Khagan

 ( Titles ) 

Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or Khagan; ) is a title of empire rank in Turkic languages, Mongolic, and some other languages, equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate (empire). The female equivalent is Khatun.

It may also be translated as "Khan of Khans", equivalent to King of Kings. In Bulgarian, the title became known as Khan, while in modern Turkic, the title became Khaan with the g sound becoming almost silent or non-existent; the ğ in modern Turkish language Kağan is also silent. After the division of the Mongol Empire, monarchs of the Yuan dynasty and the Northern Yuan held the title of Khagan. Kağan, Hakan and Kaan, Turkish language equivalents of the title are common Turkish names in Turkey.

The common western rendering as Great Khan (or Grand Khan), notably in the case of the Mongol Empire, is a translation of Yekhe Khagan ( Great Emperor or Их Хаан).

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Etymology The term is of unknown origin and might be a loanword from the Rouran language.

Alexander Vovin (2025). 9786055592738, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. ISBN 9786055592738

Canadian sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank first suggested that a Xiongnu title, transcribed as 護于 (Old Chinese: * hʷaʔ-hʷaʰ) might have been the original behind Turkic languages qaɣan ~ xaɣan. According to Alexander Vovin the term comes from qaγan (meaning "emperor" or "supreme ruler") and was later borrowed and used in several languages, especially in Mongolic.

Turkic languages and Mongolic (or Para-Mongolic) origin has been suggested by a number of scholars including Ramstedt, Shiratori, Pulleyblank, Denis Sinor and Gerhard Doerfer, and was reportedly first used by the Xianbei, as recorded in Book of Song. quote: "樓喜拜曰：「處可寒。」虜言「處可寒」，宋言爾官家也。" translation: "Lou the was glad. He bowed and said: " 處可寒". The barbarian words ch'u k'o han mean in the language of Song, 'Be it so, sire (爾官家)'." by While Sinor believes qaγan or qapγan is an intensification of qan just as qap-qara is an intensification of qara "black", in Turkic (with the eventual loss of the p), Shiratori rejects a Turkic etymology, instead supporting a Mongolic origin for both qan and the female form qatun.

According to Vovin, the word *qa-qan "great-qan" ( *qa- for "great" or "supreme") is of non-Altaic origin, but instead linked to Yeniseian *qεʔ ~ qaʔ "big, great". The origin of qan itself is harder according to Vovin. He says that the origin for the word qan is not found in any reconstructed proto-language and was used widely by Turkic, Mongolic, Chinese and Korean people with variations from kan, qan, han and hwan. A relation exists possibly to the Yeniseian words *qʌ:j or *χʌ:j meaning "ruler".

It may be impossible to prove the ultimate origin of the title, but Vovin says: "Thus, it seems to be quite likely that the ultimate source of both qaγan and qan can be traced back to Xiong-nu and Yeniseian".

suggests that the ultimate etymological root of Khagan comes from the Middle Iranian *''hva-kama-'' ‘self-ruler, emperor’, following the view of .  note that both the etymological root for Khagan and its female equivalent [[Khatun]] may be derived from Eastern Iranian languages, specifically from "Early [[Saka|Saka language]] *''hvatuñ'', cf. the attested Soghdian words ''xwt'w'' ‘ruler’ (< *''hva-tāvya-'') and ''xwt'yn'' ‘wife of the ruler’ (< *''hva-tāvyani'')".
     

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History The title was first seen in a speech between 283 and 289, when the Xianbei chief Tuyuhun tried to escape from his younger stepbrother Murong Hui, and began his route from the Liaodong Peninsula to the areas of Ordos Desert. In the speech one of Murong's generals, Yinalou, addressed him as kehan (c=可寒, later c=可汗); some sources suggests that Tuyuhun might also have used the title after settling at Qinghai Lake in the 3rd century.

The Rouran Khaganate (330–555) was the first people to use the titles Khagan and Khan for their emperors, replacing the Chanyu of the Xiongnu, whom Grousset and others assume to be Turkic peoples. The Rourans were stated to be descendants of the Donghu people, who in turn are assumed to be proto-Mongols, Mongolic-speaking, or a "non-Altaic" group.Art, Iranian-Bulletin of the Asia Institute, volume 17, p. 122Nihon Gakushiin-Proceedings of the Japan Academy, volume 2, p. 241Teikoku Gakushiin (Japan) – Proceedings of the Imperial Academy, volume 2, p. 241

The Avar Khaganate (567–804), who may have included Rouran elements after the Göktürks crushed the Rouran ruling Mongolia, also used this title. The Pannonian Avars invaded Europe, and for over a century ruled the Carpathian region. Westerners Latinized the title "Khagan" into "Gaganus" (in Historia Francorum), "Cagan" (in the Annales Fuldenses), or "Cacano" (in the Historia Langobardorum).

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Mongol khagans

The Secret History of the Mongols, written for that very dynasty, clearly distinguishes Khagan and Khan: only Genghis Khan and his ruling descendants are called Khagan, while other rulers are referred to as Khan. The title "Khagan" or "Khaan" most literally translates to "great/supreme ruler" in the Mongol language, and by extension "sovereign", "monarch", "high king", or "emperor". The title can also be expanded with the addition of "Yekhe" (meaning "great" or "grand") to produce "Yekhe Khagan", meaning "Great Emperor".

The Mongol Empire began to split politically with the Toluid Civil War during 1260–1264 and the death of Kublai Khan in 1294, but the term Ikh Khagan (Great Khan, or Emperor) was still used by the emperors of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), who also took on the title of the Emperor of China. After the fall of the Yuan dynasty, the title continued to be used by monarchs of the Northern Yuan dynasty.H. Howorth. History of The Mongols, Volume 1D. Pokotilov. History of the Eastern Mongols during the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1631

Thus, the Yuan is sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan, coexisting with the other independent Mongol-ruled khanates in the west, including the Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde. Only the Ilkhanate truly recognized the Yuan's overlordship as allies (although it was effectively autonomous). Because Kublai founded the Yuan, the members of the other branches of the Borjigin could take part in the election of a new Khagan as the supporters of one or other of the contestants, but they could not enter the contest as candidates themselves.

Later, Yuan emperors made peace with the three western khanates of the Mongol Empire and were considered as their nominal suzerain.

Peter Jackson (1999). 9789004110489, Brill. ISBN 9789004110489

Reprinted as

Peter Jackson (2010). 9781905246366, Global Oriental. ISBN 9781905246366

The nominal supremacy, while based on nothing like the same foundations as that of the earlier khagans (such as the continued border clashes among them), did last for a few decades, until the Yuan dynasty collapsed in 1368.

After the breakdown of Mongol Empire and the fall of the Yuan dynasty in the mid-14th century, the Mongols turned into a political turmoil. Dayan Khan (1464–1517/1543) once revived the Emperor's authority and recovered its reputation on the Mongolian Plateau, but with the distribution of his empire among his sons and relatives as fiefs it again caused decentralized rule. The last Khagan of the Chahars, Ligdan Khan, died in 1634 while fighting the Jurchen people-led Later Jin dynasty. In contemporary Mongolian language the words "Khaan" and "Khan" have different meanings, while English language usually does not differentiate between them. The title is also used as a generic term for a king or emperor (as эзэн хаан, ), as in "Испанийн хаан Хуан Карлос" (, "king/khaan of Spain Juan Carlos").

The early khagans of the Mongol Empire were:

1. Genghis Khan (1206–1227; 21 years)
2. Ögedei Khan (1229–1241; 12 years)
3. Güyük Khan (1246–1248; 2 years)
4. Möngke Khan (1251–1259; 8 years)

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Among Turkic peoples The title became associated with the Ashina tribe ruling clan of the Göktürks and their dynastic successors among such peoples as the Khazars (cf. the compound military title Khagan Bek). Minor rulers were rather relegated to the lower title of khan.

Both Khagan as such and the Turkish language form Hakan, with the specification in Arabic language al-Barrayn wa al-Bahrayn (meaning literally "of both lands and both seas"), or rather fully in Ottoman Turkish Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn, were among the titles in the official full style of the Great Sultan (and later Caliph) of the Ottoman Empire, reflecting the historical legitimation of the dynasty's rule as political successor to various conquered (often Islamised) states. (The title began: Sultan Hân N.N., Padishah, Hünkar, Sovereign of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe; next followed a series of specifically "regional" titles, starting with Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.)

"Khagan" is the second title of Safavid dynasty and Qajar dynasty shahs (kings) of Iran. For example, Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar, Fath Ali Shah and other Qajar shahs used this title. The nickname of Shah Ismail and other Safavid shahs is Kagan-i Suleyman shan (Khagan with the glory of Solomon).

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Ottoman Empire Ottoman rulers, after the 14th century, used only two titles "shah" and "khan" until end of the empire.Hüseyin Yılmaz, (2018), Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought, p. 124 Sultans like Mehmed the Conqueror and Suleiman the Magnificent used the title "Khagan of the two seas".Cihan Yüksel Muslu, (2014), The Ottomans and the Mamluks: Imperial Diplomacy and Warfare in the Islamic World, p. 118Evliya Çelebi, Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the Seventeenth Century, p. 19 Yazıcıoğlu Ali, in early 15th century, traced Osman I's genealogy to Oghuz Khagan, the mythical ancestors of Western Turks, through his senior grandson of his senior son, so giving the Ottoman sultans primacy among Turkish monarchs.Colin Imber, (2002), The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650, p. 95 Though it was not entirely an imitation of doctrine, the Oghuz claim to sovereignty followed the same pattern. Bayezid I advanced this claim against Timur, who denigrated the Ottoman lineage.Douglas Streusand, (2010), Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals, p. 66

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Chinese khagans The Book of Wei, a Chinese history book, records that the title Khagan (可汗) and the title Huángdì (皇帝) are the same. Emperor Taizong of Tang was crowned Tian Kehan, or "heavenly Khagan" after defeating the Tujue (Göktürks).

Jonathan Karam Skaff (2012). 9780199734139, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780199734139

Also available from Internet Archive. A later letter sent by the Tang court to the Yenisei Kirghiz Qaghan explained that "the peoples of the northwest" had requested Tang Taizong to become the "Heavenly Qaghan".

Michael Robert Drompp (2025). 9789004141292, Brill. . ISBN 9789004141292

The Tang dynasty Chinese emperors were recognized as khagans of the Turks at least from 665 to 705; moreover, two appeal letters from the Turkic hybrid rulers, Ashina Qutluγ Ton Tardu in 727, the Yabgu of Tokharistan, and Yina Tudun Qule in 741, the king of Tashkent, addressing Emperor Xuanzong of Tang as Tian Kehan during the Umayyad expansion.

The name "Chinese khagan" ( Khāqān-i Chīn, "Khagan of China") referring to the ruler of China (i.e. Emperor of China) as a symbol of power appeared in medieval Turco-Persian literature works like the great 11th-century epic poem Shahnameh,

which were circulated widely in Persia, Central Asia, and Xinjiang. During the Manchu-led Qing dynasty which extended into Inner Asia by the 18th century, their Turkic Muslim subjects (and surrounding Muslim khanates like the Khanate of Kokand) associated the Qing rulers with this name and commonly referred to the Qing emperors as the "Chinese khagan" ( Khāqān-i Chīn).

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Among the Slavs In the early 10th century, the Rus' people employed the title of kagan (or qaghan), reported by the Persian geographer Ahmad ibn Rustah, who wrote between 903 and 913.

It is believed that the tradition endured in the eleventh century, as the metropolitan bishop of Kiev in the Kievan Rus', Hilarion of Kiev, calls both grand prince Vladimir I of Kiev (978–1015) and grand prince Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054) by the title of kagan, while a graffito on the walls of Saint Sophia's Cathedral gives the same title to the son of Iaroslav, grand prince Sviatoslav II of Kiev (1073–1076).

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See also

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Notes

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Citations

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Sources

• Thomas Allsen (1994). 9780521243315, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521243315
• René Grousset (1970). 9780813506272, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813506272
• Ch'i-ch'ing Hsiao (1994). 9780521243315, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521243315
• Whittow, Mark. The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1996.
• Zongzheng Xue (1992). 9787500404323, China Social Sciences Press. ISBN 9787500404323
• Weizhou Zhou (2025). 9787563360444, Guangxi Normal University Press. . ISBN 9787563360444

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Further reading

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