The study of the Mongol queens or khatuns and Mongolian women in general in the period of the Mongol Empire has long been overlooked. While an occasional article or chapter appeared in the past, it is only in the last few years that the metaphorical veil has been removed from these remarkable women in an ever increasing body of scholarship. Women in Iran: The Khātūns, 1206–1335 is one of the few monographs examining women in the Mongol Empire and the first with a focus on the Mongols in the western empire. De Nicola's work seeks to understand the role of the queens of khatuns from the pre-imperial period until the demise of the Ilkhanate. The focus on the title of khatun (Mongolian for queen) or khātūn (the form adopted by De Nicola rather than khawātīn in Persian) is appropriate as much of what we know about Mongolian women in the medieval period is drawn from the royalty. While the first two chapters includes pre-dissolution queens, with the establishment of the Ilkhanate, De Nicola focuses his attention on Iran but also considers the larger historic picture by discussing how the khatun institution affected the Middle East.
The work consists of an introduction, six chapters and additional maps and charts. De Nicola included two maps: one of the entire empire with post-dissolution boundaries, as well as a map of the Ilkhanate. Eight charts help the reader keep track of genealogies, marriages, and other connections while another eight illustrations accompany the work. The introduction is an overview of the sources as well as the scholarship, which also reminds us that there is more of both than one might suspect.
In the first chapter, De Nicola explores women in Pre-Chinggisid Mongolia, their development in the early empire, and how female rulers appeared only a generation after Chinggis Khan. He focuses on the legendary origins and divine connections found in them to demonstrate that these women had a role as advisors and that they performed certain ceremonial duties. He also notes that an elite woman's place in society had little to do with how she entered a family (kidnapping, formal betrothal, etc.), but rather her pre-marriage status. Additionally, he argues that direct female rule in the Middle East came after the rise of the Mongols and not before, thus probably influenced by the Mongols (p. 50). At the same time, he examines where the Mongols may have acquired female agency, such as from the Turks or Chinese before finally settling on the Liao (p. 53). While outside antecedents are possible, De Nicola never considers that it may have been autochthonous for the Mongols, merely suggesting that it only existed at an “embryonic level” (p. 57). His evidence for external influence, however, does not dispel this possibility.
In the second chapter, the author examines female rule in the Mongol Empire. This chapter includes a discussion of the usual suspects: Töregene, Oghul Qaimish, and Sorqoqtani. The first two ruled as regents and Sorqoqtani, the mother of Möngke (the fourth khan) and Khubilai Khan, proved to be a “protagonist of dynastic change” (p. 72), an accurate assessment. His account of these three is standard, although he then links a significant tax change to Sorqoqtani. According to De Nicola, the Toluids, led by Sorqoqtani, supported lighter and less exploitative taxation, unlike the Ogodeids. In this chapter, De Nicola also includes Orghina Khatun, who ruled Central Asia from 1251 to 1260, is a detailed study demonstrating that female rulers could exist within the Mongol Empire and rule beyond the capacity of regents.
Chapter Three shifts attention to the Ilkhanate, which dominates the remainder of the book. Here De Nicola explores not only the khatuns, but the author makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the ordo or camp in terms of an institution and the ownership of property. In the course of linking these themes, De Nicola makes a convincing case that the selection of the next ruler boiled down to factions centered around particularly khatuns (usually the candidates’ mothers), and that their ordos provided them with the economic means to secure support. As each khatun had her own ordo, complete with the requisite personnel to manage and sustain it, it was a significant economic unit in its own right. As the khatuns were also engaged in commerce, particularly by funding merchants, the khatuns could amass a significant amount of wealth. Control of this wealth then influenced the politics and struggle for the throne. De Nicola's analysis of the economic importance of the khatun and her ordo makes his work highly significant, not only in gender and economic history, but also in terms of influencing the politics of the Ilkhanate.
Women in Mongol Iran concludes with a chapter discussing the queens and religion. Here the author investigates not only the origins and roots of Mongol conversion, but also how the khatuns patronised religion and how they used it to further their own goals. De Nicola demonstrates that the khatuns involvement was due to not only personal piety, but also political and economic interests as well.
Women in Mongol Iran is a welcome addition to the study of the Mongol Empire. There should be little doubt that gender history will be an important frontier for historians of the Mongol Empire. Our author De Nicola also sets forth an excellent model which moves beyond political history without studying other aspects in isolation.
