As promised here is the second episode released this month. This time we cover just a short space of time from the end of the battle of Qalaqaljid Sands (I never tire of spelling that one out!) to the sealing of the Baljuna Covenant, which was no more than a few days. Whilst this event is traditionally viewed as the lowest point in Temujin’s career, we look at the sources to see whether that was actually the case. I’ll let you listen to the episode to find out the answer.
In connection to this episode I will be providing mini-biographies of the men Cleaves states took part in the covenant, what form that is going to come in, I’m not certain yet – as with many of my ideas it was a last minute decision and has predictably taken far more time than expected to throw together.
It will turn up. Probably…
The main source used for the Baljuna Covenant was Francis Woodman Cleaves The Historicity of the Baljuna Covenant, but I have also looked at The Secret History, Rashid al-Din’s Jami al-Tawarikh, and the Chinese version of the Yuanshi which is available online:
Cleaves, F.W. 1955. The Historicity of the Baljuna Covenant. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 18 (3/4), p357-421.
Kahn, Paul. 1998. The Secret History of the Mongols: the origin of Chingis Khan. Cheng & Tsui: Boston.
Rashiduddin Fazullah. 1998. Jami’u’t-Tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles. Translated by W.M. Thackston. Harvard University. 3 vols.
Yuanshi: http://chinesenotes.com/yuanshi.html