Khutulun ({{circa, 1260 – {{circa, 1306), also known as Aigiarne,{{Cite book, title = Il Milione, last = Polo, first = Marco, publisher = L'Unità –

Editori Riuniti Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. History ...

, year = 1982, chapter = De la Grande Turchia Aiyurug, Khotol Tsagaan or Ay Yaruq ({{lit, Moonlight) was a Mongol noblewoman, the most famous daughter of

Kaidu Kaidu (; Middle Mongol: , Modern Mongol: , ''Khaidu'' ; c. 1235 – 1301) was a grandson of the Mongol khagan Ögedei (1185–1241) and thus leader of the House of Ögedei and the '' de facto'' khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a division of t ...

, a cousin of

Kublai Khan Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the ...

. Both

Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...

and

Rashid al-Din Hamadani Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb (;‎ 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, ) was a statesman, historian, and physician in Ilkhanate Iran.{{Cite web , last=Weatherford , first=Jack , date=2010-09-27 , title=The Wrestler Princess , url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/wrestler-princess , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240701032820/https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/wrestler-princess , archive-date=July 1, 2024 , access-date=2024-12-01 , website=Roundtable , language=en By 1280, her father

became the most powerful ruler of Central Asia, reigning in the realms from western

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Oxus The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Ku ...

, and from the

Central Siberian Plateau The Central Siberian Plateau (; ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Great Russian Regions. Geography The plateau occupies a great part of central Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It is located in the Siberian Plat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In historical chronicles, Khutulun was described as a strong warrior princess who participated in the Mongol military campaigns in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. She was trained in shooting, wrestling and riding since her childhood. Later, when she grew up, she became a skilled wrestler who defeated elite male warriors in traditional wrestling competitions. Khutulun was a hero, chronicled by many medieval authors, one of whom was

. Sources vary about her husband's identity. Some chronicles say her husband was a handsome man who failed to assassinate her father and was taken prisoner; others refer to him as Kaidu's companion from the Choros clan. Rashid al-Din wrote that Khutulun fell in love with

Ghazan Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (, Ghazan Khan, sometimes westernized as Casanus was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of Arghun, grandson of Abaqa K ...

, Mongol ruler in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Other chronicles say she never married and defeated every man who tried to fight her for a wedding, taking their horse after their defeat. She was rumored to have died with 10,000 horses to her name.{{cn, date=November 2024 Beyond Marco Polo's fanciful story, both Rashīd al-Dīn and Abū'l Qāsim Qāshānī give her husband's name, either Abtaqul or Itqul. Both he and Khutulun's two sons were drowned by relatives of Dua, the Chaghadaid ruler. Of all Kaidu's children, Khutulun was the favorite, and the one from whom he most often sought advice and political support. According to some accounts, he tried to name her as his successor to the khanate before he died in 1301. However, his choice was refused as she had male relatives. When

died, Khutulun guarded his tomb with the assistance of her brother Orus. She was challenged by her other brothers including Chapar and relative

Duwa Duwa (; died 1307), also known as Du'a, was Khan of the Chagatai Khanate (1282–1307). He was the second son of Baraq. He was the longest reigning monarch of the Chagatayid Khanate and accepted the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty as ...

because she resisted their succession. She died in 1306.

In popular culture

Khutulun is thought to be the basis for the character of

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

, who has been the subject of a number of Western works. While in Mongol culture she is remembered as a famous athlete and warrior, in Western artistic adaptations she is depicted as a proud woman who finally succumbs to love.

François Pétis de la Croix François Pétis de la Croix (1653–1713) was a French orientalist. De la Croix was born in Paris, the son of the Arabic interpreter of the French court and author, also named François Pétis de la Croix (1622–1695) and inherited this o ...

's 1710 book of Asian tales and fables contains a story in which Khutulun is called Turandot, a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word (Turandokht توراندخت) meaning "

Central Asian Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

Daughter", and is the nineteen-year-old daughter of Altoun Khan, the Mongol emperor of China. In Pétis de La Croix's story, however, she does not wrestle her suitors, and they do not wager horses; rather, she has them answer three riddles, and they are executed if they cannot solve them.

Carlo Gozzi __NOTOC__ Carlo, Count Gozzi (; 13 December 1720 – 4 April 1806) was an Italian ( Venetian) playwright and champion of ''Commedia dell'arte''. Early life Gozzi was born and died in Venice; he came from a family of minor Venetian aristocracy, t ...

wrote his own version 50 years later, a stage play in which she was a "tigerish woman" of "unrelenting pride".

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

translated and adapted the play into German as ''Turandot, Prinzessin von China'' in 1801. The most famous version of ''Turandot'' is

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

's unfinished operatic version, which he was working on when he died in 1924. There are many stories and novels about Khutulun presented by Mongolian writers, such as ''Khotolon'' by Purev Sanj, ''Kaidu's wonderful daughter Khutulun'' by Ch.Janchivdorj, ''Khotol Tsagaan'' by Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, ''The Story of Kaidu Khan'' by Batjargal Sanjaa, and '' Princess Khutulun'' by B. Shuudertsetseg. Khutulun is portrayed by

Claudia Kim Kim Soo-hyun (; born 25 January 1985), better known by the stage name Claudia Kim, is a South Korean actress and model. She has appeared in Western films such as ''Avengers: Age of Ultron'' (2015), ''The Dark Tower (2017 film), The Dark Tower'' ...

in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''Marco Polo''. Khutulun was the name chosen for a popular racehorse in Australia 2011–2019, which was bought by Grand Syndicates for just A$16,000 and eventually won nearly A$500,000 in prize money. On 3 December 2021, Shuuder Productions and Voo Broadcasting released the film ''Princess Khutulun''. The movie is based on the novel ''Khotol Tsagaan Gunj'' by Mongolian author Baatarsuren Shuudertsetseg and takes place during the Yuan Dynasty. Actress Tsedoo Munkhbat played the starring role. In 2024, the film was released as ''The Princess Warrior'' in the US as a streaming video title.{{Cite web , title=The Princess Warrior - official trailer, url=https://www.ign.com/videos/the-princess-warrior-official-trailer , access-date=2025-03-07 , website=IGN , language=en

References

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In popular culture

References

Further reading