Kheshig ( Mongolian : Хишигтэн ; also Khishig, Keshik, Khishigten ; lit. "favored", "blessed") were the imperial guard and shock troops for Mongol royalty in the Mongol Empire , particularly for rulers like Genghis Khan and his wife Börte . Their primary purpose was to act as bodyguards for the emperors and other important nobles. They were divided into two groups: the day guard (Torguud) and the night guard (Khevtuul). They were distinct from the regular army and would not go to battle with them, instead staying back on guard duty. Their supreme commander was called the Cherbi .
15-637: Keshik may refer to: Kheshig , imperial guards of the Mongolian Empire Keshik, Kerman , a village in Iran See also [ edit ] Kashyyyk , planet in the Star Wars universe and home planet of Chewbacca Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Keshik . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
30-683: A few were Mongols, Koreans , Tungusic peoples , Kipchaks and Europeans/Middle Easterners including Alans and even one unit of Russians . The Keshig was converted into an administrative organisation instead. Many elements in the Mughal Empire shared similar heritage to the Mongols . Such examples are Babur , who was a direct descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. The Kheshgi family , an imperial dynasty of Pashtun origin that played important roles throughout Mughal era , are believed to be descendants of
45-615: The Kheshig who originated in the surrounding areas of Zamand and Keshik in Iran . The modern Mongolian Khishigten clan are also believed to be their descendants, who now inhabit Heshigten Banner within Inner Mongolia in China . Tumen (unit) Tumen , or tümen ("unit of ten thousand"; Old Turkic : tümän; Mongolian : Түмэн , tümen ; Turkish : tümen ; Hungarian : tömény ),
60-696: The creation of imperial guards like the Keshik. Kheshig was the term used for the palace guards of the Mughal emperors in India, and also for the matchlocks and sabres, which were changed weekly from Akbar the Great 's armoury for the royal use. The royal guards in Persia who watched the King's person at night were also called Keshikchi. The assassination of the leaders of rival Mongol tribes
75-510: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keshik&oldid=1092832374 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Kheshig Because the Mongol Empire spanned most of Eurasia , its impacts on Mongol controlled-areas led to
90-507: The number of tumen deployed doesn't provide an accurate number of combatants. The commander of a tumen was a tümen-ü noyan , a term sometimes translated "myriarch" (cf. myriad ), meaning commander of 10,000. Tümen is a military unit which is still used in the Turkish Army , consisting of 6,000 to 10,000 soldiers. Its commander is a tümgeneral in the Army and Air Forces and a tümadmiral in
105-444: The reign of Genghis, it seems to have been divided into four groups, commanded by the four generals Mukhulai , Chormaqan , Bo'orchu and Borokhula. Members of the kheshig outranked almost any other military officers in the Mongol Empire. As it was extremely well paid, the vocation was a popular one, and the numbers of Kheshig grew rapidly, to the extent that they were only normally on duty for three days in succession. In light of this,
120-586: The subject inside. As a result, the Mongol monarch in Mongolia typically had personal guards. The Kerait khan Toghoril (Wang Khan) had an imperial guard, Torguud. According to an oral tradition , their descendants could be Torghut people. After the defeat of Wang Khan in 1203, Genghis established the kheshig. The kheshig consisted mainly of sworn personal followers. At first, this consisted of 70 day guards (Torguud or tunghaut) and 80 night guards (khevtuul). During
135-494: The use of the traditional Mongol Keshig . Kublai created a new Imperial guard force, the suwei , of which half were Chinese and the other half ethnically mixed. By the 1300s even the Keshig were flooded with Chinese recruits. The suwei were initially 6,500 strong but by the end of the dynasty it had become 100,000 strong. They were divided into wei or guards, each recruited from a particular ethnicity. Most wei were Chinese, while
150-513: The word kheshig refers favor or blessing in the Mongolian language . Membership in the kheshig was regarded as a supreme honor and was an alternative to the necessity of hostage taking for noblemen . In the early days the guard was composed of 1,000 men. By the middle of Genghis Khan's reign, they had expanded to a tumen (10,000 men) commanded by Nayagha, an uncle of Bayan of the Baarin . The Kheshig
165-539: Was a decimal unit of measurement used by the Turkic and Mongol peoples to quantify and organize their societies in groups of 10,000 . A tumen denotes a tribal unit of 10,000 households, or a military unit of 10,000 soldiers. English Orientalist Sir Gerard Clauson (1891-1974) defined tümän as immediately borrowed from Tokharian tmān , which according to Edwin G. Pulleyblank might have been etymologically inherited from Old Chinese tman or 萬 . It
SECTION 10
#1732855915472180-415: Was a common occurrence thanks to the ever-shifting loyalties and conflicting interests at play within Mongol tribal politics. The father of Genghis Khan , Yesugei , for example, was unwittingly poisoned by one of his enemies. The risk was especially high at night since the ger that Mongol nomads traditionally sleep in lacked a solid wall, and so a sword or spear could easily penetrate the walls and kill
195-552: Was originally consisted Mongolians . As the Empire expanded rapidly, Genghis Khan's successors recruited Persian , Georgian , Armenian , Alan , Korean , Italian and Russian units. Since the kheshig was personal appanage of a monarch, his successors did not inherit them. Instead, the kheshigs of deceased Emperors took care of their lords' families and assisted households. But Güyük Khan took most of his father Ögedei 's old kheshig. For his own bodyguards Kublai Khan retained
210-553: Was recursively built from units of 10 (aravt), 100 (zuut) and 1,000 ( mingghan ), each with a leader reporting to the next higher level. Tumens were considered a practical size, neither too small for an effective campaign nor too big for efficient transport and supply. The military strategy was based on the use of tumens as a useful building block causing reasonable shock and attack. A Mongol army usually consisted out of three tumen, but armies consisting of only one tumen were also deployed . Regardless, tumen would often be understrength and
225-454: Was thought that the same kind of military organization was used by the Magyars during the conquest of Hungary . According to Ahmad ibn Rustah (c. 930), a Persian explorer and geographer relying on second-hand information, the "Magyars are a race of Turks and their king rides out with horsemen to the number of 10,000 and this king is called Kanda ". In Genghis Khan 's military system, a tumen
#471528