Esen Tayisi
Encyclopedia
Esen taishi (died 1455) was a powerful Oirat
Khagan
of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia
in the 15th century. He is best known for capturing the Zhengtong Emperor
of the Ming Dynasty
in 1450 after the Battle of Tumu Fortress
and briefly reuniting the Mongols. The Western Mongols reached their peak under his rule.
taishi (grand preceptor
of the Mongolian Khaganate) who had expanded Oirat territory substantially, with more Mongol tribes acknowledging his supremacy.
His early campaigns were against the Chaghatayid khans of Moghulistan
. Esen three times defeated and twice captured the Moghuli ruler Uvais
(Ways Khan) (1418–1432). Esen released him respecting his Chinggisid blood in both cases. The second time Uvais granted Esen his sister Makhtum Khanim who bore his two sons. Esen had to nominally convert to Islam in order to marry the Muslim princess, but remained effectively a shamanist.
After his father died in 1438, Esen inherited his position, taishi, for the reigning khan Togtoo-Bukha (r.1433-52). Under Esen taishi's leadership, the western Mongols and other Mongol tribes who support Togtoo-Bukha conquered the rest of Mongolia, and received the submission of the Jurchens
and the Tuvans
(Uriankhais) in Manchuria
and Eastern Siberia
. It is unarguably true that the Oirat warriors played a crucial role in this conquest. In the 1430s Esen also took over control of the Mongol kingdom called Qara Del
in Hami oasis
on the Silk Road
between the Gobi and the Takla Makan deserts; after 1443-45 his conquest reached the northern border of Korea
.
. The Ming had for some time pursued a "divide and rule
" strategy in dealings with their northern neighbors, maintaining trade and tribute relationships, functioning as a kind of state-subsidized monopoly, with multiple leaders who they could then turn against one another by inciting jealousy or suggesting intrigue. A unified Mongolia under one ruler was, however, much less susceptible to such tactics. Also, many of the tribes brought under Oirat dominion by conquest either had inhabited areas claimed by China already, and other tribes had been pushed south into Chinese territory seeking to escape Oirat subjugation. The Chagatayid Hami oasis, furthermore, had paid tribute to the emperor before Esen convinced its ruler that bounty should go to the Oirat instead. Throughout the 1440s, Esen increased both the frequency of tribute missions to China and the number of representatives sent on each mission, meaning that the Chinese were obliged to provide ever-more expensive hospitality to the Mongols, irrespective of the actual trade or tribute being negotiated, and, according to surviving Chinese accounts, the Oirat demanded more and more lucrative tribute and trade agreements further skewed in the Mongols' favor.
One Chinese tactic for dealing with the situation, provoking rivalry between Mongol leaders, failed completely as they underestimated the degree of power Esen wielded and chose "rivals" too far below him in status for the strategy to be effective, including the figurehead Khan Togtoo Bukha. In addition, their other main tactic, meeting each demand for increased tribute or trade value with a decrease, backfired as well. Some Chinese negotiators also made unauthorized promises, including, on more than one occasion, a marriage arrangement between a "Chinese princess" and Esen's son, which would then be disavowed by the imperial court, to Esen's natural aggravation.
Esen encouraged hundreds of Mongol, Hami, and Samarkand
based Muslim
merchants to accompany his missions to the Ming Emperor. Since 1439 the Emperor Togtoo Bukha and Esen had been sending envoys to China, often numbering more than 1,000. In response to this inflation of numbers, the Zhengtong Emperor
(1427–64) decreased the gifts to Esen and Togtaa-Bukha Khaan and closed border-trade with the Mongols. Esen's request for a Chinese princess was also rejected.
Alag attacking Xuanfu, and Esen himself heading the troops that sacked the city of Datong
in August. Another column of the Mongols invaded Ganzhou
. Acting on extremely poor advice from one of his advisors, the emperor also chose to lead his own armies into battle, with disastrous consequences.
, and thus beyond its protection. After the initial attack on Datong, Esen feinted back to the Mongolian steppes. The emperor and his hastily-raised army chased the invaders west and met an ambush upon arriving at Datong. The Oirat horsemen harried the Chinese retreat back towards the wall for four days, through terrific thunderstorms, until the imperial army reached Tumu Bao (often translated Tumu Fortress). But rather than having secured a defensible position, the Chinese were trapped against the north side of Tumu, and Esen annihilated the Chinese army sent against him.
Most of the remaining soldiers, as well as all officers and courtiers of rank except the emperor himself, were slaughtered. Esen was still some distance away, near Xianfu. Six weeks later, when the captured emperor was brought to his camp and he had brought a more substantial force to the vicinity of Beijing, Esen attempted to ransom the emperor back to the Chinese. According to some accounts, it was at this point that Esen was granted the title "Tayisi".
In any case, the Chinese refused to negotiate a ransom, perhaps in part because the emperor's brother (a prince variously referred to as Zhu Qiyu, later the Jingtai Emperor
) was by then installed on the throne and not eager to give up his new position. Yu Qian
, the defence minister of Ming, who was organizing Chinese resistance, commented that the emperor's life is not as important as the fate of the country; he also believed that ransoming the emperor might boost the Mongols' morale and reduce that of the Ming.
who soon turned this unfavourable situation into a positive one. Not only did he use Beijing's fortifications to his advantage, but he also deployed various schemes to destroy the morale of the Mongol army. At one point, he ordered his forces to pretend that they had lost control of the city gate in order to lure a large force of Mongol riders into the city. Once a portion of the Mongol force was inside, the gate was shut and the Mongols were ambushed. Esen's sworn brother (anda
) was killed in the attack. Having failed to take the city, Esen was soon forced to retreat under pressure from his own troops and by the arrival of reinforcements from elsewhere in China.
(r.1449-57) to the throne. Esen sent the captured emperor back in 1450. Since the Mongols relied on their trade-and-tribute relationship with China, Esen was then obligated to reopen negotiations from a much weakened position. While Sino-Mongol trade did not cease entirely during the Tumu Crisis
, as the incident has come to be called, Esen had not only failed to win better terms than the prior arrangements, he was forced to accept less favorable terms in return for resumption of more normal relations with the Ming Empire. But Esen and Togtoo-Bukha again invaded the north of China, devastating the area around the confluence of the Nen
and Songhua
rivers.
as his heir instead. Togtoo-Bukha supported the Three guards and led his own forces openly against Esen in 1451; but they were outnumbered by Oirat loyalists and the nominal Khan was caught and killed by eastern tribesmen as he attempted to retreat. Togtaa-Bukha's brother Agbarjin
jinong
(viceroy
), who married Esen's daughter Tsetseg, deserted to the Oirats and was promised the title of khagan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. However, Esen murdered him after he invited Agbarjin with his male relatives at the feast. Esen attempted to kill the baby son of her daughter by Agbarjin' son, Qara Qurtsaq, but she and Esen's grandmother, Samar, hid the infant prince, Batu-Mongke, who would be a direct ancestor of Dayan Khan
. Within eighteen months of his defeat of the titular Khan Toghto-Bukha, in 1453, Esen himself took the title of Great Khan of the Great Yuan. At the same time the Oirats began an expedition into Moghulistan
, Tashkent
, Transoxiana
as far as Kipchak steppe
in southern Russia
from 1252–1255 and they returned with large booty.
The Ming emperor was among the first to acknowledge the new title, but the reaction of Esen's fellow Mongols, Oirat and otherwise, mostly ranged from disapproving to enraged. Though Esen's line was related to the royal line descended from Temüjin (Genghis Khan) through his grandmother Samar gunji (princess
), it was unlikely that he would have been considered eligible for election as Khan, and in any case Esen ignored the usual selection process: rather than the title of khan falling automatically to the eldest eligible male of the line, as in primogeniture
, Mongol leaders were traditionally chosen by means of the kurultai
, an elective monarchy
system, with the members of a lineage voting to choose the title's successor from among themselves. This dissatisfaction soon escalated into open revolt against Esen's leadership.
Esen gave his son Amasanj the title of taishi, an action that led his powerful general Alag, who had expected to receive the title himself, into rebellion. Notable Oirat leaders joined the rebellion against Esen who was defeated at the battle and murdered in 1455, the year following his assumption of the title of khan, by the son of a political opponent whom Esen had executed. After his death, the Oirat no longer held sway over the areas of Mongolia which had come under their control only under his rule, and remained divided among themselves for many years. The 17th and 18th century Zunghar rulers considered themselves to be descendants of Esen Taishi.
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
Khagan
Khagan
Khagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...
of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
in the 15th century. He is best known for capturing the Zhengtong Emperor
Zhengtong Emperor
Zhu Qizhen was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled as the Zhengtong Emperor from 1435 to 1449, and as the Tianshun Emperor from 1457 to 1464....
of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
in 1450 after the Battle of Tumu Fortress
Tumu Crisis
The Tumu Crisis ; also called the Crisis of Tumubao or Battle of Tumu Fortress , was a frontier conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 1, 1449 and the loss of an army of 500,000 men to a much smaller force....
and briefly reuniting the Mongols. The Western Mongols reached their peak under his rule.
Youth and early career
Esen was born to his father, Toghon, the ChorosChoros
Choros was the ruling clan of the Zungars and Dorbets and once ruled the whole Four Oirats. They founded the Zunghar Empire in the 17th century. According to a myth, their chiefs reckoned their descent from a boy nourished by a sacred tree, a legend shared with the Uyghur royal family.In the late...
taishi (grand preceptor
Preceptor
A preceptor is a teacher responsible to uphold a certain law or tradition, a precept.-Christian military orders:A preceptor was historically in charge of a preceptory, the headquarters of certain orders of monastic Knights, such as the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar, within a given...
of the Mongolian Khaganate) who had expanded Oirat territory substantially, with more Mongol tribes acknowledging his supremacy.
His early campaigns were against the Chaghatayid khans of Moghulistan
Moghulistan
Moghulistan or Mughalistan is a historical geographic unit in Central Asia that included parts of modern-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Chinese Autonomous Region of Xinjiang...
. Esen three times defeated and twice captured the Moghuli ruler Uvais
Uwais Khan
Awais Khan:Awais Khan ibn Sher 'Ali was one of the chagatai khans of Mughalistan from 1418-1421 and again from 1425-1429...
(Ways Khan) (1418–1432). Esen released him respecting his Chinggisid blood in both cases. The second time Uvais granted Esen his sister Makhtum Khanim who bore his two sons. Esen had to nominally convert to Islam in order to marry the Muslim princess, but remained effectively a shamanist.
After his father died in 1438, Esen inherited his position, taishi, for the reigning khan Togtoo-Bukha (r.1433-52). Under Esen taishi's leadership, the western Mongols and other Mongol tribes who support Togtoo-Bukha conquered the rest of Mongolia, and received the submission of the Jurchens
Jurchens
The Jurchens were a Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century, when they adopted the name Manchu...
and the Tuvans
Tuvans
Tuvans or Tuvinians are Turkic peoples living in southern Siberia. They are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation...
(Uriankhais) in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
and Eastern Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. It is unarguably true that the Oirat warriors played a crucial role in this conquest. In the 1430s Esen also took over control of the Mongol kingdom called Qara Del
Qara Del
Qara Del was a Mongol Kingdom that existed in Hami in present-day Xinjiang. It was founded by the Yuan price Gunashiri, a descendant of Chagatai Khan, in the late 14th century , and ruled by the Chagatayids thereafter until 1463. It was destroyed as results of the wars between Ming China and Oirat...
in Hami oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
on the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
between the Gobi and the Takla Makan deserts; after 1443-45 his conquest reached the northern border of Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
.
Conflict with the Ming
Esen's policy irritated or threatened the Chinese Ming DynastyMing Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
. The Ming had for some time pursued a "divide and rule
Divide and rule
In politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
" strategy in dealings with their northern neighbors, maintaining trade and tribute relationships, functioning as a kind of state-subsidized monopoly, with multiple leaders who they could then turn against one another by inciting jealousy or suggesting intrigue. A unified Mongolia under one ruler was, however, much less susceptible to such tactics. Also, many of the tribes brought under Oirat dominion by conquest either had inhabited areas claimed by China already, and other tribes had been pushed south into Chinese territory seeking to escape Oirat subjugation. The Chagatayid Hami oasis, furthermore, had paid tribute to the emperor before Esen convinced its ruler that bounty should go to the Oirat instead. Throughout the 1440s, Esen increased both the frequency of tribute missions to China and the number of representatives sent on each mission, meaning that the Chinese were obliged to provide ever-more expensive hospitality to the Mongols, irrespective of the actual trade or tribute being negotiated, and, according to surviving Chinese accounts, the Oirat demanded more and more lucrative tribute and trade agreements further skewed in the Mongols' favor.
One Chinese tactic for dealing with the situation, provoking rivalry between Mongol leaders, failed completely as they underestimated the degree of power Esen wielded and chose "rivals" too far below him in status for the strategy to be effective, including the figurehead Khan Togtoo Bukha. In addition, their other main tactic, meeting each demand for increased tribute or trade value with a decrease, backfired as well. Some Chinese negotiators also made unauthorized promises, including, on more than one occasion, a marriage arrangement between a "Chinese princess" and Esen's son, which would then be disavowed by the imperial court, to Esen's natural aggravation.
Esen encouraged hundreds of Mongol, Hami, and Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
based Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
merchants to accompany his missions to the Ming Emperor. Since 1439 the Emperor Togtoo Bukha and Esen had been sending envoys to China, often numbering more than 1,000. In response to this inflation of numbers, the Zhengtong Emperor
Zhengtong Emperor
Zhu Qizhen was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled as the Zhengtong Emperor from 1435 to 1449, and as the Tianshun Emperor from 1457 to 1464....
(1427–64) decreased the gifts to Esen and Togtaa-Bukha Khaan and closed border-trade with the Mongols. Esen's request for a Chinese princess was also rejected.
Invasion of Ming China
In retaliation for real and perceived slights, Esen Tayisi led an Oirat invasion of northern China in 1449 which culminated in the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu. The large-scale, three-pronged invasion began in July, with Khan Togtoo-Bukha leading the easternmost force to Liaodong, the grand councillorCouncillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
Alag attacking Xuanfu, and Esen himself heading the troops that sacked the city of Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
in August. Another column of the Mongols invaded Ganzhou
Ganzhou
Ganzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong .-History:...
. Acting on extremely poor advice from one of his advisors, the emperor also chose to lead his own armies into battle, with disastrous consequences.
Initial Chinese failures
The campaign was a series of routs and massacres of Chinese forces at Oirat hands, even though the imperial troops in the region are estimated to have numbered as many as 500,000 and Esen Tayisi had brought only 20,000 cavalry, expecting mainly to engage in traditional Oirat border raiding. Datong lay north of the Great Wall of ChinaGreat Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
, and thus beyond its protection. After the initial attack on Datong, Esen feinted back to the Mongolian steppes. The emperor and his hastily-raised army chased the invaders west and met an ambush upon arriving at Datong. The Oirat horsemen harried the Chinese retreat back towards the wall for four days, through terrific thunderstorms, until the imperial army reached Tumu Bao (often translated Tumu Fortress). But rather than having secured a defensible position, the Chinese were trapped against the north side of Tumu, and Esen annihilated the Chinese army sent against him.
Capture of the Ming emperor
In any case, the Chinese refused to negotiate a ransom, perhaps in part because the emperor's brother (a prince variously referred to as Zhu Qiyu, later the Jingtai Emperor
Jingtai Emperor
The Jingtai Emperor was Emperor of China from 1449 to 1457. The second son of the Xuande Emperor, he was selected in 1449 to succeed his older brother, the Zhengtong Emperor, when the latter was captured by Mongols following the Tumu Crisis...
) was by then installed on the throne and not eager to give up his new position. Yu Qian
Yu Qian
Yu Qian , a native of Qiantang , was a Chinese Defence Minister during the Ming dynasty.- Biography :...
, the defence minister of Ming, who was organizing Chinese resistance, commented that the emperor's life is not as important as the fate of the country; he also believed that ransoming the emperor might boost the Mongols' morale and reduce that of the Ming.
Laying siege to Beijing
His ransom demand rebuffed, whether because the Chinese were calling Esen's bluff, believing he would consider the emperor more valuable alive than dead even without the possibility of ransom, or because the acting emperor was content not to obtain his brother's freedom, Esen began laying siege to the city. Esen offered the Emperor his sister in marriage, but the Emperor refused. The disheartened garrison in Beijing was under the command of the new commander Yu QianYu Qian
Yu Qian , a native of Qiantang , was a Chinese Defence Minister during the Ming dynasty.- Biography :...
who soon turned this unfavourable situation into a positive one. Not only did he use Beijing's fortifications to his advantage, but he also deployed various schemes to destroy the morale of the Mongol army. At one point, he ordered his forces to pretend that they had lost control of the city gate in order to lure a large force of Mongol riders into the city. Once a portion of the Mongol force was inside, the gate was shut and the Mongols were ambushed. Esen's sworn brother (anda
Anda
-Places:*Anda, Heilongjiang, a city in Suihua, Heilongjiang, China**Anda Town*Anda, Norway, an island**Anda lighthouse*Anda, Bohol, the Philippines*Anda, Pangasinan, the Philippines*Anda, Afghanistan*Anda, Mymensingh, Bangladesh-Other uses:...
) was killed in the attack. Having failed to take the city, Esen was soon forced to retreat under pressure from his own troops and by the arrival of reinforcements from elsewhere in China.
Negotiations
The Ming court elevated the Jingtai EmperorJingtai Emperor
The Jingtai Emperor was Emperor of China from 1449 to 1457. The second son of the Xuande Emperor, he was selected in 1449 to succeed his older brother, the Zhengtong Emperor, when the latter was captured by Mongols following the Tumu Crisis...
(r.1449-57) to the throne. Esen sent the captured emperor back in 1450. Since the Mongols relied on their trade-and-tribute relationship with China, Esen was then obligated to reopen negotiations from a much weakened position. While Sino-Mongol trade did not cease entirely during the Tumu Crisis
Tumu Crisis
The Tumu Crisis ; also called the Crisis of Tumubao or Battle of Tumu Fortress , was a frontier conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 1, 1449 and the loss of an army of 500,000 men to a much smaller force....
, as the incident has come to be called, Esen had not only failed to win better terms than the prior arrangements, he was forced to accept less favorable terms in return for resumption of more normal relations with the Ming Empire. But Esen and Togtoo-Bukha again invaded the north of China, devastating the area around the confluence of the Nen
Nen River
Nen River or Nenjiang , or Nonni is a river in Northeast China. The Nen River flows through the northern part of Heilongjiang Province and the northeastern section of Inner Mongolia, some parts of the river forming the border between the two regions...
and Songhua
Songhua River
The Songhua or Sunggari River is a river in Northeast China, and is the largest tributary of the Heilong River , flowing about from Changbai Mountains through Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces. The river drains of land, and has an annual discharge of .As the Second Songhua River, it joins the...
rivers.
Reign and death
Although, Togtoo-Bukha opposed Esen's policy of confrontation with the Ming, there was not any serious tension between the two. They quarreled over the designation of the heir of the throne. Esen wanted a son of his sister who was the wife of the khagan to be the successor of Togtaa-Bukha. But Togtoo-Bukha nominated his another son of the eastern Mongolian khatunKhatun
Khatun is a female title of nobility and alternative to male "khan" prominently used in the First Turkic Empire and in the subsequent Mongol Empire...
as his heir instead. Togtoo-Bukha supported the Three guards and led his own forces openly against Esen in 1451; but they were outnumbered by Oirat loyalists and the nominal Khan was caught and killed by eastern tribesmen as he attempted to retreat. Togtaa-Bukha's brother Agbarjin
Agbarjin
Agbarjin or Akbarjin was the khagan claimant of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. He was the youngest brother of Tayisung Khan Toghtoa Bukha....
jinong
Jinong
Jinong was a title of the Mongols. It was derived from Chinese Jinwang although some historians have suggested it originates from Qinwang...
(viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
), who married Esen's daughter Tsetseg, deserted to the Oirats and was promised the title of khagan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. However, Esen murdered him after he invited Agbarjin with his male relatives at the feast. Esen attempted to kill the baby son of her daughter by Agbarjin' son, Qara Qurtsaq, but she and Esen's grandmother, Samar, hid the infant prince, Batu-Mongke, who would be a direct ancestor of Dayan Khan
Dayan Khan
Dayan Khan , was a Mongol khan who reunited the Mongols under Chinggisid supremacy in the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia...
. Within eighteen months of his defeat of the titular Khan Toghto-Bukha, in 1453, Esen himself took the title of Great Khan of the Great Yuan. At the same time the Oirats began an expedition into Moghulistan
Moghulistan
Moghulistan or Mughalistan is a historical geographic unit in Central Asia that included parts of modern-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Chinese Autonomous Region of Xinjiang...
, Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, Transoxiana
Transoxiana
Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it is the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers...
as far as Kipchak steppe
Pontic-Caspian steppe
The Pontic-Caspian steppe is the vast steppeland stretching from the north of the Black Sea as far as the east of the Caspian Sea, from western Ukraine across the Southern Federal District and the Volga Federal District of Russia to western Kazakhstan,...
in southern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
from 1252–1255 and they returned with large booty.
The Ming emperor was among the first to acknowledge the new title, but the reaction of Esen's fellow Mongols, Oirat and otherwise, mostly ranged from disapproving to enraged. Though Esen's line was related to the royal line descended from Temüjin (Genghis Khan) through his grandmother Samar gunji (princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
), it was unlikely that he would have been considered eligible for election as Khan, and in any case Esen ignored the usual selection process: rather than the title of khan falling automatically to the eldest eligible male of the line, as in primogeniture
Primogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
, Mongol leaders were traditionally chosen by means of the kurultai
Kurultai
Kurultai is a political and military council of ancient Mongol and Turkic chiefs and khans. The root of the word "Khural" means political "meeting" or "assembly" in the Mongolian language, it is also a verb for "to be established"...
, an elective monarchy
Elective monarchy
An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected rather than hereditary monarch. The manner of election, the nature of the candidacy and the electors vary from case to case...
system, with the members of a lineage voting to choose the title's successor from among themselves. This dissatisfaction soon escalated into open revolt against Esen's leadership.
Esen gave his son Amasanj the title of taishi, an action that led his powerful general Alag, who had expected to receive the title himself, into rebellion. Notable Oirat leaders joined the rebellion against Esen who was defeated at the battle and murdered in 1455, the year following his assumption of the title of khan, by the son of a political opponent whom Esen had executed. After his death, the Oirat no longer held sway over the areas of Mongolia which had come under their control only under his rule, and remained divided among themselves for many years. The 17th and 18th century Zunghar rulers considered themselves to be descendants of Esen Taishi.