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{{Short description|Mongolian official (c. 1178–1260)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
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{{Use Oxford spelling|date=May 2023}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=June 2023}}
'''Shigi Qutuqu''' ([[Mongolian language|Mongolian]]: {{MongolUnicode|ᠰᠢᠭᠢᠬᠤᠲᠤᠭ|lang=mn|h}}; {{circa|1178}}–1260){{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=464}} was a high-ranking official during the early decades of the [[Mongol Empire]]. The adopted son of the empire's founder [[Temüjin]] (later entitled Genghis Khan) and his wife [[Börte]], Shigi Qutuqu played an important role in the codification of [[Yassa|Mongol law]], serving with distinction as an administrator in North China. He may also have been a major source for the ''[[Secret History of the Mongols]]'', which portrays him very favourably.

Although the ''Secret History'' states that Shigi Qutuqu was adopted by [[Hö'elün]], Temüjin's mother, chronological inconsistencies make this account improbable. The foundling was brought up in Temüjin's household and was one of the first Mongols to become literate. The ''Secret History'' exaggerates his role in the years after the empire's foundation, but Shigi Qutuqu was nevertheless appointed to several high-ranking legal positions, in which he served during the [[Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty]]. He was the commander during the only Mongol defeat of the [[Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire|western campaign against Khwarazmia]], being overcome by [[Jalal al-Din Mangburni|Jalal al-Din]] at the 1221 [[Battle of Parwan]].

Shigi Qutuqu continued his career as an official during the reign of his adopted brother [[Ögedei Khan]], Genghis's successor. He conducted a census of North China in 1235–1236 which allowed the Mongol administration to overhaul its fiscal policies. While some contemporaries found his decrees and judgements oppressive and biased, others praised his honesty and judicial integrity. Having survived power struggles during the reigns of [[Güyük Khan|Güyük]] and [[Möngke Khan|Möngke]], Shigi Qutuqu died at the age of 81 during the [[Toluid Civil War]].

==Early life==
The ''[[Secret History of the Mongols]]'' and [[Rashid al-Din Hamadani|Rashid al-Din]]'s ''[[Jami' al-tawarikh]]'' both provide details{{efn|The ''Secret History'' was composed between 1228 and 1260, while Rashid al-Din was writing in the early fourteenth century.{{sfn|Atwood|2004|pp=465, 492–493}}}} of the early life of Shigi Qutuqu, but the accounts differ greatly.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=75}} According to the ''Secret History'', after the [[Mongol]]{{efn|At this point in time, the word "Mongols" only referred to the members of one tribe in northeast Mongolia; because this tribe played a central role in the formation of the [[Mongol Empire]], their name was later used for all the tribes.{{sfn|Atwood|2004|pp=389–391}}}} leader [[Temüjin]] (later titled Genghis Khan) had led a raid against a [[Tatar confederation|Tatar camp]] named Naratu Šitü’en, his plundering troops found a boy abandoned in the camp. He was recognised to be of aristocratic descent as he was wearing a [[Nose piercing|nose ring]] made of gold and a silk [[jerkin]] lined with [[sable]]. The ''Secret History'' also records that [[Hö'elün]], Temüjin's mother, adopted the boy as her sixth child, naming him Shigi Qutuqu.{{Sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1993|1p=75|Secret History, trans. Atwood|2loc=§ 135}} This account is however difficult to believe. The raid on Naratu Šitü’en can be dated fairly precisely to a campaign Temüjin fought in alliance with the [[Kereit]] chieftain [[Toghrul]] and the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Chinese Jin dynasty]] in May–June 1196, but Shigi Qutuqu was already prominent in Mongol society by 1206, which is implausible if he were a small child a decade earlier. He would also have been decades younger than his adoptive siblings.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=76}} By depicting him as a noble at birth and later the adopted brother of Temüjin, this version may have intended to position Shigi Qutuqu as a more senior member of Mongol society.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=77}}

According to Rashid al-Din's account, Shigi Qutuqu's adoption took place more than a decade earlier. He records that when Temüjin and his wife [[Börte]] were still childless, they found a young boy and raised him as their son. If accurate, this incident would have occurred in the early 1180s as Börte's eldest son [[Jochi]] was born in 1184 at the earliest. Rashid al-Din's explanation, which draws upon natural relationships, is considered more plausible by modern historians such as Paul Ratchnevsky and [[Christopher Atwood]].{{sfnm|Atwood|2004|1p=464|Ratchnevsky|1993|2p=76}} The comfort the adoption of Shigi Qutuqu brought Börte, who may have been depressed due to her difficulties conceiving, is sufficient to explain the honour and attention subsequently paid to him. It also clarifies a scene reported after Börte's death, in which Shigi Qutuqu beat his hands upon her grave, wailing {{Transliteration|mn|O, sayin eke minu!}} ({{literally}} Oh, my good mother!).{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|pp=76–77}}

Two incidents in Shigi Qutuqu's childhood were transmitted by Rashid al-Din. In one, he managed to subdue a herd of [[Mongolian gazelle|gazelles]] in a winter blizzard; in the other, he had a role in saving [[Tolui]], Temüjin's youngest legitimate son, from a [[Taichiud|Tayici'ut]] bandit.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=77}} In around 1204, Temüjin appointed the [[Uyghurs|Uighur]] scribe [[Tata-tonga|Tatar Tong'a]] as a tutor for his sons; Shigi Qutuqu took to this new avenue very adeptly, recording his adopted father's judgements and decrees in concert with his tutor.{{sfn|Atwood|2004|pp=386, 464}}

==Under Genghis Khan==
During the great {{Transliteration|mn|[[kurultai]]}} ({{literally}} assembly) of 1206, Temüjin, newly entitled Genghis Khan, appointed many of his leading commanders to high positions in the new [[Mongol Empire|Mongol state]]. Among them, [[Muqali]] and [[Bo'orchu]] were honoured above all others, receiving legal protection and command of wings of the [[Military of the Mongol Empire|Mongol army]].{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1991|1p=90|Atwood|2004|2p=393}} Shigi Qutuqu took offence to this generosity, with the ''Secret History'' recording his words as follows: "Have Bo'orchu and Muqali rendered greater service than others? Have they given more of their strength than others? When it comes to distributing rewards I appear to have rendered less service [than they]!"{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1991|p=95}}

Genghis Khan's response, as recorded in the ''Secret History'', was to instruct Shigi Qutuqu to "punish the thieves and put right the lies" by documenting all legal details, including those concerning rewards distribution, in a {{Transliteration|mn|köke debter}} ({{literally}} blue book). He entrusted Shigi Qutuqu with legal jurisdiction throughout the entire Mongol nation, making him the first {{Transliteration|mn|[[Darughachi|jarghuchi]]}} ({{literally}} judge) alongside Genghis's own half-brother [[Belgutei]], who was appointed Minister of State.{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1991|1p=95|Hodous|2022|2pp=331–332|Secret History, trans. Atwood|3loc=§ 203}} Modern historians consider this account biased: Ratchnevsky suggests that the ''Secret History'', seeking to demonstrate that Genghis Khan was influenced by those around him, "obviously exaggerates Shigi Qutuqu's authority", while Atwood believes that the chronicle conflated the events of the 1206 {{Transliteration|mn|kurultai}} with subsequent appointments, when Shigi Qutuqu may have replaced Belgutei.{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1993|1p=80|Atwood|2004|2p=464|Dunnell|2023|3p=30}} Nevertheless, Shigi Qutuqu was at some point charged with maintaining the laws of the Mongols, possibly by establishing a kind of [[case law]], as was later recorded by Rashid al-Din.{{sfnm|May|2018|1p=77|Morgan|1986|2pp=165, 174–175}} He probably did not compile these records personally, and instead supervised [[scribe]]s also taught by Tatar Tong'a.{{sfn|Dunnell|2023|p=30}}

[[File:Siège de Beijing (1213-1214).jpeg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=Painting of cavalry, led by a man in green clothing atop a brown horse, walking into a city with high walls|The [[Battle of Zhongdu|capture of Zhongdu]], depicted in the ''[[Jami al-tawarikh]]'' ([[Bibliothèque nationale de France]], [[Paris]])]]
Shigi Qutuqu participated in the [[Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty|first Mongol campaign against the Jin dynasty]] in North China. After [[Emperor Xuanzong of Jin|Emperor Xuanzong]] fled south to [[Kaifeng]], the city of [[Zhongdu]] fell to the Mongols after [[Battle of Zhongdu|a long siege]] on 31 May 1215. Although the city was thoroughly [[looting|plundered]], Genghis Khan personally dispatched Shigi Qutuqu to secure and confiscate the Jin dynasty's treasury.{{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=620}} For his honest accounting and recording of the plunder, he was praised highly by Genghis Khan—an event not only recorded in the ''Secret History'' and by Rashid al-Din but also in the late thirteenth-century ''[[Shengwu qinzheng lu]]''.{{sfnm|Atwood|2004|1pp=464, 499|Ratchnevsky|1993|2pp=80–82|Dunnell|2023|3p=36}} The ''[[History of Yuan]]'', composed {{circa|1370}}, notes that Shigi Qutuqu took administrative roles following the occupation of northern China, with his remit including the appointments of minor officials.{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1993|1pp=82–83|Atwood|2004|2p=612}}

Leading the imperial [[vanguard]] during the [[Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire]] in Central Asia, Shigi Qutuqu was in command during the [[Battle of Parwan]], the first defeat of the campaign for the Mongols.{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1991|1p=133|Ratchnevsky|1993|2p=83}} This reverse was described in detail by Rashid al-Din and other Persian chroniclers such as [[Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi|al-Nasawi]] and [[Ata-Malik Juvayni]], and more laconically by the Mongol chronicles: the ''Secret History'', the ''Shengwu qinzheng lu'', and the ''History of Yuan''. According to the Persian chroniclers, Shigi Qutuqu had sacked and burned the city of [[Ghazni]] with around 10,000 soldiers and been involved in the capture of [[Nishapur]], before helping to [[Siege of Merv (1221)|besiege Merv]].{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1993|1pp=83–85|Boyle|1963|2p=241}} He was subsequently dispatched with around 30,000 men to defeat the renegade [[Khwarazmian Empire|Khwarazmian]] prince [[Jalal al-Din Mangburni]] in early 1221 but was repulsed by his enemy after two days of hard fighting, narrowly escaping a painful death at the hands of Jalal al-Din's forces.{{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=436}} News of the Mongol defeat triggered an uprising in the city of [[Herat]], which had previously submitted and which was subsequently annihilated.{{sfn|Dunnell|2023|p=46}}

Upon hearing of his adopted son's defeat, Genghis Khan masked his private distress with anger and set out to avenge the loss with his three elder sons—[[Jochi]], [[Chagatai Khan|Chagatai]], and [[Ögedei]]. He criticised Shigi Qutuqu's choice of battlefield, and noted that he thought his adopted son had been spoiled by constant victories.{{sfnm|Barthold|1992|1p=443|Ratchnevsky|1991|2p=133}} At the [[Battle of the Indus]], during which Genghis comprehensively defeated Jalal al-Din, Shigi Qutuqu was appointed to guard the captured Khwarazmian soldiers.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=85}}

==Under Ögedei Khan==
[[File:YuanEmperorAlbumOgedeiPortrait.jpg|thumb|alt=A portrait of a Mongol man wearing an orange robe and a pointed green cap; his mustache and beard are long and thin.|A [[Yuan dynasty]] portrait of [[Ögedei Khan]]]]
Upon Ögedei's accession to the Mongol throne after Genghis's death in 1227,{{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=100}} he honoured his adopted sibling by naming him "elder brother" and placing him after his sons in the Mongol [[order of precedence]]. Shigi Qutuqu participated in the 1231 campaign against the Jin under the command of Tolui and was involved in action along the [[Yellow River]]; he was assigned to the service of [[Sorghaghtani Beki]] after her husband Tolui's death and was present at [[Siege of Kaifeng (1232)|the fall of Kaifeng]].{{sfnm|Ratchnevsky|1993|1p=85|Atwood|2004|2p=464}} He also briefly participated in a 1235 campaign against the [[Southern Song dynasty]] under the command of Köchü, Ögedei's third son.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|pp=88–89}}

As a leading Mongol scholar and official, Shigi Qutuqu was appointed in mid-1234 to the position of chief {{Transliteration|mn|jarghuchi}} in Northern China. Acting in concert with the Chinese official [[Yelü Chucai]], he executed a general census of the captured territories from [[Nanjing (Liao dynasty)|Yanjing]] in 1235–1236.{{sfnm|Atwood|2004|1pp=78, 464|Ratchnevsky|1993|2pp=86–88}} Medieval historians credit him with judicial integrity and administrative quality, and modern historians ascribe a good part of the success of Ögedei's [[Tax reform|fiscal reforms]] to Shigi Qutuqu's actions and policies.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=88}} He was however known to favour [[Chinese Buddhism|Buddhist adherents]] such as the monk Haiyun, whom he consulted for advice on matters practical and personal; Haiyun took advantage of this connection to obtain concessions for the Buddhist population during Mongol rule.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=87}} Authors such as [[Liu Bingzhong]] blame him for high [[corvée|corvée labour]] assignments and a generally repressive economic atmosphere, while the Song dynasty ambassador Xu Ting termed high household taxes and financial excesses "dreadful".{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|p=88}}

The remainder of Shigi Qutuqu's life is uncertain. As a senior member of the Mongol imperial family, he probably returned to [[Karakorum]] to participate in the {{Transliteration|mn|kurultai}} following the death of [[Güyük Khan|Güyük]] in 1248;{{efn|Güyük was the son of Ögedei ({{died-in|1241}}).{{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=418}}}} he managed to avoid death in the subsequent power struggles, possibly due to his divided loyalties between the Ögedeid and Toluid branches of the [[Borjigin]] imperial family. Having survived the new {{Transliteration|mn|[[khagan]]}} [[Möngke Khan|Möngke]] ({{died-in|1259}}),{{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=362}} Shigi Qutuqu died in 1260 during the [[Toluid Civil War]]. It is unknown what side he took in the dispute, fought between Tolui's sons [[Ariq Böke]] and [[Kublai Khan|Kublai]].{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|pp=89–90}}

==Legacy==
Shigi Qutuqu laid the foundations for legal procedures across the entire empire through his early judicial activities.{{sfn|Atwood|2004|p=464}} Under the name Siri Qutug, he was a central figure in the legends surrounding Genghis Khan until the [[Post-classical history|late Middle Ages]]. The daughter of his son San-la married a high-ranking [[military engineer]] who established a private academy in [[Henan|Honan]]; their son Mu-yen Temur became a renowned book collector.{{sfn|Ratchnevsky|1993|pp=90, 93–94}}

A significant number of scholars have connected Shigi Qutuqu with some role in the authorship of the ''Secret History of the Mongols''. On the surface, the literate Shigi Qutuqu, who had grown up in Temüjin's household and had thus been personally involved in many important events, was one of the best-qualified Mongols to write such a history. The text itself is also very favourable to him—it discusses his successes very fully but dismisses his loss at Parwan in one sentence. The ''Secret History'' also completely ignores the career of [[Chinqai]] ({{circa|1169–1252}}), a leading Mongol official whose career rivalled Shigi Qutuqu's, and deprecates Muqali's career.{{sfnm|Atwood|2004|1p=492|Ratchnevsky|1993|2pp=90–91, 93}} However, Atwood has noted significant irregularities in the ''Secret History'' which Shigi Qutuqu would have been especially unlikely to make; he theorises that Shigi Qutuqu was instead one of the work's primary sources.{{sfn|Secret History, trans. Atwood|pp=lix–lxii}}

In modern-day Mongolia, [[Shihihutug University]] in [[Ulaanbaatar]] is named after Shigi Qutuqu; a statue of him, designed by the Mongolian sculptor Ochirbold, was erected in 2023 at the main campus.{{sfn|Shihihutug University introduction}}

==References==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Atwood |first=Christopher P. |author-link=Christopher Atwood |date=2004 |title=Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8160-4671-3 |url=https://www.academia.edu/8855875 |access-date=2 March 2022}}
* {{cite book |translator-last=Atwood |translator-first=Christopher |translator-link=Christopher Atwood |date=2023 |title=[[The Secret History of the Mongols]] |publisher=[[Penguin Classics]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-2411-9791-2 |ref={{SfnRef|Secret History, trans. Atwood}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Barthold |first=Vasily |author-link=Vasily Bartold |date=1992 |orig-date=1900 |title=Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion |edition=Third |publisher=[[Munshiram Manoharlal]] |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-8-1215-0544-4 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Boyle |first=John Andrew |author-link=John Andrew Boyle |date=1963 |title=The Mongol Commanders in Afghanistan and India according to the Tabaqat-i Nasiri of Juzjani |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=235–247 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20832685 |jstor=20832685}}
<!--* {{cite book |last=Buell |first=Paul D. |date=2003 |title=Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire |location=[[Lanham, Maryland|Lanham]] |publisher=[[The Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0-8108-4571-8}} -->
* {{cite book |last=Dunnell |first=Ruth W. |chapter=The Rise of Chinggis Khan and the United Empire |date=2023 |title=The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire |editor-last1=Biran |editor-first1=Michal |editor-last2=Kim |editor-first2=Hodong |editor-link2=Kim Ho-dong |isbn=978-1-3163-3742-4 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=19–106}}
* {{cite book |last=Hodous |first=Florence |date=2022 |chapter=Jarqu and Jarquchin |pages=331–340 |title=The Mongol World |editor-last1=May |editor-last2=Hope |editor-first1=Timothy |editor-first2=Michael |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=[[Abingdon-on-Thames|Abingdon]] |isbn=978-1-3151-6517-2}}
* {{cite book |last=May |first=Timothy |date=2018 |title=The Mongol Empire |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1kz4g68 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |jstor=10.3366/j.ctv1kz4g68.11 |isbn=978-0-7486-4237-3}}
* {{cite journal |last=Morgan |first=David O. |author-link=David O. Morgan |date=1986 |title=The 'Great "yāsā" of Chingiz Khān' and Mongol Law in the Īlkhānate |journal=[[Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies]] |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=163–176 |jstor=617678 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ratchnevsky |first=Paul |year=1991 |translator=Thomas Haining |translator-link=Thomas Haining |title=Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |location=Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/genghiskhan00paul/ |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-6311-6785-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Ratchnevsky |first=Paul |chapter=Sigi Qutuqu (c. 1180–c. 1260)|date=1993 |title=In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yüan Period (1200-1300) |publisher=[[Harrassowitz Verlag]] |location=[[Wiesbaden]] |isbn=978-3-4470-3339-8 |editor-last=de Rachewiltz |editor-first=Igor |editor-link=Igor de Rachewiltz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kG45gi7E3hsC |pages=75–94}}
* {{cite web |title=Our History |quote=In 2023, a statue of Shihihutug, the Ikh Zargach of Great Mongolia, was built outside the first building of Shihihutug University, adding a symbolic and historical presence to the campus. It was designed by Mongolian sculptur Ochirbold. |url=https://www.shu.edu.mn/?page_id=5590&lang=en |access-date=24 May 2024 |website=www.shihihutug.edu.mn |ref={{harvid|Shihihutug University introduction}} |archive-date=24 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524154901/https://www.shu.edu.mn/?page_id=5590&lang=en |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

{{Generals and ministers of Genghis Khan}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shigi Qutuqu}}
[[Category:Mongol Empire people]]
[[Category:1250 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:12th-century births]]
[[Category:12th-century Mongols]]
[[Category:13th-century Mongols]]
[[Category:13th-century politicians]]