Ragibagh ( Mongolian:; Рагибаха/Ражабаг; ; Arigabag), also known as the Tianshun Emperor of Yuan (), was a son of Yesün Temür who was briefly installed to the throne of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

of China in

Shangdu Shangdu (, ), also known as Xanadu (; Mongolian: ''Šandu''), was the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty of China before Kublai decided to move his throne to the former Jin dynasty capital of Zhōngdū () which was renamed Khanbaliq ( pre ...

in 1328. Although he should have been the seventh ruler of the Yuan dynasty in succession to his father Yesün Temür (Taiding Emperor), he was dethroned by his rival who was installed by a coup before Ragibagh's succession. Apart from

Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heav ...

, he is regarded as the 11th

Great Khan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire. He was the shortest-reigning Yuan emperor.

Life

Ragibagh was the eldest son of Yesün Temür. His mother Babukhan

Khatun Khatun ( Mongolian: хатан; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣, katun; ota, خاتون, hatun or قادین ''kadın''; fa, خاتون ''khātūn''; ; hi, ख़ातून ') is a female title of nobility and counterpart to " khan" or " Khagan" promine ...

came from the Khunggirad clan, who had held power through marriage to the imperial family. He became Crown Prince at infancy in 1324. In August 1328 when Yesün Temür suddenly died in

, he was installed by the powerful Muslim officer Dawlat Shah there in the next month. However, Yesün Temür's sudden death triggered an uprising of an anti-mainstream faction who had been dissatisfied with monopolization of power by Yesün Temür's aides including Dawlat Shah who had served him since he was stationed in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Jinong Jinong () was a title of the Mongols. It was derived from Chinese ''Jinwang'' (, a title for crown prince, similar to Prince of Wales) although some historians have suggested it originates from ''Qinwang'' (). Whatever its relation with the Chine ...

. In the eighth month, the Mongolized

Qipchaq The Kipchaks or Qipchaks, also known as Kipchak Turks or Polovtsians, were a Turkic nomadic people and confederation that existed in the Middle Ages, inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the 8th century as part of the Sec ...

commander

El Temür El Temür (; Mongolian:; died 1333) was an ethnic Kipchak official of the Yuan dynasty. He was behind the coup d'état that installed Tugh Temür (Emperor Wenzong) as Yuan emperor in the capital Khanbaliq in 1328. The restorationists at Khanbaliq ...

, who was stationed in Dadu, launched a coup and called for installation of Khayishan's son. Tugh Temür was welcomed into Dadu in the same month in which Ragibagh ascended to the throne. The

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

known as the War of the Two Capitals soon broke out. Ragibagh's army broke through the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups ...

at several points and advanced on Dadu; but was severely defeated by El Temür's troops. At the time, most of Ragibagh's army were involved on the Great Wall front, and the Shangdu court was compelled to surrender on the very next day. Dawlat Shah and most of the leading loyalists were taken prisoner and later executed by the Dadu faction after surrender; but Ragibagh is said to have disappeared after that, evidently murdered.

Name

Due to scarcity of historical sources and their multilinguality, Ragibagh's name has a lot of variants. The

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

an '' Red Annals'' (Hu lān deb ther) calls him "ra khyi phag" (). The later Mongolian chronicles such as the '' Erdeni-yin tobchi'' and the '' Altan tobchi'' spell him Radzibaγ or Raǰibaγ. ''The History of the Yuan'' refers to him as A-su-ji-ba (阿速吉八), but it is apparently a misspelling of A-la-ji-ba (阿剌吉八). The initial "a" prevents the word from starting with "r" in Mongolian. It looks like a modern Mongolian painter Ts.Mandir interpreted his name a
"Asidkebe" (Ашидхэв)
According to some scholars, his name was from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

"rāja-pika" (), which means "king cuckoo".Volker Rybatzki. Die Personennamen und Titel der mittelmongolischen Dokumente, Eine lexikalische Untersuchung.2006, p. 650. He is also commonly known as the Tianshun Emperor based on his

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ragibagh Khan, Tianshun Emperor Of Yuan Great Khans of the Mongol Empire Yuan dynasty emperors Yuan dynasty Buddhists Chinese Buddhist monarchs 14th-century Chinese monarchs 14th-century Mongol rulers 1320 births 1328 deaths Monarchs who died as children Child monarchs from Asia Murdered Chinese emperors

Life

Name

See also

References