Baghdad Khatun (; died 16 December 1335) (lit. Queen Baghdad), was a Chobanid princess, the daughter of

Chupan Amir Chūpān (; died October/November 1327), also spelt Choban or Coban, was a Chupanids, Chupanid noble of the Ilkhanate, and nominal general of the Mongol Empire. He was ennobled by Yesün Temür (Yuan dynasty), Emperor Taiding of Yuan as Duke ...

. She was the

empress consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally ...

of the

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

as the wife of

Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (June 2, 1305 – December 1, 1335; ), also spelled Abusaid Bahador Khan, Abu Sa'id Behauder (Modern , ''Abu sayid Baghatur Khan'', in modern Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian), was the ninth ruler (c. 1316 – 1335) ...

Family

Baghdad Khatun was the daughter of Emir

, who was the leading Mongol amir of the Ilkhanid period. She had four full brothers

Hasan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

, Demasq Kaja,

Timurtash Ala ud-Din Timurtash (died 1328; also Temürtaš or Timür-Tash) was a member of the Chobanids who dominated politics in the final years of the Ilkhanate. Early life He was born to Mongol emir and general Chupan as his second son . Timurtash ...

and Shaikh Mahmoud.

Marriages

Hasan Buzurg

In 1323, Baghdad Khatun married Amir Shaikh

Hasan Buzurg Shaikh Hasan (), also known as "Hasan Buzurg" ("Hasan The Great"), Hassan the Jalair or Hassan-e Uljatâï was the first of several de facto independent Jalayirid rulers of Iraq and central Iran. Early years He was born to Amir Husain Jalayir ...

, the son of Amir Husayn Kurkan, the son of Amir Aq Buqa Jalayir. In 1325 Abu Sa'id, aged twenty, fell in love with Baghdad and wanted to marry her, although she was married to Shaikh Hasan. He requested her hand from her father Chupan through intermediaries. At that time it was understood that according to the Genggisid law any woman sought by the Khan was to be given a divorce by her husband and sent to the emperor's harem. On the other hand, Chupan did not obey Abu Sa'id's order in the case of his own daughter. In fact, Chupan did not refuse his order openly, but he put him off. He sent his daughter and son-in-law to Qarabagh and Abu Sa'id to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

for the winter. But after the winter, Chupan did not give any answer to Abu Sa'id and in order to relive the situation, he realized that the best course of action was for him to absent himself from the emperor's court for a few days. When he went, he took along the vizier Giyath al-Mulk and other emirs, which provoked the Sultan against him. When Chupan left for

Khurasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

, the rival emirs instigated Abu Sa'id against Chupan's son Dimasq Kaja, and had him executed in 1327. After the execution of his son, Chupan spoke reproachfully about Abu Sa'id, and in a combat with his soldiers he was killed.

Abu Sa'id

After Chupan, there was no hindrance for Abu Sa‘id to marry Baghdad. This time, he sent Qazi to ask for Baghdad from her husband Hasan. Baghdad got divorced and married Abu Sa'id. After her marriage, Baghdad began to take an active part in all administrative and fiscal affairs. Abu Sa'id gave her very rich yarlighs, which means that, besides her political power, she had also very rich economic resources. She became very effective in political matters with vizier Giyath al-Din Mahmud Rashidi. By using this opportunity, she executed the enemies of her father and her brothers and avenged them. Abu Sa'id's mother, Hajji Khatun regarded Baghdad as a rival to her influence over Abu Sa'id. She received the title Khodawandigar (Great lord). Using her power, Baghdad Khatun prevented the marriage of Chupan's widow Korducin Khatun to Malik Ghiyath ud-Din of Herat, who had murdered her father in 1327. She had also managed to gain respectful treatment of her stepmother

Sati Beg Sati Beg ( 1316–1345) was an Ilkhanid princess, the sister of Il-Khan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, Abu Sa'id (r. 1316–1333). She was the consort of ''amir'' Chupan (1319–1327), Il-Khan Arpa Ke'un, Arpa (r. 1335–36), and Il-Khan Suleima ...

Khatun and Sati's son Surgan. In 1331-32, it was said that Baghdad Khatun and her former husband Shaikh Hasan met secretly and even made a plan to kill Abu Sa'id. One year later, it was understood that this was only gossip, but this event curbed their power, and he was appointed as governor of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. During this time, Abu Sa'id fell in love with

Dilshad Khatun Dilshad Khatun (; died 27 December 1351), also Delshad, was a Chobanid princess. She was the wife of Ilkhan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, and after him Hasan Buzurg, the first ruler of the Jalayirid Sultanate, and the mother of his son and successor Sh ...

, Baghdad's niece, the daughter of Dimasq Kaja and granddaughter of Chupan. He divorced Baghdad and married her in 1333. Baghdad lost her power and authority to a great extent. At the end of his life, he was not happy with his wives but loved Dilshad very much. This made Baghdad very jealous.

Death

After Abu Sa'id's death in 1335,

Arpa Ke'un Arpa Ke'un, also known as Arpa Khan or Gavon or Gawon (; died 1336), was an Ilkhan (1335–1336) during the disintegration of the Ilkhanate, the Mongol state in Southwest Asia based in Persia. Life Not much is known of Arpa's earlier life, exce ...

was crowned on the Ilkhanid realm but Baghdad did not obey him and he executed her on the pretext of her secret alliance with the enemy

Öz Beg Khan Öz is a Turkish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Doğan Öz (1934–1978), Turkish prosecutor assassinated during his investigation of the Turkish deep state * Emanuel Öz (born 1979), Swedish politician * Mehmet Öz, Turkis ...

and poisoning of Abu Sa'id. She was beaten to death by Khwaja Lulu, a Greek slave, in the bath on 16 December 1335.

References

Sources

*{{cite book , first=Nilgün , last= Dalkesen , title= Genger Roles and Women's Status in Central Asia and Anatolia Between the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Thesis) , year=2007 1335 deaths Chobanids Year of birth unknown 14th-century Mongol women Princesses Mongol empresses People from the Ilkhanate 14th-century Muslims Murdered royalty Deaths by beating