Indeed, We Are Told That The
Descendants Of Yesugai (The Father Of Chinghiz) Were In General
Distinguished By Blue Eyes And Reddish Hair.
(Michel's Joinville, p.
324; D'Ohsson, II.
475; Erdmann, 252.)
NOTE 2. - According to Hammer's authority (Rashid?) Kublai had seven
wives; Gaubil's Chinese sources assign him five, with the title of
empress (Hwang-heu). Of these the best beloved was the beautiful Jamui
Khatun (Lady or Empress Jamui, illustrating what the text says of the
manner of styling these ladies), who bore him four sons and five
daughters. Rashiduddin adds that she was called Kun Ku, or the great
consort, evidently the term Hwang-heu. (Gen. Tables in Hammer's
Ilkhans; Gatibil, 223; Erdmann, 200.)
["Kublai's four wives, i.e. the empresses of the first, second, third, and
fourth ordos. Ordo is, properly speaking, a separate palace of the
Khan, under the management of one of his wives. Chinese authors translate
therefore the word ordo by 'harem.' The four Ordo established by
Chingis Khan were destined for the empresses, who were chosen out of four
different nomad tribes. During the reign of the first four Khans, who
lived in Mongolia, the four ordo were considerably distant one from
another, and the Khans visited them in different seasons of the year; they
existed nominally as long as China remained under Mongol domination. The
custom of choosing the empress out of certain tribes, was in the course of
time set aside by the Khans. The empress, wife of the last Mongol Khan in
China, was a Corean princess by birth; and she contributed in a great
measure to the downfall of the Mongol Dynasty." (Palladius, 40.)
I do not believe that Rashiduddin's Kun Ku is the term Hwang-keu; it
is the term Kiun Chu, King or Queen, a sovereign.
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