28 Facts About Tolui

Tolui's wife was Sorghaghtani Beki; their sons included Mongke and Kublai, the fourth and fifth khans of the empire, and Hulagu, the founder of the Ilkhanate.

Tolui was less active than his elder brothers Jochi, Chagatai, and Ogedei during their father's rise to power, but once he reached adulthood he was considered the finest warrior of the four.

Tolui commanded armies under his father during the first invasion of Jin China, and his distinguished service during the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire secured his reputation.

Tolui executed his orders with ruthless efficiency, assaulting the major cities of Merv, Nishapur, and Herat, and subjugating numerous others.

Tolui's position was strengthened by the elimination of Jochi and Chagatai, on account of possible illegitimacy and excessive arrogance respectively.

Tolui was on his father's last campaign when the latter died in mid-1227; as the youngest son, he became regent, in charge of his father's burial and the administration of the nation.

Tolui accompanied Ogedei after the resumption of warfare against the Jin dynasty in 1230.

The year of Tolui's birth is disputed; while the historian Christopher Atwood believes he was born in 1191 or 1192, the sinologists Frederick W Mote and Paul Ratchnevsky placed the date in the late 1180s.

The name "Tolui" has been transliterated to English as Toli and Tuluy, among other spellings.

The historian Isenbike Togan has speculated that "Tolui" was a title which Genghis intended to replace the pre-imperial epithet, traditionally given to the youngest son.

Tolui and Sorghaghtani had their first son, Mongke, in 1209; Kublai and Hulagu followed in 1215 and 1217 respectively, while their final son Ariq Boke was born more than a decade afterwards.

Tolui married Lingqun, the daughter of Kuchlug, prince of the Naiman tribe, and had a son named Qutuqtu with her.

Tolui was considered the best warrior of the sons of Temujin, who entitled himself Genghis Khan at a kurultai in 1206.

Tolui commanded armies during the invasion of Jin China; when Genghis was wounded by an arrow during the siege of Xijing, Tolui was appointed to command the besieging army until the Mongols withdrew.

Tolui's task was to pacify and subjugate the region and its cities by any means possible, and he carried out the task "with a thoroughness from which that region has never recovered", in the words of the historian J A Boyle.

Tolui's army was composed of a tenth of the Mongol invasion force augmented by Khwarazmian conscripts; the historian Carl Sverdrup estimates its size at around 7,000 men.

Tolui reneged on this guarantee, and ordered that the entire population be driven out on the plain and put to the sword, excluding a small number of artisans and children.

The first started with the execution of a Mongol diplomat in the town; an incensed Tolui launched an eight-day assault, which culminated in the death of the town's.

Tolui's elimination left Ogedei and Tolui as the two primary candidates.

Tolui was however well-liked by all in the nation and was known for his generosity, courtesy, and willingness to mediate and compromise.

Tolui was more likely to preserve Mongol traditions than Tolui, whose wife Sorghaghtani, herself a Nestorian Christian, was a patron of many other religions.

Tolui was accompanying his father Genghis Khan when the latter died in 1227 during the campaign against the Xia.

Tolui was still a viable candidate for succession and had the support of the family of Jochi.

Tolui's success strengthened his position in the Mongol court, while Ogedei's mediocre military performance weakened his own.

Tolui died later that year in mysterious circumstances near Beijing; he had travelled northwards with his brother while Subutai besieged Kaifeng.

Atwood has theorised that these suspicions were the intended aim of the Secret Historian, writing under the patronage of Tolui's descendants wanting to subtly discredit their Ogedeid rivals.

Tolui proposes that the prosaic explanation of a death from alcoholism, as recorded by Juvayni, was the most likely; the official line was nevertheless propagated by Sorghaghtani to cement her family's position at the top of the Mongol court.

Tolui was later elevated to the status of khan by Kublai, after he established the Yuan dynasty in the late 13th-century, while he and Sorghaghtani became major figures of the Eight White Yurts cult in Mongolia, today headquartered at the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan.