House of Ögedei

Tamgha of House of Ögedei Khan.

The House of Ögedei, sometimes called the Ögedeids, were an influential family of Mongol Borjigin (Imperial, or Golden Family) from the 12th to 14th centuries. They were descended from Ögedei Khan (1186-1241), a son of Genghis Khan who had become his father's successor, second Khagan of the Mongol Empire. Ögedei continued the expansion of the Mongol Empire. When, after the Toluid Möngke Khan's death, the Mongol Empire disintegrated into civil war, the members of the House of Ogedei were influential players in the politics of the region. Of Genghis Khan's sons — Ogedei, Jochi, Chagatai, and Tolui — the House of Ögedei tended to ally with the Chagataids (descendants of Chagatai) against the House of Jochi, while seeking control for themselves within the Chagatai Khanate at first. The Ogedeids also allied with the Golden Horde against the Yuan emperor Kublai Khan (son of Tolui), who was allied with his brother Hulagu, leader of the Ilkhanate in Persia. The Ogedeids attempted to unite the Mongol Empire under their own rule, and Ogedeid princes continued to march against the Yuan dynasty well into the 14th century such as during the Kaidu–Kublai war.

A peace occurred shortly in 1304, but the war soon resumed. In 1310, Kaidu's successor Chapar Khan surrendered to the Yuan emperor Khayishan, and the territory controlled by the House of Ögedei was divided up by the Chagataids and the Yuan dynasty, after he and his relatives failed to win the Chagatai Khanate. After that, members from this family often appeared as influential contenders or puppet rulers under powerful amirs and noyans in Mongolia-based Northern Yuan dynasty and Transoxiana in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Notable members

• Ögedei Khan (1186–1241), son of Genghis Khan, and second Khagan of the Mongol Empire
• Güyük Khan (1206–1248), son of Ogedei, and third Khagan of the Mongol Empire
• Kadan, son of Ogedei, and co-leader of the Mongol force that attacked Poland in the 13th century
• Kaidu (1230–1301), grandson of Ogedei, leader of the House of Ogedei, and de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate
• Khutulun (c.1260–1306), Kaidu's daughter and warrior princess who inspired the story of Turandot
• 'Ali-Sultan, the Muslim Khan of the Chagatai Khanate, (r.1342/1343).
• Danishmendji (d. 1348), khan of the Chagatai Khanate from 1346 to 1348
• Soyurghatmïsh Khan (d. 1384), khan of the Western Chagatai Khanate
• Sultan Mahmud (Chagatai) (d. 1402), khan of the Western Chagatai Khanate
• Örüg Temür Khan, Khan claimant of Northern Yuan dynasty in Mongolia from 1402-1408.
• Adai Khan, Khan of the Forty and the Four tumens and ruler of the Tümed from 1425 - 1438.

See also

• Division of the Mongol Empire
• Chagatai Khanate
• Northern Yuan dynasty