Hulagu Khan

Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or

Hulegu (Mongolian: Хүлэгү/ ,

romanized: Hu’legu’/Qülegü; Chagatay:
‫ ;ﮨﻼﮐﻮ‬Persian: ‫ﻫﻮﻻﮐﻮ ﺧﺎن‬, Hulâgu xân;
Arabic: ‫ َﻫ َﻼ ُون‬/‫ ;ﻫﻮﻻﻛﻮ ﺧﺎن‬Chinese: 旭烈兀;
pinyin: Xùlièwù [ɕû.ljê.û]; c. 1218 – 8
February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who
conquered much of Western Asia. Son of
Tolui and the Keraite princess
Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of
Genghis Khan and brother of Ariq Böke,
Möngke Khan, and Kublai Khan.
 Khulegu Khan
Ilkhan of the Ilkhanate

Painting of Hulagu Khan by Rashid-al-Din

Hamadani, early 14th century.

Reign 1256 – 8 February 1265

Successor Abaqa Khan

Born 15 October 1218

Died 8 February 1265

(aged 46)

Burial Shahi Island, Lake

 Urmia

Consort Doquz Khatun

Yesuncin Khatun

Issue Tekuder
Abaqa
Taraqai
Mengu Timur

House Borjigin

Father Tolui

Mother Sorghaghtani Beki

Religion Buddhism[1][2]

Hulagu's army greatly expanded the

southwestern portion of the Mongol
Empire, founding the Ilkhanate of Persia, a
precursor to the eventual Safavid dynasty,
and then the modern state of Iran. Under
Hulagu's leadership, the siege of Baghdad
(1258) destroyed Baghdad's standing in
the Islamic world and weakened
Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic
influence to the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo
and ended the Abbasid Dynasty.

Background
Hulagu was born to Tolui, one of Genghis
Khan's sons, and Sorghaghtani Beki, an
influential Keraite princess. Sorghaghtani
successfully navigated Mongol politics,
arranging for all of her sons to become
Mongol leaders. She was a Christian of the
Church of the East (often referred to as
"Nestorianism") and Hulagu was friendly to
Christianity. Hulagu's favorite wife, Doquz
Khatun, was also a Christian, as was his
closest friend and general, Kitbuqa. It is
recorded however that he converted to
Buddhism as he neared death,[3] against
the will of Doquz Khatun.[4] The erection of
a Buddhist temple at Ḵoy testifies his
interest in that religion.[5]

Hulagu had at least three children: Abaqa

Khan, Tekuder, and Taraqai. Abaqa was
second Ilkhan of Iran from 1265–82,
Teguder Ahmad was third Ilkhan from
1282–84, and Taraqai's son Baydu
became Ilkhan in 1295.[6] Mīr-Khvānd
mentions two more children, given as
Hyaxemet and Tandon in an early
translation; Hyaxemet initially served as
governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan, while
Tandon was given Diyarbakır and Iraq.[7]
The order of birth is listed as Abaqa,
Hyaxemet, Tandon, Teguder, then Taraqai.
His daughter-in-law, Absh Khatun, was
sent to Shiraz to reign in 1263.[8]

Military campaigns
The siege of Alamût in 1256

A Mughal painting of Hulagu's siege of Alamut.

Hulagu's brother Möngke Khan had been

installed as Great Khan in 1251. In 1255,
Möngke charged Hulagu with leading a
massive Mongol army to conquer or
destroy the remaining Muslim states in
southwestern Asia. Hulagu's campaign
sought the subjugation of the Lurs of
southern Iran, the destruction of the
Assassins, the submission or destruction
of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, the
submission or destruction of the Ayyubid
states in Syria based in Damascus, and
finally, the submission or destruction of
the Bahri Mamluke Sultanate of Egypt.[9]
Möngke ordered Hulagu to treat kindly
those who submitted and utterly destroy
those who did not. Hulagu vigorously
carried out the latter part of these
instructions.
Hulagu marched out with perhaps the
largest Mongol army ever assembled – by
order of Möngke, two-tenths of the
empire's fighting men were gathered for
Hulagu's army.[10] He easily destroyed the
Lurs, and the Assassins surrendered their
impregnable fortress of Alamut without a
fight, accepting a deal that spared the lives
of their people.

Siege of Baghdad
Hulagu's Mongol army set out for Baghdad
in November 1257. Once near the city he
divided his forces to threaten the city on
both the east and west banks of the Tigris.
Hulagu demanded surrender, but the
caliph, Al-Musta'sim, refused. Due to the
treason of Abu Alquma, an advisor to Al-
Muta'sim, an uprising in the Baghdad army
took place and Siege of Baghdad began.
The attacking Mongols broke dikes and
flooded the ground behind the caliph's
army, trapping them. Much of the army
was slaughtered or drowned.

The Mongols under Chinese general Guo

Kan laid siege to the city on January 29,
1258,[11] constructing a palisade and a
ditch and wheeling up siege engines and
catapults. The battle was short by siege
standards. By February 5 the Mongols
controlled a stretch of the wall. The caliph
tried to negotiate but was refused. On
February 10 Baghdad surrendered. The
Mongols swept into the city on February
13 and began a week of destruction. The
Grand Library of Baghdad, containing
countless precious historical documents
and books on subjects ranging from
medicine to astronomy, was destroyed.
Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris
ran black with ink from the enormous
quantity of books flung into the river.
Citizens attempted to flee but were
intercepted by Mongol soldiers.
Hulagu (left) imprisons the Caliph among his treasures
to starve him to death. Medieval depiction from "Le
livre des merveilles", 15th century.

Death counts vary widely and cannot be

easily substantiated: A low estimate is
about 90,000 dead;[12] higher estimates
range from 200,000 to a million.[13] The
Mongols looted and then destroyed.
Mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals —
grand buildings that had been the work of
generations — were burned to the ground.
The caliph was captured and forced to
watch as his citizens were murdered and
his treasury plundered. Il Milione, a book
on the travels of Venetian merchant Marco
Polo, states that Hulagu starved the caliph
to death, but there is no corroborating
evidence for that. Most historians believe
the Mongol and Muslim accounts that the
caliph was rolled up in a rug and the
Mongols rode their horses over him, as
they believed that the earth would be
offended if touched by royal blood. All but
one of his sons were killed. Baghdad was
a depopulated, ruined city for several
centuries. Smaller states in the region
hastened to reassure Hulagu of their
loyalty, and the Mongols turned to Syria in
1259, conquering the Ayyubid dynasty and
sending advance patrols as far ahead as
Gaza.

A thousand squads of northern Chinese

sappers accompanied the Mongol Khan
Hulagu during his conquest of the Middle
East.[14][15]

Conquest of Syria (1260)

Hulagu and Queen Doquz Qatun depicted as the new

Hulagu and Queen Doquz Qatun depicted as the new
Constantine and Helen in a Syriac bible.[16][17]

In 1260 Mongol forces combined with

those of their Christian vassals in the
region, including the army of the Armenian
Kingdom of Cilicia under Hethum I, King of
Armenia and the Franks of Bohemond VI
of Antioch. This force conquered Muslim
Syria, a domain of the Ayyubid dynasty.
They captured Aleppo by siege and, under
the Christian general Kitbuqa, seized
Damascus on March 1, 1260.[18][19][20] A
Christian Mass was celebrated in the
Umayyad Mosque and numerous mosques
were profaned. Many historical accounts
describe the three Christian rulers Hetum,
Bohemond, and Kitbuqa entering the city
of Damascus together in triumph,[20][21]
though some modern historians such as
David Morgan have questioned this story
as apocryphal.[22]

The invasion effectively destroyed the

Ayyubids, which was until then a powerful
dynasty that had ruled large parts of the
Levant, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula.
The last Ayyubid king, An-Nasir Yusuf, was
killed by Hulagu in 1260.[23] With Baghdad
ravaged and Damascus weakened, the
center of Islamic power shifted to the
Mamluk Sultans' capital of Cairo.
Hulagu intended to continue southward
through Palestine towards Cairo to fight
the Mamluks. He sent a threatening letter
to the Mamluk Sultan Qutuz in Cairo. He
demanded that Qutuz open Cairo or it
would be destroyed like Baghdad. At that
moment Mongke Khan died, so Hulagu, as
an heir and potential Great Khan, was
obliged to return to Mongolia for the
election of a new Khan. Hulagu left behind
only two tumens (20,000 men) under the
leadership of his favorite general Naiman
Kitbuqa Noyan, a Nestorian Christian.
Upon receiving news of Hulagu's
departure, Qutuz quickly assembled a
large army at Cairo and invaded Palestine.
Qutuz allied himself with a fellow Mamluk,
Baibars, who wanted to avenge for Islam
the Mongols' capture of Damascus, their
looting of Baghdad and their conquest of
Syria.

The Mongols, for their part, attempted to

form a Frankish-Mongol alliance with (or
at least, demand the submission of) the
remnant of the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem, now centered on Acre, but
Pope Alexander IV had forbidden such an
alliance. Tensions between Franks and
Mongols also increased when Julian of
Sidon caused an incident resulting in the
death of one of Kitbuqa's grandsons.
Angered, Kitbuqa had sacked Sidon. The
Barons of Acre, contacted by the Mongols,
had also been approached by the
Mamluks, seeking military assistance
against the Mongols. Although the
Mamluks were traditional enemies of the
Franks, the Barons of Acre recognized the
Mongols as the more immediate menace.
Instead of taking sides, the Crusaders
opted for a position of cautious neutrality
between the two forces. In an unusual
move, however, they allowed the Egyptian
Mamluks to march northward without
hindrance through Crusader territory and
even let them camp near Acre to resupply.
Battle of Ain Jalut

Hulagu Khan leading his army.

When news arrived that the Mongols had

crossed the Jordan River in 1260, Sultan
Qutuz and his forces, mainly Egyptians,
proceeded southeast toward the 'Spring Of
Goliath' at Ain Jalut in the Jezreel Valley.
They met the Mongol army of about
20,000 in the Battle of Ain Jalut and fought
relentlessly for many hours. The Mamluk
leader Baibars mostly implemented hit-
and-run tactics in an attempt to lure the
Mongol forces into chasing him. Baibars
and Qutuz had hidden the bulk of their
forces in the hills to wait in ambush for the
Mongols to come into range. The Mongol
leader Kitbuqa, already provoked by the
constant fleeing of Baibars and his troops,
decided to march forwards with all his
troops on the trail of the fleeing Egyptians.
When the Mongols reached the highlands,
Egyptians appeared from hiding, and the
Mongols found themselves surrounded by
enemy forces as the hidden troops hit
them from the sides and Qutuz attacked
the Mongol rear. Estimates of the size of
the Egyptian army range from 24,000 to
120,000. The Mongols broke free of the
trap and even mounted a temporarily
successful counterattack, but their
numbers had been depleted to the point
that the outcome was inevitable. When the
battle finally ended, the Egyptian army had
accomplished what had never been done
before, defeating a Mongol army in close
combat. Almost the whole Mongol army
that had remained in the region, including
Kitbuqa, were either killed or captured that
day. The battle of Ain Jalut established a
low-water mark for the Mongol conquest.
The Mongol invasion east and south came
to a stop after Ain Jalut.
Civil War

Coin of Hulagu, with the symbol of a hare.

After the succession was settled and his

brother Kublai Khan was established as
Great Khan, Hulagu returned to his lands
by 1262. When he massed his armies to
attack the Mamluks and avenge the defeat
at Ayn Jalut, however, he was instead
drawn into civil war with Batu Khan's
brother Berke. Berke Khan, a Muslim
convert and the grandson of Genghis
Khan, had promised retribution in his rage
after Hulagu's sack of Baghdad and allied
himself with the Mamluks. He initiated a
large series of raids on Hulagu's territories,
led by Nogai Khan. Hulagu suffered a
severe defeat in an attempted invasion
north of the Caucasus in 1263. This was
the first open war between Mongols and
signaled the end of the unified empire.

Even while Berke was Muslim he was at

first desisting from the idea of fighting
Hulagu out of Mongol brotherhood, he said
Mongols are killed by Mongol swords. If we
were united, then we would have conquered
all of the world. but the economic situation
of the Golden Horde due to the actions of
the Ilkhanate led him to declare jihad
because the Ilkhanids were hogging the
wealth of North Iran and the Ilkhanate's
demands for the Golden Horde to not sell
slaves to the Mamluks.[24]

Communications with Europe

Temgha of Hulagu.

Hulagu sent multiple communications to

Europe in an attempt to establish a
Franco-Mongol alliance against the
Muslims. In 1262, he sent his secretary
Rychaldus and an embassy to "all kings
and princes overseas". The embassy was
apparently intercepted in Sicily by
Manfred, King of Sicily, who was allied
with the Mamluk Sultanate and in conflict
with Pope Urban IV, and Rychaldus was
returned by ship.[25]

On April 10, 1262, Hulagu sent a letter,

through John the Hungarian, to Louis IX of
France, offering an alliance.[26] It is unclear
whether the letter ever reached Louis IX in
Paris — the only manuscript known to have
survived was in Vienna, Austria.[27] The
letter stated Hulagu's intention to capture
Jerusalem for the benefit of the Pope and
asked for Louis to send a fleet against
Egypt:

From the head of the Mongol

army, anxious to devastate the
perfidious nation of the
Saracens, with the good-will
support of the Christian faith (...)
so that you, who are the rulers
of the coasts on the other side of
 the sea, endeavor to deny a
refuge for the Infidels, your
enemies and ours, by having
your subjects diligently patrol
the seas.

— Letter from Hulagu to

Saint Louis.[28]

Despite many attempts, neither Hulagu nor

his successors were able to form an
alliance with Europe, although Mongol
culture in the West was in vogue in the
13th century. Many new-born children in
Italy were named after Mongol rulers,
including Hulagu: names such as Can
Grande ("Great Khan"), Alaone (Hulagu),
Argone (Arghun), and Cassano (Ghazan)
are recorded.[29]

Family
Hulagu had fourteen consorts:

Guyuk Khatun, daughter of Toralchi

Kurkan of the Oyirat tribe and
Chahchayigan Khatun;
Qutui Khatun, a lady from the Qonqirut
tribe;
Yesuchin Khatun, a lady from the Suldus
tribe;
Dokuz Khatun, daughter of Abaqu, and
widow of Tului Khan;
Tuqtani Khatun, granddaughter of
Abaqu;
Uljai Khatun, daughter of Turalchi
Kurkan
Nogachin Aghchi, a lady from Cathay;
Boraqchin Agachi, mother of Taragai;
Arighan Agachi, daughter of Tanggiz
Kurkan;
Ajuja Agachi, a lady from Cathay;
Yeshichin Agachi, a lady from the
Qorluut tribe;
El Agachi, a lady from the Qonqirut tribe;
 Irqan Agachi, mother of Taraqai Khatun;
Mangligach Agachi, mother of
Qutluqqan Khatun;
Sons

Hulagu had fourteen sons:

Jumghur - with Guyuk Khatun

Abaqa Khan - with Yesuchin Khatun;
Yoshmut - with Nogachin Agachi;
Tubshin - with Nocachin Agachi;
Takshin - with Qutui Khatun;
Tekuder Khan - with Qutui Khatun;
Taragai - with Boraqchin Agachi;
Ajai - with Arighan Agachi;
 Qonqurtai - with Ajuja Agachi;
Yesudar - with Yeshichin Agachi;
Mengu Timur - with Oljai Khatun;
Hulachu - with El Agachi;
Shibaauchi - with El Agachi;
Taghai Timur;
Daughters

Hulagu had seven daughters:

Bulughan Aqa Khatun - with Guyuk

Khatun, married Joma Kurkan, son of
Jochi a Tatar and Chechagan Khatun,
daughter of Otchi Noyan;
Jamai Khatun - with Oljai Khatun,
married Joma Kurkan, son of Jochi a
Tatar and Chechagan Khatun, daughter
of Otchi Noyan;
Manggugan Khatun - with Oljai Khatun,
married firstly to Jaqir Kurkan, son of
Buqa Timur, married secondly to
Taraqai, son of Buqa Timur;
Baba Khatun - with Oljai Khatun, married
to Lagzi Kurkan, son of Arghun Aqa of
the Oyirat tribe;
Todogaj Khatun, married to Tanggiz
Kurkan, married secondly to Sulamish,
son of Tanggiz Kurkan, married thirdly to
Chichak, son of Tanggiz Kurkan;
Taraqai Khatun - with Irqan Agachi,
married to Taghai Timur, son of Shinggu
 Kurkan and Tumulun Khatun, daughter
of Genghis Khan;
Qutluqqan Khatun - with Mangligach
Agachi, married firstly to Yesu Buqa
Kurkan, son of Urughtu Noyan of the
Dorban tribe, married secondly Tukel,
son of Yesu Buqa;

Death

The funeral of Hulagu Khan.

Hulagu Khan died in 1265 and was buried
on Shahi Island in Lake Urmia. His funeral
was the only Ilkhanate funeral to feature
human sacrifice.[30] He was succeeded by
his son Abaqa Khan, thus establishing his
line.

Legacy
Hulagu Khan laid the foundations of the
Ilkhanate and thus paved the way for the
later Safavid dynastic state, and ultimately
the modern country of Iran. Hulagu's
conquests also opened Iran to both
European influence from the west and
Chinese influence from the east. This,
combined with patronage from his
successors, would develop Iran's
distinctive excellence in architecture.
Under Hulagu's dynasty, Iranian historians
began writing in Persian rather than
Arabic.[31]

Notes
1. Grousset, René (1970). The Empire of
the Steppes: A History of Central
Asia . Rutgers University Press.
ISBN 9780813513041.
2. Vaziri, Mostafa (2012). "Buddhism
during the Mongol Period in Iran".
Buddhism in Iran: An Anthropological
 Approach to Traces and Influences .
Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 111–131.
ISBN 9781137022943.
3. Hildinger 1997, p. 148.
4. Jackson 2014, p. 176.
5. Hulāgu Khan at Encyclopædia Iranica
6. David Morgan, The Mongols, p. 225
7. Stevens, John. The history of Persia.
Containing, the lives and memorable
actions of its kings from the first
erecting of that monarchy to this time;
an exact Description of all its
Dominions; a curious Account of India,
China, Tartary, Kermon, Arabia,
Nixabur, and the Islands of Ceylon and
Timor; as also of all Cities
occasionally mention'd, as Schiras,
Samarkand, Bokara, &c. Manners and
Customs of those People, Persian
Worshippers of Fire; Plants, Beasts,
Product, and Trade. With many
instructive and pleasant digressions,
being remarkable Stories or Passages,
occasionally occurring, as Strange
Burials; Burning of the Dead; Liquors
of several Countries; Hunting; Fishing;
Practice of Physick; famous
Physicians in the East; Actions of
Tamerlan, &c. To which is added, an
abridgment of the lives of the kings of
Harmuz, or Ormuz. The Persian history
 written in Arabick, by Mirkond, a
famous Eastern Author that of Ormuz,
by Torunxa, King of that Island, both of
them translated into Spanish, by
Antony Teixeira, who liv'd several Years
in Persia and India; and now render'd
into English.
8. Women’s Islamic Initiative in
Spirituality and Equality. "Absh
Khatun" . Retrieved 6 May 2011.
9. Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. The Mamluk-
Ilkhanid War
10. Saunders 1971
11. "Six Essays from the Book of
Commentaries on Euclid" . World
 Digital Library. Retrieved 21 March
2013.
12. Sicker 2000, p. 111.
13. New Yorker, April 25, 2005, Ian Frazier,
"Invaders - Destroying Baghdad"
14. Josef W. Meri (2005). Josef W. Meri
(ed.). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An
Encyclopedia . Psychology Press.
p. 510. ISBN 0-415-96690-6. Retrieved
2011-11-28. "This called for the
employment of engineers to engage in
mining operations, to build siege
engines and artillery, and to concoct
and use incendiary and explosive
devices. For instance, Hulagu, who led
 Mongol forces into the Middle East
during the second wave of the
invasions in 1250, had with him a
thousand squads of engineers,
evidently of north Chinese (or perhaps
Khitan) provenance."
15. Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach
(2006). Josef W. Meri, Jere L.
Bacharach (ed.). Medieval Islamic
Civilization: L-Z, index . Volume 2 of
Medieval Islamic Civilization: An
Encyclopedia (illustrated ed.). Taylor &
Francis. p. 510. ISBN 0-415-96692-2.
Retrieved 2011-11-28. "This called for
the employment of engineers to
engage in mining operations, to build
 siege engines and artillery, and to
concoct and use incendiary and
explosive devices. For instance,
Hulagu, who led Mongol forces into
the Middle East during the second
wave of the invasions in 1250, had
with him a thousand squads of
engineers, evidently of north Chinese
(or perhaps Khitan) provenance."
16. "In May 1260, a Syrian painter gave a
new twist to the iconography of the
Exaltation of the Cross by showing
Constantine and Helena with the
features of Hulagu and his Christian
wife Doquz Khatun" in Cambridge
History of Christianity Vol. 5 Michael
 Angold p.387 Cambridge University
Press ISBN 0-521-81113-9
17. Le Monde de la Bible N.184 July–
August 2008, p.43
18. Saudi Aramco World "The Battle of Ain
Jalut"
19. Grousset, p.581
20. "On 1 March Kitbuqa entered
Damascus at the head of a Mongol
army estimated at more than 300,000
strong. With him were the King of
Armenia and the Prince of Antioch.
The citizens of the ancient capital of
the Caliphate saw for the first time for
six centuries three Christian
 potentates ride in triumph through
their streets", (Runciman 1987, p. 307)
21. Grousset, p.588
22. Jackson 2014.
23. Atlas des Croisades, p.108
24. Johan Elverskog (6 June 2011).
Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road .
University of Pennsylvania Press.
pp. 186–. ISBN 0-8122-0531-6.
25. Jackson 2014, p. 173.
26. Jackson 2014, p. 178.
27. Jackson 2014, p. 166.
28. Letter from Hulagu to Saint Louis,
quoted in Les Croisades, Thierry
 Delcourt, p.151
29. Jackson 2014, p. 315.
30. Morgan, p. 139
31. Francis Robinson, The Mughal
Emperors And The Islamic Dynasties
of India, Iran and Central Asia, pages
19 and 36

Works cited

Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). The

Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the
Mongol Empire. Facts on File, Inc.
ISBN 0-8160-4671-9.
Boyle, J.A., (Editor). The Cambridge
History of Iran: Volume 5, The Saljuq and
Mongol Periods. Cambridge University
Press; Reissue edition (January 1,
1968). ISBN 0-521-06936-X.
Hildinger, Erik (1997). Warriors of the
Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia,
500 B.C. to 1700 A.D. Da Capo Press.
ISBN 0-306-81065-4.
Morgan, David. The Mongols. Blackwell
Publishers; Reprint edition, April 1990.
ISBN 0-631-17563-6. Best for an
overview of the wider context of
medieval Mongol history and culture.
Runciman, Steven (1987). A History of
the Crusades . Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-0-521-34770-9.
 Jackson, Peter (2014). The Mongols and
the West: 1221-1410 . Taylor & Francis.
ISBN 978-1-317-87898-8.
Robinson, Francis. The Mughal Emperors
And the Islamic Dynasties of India, Iran
and Central Asia. Thames and Hudson
Limited; 2007. ISBN 0-500-25134-7

External links
A long article about Hulagu's conquest
of Baghdad, written by Ian Frazier,
appeared in the April 25, 2005 issue of
The New Yorker.
An Osama bin Laden tape in which
Osama bin Laden compares Vice
President Dick Cheney and Secretary of
 State Colin Powell to Hulagu and his
attack on Baghdad. Dated November 12,
2002.
Hulegu the Mongol , by Nicolas Kinloch,
published in History Today, Volume 67
Issue 6 June 2017.

Regnal titles

Preceded by Ilkhan Succeeded by

none 1256–1265 Abaqa Khan

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