors, a crushing defeat and considerable losses. But due to heavy reinforcements sent by the caliph from Iraq, the Arabs managed to hold and reestablish their position in most major cities in Sogdiana, keeping the Tlirgesh limited to seasonal hinterland raids. As a result, Sulu seem to have turned his attention back to the east: in 734 he married (in addition to his Western Tiirk wife) a Tibetan princess and a princess from the Eastern Ti.irk, and in the winter of the same year he resumed raiding Chinese territories in the Tarim basin. Finally, in winter 735/ 736 he embarked on a risky siege of Beshbahq but, like Qapaghan Khagan 12 years before him, he failed: the Tlirgesh were utterly defeated, one of their yabghus (probably one of Sulu's sons) fell in battle, and Sulu 2125 was forced to sue for peace - which was finally concluded in fall 736. This adventure must have badly damaged Sulu's reputation as a successful leader. Perhaps in an attempt to recover from this damage, he responded in late summer {very late in the season) of the folJowingyear (737) to a caU for help from the lord of Khuttal in northern Tokharestan who was confronted with an Arab invasion of his country. In forced marches through the Pamir-Alai ranges Sulu led his army south, where his sudden appearance caused panic among the perplexed Arabs. In pursuit of the fleeing Muslim expeditionary army he crossed the Oxus, but instead of focusing on attacking the main force of the Arabs in their camp he went ahead to seize their baggage train, containing the rich booty the Arabs had gathered in Khuttal. This move, nicely revealing the Tiirgesh khagan's main motive for this swift campaign, might well have saved the Arabs as it allowed them to retreat with the main body of their troops to their winter camps in Balkh. Despite the onset of winter Sulu continued campaigning, perhaps in an attempt to maximize his plunder. Finally, the Tiirgesh and their allies captured the capital of Guzgan and then dispersed into small raiding parties, trusting that the Muslims would not be able to mobilize their army during winter. This, however, proved to be a fatal error: with a single surprise attack at the khagan's camp in Kharistan, the Arabs routed his forces, captured his household, and put him to flight WhileSulu, together with his closest retainers and allies, returned to his home territories, most ofhis army remained cut off and was consequently lost. DECLINE AND DOWNFALL OF THE TURGESH EMPIRE Sulu's devastating defeat in Tokharestan, further undermining his former prestige as a "charismatic leader," heralded the final decline of the Tiirgesh Empire. But there 2126 TORGESH KHAGANAT E was, apparently, one other major source of discontent among his kin and tribesmen: Sulu's break with traditional practices of directly redistributin g booty among his followers and soldiers. Instead - so we are told (al-Tabari in Yarshater and Blankinship l 989a: 25) - he paid his soldiers regular salaries (in silk). This remarkable change was perhaps motivated by the importance of Sogdian contingents in the Tiirgesh army and an attempt to prevent the tribal host from large-scale looting in Sogdiana, which would have alienated his Sogdian allies. But the sudden stop of revenues from successful campaigns must have quickly put an end to all this - and as Sulu's resources to pay his soldiers dwindled, "his subjects began to defect from him" (Xin Tangshu). In addition, inter-tribal rivalries between the "black" and the "yellow" branch of the Tilrgesh now came to the fore. Finally, in 738, the resourceful leader of the Jamukiyin (Chumugen, in Chinese rendering) tribe, belonging to the Yellow Tiirgesh branch and bearing the titles "magha tarqan" and "kill chor," assassinated Sulu and proclaimed himselfkhag an. However, he was opposed by another influential tribal leader, a certain Dumozhi, who installed one of Sulu's sons as Tuhuoxian Khagan in Suyab. One more contender for the khaganal throne, a certain Erwei Tegin, appeared in Talas - confirming the words of al-Tabari: "The Turks split into factions, making raids on one another" (al-Tabari in Yarshater and Blankinship 1989a: 148; Chavannes 1903: 46-47, 83; Beckwith 1987; Golden 1992: 140). After a short struggle for power, Magha Tarqan prevailed over his rivals by calling on Tang China for help: in the fall of 739 an alliance of Tang forces, Yellow Tiirgesh, the king of Chach, and Sogdian emigre warriors sacked Suyab, captured Sulu's son, and deported him to Chang'an (where he was first symbolically sacrificed in the imperial ancestral temple, then pardoned and nominated general of the guards), while the rival khagan in Talas was eliminated by a Tang army with the assistance of the king of Ferghana (Beckwith 1987: 119). But ifMagha Tarqan/Kill chor had hoped to be rewarded with imperial investiture as khagan, he was to be disappointed: instead of bolstering a new "strong man" over the Tiirgesh, the Tang decided to install a more reliable Ashinas puppet, the largely Sinicized Ashinas Xin, askhagan in the lands of the former Western Turk. Only Magha Tarqan's threat to stir up a major rebellion halted this plan, and finally the Tang - reluctantly - confirmed Magha Tarqan as Tiirgesh khagan (Chavannes 1903: 84; Beckwith 1987: 122). In 742, however, the Tang government revived its original plan, with the result that Ashinas Xin was soon assassinated by Magha Tarqan in Kulan (near Suyab). Magha Tarqan himself finally perished at the hands of a Chinese punitive army in 744, appointing a certain Dumozhi Kill Irkin (Qu Xiejin) from the Black Tiirgesh as their puppet khagan (bearing the title "Eletmish Qutlugh Bilge" Yilidimishi Guduolu Pijia). Although the Tiirgesh tried to revive their old alliance with Tibet - a Tiirgesh envoy is reported at the Tibetan court late in 744 (Beckwith 1987: 126) - their polity was in terminal decline: in 745/746 the Qarluq - members of the coalition which had recently brought down the Ashinas Tiirk in Central Mongolia - were themselves driven out of Inner Asia by their erstwhile allies, the Uyghur. They gradually migrated westward into the lands of the former Western Tiirk where they began to supplant the Tiirgesh as the dominant power (Beckwith 1987: 126; Golden 1992: 141). During the events surrounding the famous battle at Atlakh (Battle ofTalas) in 751 it was theQarluq and no longer the Tiirgesh who played the dominant role among the nomadic tribes of the region. Although the Yellow and the Black Tilrgesh continued to nominate their khagans against TORK KHAGANATE one other - and some of them still managed to send envoys to the Chinese court (Chavannes 1903: 85) - their authority was probably largely limited to the area around Suyab. Finally, in 766, the Qarluq succeeded in taking Suyab and were now in complete control of the former lands of the Turgesh. It appears that remnants of the Turgesh tribe continued to inhabit the area: they are still mentioned in the 9th- and lOth-century works of Muslim geographers and a Turgesh envoy still appears (alongside an envoy from the QarakhanQarluq) in a runic inscription from Khakassia, dating not earlier than the middle of the 9th century. But their time as an independent polity, ruling over a "steppe empire," had long been over. SEE ALSO: China, imperial: 4. Sui, Tang, and Five dynasties periods, c.581-960; Tibetan Empire; Tiirk Khaganate; Umayyad Caliphate; Uyghur Khaganate 2127 Skaff, J. K. 2012. Sui-Tang China and Its TurkoMongol Neighbors: Culture, Power and Connections, 580-800. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stark, S. 2006/2007. "On Oq Bodun. The Western Tiirk Qaghanate and the Ashina Clan." Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, 15: 159-172. al-Tabari, ed. E. Yarshater, trans. K. Y. Blankinship. l 989a. The History ofal-Tabari, Volume 25: The End of Expansion. The Caliphate of Hisham A.D. 724-738/A.H. 105-120. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. al-Tabari, ed. E. Yarshater, trans. C. Hillenbrand. 1989b. The History of al-Tabari. Volume 26: 11u Waning of the Umayya Caliphate. Prelude to A.D. 738-745/A.H. 121-127. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Tekin, T. 1968. A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic. Uralic and Altaic Series, Volume 69. Bloomington: Indiana University Publications. Turkish Empire See OTIOMAN EMPIRE REFERENCES Tiirk Khaganate Beckwith, C. I. 1987. The Tibetan Empire in Cen- SOREN STARK tral Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Institute for the St11dy of the Ancient World, New York Uni1•ersity, USA Princeton University Press. Chavannes, E. 1903. Documents sur Les Tou-Kiue ETHNOGENESIS AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE TORK (Tures) occidentaux: Recueillis et commentes par Edouard Chavannes . . . A vec une carte. (Presente a l'Academie imperiale des sciences de St-Petersbourg le 23 aoUt 1900). St. Peters- burg: Commissionnaires de l'Academie imperiale des sciences. Golden, P. B. 1992. An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. Ethnogenesis and StateFormation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East. Wiesbaden: 0. Harrassowitz. Malyavkin, A. G. 1984. "Marionetki iz roda Ashina" (Puppets from the Ashina clan). In B. A. Litvinskii (Ed.), Vostoclmyi Turkestan i Srednyaya Aziya: Jstoriya. Kul'tura. Svyazi (Eastern Turkestan and Middle Asia: History. Culture. Connections): 138- 155. Moscow: Nauka. The early, pre-imperial history of the Turk is sparsely illuminated by Chinese sources, first of all various official dynastic histories (Zhoushu, Beishi, Suishu; see Liu 1958). These reports - to some degree drawing on various myths of origin, current among the Turk - reflect a complicated and stiJI not well-understood ethnogenesis of the Turk as the core group (Old Turkic: bodun) of their future empire. It is clear, however, that at the very beginning of the political history of the Turk stands the gradual rise of the Ashinas clan to imperial power as the royal clan of the Turk (Liu 1958: 40; Klyashtornyi 1964: