The Türgesh or Türgish (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰏𐰾:𐰉𐰆𐰑, romanized: Türügeš budun, lit. 'Türgesh people'; simplified Chinese: 突骑施; traditional Chinese: 突騎施; pinyin: Tūqíshī; Wade–Giles: T'u-ch'i-shih; Old Tibetan: Du-rgyas)[1][2] were a Turkic tribal confederation. Once belonging to the Duolu wing of the Western Turkic On Oq elites, Türgeshes emerged as an independent power after the demise of the Western Turks and established a khaganate in 699. The Türgesh Khaganate lasted until 766 when the Karluks defeated them. Türgesh and Göktürks were related through marriage.[3]
Türgesh Khaganate 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰏𐰾 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 699–766 | |||||||||||||
Approximate territory of the Second Turkic Khaganate and main contemporary Asian polities, c. 720 | |||||||||||||
![Approximate borders of Türgesh Khaganate (white line).[note 1]](/wiki/File:T%C3%BCrgesh_Khaganate,_borders.svg) Approximate borders of Türgesh Khaganate (white line).[note 1] | |||||||||||||
| Status | Khaganate | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Taraz Suyab | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Old Turkic | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Tengrism | ||||||||||||
| Türgesh Kagans | |||||||||||||
• 699–706 | Üch Elig | ||||||||||||
• c. 750–766 | Ata Boyla Qaghan | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Early Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
• Established | 699 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 766 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
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Name
editAtwood (2013), citing Tekin (1968), etymologizes the ethnonym Türgiş as contains gentilic suffix -ş affixed onto the name of lake Türgi-Yarğun, which was mentioned in Kültegin inscription.[4][5][6]
Tribal composition
editBy the 7th century, two or three sub-tribes were recorded: "Yellow" Sarï Türgesh tribe Alishi (阿利施) and the "Black" Qara Türgesh tribe(s) 娑葛 (Suoge < *Soq or *Saqal) - 莫賀 (Mohe < *Bağa).[7][8] To the Black Türgesh sub-tribe, Chebishi (車鼻施) (*çavïş, from Old Turkic 𐰲𐰉𐰾 *çabïş[9] or Sogdian čapīş "chief"[10]), belonged 8th century Türgesh chor and later khagan Suluk.[11][12][13][14] The Turgesh Khaganate also contained remnants of the Western Turkic Khaganate: Suluk's subordinate Kül-chor belonged to the Duolu tribe Chumukun (處木昆), who lived south of Lake Balkash between Türgesh and Qarluq.[15][16][17] Tang general Geshu Han was of Duolu Turgesh extraction[18] and bore the Nushibi tribal surname Geshu (阿舒).[19] Chinese historians, when naming the Duolu Turk tribes, might mention Khalajes along with the Türgesh, under the common appellation 突騎施-賀羅施 (Mand. Tūqíshī-hèluóshī; reconstructed Old Turkic *Türgeş-Qalaç).[20]
A late-7th century Uyghur chief was also surnamed Türgesh.[21]
Timeline
editFoundation of the Turgesh Khaganate
edit
Prior to independence, the Turgesh were ruled by a subordinate tutuk, later shad, of the Western Turkic Khaganate's Onoq elites. Turgesh leaders belonged to Duolu division and held the title chur. A Turgesh commander of the Talas district and the town of Balu possessed a name symbolizing some sacred relation to a divine or heavenly sphere. The first Turgesh Kaghan Wuzhile (Chinese transcription 烏質 Wuzhi means "black substance") was a leader of a Manichaean consortium known as yüz er "hundred men". He established the Turgesh Khaganate in 699. He had driven out the Tang[23] protégé Böri Shad. In 703 he captured Suyab and set up his authority on the territory from Chach to Turfan and Beshbaliq.[24] In 706 his son Saqal succeeded him. Both khagans had a church rank of Yuzlik according to Yuri Zuev.[25]
Saqal attacked the Tang city of Qiuci (Kucha) in 708 and inflicted a defeat on the Tang in 709. However Saqal's younger brother Zhenu rebelled and sought military support from the Qapagan Khaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate in 708. Qapaghan Khagan defeated the Turgesh in 711 in the Battle of Bolchu, and killed both Saqal and Zhenu.[26] The defeated Turgesh fled to Zhetysu. In 714 the Turgesh elected Suluk as their khagan.
Timeline of Suluk
editIn 720 Turgesh forces led by Kül-chor defeated Umayyad forces led by Sa'id ibn Abdu'l-Aziz near Samarkand.[27]
In 722 Suluk married the Ashina Princess Jiaohe.[27]
In 724 Caliph Hisham sent a new governor to Khorasan, Muslim ibn Sa'id, with orders to crush the "Turks" once and for all, but, confronted by Suluk on the so-called "Day of Thirst", Muslim hardly managed to reach Samarkand with a handful of survivors, as the Turgesh raided freely.[28]
In 726 the Turgesh attacked Qiuci (Kucha).[23]
In 727 the Turgesh and the Tibetan Empire attacked Qiuci (Kucha).[23]
In 728 Suluk defeated Umayyad forces while aiding the Sogdians in their rebellion, and took Bukhara.[28]
In 731 the Turgesh were defeated at the Battle of the Defile by the Arabs, who suffered enormous casualties.[29][30]
In 735 the Turgesh attacked Ting Prefecture (Jimsar County).[31]
In the winter of 737 Suluk, along with his allies al-Harith, Gurak (a Sogdian leader) and men from Usrushana, Tashkent and the Khuttal attacked the Umayyads. He entered Jowzjan, but was defeated by the Umayyad governor Asad at the Battle of Kharistan.[23]
Kül-chor
editFollowing his defeat Suluk was murdered by his relative Kül-chor. Immediately, the Turgesh Khaganate was plunged into a civil war between the Black (Kara) and Yellow (Sary) factions. Kül-chor of the Sary Turgesh vanquished his rival Tumoche of the Kara Turgesh. In 740 Kül-chor submitted to the Tang dynasty but rebelled anyway when he killed the Turgesh puppet sent by the Tang court in 742. He was then captured and executed by the Tang in 744. The last Turgesh ruler declared himself a vassal of the recently established Uyghur Khaganate. In 766 the Karluks conquered Zhetysu and ended the Turgesh Khaganate.[32]
Legacy
editTuhsi and Azi might be remnants of the Türgesh, according to Gardizi,[33] as well as Khalaj.[34][35][36] The Turgesh-associated tribe Suoge, alongsides Chuyue and Anqing, participated in the ethnogenesis of Shatuo Turks.[37][38]
According to Baskakov, the ethnonym Türgesh survives in the name of the seok Tirgesh among Altaians.[39]
List of Türgesh Khagans
edit- Wuzhile (699–706)
- Suoge (706–711)
- Suluk (716–738)
- Kut Chor (738–739)
- Kül Chor (739–744)
- El Etmish Kutluk Bilge (744–749)
- Yibo Kutluk Bilge Juzhi (749–751)
- Tengri Ermish (753–755)
- Ata Boyla (750s – 766)
Notes
edit- ^ Wuzhile ruled over the territory from Chach to Turfan and Beshbaliq. The boundary on the south was established at the Oxus river, but Samarkand and Bukhara were lost c. 710. Khiva was part of Khwarezm. Aksu (along with the principality of Farghana) was under Western Turk rule up to 657. Above Beshbaliq, the border might be at the Altay mountain range. From there onwards, the Türgesh might control the upper Irtysh, Ob, and Tobol regions to oversee the local fur hunting business. This is supported by some archaeological sources of the ancient Hungarians (△), provided by Manichean symbolism, like Srostki (c. 766-780) and Zevakino (c. 9-10th century), and the Türkish language Yenisey inscriptions also grouping there. The Turks/Türgesh (according to one opinion[whose?]) might also settle some Chigils from the area of Chach in the Kama-Belaya region, who later became the Szeklers. This is also supported by some archaeological sources of the ancient Hungarians provided by Buddhist symbolism, like Redikor (7-9th century) and Ishimbay.
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Bilge kagan’s Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIK
- ^ Venturi, Federica (2008). "An Old Tibetan document on the Uighurs: A new translation and interpretation". Journal of Asian History. 1 (42): 30. JSTOR 41933476.
- ^ Muharrem Ergin (1975), Orhun Abideleri (in Turkish), p. 80.
- ^ Tekin, Talât. (1968). Grammar of Orkhon Turkish. Bloomington: Indiana University. p. 107, 269, 387.
- ^ Atwood, Christopher P., "Some Early Inner Asian Terms Related to the Imperial Family and the Comitatus" (2013). Central Asiatic Journal. 56(2012/2013). p. 69 of 49–86, note 113.
- ^ Kültegin Inscription, line E34. at Türik Bitig
- ^ Stark (2016), p. 2122
- ^ François THIERRY, "Three Notes on Türgesh Numismatics", Proceedings of the Symposium on Ancient Coins and the Culture of the Silk Road, Sichou zhi lu guguo qianbi ji Silu wenhua guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 絲綢之路古國錢幣暨 絲路文化國際學術研討會 論文集, Shanghai Bowuguan, décembre 2006, Shanghaï 2011, 413–442.
- ^ Clauson, Gerard (1972), “çavuş”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 399
- ^ Ashurov, Barakatullo (2013) Tarsākyā: an analysis of Sogdian Christianity based on archaeological, numismatic, epigraphic and textual sources. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London. p. 40-41
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol 211
- ^ Tuqishi 突騎施, Türgiš from chinaknowledge.de – An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art
- ^ History of civilizations of Central Asia. Dani, Ahmad Hasan., Masson, V. M. (Vadim Mikhaĭlovich), 1929–, Harmatta, J. (János), 1917–2004., Litvinovskiĭ, B. A. (Boris Abramovich), Bosworth, Clifford Edmund., Unesco. (1st Indian ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. 1992–1999. p. 346. ISBN 8120814096. OCLC 43545117.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Inaba, M. "Nezak in Chinese Sources?" Coins, Art and Chronology II. Ed. M. Alram et.al. (2010) p. 191-202
- ^ Grousset 1970, p. 115.
- ^ Gibb 1923, p. 91.
- ^ Skaff 2012, pp. 180, 386.
- ^ Xiong, Victor Cunrui (2016). Capital Cities and Urban Form in Pre-modern China: Luoyang, 1038 BCE to 938 C. Asian States and Empires (Book 13). Routledge. p. 151. ISBN 9781317235569.
- ^ Kenzheakhmet, Nurlan (2014). ""Ethnonyms and Toponyms" of the Old Turkic Inscriptions in Chinese sources". Studia et Documenta Turcologica. II: 303.
- ^ Stark (2016), p. 2122
- ^ Golden, Peter B. The Turkic Word in Mahmud al-Kashgari, p. 530, note 138
- ^ Thierry, Francois (2006). "François Thierry, "Three Notes on Türgesh Numismatics "". Proceedings of the Symposium on Ancient Coins and the Culture of the Silk Road, Sichou zhi lu guguo qianbi ji Silu wenhua guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 絲綢之路古國錢幣暨 絲路文國際學研討會 論文集, Shanghai Museum.
- ^ a b c d Bregel 2003, p. 18.
- ^ Klyashtorny S.G., The second Türk Empire (682–745). In: History of civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. III. The crossroads of civilizations: 250 to 750 AD. Editor: B. Litvinsky. Co-editors: Zhang Guang-da and R. Shabani Samghabadi.UNESCO publishing, 1996. – Pp. 335-347. (here: 346.); V.A. Belyaev, S.V. Sidorovich, Tang Tallies of Credence Found at the Ak-Beshim Ancient Site. Numismatique Asiatique. A bilingual French-English review. Revue de la Société de Numismatique Asiatique n° 33, Mars 2020. p. 50.[1]
- ^ A., Zuev, I︠U︡. (2002). Rannie ti︠u︡rki : ocherki istorii i ideologii. Almaty. ISBN 978-9985-441-52-7. OCLC 52976103.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Yu. Zuev, "Early Türks: Essays on history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 207, 209, 239, ISBN 9985-4-4152-9
- ^ a b Golden 1992, p. 140.
- ^ a b Asimov 1998, p. 25.
- ^ Shaban 1979, p. 113.
- ^ Blankinship 1989, p. xv.
- ^ Bregel 2003, p. 19.
- ^ Asimov 1998, p. 33.
- ^ Yu. Zuev. (2002) Early Turks: Sketches of history and ideology Almaty. p. 153 (in Russian)
- ^ Gumilyov, L. Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom: The trefoil of the Bird's Eye View' Ch. 5: The Shattered Silence (961–1100)
- ^ Pylypchuk, Ya. "Turks and Muslims: From Confrontation to Conversion to Islam (End of VII century – Beginning of XI Century)" in UDK 94 (4): 95 (4). In Ukrainian
- ^ Minorsky, V. "Commentary" on "§17. The Tukhs" in Ḥudūd al'Ālam. Translated and Explained by V. Minorsky. pp. 300–304
- ^ Golden, Peter Benjamin (1992). "An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis And State Formation in the Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East". Turcologica. 9. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-03274-2. p. 165
- ^ Atwood, Christopher P. (2010). "The Notion of Tribe in Medieval China: Ouyang Xiu and the Shatup Dynastic Myth". Miscellanea Asiatica (16): 693–621.
- ^ Baskakov N.A., "Dialects of Taiga Tatars, Taba-kishi. Texts and translations", Moscow, 1965, p.9
Sources
edit- Asimov, M. S. (1998), History of civilizations of Central Asia, vol. IV: The age of achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century Part One: The historical, social and economic setting, UNESCO Publishing
- Barfield, Thomas (1989), The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, Basil Blackwell
- Blankinship, Khalid Yahya, ed. (1989). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXV: The End of Expansion: The Caliphate of Hishām, A.D. 724–738/A.H. 105–120. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-569-9.
- Bregel, Yuri (2003), An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, Brill
- Gibb, H. A. R. (1923). The Arab Conquests in Central Asia. London: The Royal Asiatic Society. OCLC 499987512.
- Golden, Peter B. (1992), An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East, OTTO HARRASSOWITZ · WIESBADEN
- Grousset, René (1970). The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1304-1. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- Millward, James (2009), Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang, Columbia University Press
- Shaban, M. A. (1979), The ʿAbbāsid Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29534-5
- Skaff, Jonathan Karam (2012). Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580-800. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973413-9.
- Stark, Sören (2016). "Türgesh Khaganate". In McKenzie, John M.; Dalziel, Nigel R.; Charney, Michael W.; Doumanis, Nicholas (eds.). Encyclopedia of Empire. Vol. IV: S–Z. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. pp. 2122–2127.
- Xiong, Victor (2008), Historical Dictionary of Medieval China, United States of America: Scarecrow Press, Inc., ISBN 978-0810860537, ASIN 0810860538
- Xue, Zongzheng (薛宗正). (1992). Turkic peoples (《突厥史》). Beijing: 中国社会科学出版社. ISBN 978-7-5004-0432-3; OCLC 28622013