Qutulun

Author: Marco Polo; Rashīd al-Dīn

Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE

Country or Culture: Mongolia; China

Genre: Legend

Overview

Qutulun was a historical Mongol princess and great-great-granddaughter of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan. She became a legendary figure during her lifetime. Born around 1260 CE in what is now Kazakhstan, Qutulun lived during the heyday of the Mongol Empire. This empire was founded in 1206 and greatly enlarged by the conquests of Chinggis Khan in the beginning of the thirteenth century, before Qutulun was born.

Qutulun’s outstanding beauty and extraordinary fighting strength made her the subject of legends early on in her life. In many of the martial arts contests held in her indigenous nomadic Mongol society, Qutulun consistently won victory over male opponents. When she became of marriageable age in her teens, Qutulun set the condition that the man whom she would consent to marry would have to beat her in a wrestling match. This laid the foundation of her ensuing legend as a headstrong, independent woman warrior.

The oldest existing written account of the life of Qutulun is found in the contemporaneous travel book of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo. In 1271, Marco Polo left Italy to travel across the Middle East through Central Asia to his destination at Qubilai (Kublai or Khubilai) Khan’s capital of Dadu (now Beijing). After leaving China in 1291, Marco Polo arrived back in Italy in 1295. While imprisoned by Genoa, Venice’s maritime rival, Marco Polo dictated his travel observations to fellow prisoner Rustichello (Rusticiano) of Pisa from the autumn of 1298 until their release in the summer of 1299. Marco Polo’s travelogue was originally entitled Il milione (The million) and became known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo. The original copy of Marco Polo’s book has been long lost, although some 150 initial, but sometimes varying, copies exist in various languages. In 1903, Henry Yule published his popular edition, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, based on a comparison of eighty initial copies. In this text, Marco Polo describes the history and legend of Qutulun in “Of the Exploits of King Caidu’s Valiant Daughter” in book 4, chapter 4.

The second-oldest contemporary account of Qutulun’s life and legend is found in the work of the celebrated Persian historian Rashīd al-Dīn, Jāmi‘ al-tawārīkh (ca. 1310–16; A Compendium of Chronicles, 1995). The section containing the story of Qutulun can be found in John Andrew Boyle’s translation from the Persian, The Successors of Genghis Khan (1971). Rashīd al-Dīn’s account of Qutulun’s early life differs from that of Marco Polo, introducing a different legend. Al-Dīn continues Qutulun’s story beyond where Marco Polo leaves off, shortly after 1280, and runs up to 1304. Qutulun’s death in 1306 or 1307 is mentioned in other Persian historical works of her time.

An analysis based on new historicism, cultural criticism, and feminism will show possible reasons why the historical figure of a Mongol princess became the subject of popular legends. Combining a strong will, physical strength, and feminine beauty, Qutulun quickly entered the realm of popular narratives in Europe and Persia (now Iran). A literary history analysis will show how, through cross-cultural influences, the legends of the Mongol princess Qutulun were mixed later with elements from popular Persian and Afghan folktales before reaching the West in the early eighteenth century. By that time, Qutulun had become Turandot. Under this name, she was made immortal again through Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot (1924–25).

Summary

In the English tradition, the legend of Qutulun begins with the mystery of her name. In Mongolian, Qutulun’s name is the female form for good fortune and happiness, khutukh or qutuq. Depending on the English transliteration of this Mongolian name, written originally in the Old Uighur alphabet, her name has been spelled as Khutulun or Qutulun, the latter of which is preferred by contemporary scholars. John Boyle transcribes her full name, given by Rashīd al-Dīn, as Qutulun Chaghan. In Marco Polo’s contemporary account, she is referred to by the Turkish name of Aijaruc or Aigiaruc. This name means brightly shining moon. In its spelling of Ai-Yárúk, this name was still given to Uzbek girls at the turn of the twentieth century, according to translator Henry Yule. It is no longer known why Marco Polo used the Turkish name for Qutulun, which may have been a nickname or a name used in a particular context.

“Her father often desired to give her in marriage, but she would none of it. She vowed she would never marry till she found a man who could vanquish her in every trial; him she would wed and none else. And when her father saw how resolute she was, he gave a formal consent in their fashion, that she should marry whom she list and when she list.”

The daughter of the historical Mongol leader Qaidu (rendered as Caidu by Marco Polo and Kaidu by some contemporary scholars), Qutulun develops into a teenager of remarkable beauty and even more remarkable strength. Marco Polo writes, “This damsel was very beautiful, but also so strong and brave that in all her father’s realm there was no man who could outdo her in feats of strength” (463). Once Qutulun reaches marriageable age, her father wants to find a suitable husband for her. However, Qutulun insists on choosing her husband herself. Qutulun determines that her future husband must be able to beat her in a traditional Mongolian wrestling match. Remarkably for the age, Qaidu agrees to this condition of his daughter.

Qutulun specifies the consequences of each wrestling match with a potential suitor. If she wins, her suitor will have to pay a penalty of one hundred horses and withdraw. If he wins, she will become his wife. According to her legend, Qutulun wins ten thousand horses in these matches. This would amount to her winning an impressive hundred wrestling bouts against various men.

According to Marco Polo, in 1280, when Qutulun is nineteen or twenty, an outstanding suitor appears. He is described as “a noble young gallant, the son of a rich and puissant [powerful] king, a man of prowess and valiance and great strength of body” (464). In different versions of Marco Polo’s book, the young man is sometimes defined as the son of the king of Pumar, a historically unidentifiable local kingdom. Confident of his victory, the prince raises his wager to one thousand horses in return for a chance to beat Qutulun at wrestling.

Qutulun’s father, Qaidu, and her mother, the queen, both implore Qutulun to throw the match and let the prince win. This is because they like him immensely as a future son-in-law. However, Qutulun insists on a fair tournament. She tells her parents that she will not lose deliberately. On the other hand, she is willing to accept any outcome and marry her opponent in case of his victory.

The day of their match becomes a local holiday. In addition to king and queen, many spectators are in attendance. Qutulun enters first, dressed in a jacket of velvet. Next, the prince appears, dressed in similar outfit of silk. The two contestants take position in the middle of the hall appointed for the venue. They “grappl[e] each other by the arms and wrestl[e] this way and that” (464), without a conclusive outcome. Suddenly, Qutulun manages to throw the prince to the ground, winning the match.

Stunned, the prince sees the victorious Qutulun standing over him. He leaves immediately, feeling great shame at being beaten by a woman. He leaves behind his forfeit of one thousand horses. However, Marco Polo tells that Qutulun’s parents are “greatly annoyed” at their daughter’s victory (465). They had wished the prince to become their son-in-law. They feel spited by Qutulun and consider her victory a sign of her intransigence, rather than her wish to uphold her honor as a sportswoman.

Marco Polo reports that after winning this match, Qutulun accompanies her father on all his military campaigns. He values her greatly because she exceeds all his knights in valor. Qutulun’s specialty in battle becomes rushing into the melee. There, she often captures a single opponent “as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird,” bringing her captive to her father before rejoining battle (465).

Marco Polo’s account of Qutulun ends here. The Persian historian Rashīd al-Dīn, who does not mention Qutulun’s wrestling matches, writes instead that Qutulun falls in love with Mahmūd Ghāzān, the historical Mongol ruler of Persia at her time. Ghāzān was born in 1271 and thus was about eleven years younger than Qutulun. He ruled the Mongol Il-khanate state based in Persia from 1295 to his death in 1304. However, nothing comes of this relationship, which is most likely purely legendary.

The twentieth-century French editor of Marco Polo’s work, Paul Pelliot, and al-Dīn provide more information about Qutulun’s fate after the famous wrestling match of 1280. According to Pelliot and al-Dīn, the closeness of Qutulun and her father, Qaidu, leads to the spread of ugly rumors of an incestuous relationship. To put an end to these rumors, Qutulun chooses a Mongol noble from among her father’s men and marries him, bearing two sons. A variant copy of al-Dīn’s history identifies Qutulun’s husband as Abtaqul of the Qorulas (27 n74).

According to al-Dīn and Persian historian Al-Qāshānī, after her father dies of wounds incurred in battle around 1301, Qutulun supports her brother Orus as successor against his older half brother Chapar. She also seeks an active political role for herself. Chapar, who was firstborn but son of a concubine of Qaidu, rejects Qutulun’s interference and becomes khan. Qutulun, according to both Al-Qāshānī and al-Dīn, is a guardian of Qaidu’s tomb.

Historical accounts indicate that in 1305, Chapar fell out with his previous supporter, the Chaghataid khan Du’a (Duwa). In 1306, Chapar was defeated. While sparing Chapar himself, Du’a had Chapar’s relatives killed. Qutulun was murdered by Du’a’s followers in 1306 or early 1307. Du’a himself died in 1307 of natural causes.

Bibliography

Al-Dīn, Rashīd. The Successors of Genghis Khan. Trans. John Andrew Boyle. New York: Columbia UP, 1971. Print.

Biran, Michal. Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State in Central Asia. Richmond: Curzon, 1997. Print.

Goldberg, Christine. Turandot’s Sisters: A Folktale Study. New York: Garland, 1993. Print.

Ganjavī, Nizāmī. “Bahrām Sits on Tuesday in the Red Dome.” The Haft Paikar (The Seven Beauties). Trans. C. E. Wilson. London: Probsthain, 1924. 171–87. Print.

Pelliot, Paul. Notes on Marco Polo. Vol. 2. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1963. Print.

Pétis de la Croix, François. “The History of Prince Calaf and the Princess of China.” Persian Tales; or, The Thousand and One Days. Vol. 1. Trans. Ambrose Philips. London: Lane, 1800. Print.

Polo, Marco. “Of the Exploits of King Caidu’s Valiant Daughter.” The Book of Ser Marco Polo. Vol. 2. 3rd ed. Trans. Henry Yule. Ed. Yule. London: Murray, 1903. 463–65. Print.

Puccini, Giacomo. Turandot. Seven Puccini Librettos. Trans. William Weaver. New York: Norton, 1971. Print.

Rossabi, Morris. “Khubilai Khan and the Women in His Family.” Studia Sino-Mongolica: Festschrift für Herbert Franke. Ed. Wolfgang Bauer. Wiesbaden, Germany: Steiner, 1979. 153–80. Print.

“Turandot.” Operapaedia. San Diego Opera, 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

Weatherford, Jack. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.

---.“The Wrestler Princess.” Roundtable. Lapham’s Quarterly, 3 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.