Defeated Before the Court of Victors: Trials of Rebels During the Crisis Period of the Mongol Empire (2nd Half of the 13th C.)

Abstract

Introduction. The aim of the paper is a study of the evolution of legal relations on the territory of the Mongol Empire in the second half of the 13th century. The subjects of analysis are trials over the members of the ruling imperial family who were defeated during their rebellions and intestine wars. Methods and materials. The sources of the study are medieval oriental sources, including Persian chronicles (by Rashid ad-Din, Mu’in ad-Din Natanzi, Mirza Ulugbek), Chinese dynastic history (“Yuan Shih”), etc. The methods used in the paper are critical analysis of textual sources, historical legal study, formal legal approach, and comparative historical analysis. Analysis. Four judicial processes are analyzed: the trial of Arigh Buqa, defeated by his brother Kubilai in 1264; the trial of Chinggisids over Boraq, head of Chaghatai Ulus, in 1269; the trial of Khubilai over prince Nayan in 1287; and the trial of Ilkhan Gazan over usurper Baydu in 1295. Information from the sources gives a reason to state that trials of defeated nobles reflected the process of decline of the imperial state system and misuse of principles established by Chinggis Khan and his proximate successors. Results. The analyzed information contains valuable additions to our idea of the judicial process in the Mongol Empire, specifically in cases of mutineers compared to other types of cases judged in the Empire and Chinggisid states. It also highlights the evolution of this process during the crisis of imperial power and its differences with the Chinggisid imperial law’s declared observance in the Empire and its uluses.