After the establishment of the vast Mongol and Yuan Empire, many ethnic groups in Europe and Asia came into contact with the Mongols, and the traditional Mongolian custom of receiving and marrying, especially the "heterogeneous step-marriage", began to develop into a system.
Portrait of Mark Polo
After returning to China from the Yuan Dynasty, Marco Polo, an Italian who had visited China, mentioned in chapter 68 of his narrative, "The Heirs of Genghis Khan and the Customs of the Tatars": "A Mongol can marry his father's wife when his father dies, but not his biological mother." The one who marries is the firstborn, but the other son is not."
Among the nomadic peoples of northern China and Central Asia, such as the Mongolians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hezhes, Tibetans, and Manchus, stepmarriage is a common custom.
So, is the system of stepmarriage between different generations of the Mengyuan royal family traditional or incest? Let's uncover this unique phenomenon in the harem of the Yuan Dynasty.
In fact, before the Yuan Dynasty, the phenomenon of "heterogeneous stepmarriage" has always been popular among nobles and ordinary Mongolians, which proves that the intergenerational stepmarriage of the royal family of the Yuan Dynasty is an ancient marriage custom of inland Asian nomads.
When the father and brother died, the stepwife and his mother and sister-in-law were accepted as a traditional custom of some ancient North Asian nomads, and the folk custom called it "transfer house", and in the Yuan Dynasty literature, it was called "succession". According to the kinship between the successor and the deceased male, it can be divided into peer succession and heterogeneous succession.
"Historical Records: The Biography of the Huns" recorded: "The father and son of the Huns lie in the same vault. When the father dies, the wife is the stepmother" and the record of the "permanent wife and stepmother". ”
According to the records of "Hanshu - Biography of the Xiongnu" and "Later Hanshu - Biography of the Southern Xiongnu", Wang Zhaojun married two generations of father and son of Huhan Evil Shan Yu and Fuzhu Tiruo Di Dan, and moved to the Southern Xiongnu relics Liu Cong steamed his father Liu Yuanhai's concubine Shan and Liu Cong's son Liu Weizheng succeeded his stepmother.
It truly reflects that the custom of male relatives of the Xiongnu sons and nephews to inherit the wives of their deceased fathers is much earlier than the name of the Xiongnu before the Han nationality during the Warring States Period.
The step-marriage spread by the northern nomads, as well as the princess Xijun of the Western Han Dynasty who married Wusun Kunmo, remarried his son Cen Cheng when Kunmo was old, and Princess Xie Wu married Cen Chan first and then married her son Nimi.
Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty
What are the concubines of the Mengyuan royal family who practice cross-generational marriage? What are the different reactions of the two generations of emperors who are faced with marrying father and son?
"Polyandry" in the Mengyuan harem
1. Instigating Ruheteni to refuse to marry his son
Portrait of the instigation of Ruheteni
She is the concubine of Genghis Khan's fourth son, Tuolei, and is also called "Tang Concubine" in the Han Chinese.
He had three sons, namely "Möngke" and "Kublai Khan", the founder of the Persian Ilkhanate, and "Hulegu", the founder of the Persian Ilkhanate.
In comparing the "Instigation of Luheteni" with Genghis Khan's mother, "Khaelun", the "Collected Historical Collection" says: "In one thing, she was more steadfast than Genghis Khan's mother, and compared with her, she was superior to her in fidelity.
In fact, earlier Genghis Khan also knew from the hints of his mother Khaelun that she had a desire to marry again, so he asked her to marry Monlik Echige.
And Ögedai Hehan also wanted to marry the instigator Khuhetani Beji to his son Guiyu Khan, and sent an envoy with such good intentions.
When the man presented the edict of Hehan, he replied: 'How can I disobey the edict!' but I have a desire to raise these children and bring them to adulthood and self-reliance.
Later, because Guiyuhan did not insist on carrying it out, she rejected the suggestion under such a polite excuse. There is no doubt that he had no desire to remarry. Because of this, she is also considered to be a woman who is superior to Genghis Khan's mother, "Khaelun-Eke".
Second, he was also succeeded by his son Yaomu Hu'er
"Yuan History: The Biography of the Queen": Yesuer was a native of Hongji Rabu and gave birth to two sons, and later her husband Ali Buge died, and all his wives and concubines belonged to their Yu'erti. Three years later, Hehan decreed: 'Let the sons of Ali Buge come to me.'
"Yuan History: The Biography of the Concubine" and "The Table of the Concubine" are all made to be the concubine of Meng Ge, and ordered Yumu Hu'er to accept the child as his wife, and they lived together for three years and died without a release.
It is also Sude'er, Ali Buge's father, Meng Ge's widow, and Su'er. After Meng Ge's death, Ali Buge kept the property with his young son and adopted the son of Su. After Ali Buge's death, the ancestor Kublai Khan ordered this concubine to be succeeded by Ali Buge's son "Yaomu Hu'er" as his wife.
3. Hulegu accepted his father's concubine who dragged thunder to "get rid of his thoughts"
She is the daughter of Hanzi, the king of the Kerebu tribe, and the concubine of Yuan Ruizong's tow thunder, and is respected as "Da Hatun".
Child's only a pound and a mine
"Historical Collections and Tribal Chronicles" records: It was Genghis Khan who married his son Tulei Khan, and after Tuolei, she was married by Hulegu Khan and became the first queen of Hulegu Khan. Because she was the wife of Hulagu Khan's father, Tulei, she was above the other queens, even though many of the queens he married before her.
The Biography of the Ilzhu Khan records: "Hulegu Khan had many concubines, and his first queen was "Tuhusi", which should be the meaning of the Turkic word 'nine', called "Hadun".
Hulagu Khan married her after crossing the Amu River, before Tolei Khan cohabited with her. Four months and eleven days after the death of Hulegu Khan, Tokhusi died, three days before Abha's accession to the throne.
Similarly, after the succession of Ilhan Abha, he took in the concubines of his father, Hulagu Khan. The "Historical Collection" records that Abha Khan had many concubines. After the death of Hulagu Khan, he married Wanzehatun, and then married Hulagu Khan's concubine Bald Tai Hatun, and made her queen. She was given a "Gugu Crown" on her head in place of the dead "Tokusi Hatun".
Fourth, Wokotai received the concubine "Brother Mu" of his father Genghis Khan
Succeeded his father Genghis Khan's concubine Muge Hatun
The third queen of Yuan Taizong's Wokotai
窝阔台
It is recorded in the "Historical Collection of Taizong Ji": "Brother Mu, the third queen of Wokotai, she is the daughter of the Buick Linshi clan. That is, the concubine of the Buick Lin clan who succeeded his father Yuan Taizu Genghis Khan by Yuan Taizong Wo Kotai.
In the era of Genghis Khan, he dedicated his daughter "Muge Hatun" to Genghis Khan, who liked her very much, loved her very much, and never had children.
Genghis Khan
After the death of Genghis Khan, his wife "Brother Mu" was married to his son Ögedai Hehan. Ogedai loved her more than the other wives, so they were jealous of her, and Chagatai as a brother also loved this stepmother, "Mu Ge Hatun".
Before his brother Chagatai learned that Ogedai Hehan was marrying her, he sent someone to say, "Among the mothers and beautiful concubines left by my father, give me this Mu Ge Hatun!"
Ögedei Hehan replied, "I have already married her, and if you believe that you came earlier, I will send her away, and if you have your eye on someone else, I will give it to you!"
Image of the platform
But Chagatai said, "I want her, and I want nothing but her."
Once, Taizong's Wokotai was in the hunting ground, Brother Mu's attendants were on the side, and a poor man offered three watermelons. Taizong asked Brother Mu to give the pearl earrings he wore to the poor man, but Brother Mu hesitated at first because the earrings were too precious, but agreed because Taizong insisted. The poor man didn't know its value, sold it at a cheap price, and was re-dedicated to Taizong by the buyer, and Mu Geshi was present to witness the return of the earrings.
On another occasion, Taizong went out hunting, and his favorite concubine Brother Mu was on the side, and he returned to the minister's Yarava Chi residence for a short rest through the Khorezm people, and because he was satisfied with this trip, he awarded the decumber and Yarawa Chi rich wealth.
In fact, Mugehatun was passed down from his father Genghis Khan to Ögedei according to Mongolian customs. It was only after Brother Mu's death that the six empresses took control of the government.
However, such an important Mu Ge Hadun was not recorded in the "Biography of the Concubines of the Yuan History", which may be because she did not give birth to an heir for Taizong Wokotai.
The origin of the nomadic people of the Yuan Dynasty "receiving stepmarriage".
Historical allusions to stepmarriage
In any era, the marriage customs of the royal family did not arise out of thin air, but were based on the social marriage customs of that era. Mongolian step-marriage is rooted in the soil of the long-standing steppe culture, which has existed since the Xiongnu era.
The "Historical Collections and Tribal Chronicles" said in the account of the origin of the Hongjirati tribe that the legend has it that the origin of the department originated from a gold artifact of the third son, the third son, the bald Subu-Da Wuti, had two sons, the second called Hongli Wuti.
The second son, Hongli Wuti, once married the wife of his father, Bald Subu-Answer, and had a son, Mixue'er-Yulu, who also married his stepmother, and gave birth to a son, Huoluosi. These all happened a few generations before Genghis Khan, and they were historical events of the Liao Dynasty.
Later, this kind of Mongolian custom of inheriting and inheriting marriage was noticed by Europeans who traveled east in the Mongol and Yuan dynasties. The papal envoy John Praan Gabbini of Italy, who participated in the enthronement ceremony of the Yuan dynasty, recorded that the Mongols could marry their widows after their father's death", and that "widows rarely remarry and remarry, unless one wishes to take his stepmother as his wife."
Mongol widows were not allowed to marry because they thought that those who served them in this life would go to Hades to serve them. So for the widow, they think that she will eventually return to her first husband after death. Therefore the following custom prevailed among them: sometimes a son should marry all the wives of his father except his natural mother.
The ears of the parents always belong to the younger son, so it is the younger son who must worship the wives and concubines of his father who have brought his father's house to him, and he takes them as his own wives and concubines if he wishes, because he does not think that he himself will suffer any damage if they return to his father after their death."
The Mongols settled in the Central Plains, and after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, they brought into the Han land the customs of marriage with Mongolians that were different from the Han system. The Han people traditionally discouraged step-marriage, especially after the rise of Confucianism, which was considered a form of incest and banned by law.
Yuan Wenzong image
In 1330 A.D., the first year of Yuan Wenzong Zhishun, the emperor issued an edict saying, "Everyone is not their own custom, and those who dare to have a younger brother to accept their sister-in-law, and a son to accept their mother, will be guilty."
The so-called "non-natural custom" shows that the Mongolian "son accepts the mother" of different generations to accept stepmarriage. The Han Confucian scholars also repeatedly argued that the Mongols' "father dies, the wife obeys the mother" is contrary to the guidelines, and the imperial court criticized the idea that "the people of the country do not abide by this example, and the people of all countries follow their own customs." It is the Han people and the southern people who always abide by the program, and the people of all countries do not have to abide by the program."
"Yuan History: The Biography of the Daughters" has a record: the deeds of the Hongjira woman's husband who followed the Han customs and festivals after the death of her husband.
"Detachment, colored, good worker. At the age of twenty-six, Fuhara did not die. The ex-wife has two sons, both of whom are strong, and has no wife, and wants to inherit them with the customary system.
Totoni swore to death, and the two sons tried to chase him away, and Totohni scolded and said, 'Thou art beastly and beastly, and thou wilt have a wife and mother, if thou wilt die, how will thou see thy father underground?' The two sons were ashamed of their sins, but lived in their karma, and spent thirty years in chastity. ”
In the third year of Yuan Wenzong to Shun in 1331 A.D., in June Yimao, he supervised the imperial history Chen Liang, impeached the eastern part of Zhejiang, and impeached the envoy to get rid of Chiyan A's attached power to rape and say that his biological mother was the concubine of He's father, and his brother and wife, deceived the court, and named Mrs. Wenguo, please depose the constitutional office, and it is appropriate to return the gift. The Imperial Historian listened to it.
If Totokh Chiyan is a descendant of the pure sea, then he may be equivalent to the son of the pure Haizi Dadali, and the He family should be the side room or step-room of the Dadali, and then the lady of Wenguo, and the successor may be one of the two brothers of Tuli Chi'an, Chahan or Timur.
The above two historical materials show that the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty also adopted the Han female concubines of their father's generation. The fact that Yuan Taizong Wokotai succeeded his father and concubine after the death of his father Genghis Khan, which is verified in this article, is just an example of the Mongolian nation's practice of inheriting marriage from different generations.
Later, it may be because it violated Han customs, so this point was not recorded in the part of Taizu Genghis Khan's concubine and Taizong's Wokotai concubine in the "Concubine's Table".
The system of succession, also known as transfer marriage, refers to the behavior, custom or law of a woman marrying her brother after the death of her husband, and the broad meaning of transfer marriage also includes remarrying other men in the husband's family, which is a kind of old marriage custom in China.
Most of them are widowed wives after the death of brothers, including brothers and sisters-in-law and brothers and sisters-in-law. There are also some sons who take their mothers (fathers and concubines) as wives.
The former originated from the phenomenon of brothers co-marrying in ancient group marriages, and after entering the patrilineal society, the father's concubine was often married by the son-in-law as part of the inheritance. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the incest of the princes of the Son of Heaven was recorded in history. In the people, it became a custom for a brother to accept a brother's wife and a brother's stepbrother's wife to meet each other until modern times.
The laws of the Ming and Qing dynasties forbade the acceptance of stepbrothers' wives, and the Ming Laws collected and explained.
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