Qi Empress
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Qi Empress (奇皇后; Mongolian name: Öljei Khutugh Өлзий хутаг 完者忽都, Korean Name: 기황후) (?-1369/70) was one of empresses of Toghun Temür Khan of the Yuan Dynasty and the mother of Ayushiridar.
She was born to Gi Ja-o (奇子敖) in Haeng Prefecture (幸州), Korea. She had an elder brother named Gi Cheol (奇轍). She became a concubine of Toghun Temür and mothered Ayurshiridar. After the primary empress Danashri was overthrown in 1340[citation needed] because of the rebellion by his brother Tanggisi, Toghun Temür try to install Öljei Khutugh as an empress, Bayan, who held real power, opposed it. When Bayan was purged, she became the secondary empress in 1340 (the primary one was Bayan Khutugh of the Khunggirad clan). Her son Ayurshiridar became Crown Prince in 1353. Using his Korean eunuch Bak Bulhwa (朴不花), she began the campaign to force the Emperor to pass the throne to Ayurshiridar. It became known to the emperor and he grew apart from her.
The Mongols made Goryeo their vassal state, so that her brother Bayan Bukha (Gi Cheol) came to threaten the position of the king, Bayan Temür (King Gongmin) exterminated the Gi family in a coup in 1356. In 1364 she fielded Tash Temür as the king of Goryeo and dispatched troops to Korea, but they were defeated by Goryeo army in crossing the Yalu River.
At that time the internal strife was fought between supporters and opponents of the Crown Prince. An opposition leader Bolud Temür finally occupied the capital in 1364. Ayurshiridar fled to Köke Temür, a supporter of him, but Qi Empress was imprisoned by Bolud Temür. Bolud Temür was overthrown by Köke Temür the next year. Once again, she tried to install her son as the Khan, with the support of Köke Temür, but in vain. After Bayan Khutugh died, Öljei Khutugh was elevated to the primary empress.
The collapse of Mongol rule of China in 1368 forced her to flee to Yingchang (應昌). In 1370 Toghun Temür Khan died and Ayurshiridar ascended to the throne there. She became Empress Dowager, but soon after that went missing. It is possibly that she was captured by the Ming Chinese when Mongol royal family fleeing. According to the myth, she was a pregnant when she was captured by the Ming. She possibly married Hongwu and gave birth the Ming Emperor Yongle.[1]
[edit] References
Ч.Далай - Монголын түүх 1260-1388
- ^ The Cambridge History of China, Vol 7, pg 193, 1988
