Borte

As the chief wife of Genghis Khan, Börte (c. 1161-1230) stood at the head of the family from which every major Mongol dynasty of the following centuries descended. She belonged to the Onggirat (Khongirad) tribe, whose pastures lay near the Mongols' own and whose daughters frequently married into Mongol ruling families; her father, Dei Sechen, betrothed her in childhood to the boy then called Temüjin. The marriage took place around 1178, when both were in their teens and Temüjin was an obscure chieftain's son with few followers.

Early in the marriage Börte was abducted by the Merkit people, in retaliation, the chronicles say, for an earlier bride-theft committed by Temüjin's father. Temüjin recovered her with the help of his patron Toghrul of the Kereits and his sworn brother Jamukha, a campaign that marked one of his first significant military undertakings. Shortly after her return she gave birth to her first son, Jochi, whose paternity was questioned by some within the family because of the timing — a doubt that later complicated the imperial succession, though Genghis Khan always treated Jochi as his own.

Börte bore four sons — Jochi, Chagatai, Ögedei, and Tolui — and several daughters who were married to allied rulers. By Mongol custom, only the sons of the chief wife were eligible to inherit, so her children alone divided the empire. From them came the four great branches of the Chinggisid world: Jochi's descendants ruled the Golden Horde on the western steppe; Chagatai's line held Central Asia; Ögedei's briefly supplied the great khans; and Tolui's sons founded both the Yuan dynasty in China and the Ilkhanate in Persia. Every later claimant to Chinggisid legitimacy, from the khans of Crimea to the emperors in Dadu, traced descent through Börte.

Within the empire she held the rank of grand empress and presided over her own ordo, the great household camp that functioned as a center of property and patronage. The sources credit her with sound political judgment; the Secret History of the Mongols records her advice to her husband at several junctures, including her warning against the shaman Teb Tengri's growing influence. The date of her death is not securely recorded, but she is generally believed to have died around 1230, having outlived her husband by about three years.