Temür Khan
Yuan · 6th ruler
元成宗 Yuán Chéngzōng鐵穆耳 Tiěmù'ěr
Wade–Giles: Yüan Ch'eng-tsung
Reigned 1294–1307 (12 years)
Reigned 12 years (1294–1307). Died at 42 (East Asian reckoning) of natural causes. 6th ruler of Yuan.
Facts
- Reign
- 10 May 1294 – 10 February 1307 (6th ruler of Yuan)
- Length of reign
- 12 years
- Born
- 15 October 1265
- Died
- 10 February 1307
- Age at accession
- Unknown
- Age at death
- 42
- Cause of death
- Natural causesNatural death or illness (including old age)
- Path to the throne
- Designated heirSucceeded the previous ruler of the same regime, who had chosen the heir (by testament, naming a crown prince, etc.)
- Predecessor
- Kublai Khan
- Successor
- Külüg Khan
- Era names
- 元貞 Yuánzhēn (proclaimed 1294)
- 大德 Dàdé (proclaimed 1297)
Ages are given in East Asian reckoning (sui): a person is one year old at birth and gains a year at each New Year, so the figure is one or two years higher than the Western age.
Life
In brief
He was the Yuan emperor who succeeded his grandfather Kublai Khan; during his reign the wars with the princes on the northern frontier came to an end but state finances declined, and in his last years illness led him to leave the government to the empress and his ministers. The assessment in his annals calls him a ruler who preserved what Kublai had built.
Road to the throne
He was the third son of Jingim, honored as Yuzong. On Kublai's orders he put down the renewed revolt of Qada'an, and in 1293 he received the seal of crown prince and took command of the armies on the northern frontier. When Kublai died in 1294, the news reached him with the army on the northern frontier, and he took the throne in the Da'an Pavilion at Shangdu. According to the biography of Öz Temür, at the council that settled the succession Kammala, Prince of Jin, answered that he wished to face north and serve as a subject, and with that the choice was made. According to the biography of Bayan, when an imperial prince objected, Bayan stood on the palace steps gripping his sword and set out Kublai's last wishes. The annals do not tell this story, saying only that the imperial clan chose him in keeping with the ancestral instructions.
Reign and death
When he asked about the accounts in 1298, the Right Chancellor Öljei replied that revenue was not enough and that they were borrowing from the reserves backing the Zhiyuan paper money. The next year the Secretariat reported that revenue did not cover even half a year and that the paper currency was in danger of collapse. The annals of Wuzong record that in 1301 his nephew Khaishan fought Kaidu on the northern frontier and that Kaidu withdrew without success and died soon after, but this battle is missing from the annals of Chengzong. In 1303 Duwa and others sent envoys asking for an end to the fighting. In the same year he executed Liu Shen, who had lost his army on the expedition against Babai Xifu. The annals say that the empress of the Bayaut clan was formally installed in 1299, while the biographies of empresses say she was made empress at the start of the Yuanzhen era and received her patent and seal in 1299. He fell ill in 1302, and according to the biographies of empresses, the empress ran the government from within the palace on behalf of the often ailing emperor, and relied on the minister Harghasun. Early in 1306 the crown prince Deshou died, and the next year Temür Khan himself died in the Yude Hall. According to the biographies of empresses, after his death the empress tried to put Ananda, Prince of Anxi, on the throne, but Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan killed the Prince of Anxi and sent the empress away to Dong'an prefecture. The annals of Wuzong say the plan was for the empress to rule as regent with Ananda's help, and record that she was later ordered to take her own life, which differs from the account in the biographies of empresses.
Translated from the Japanese text of this site, which is written from the official histories. Years are given in the Western calendar; months are omitted because the histories use the Chinese lunar calendar.
During the reign
Number of times each event is recorded in the official histories. How each item is counted
- Era name changes
- 2
- General amnesties
- 4
- Empresses installed
- 1
- Crown princes deposed
- 0
- Personal campaigns
- 0
- Rebellions suppressed
- 8
- Rebellions faced
- 8
- Capital relocations
- 0
Emperors of Yuan
- 5thKublai Khan元世祖 Yuán Shìzǔ忽必烈 Hūbìliè1260–1294 · 33 years · Natural causes, age 801260–129433 yearsNatural causes, age 80
- 6thTemür Khan元成宗 Yuán Chéngzōng鐵穆耳 Tiěmù'ěr1294–1307 · 12 years · Natural causes, age 421294–130712 yearsNatural causes, age 42
- 7thKülüg Khan元武宗 Yuán Wǔzōng海山 Hǎishān1307–1311 · 3 years · Natural causes, age 311307–13113 yearsNatural causes, age 31
- 8thAyurbarwada Buyantu Khan元仁宗 Yuán Rénzōng愛育黎拔力八達 Àiyùlíbálìbādá1311–1320 · 8 years · Natural causes, age 361311–13208 yearsNatural causes, age 36
- 9thGegeen Khan元英宗 Yuán Yīngzōng碩德八剌 Shuòdébālá1320–1323 · 3 years · Assassinated, age 211320–13233 yearsAssassinated, age 21
- 10thYesün Temür元泰定帝 Yuán Tàidìngdì也孫鐵木兒 Yěsūntiěmù'ér1323–1328 · 4 years · Natural causes, age 361323–13284 yearsNatural causes, age 36
- 11thRagibagh Khan元天順帝 Yuán Tiānshùndì阿速吉八 Āsùjíbā1328 · 41 days · Unknown132841 daysUnknown
- 12th, 14thTugh Temür元文宗 Yuán Wénzōng圖帖睦爾 Tútiēmù'ěr1328–1329; restored 1329–1332 · 3 years · Natural causes, age 291328–1329; restored 1329–13323 yearsNatural causes, age 29
- 13thKusala元明宗 Yuán Míngzōng和世㻋 Héshìlà1329 · 184 days · Assassinated, age 301329184 daysAssassinated, age 30
- 15thRinchinbal Khan元寧宗 Yuán Níngzōng懿璘質班 Yìlínzhìbān1332 · 52 days · Natural causes, age 7133252 daysNatural causes, age 7
- 16thToghon Temür元惠宗 Yuán Huìzōng妥懽帖睦爾 Tuǒhuāntiēmù'ěr1333–1370 · 36 years · Natural causes, age 511333–137036 yearsNatural causes, age 51