Khutulun – Great Female Warrior Of The Mongol Empire And Cousin Of Kublai Khan

David Tee  - AncientPages.com - Although she lived for only 46 years, she made a great impression on her fellow citizens and relatives. Khutulun was the only daughter and youngest child in a family with 15 children. Her sibling rivalries growing up helped fashion her into the person she became.

Because her father, Kaidu ruler of the Changatai Khanate, favored the old Mongol ways, Khutulun grew up in a nomadic lifestyle. This lifestyle gave her specialized training in wrestling, horseback riding, and as a warrior.

It is said that when her father feuded with her uncle, Kublai Khan, she rode by his side throughout the campaigns.

Khutulun's Rise To Fame

Khutulun’s abilities led her to wrestle anyone who dared. For some reason, she never lost a fight. Since she was Mongol royalty, Khutulun had many aspiring men wanting her hand in marriage. She was so confident in her athletic skills that she made the challenge that if any man beat her, she would marry the victor.

Image credit: resizing.info

But the male challenger had to wager 100 horses when he took up the challenge. By the time of her death, Khutulun owned roughly 10,000 horses. This tells you how great a wrestler she was.

It was probably this feat and her skill as a warrior that brought her to the attention of such famous writers and travelers as Marco Polo and Rashad al-Din. These two writers immortalized Khutulun and the majority of the details of her life that still exist come from these two men.

Khutulun Finally Marries

There are different accounts that tell how Khutulun finally got married. But they are as varied as the authors who penned them. One account has her hearing rumors that she was having an illicit affair with her own father. She realizes the damage those rumors would have on her father’s authority, so she marries a man without wrestling him.

A poster for Turandot, an opera thought to be based on Khutulun’s life. Credit: Public Domain

Another account has her falling in love finally with another Mongol ruler and married. A third account has her marrying a failed assassin.  The assassin’s target was her father. This account makes very little sense.

But what most of the accounts have in common is that Khutulun married someone she did not wrestle with.

Khutulun Was A Fearless Warrior

It wasn’t just her athletic skills against men that brought her fame. Marco Polo described her as a very cool and courageous warrior. He wrote that Khutulun would often leave her father’s side, ride up to the enemy and grab one and then bring the enemy soldier back to her father.

Khutulun daughter of Qaidu, medieval miniatures, 1410-1412. Credit: Public Domain

Her cool-headed attitude in battle brought her the fame that escapes so many other soldiers.

Her achievements were so great and heralded by so many that many latter people and historians considered her only a character in a myth or legend. They did not consider her real.

Her epic adventures, wrestling feats, and large herd were the stuff of folklore, an inaccurate opera titled Turandot, and other oral accounts. There was little proof that she actually lived and achieved such notoriety.

But two things happened to change that view. First, the writings of Marco Polo were discovered. His credibility lent some of the credible evidence historians needed to see that Khutulun was a real historical figure.

Plus, there have been many Yuan Dynasty discoveries that have also shown that Khutulun was not a mythological figure but a real woman who lived larger than life. Although she may not have been known for her skills as a warrior if her father had not disagreed with Kublai Khan and fought his 30-year war with him.

She may have only been known as the woman no man could wrestle into defeat.

Khutulun had excelled in almost everything she did, and her father decided to make her heir to his throne. Unfortunately, her brothers did not like or accept that idea and convinced their father to make her brother Orus the next Khan.

Khutulun and her brother made an alliance, giving her a commander’s position in the army. But her mysterious death in 1306 AD could lead some to speculate that her presence was a threat to the current Mongol ruler, and she was dealt with in the only way possible.

Written by – David Tee - AncientPages.com 

Updated on October 16, 2023

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