View source for Baiju Noyan

{{Short description|Mongol commander and imperial governor}}
{{Other uses|Baiju (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Baiju Noyan
| death_date          = {{circa|1258}}
| birth_date          = 
| predecessor         = [[Chormaqan]]
| successor           = [[Eljigidei]]
| image               = Baiju, from AscelinOfCremone (cropped).jpg
| caption             = A French depiction of Baiju in 1462 by [[David Aubert]] in the ''Chronique des Empereurs''
| native_name         = ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠵᠤ ᠨᠣᠶᠠᠨ
| appointer1          = [[Möngke]]
| width               = 120px
| office              = [[Viceroy]] of [[Mongol Empire]] in [[Near East]]
| native_name_lang    = mn
}}
'''Baiju Noyan''' or '''Baichu''' ({{Langx|mn|ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠵᠤ ᠨᠣᠶᠠᠨ}}; [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]]: بایجو نویان; {{Lang-zh|c=拜住|s=|t=|p=Bàizhù}}; in [[Franks|European]] sources: '''Bayothnoy'''; {{Floruit|died {{circa|1258}}}}) was a [[Mongol]] commander in [[Greater Iran|Persia]], [[Mongol Armenia|Armenia]], [[Anatolia]] and [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgia]]. He was appointed by [[Ögedei Khan]] to succeed [[Chormagan]]. He was the last direct imperial governor of the Mongol Near East; after his death [[Hulagu Khan|Hulagu]]'s descendants inherited domains he once commanded.

== Background ==
Baiju belonged to Besut tribe of Mongols and was a relative of [[Jebe]]. His father was a [[mingghan]] commander under [[Genghis Khan]] and he inherited this contingent upon his death.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|May|2016|p=67}}</ref>

== Career ==
Baiju was a second-in-command of Chormaqan and took part in an attack on [[Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu|Jalal ad-Din]] near [[Isfahan]] in 1228. After Chormaqan's paralysis in 1241, Baiju took over his troops and became a [[Tumen (unit)|tümen]] commander by appointment of [[Ögedei Khan]].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Hope|2016|p=96}}</ref> After Ögedei's death, Baiju started to take orders from [[Batu Khan|Batu]], former's nephew. Baiju immediately moved against the [[Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm]], weakening its power at the [[Battle of Köse Dağ]] on 26 June 1243. After this battle, the Sultanate became a vassal state of the Mongol Empire and was forced to release [[David VII of Georgia|David VII Ulu]]. Baiju demanded the submission of [[Principality of Antioch]] too in 1244.<ref name="iranica">{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bayju-baiju-or-baicu-mongol-general-and-military-governor-in-northwestern-iran-fl|title=BĀYJŪ – Encyclopaedia Iranica|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|website=www.iranicaonline.org|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref> He made a raid on [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasid Caliphate]] in 1245.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|May|2016|p=68}}</ref> He also led Mongol tumens to raid [[Syria]] in 1246.

He received ambassadors from [[Pope Innocent IV]] in 1247. Embassy was headed by [[Ascelin of Lombardy]] and found him at [[Sisian]], on 24 May 1247. Embassy's disrespect and Ascelin's refusal to triple genuflection angered Baiju, he insulted the pope and demanded his submission as well.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Roux|2006|pp=97–98}}</ref> Ascelin left for Rome on 24 July 1247. Meanwhile he was replaced by new khagan [[Güyük Khan|Güyük]] with [[Eljigidei]]. His next two attempts to invade the Abbasid Caliphate in Iraq met less success in 1249–50. He again rose to prominence as Eljigidei and his entire family were purged by [[Batu Khan|Batu]] for his opposition to election of [[Möngke Khan]] in 1251.

[[File:Silver Dirham of Turakina, Tiflis, 642 H (1244-1245).jpg|thumb|Georgian coinage of Baiju Noyan in the time of [[Töregene Khatun|Turakina]], [[Tiflis]], 642 H (1244–1245).''Obv:'' "The Great Mongol Viceroy (Commander-in-Chief)". ''Rev:'' "No god but Allah/ Muhammad Is the Messenger of Allah" in the margin "Tiflis 642".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=David M. |title=Studies in the Numismatic History of Georgia in Transcaucasia |journal=Numismatic Notes and Monographs |date=1955 |issue=130 |pages=35–36 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43607385 |issn=0078-2718}}</ref>]]
Under Baiju in the 1240s and 1250s, the Mongols retained their power in what is roughly modern-day [[Iran]], and tolerated the independence of the [[Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm]], Georgia, and petty states in Iran as clients, interfering with dynastic succession and extracting tribute militarily as necessary. However, the [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasids]] in Baghdad and the [[Hashshashin|Assassins]] in the Elbruz mountains maintained their independence until the coming of [[Hulegu Khan|Hülegü]], Möngke's brother, in 1255. Baiju was supposedly reproached by Hulegu for failing to extend Mongol power further, and, indeed, was replaced by him as supreme commander as early as 1255, but served under him ably in further campaigns: against the Sultanate of Rum (to extract tribute and replace the sultan [[Kaykaus II|Kaykavus II]]) in 1256, in the [[Battle of Baghdad (1258)|assault on Baghdad]] in 1258, and in the advance on [[Syria]] towards [[Egypt]]{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} in September 1259.

It is unclear what happened to Baiju after that: when the Mongol force was heavily depleted by the departure of Hülegü in 1260, the force that remained was commanded by [[Kitbuqa]]. According to various sources Baiju was executed by Hülegü after the capture of Baghdad due to his hesitation to join Hulagu during the campaign and his secret correspondence with Caliph [[Al-Musta'sim]].<ref name= "baycunoyan">{{cite web
|title=Erken Dönem Memlük Tarihçilerinin Bağdat'ın Moğollar Tarafından İstilasıyla Alakalı Rivayet ve Yorumları, İslam Medeniyetinde Bağdat Uluslararası Sempozyumu, 7/9 Kasım 2008, İstanbul, Fatih Yahya AYAZ |archive-date=7 August 2016 |access-date=4 November 2015
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807044447/http://ktp.isam.org.tr/pdfdrg/D195119%5C2008/2008_AYAZFY.pdf
|url=http://ktp.isam.org.tr/pdfdrg/D195119%5C2008/2008_AYAZFY.pdf
}}</ref>

== Portrayal in media ==

* 2015–2016 — Portrayed by [[Barış Bağcı]] in Turkish historical drama series ''[[Diriliş: Ertuğrul]]'' where he was referred to as Noyan, although Noyan was traditionally implemented as a Mongol military title.

== Notes ==
<references />

==References==
* ''Mohammed Amirul Islam Illustrated History of the Middle Ages, 1250–1520''
* Claude Cahen, ''Pre-Ottoman Turkey''
* Rene Grousset, ''The Empire of the Steppes''
*{{Citation|last=May|first=Timothy|title=The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia|volume=1|year=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610693400}}
*{{Citation|last=Hope|first=Michael|title=Power, Politics, and Tradition in the Mongol Empire and the Īlkhānate of Iran|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198768593}}
*{{Citation|last=Roux|first=Jean-Paul|title=Les explorateurs au Moyen-Age|year=2006 |publication-date=1985|publisher=Fayard|isbn=2-01-279339-8}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baiju}}
[[Category:Generals of the Mongol Empire]]
[[Category:1260 deaths]]