Genghis Khan has a famous saying, "The happiest thing in life is to defeat the enemy, seize everything he has, see his relatives in tears, and accept his wife and daughters." Some of his supporters believe that this exaggeration cannot be specifically interpreted as a derogatory statement against him. It is an effective way for him (Genghis Khan) to spread fear through the pen of men of letters. The Mongols are using terror propaganda to accelerate their conquest. We will not say whether this statement or justification is tenable, but we will only talk about a custom that was popular in the grasslands of northern China at that time - marriage robbery.
When we look at the resume of Genghis Khan, we will find the fact that Temujin, as the Great Khan, had many wives and concubines like too many emperors in the Central Plains, or in our words today It's his wife. These wives of his have the same characteristics. They were either snatched away or presented by the defeated tribes. However, these wives all showed their loyalty to him without exception. It is inevitable that people will not feel a little bit. strangeness. And this is enough for us to see some of the awareness and concepts of women on the northern grasslands at that time, especially Genghis Khan's mother, who was even more prominent in this regard.
There is a saying in China that was originally "Marry a beggar and follow the beggar, marry an old man and follow the old man", which means that even if a woman marries a beggar or an older person, she must live with him for the rest of her life. With the changes of the times, this proverb changed its pronunciation to "if you marry a chicken, follow the chicken; if you marry a dog, follow the dog." The original sentence comes from Songzhuang Jiyu's "Chicken Ribs": "Marry so that the chickens will fly away; marry so that the dogs will chase the dogs." Women on the northern grasslands during Genghis Khan's time did indeed achieve this to the extreme.
The first thing we want to say is that in the past, there was indeed a custom of robbing among some ethnic groups in the northern grasslands. Take Hoelun, the mother of Genghis Khan, for example. Genghis Khan's father, Yesugei, was the military leader of the Qiyan Tribe of the Mongolian people, and his mother belonged to the Orkhunawuti Tribe, a tribe of the Mongolian Tribe, and a clan of the Hongjira Tribe. Hoelun was originally married to Yeke Chiledu of the Meerqid tribe, but he was robbed by Yesugei. Genghis Khan's wife Borte clearly had this experience. In 1180, not long after she married Genghis Khan, she was snatched away by the Merqid tribesmen who had snatched her mother away from Genghis Khan's father. Two things happened to the same person: his mother was robbed and his wife was robbed. It is not difficult for people to see the prevalence of the custom of marriage robbery at that time.
Predatory marriage was prevalent in the male-centered nomadic era. At this time, because women were already the property of men, they became the objects of plunder when tribes and tribes and nations fought against each other. But when exactly this predatory marriage custom appeared and what was the reason for its formation is a controversial topic. But what we want to say is that this is not a patent of the Mongolians. This kind of marriage custom seems to have appeared among the grassland peoples in northern my country. For example, the Tuyuhun people's marriage robbery is clearly recorded in history books. "History of the North: Biography of Tuyuhun" says that the Tuyuhun people "as for marriage, those who are poor and cannot prepare money will steal their girls." This means that when the poor people among the Tuyuhun people cannot afford the bride price similar to what we are talking about today, they will go to the house of a daughter and snatch the girl away. "History of the North" uses the word "stealing", which actually means robbery. And this is also a microcosm of the marriage-robbing custom among ethnic minorities in the northern grasslands.
The impact of the custom of marriage robbery can even be said to be extensive and far-reaching. Even today, we can still see the existence of this form. However, this "rob" is no longer a robbery, but a This folk custom is that after a man and a woman fall in love freely, obtain the consent of their parents, and decide to get married, the two parties agree on a date for the robbery. It is just a lively wedding form. Therefore, snatched marriage has actually changed its original meaning, but snatched marriage is still retained as a wedding ceremony and is more common in ethnic minority areas in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet and other provinces in southwest my country. It is also reported that some ethnic groups in India and tribes in East Africa also retain this traditional custom.
Secondly, the woman snatched was not as scary as some people said, and there seemed to be no issue of revenge. Among Genghis Khan's wives, there is a well-known legend that when Genghis Khan attacked Xixia, the Xixia people could not resist, so they sent a princess to Genghis Khan and became Genghis Khan's wife. This thing really happened in history. This woman lived in Genghis Khan's third Orduo. She was Queen Chahe, named Li Weiming, also known as the Princess of Xixia. She was the daughter of Li An'an of Xixia. Legend has it that Li Weiming is very complicated. It is said that in order to avenge the Xixia people, she eventually bit Genghis Khan to death, causing Genghis Khan to leave in disgrace.
But what we want to say is that this is just a legend, coming from unofficial history and does not exist in official history.
Although the poets described the incident of Yesugei robbing Hoelun as thrilling and somewhat frightening, Hoelun was clearly very determined after being robbed. After experiencing the poisoning of her husband Yesugei After the ups and downs of his death and being abandoned by his tribe, he relied on his tenacious perseverance and superhuman talents to successfully raise the Temujin brothers in the bloody storm. In the end, his son Genghis Khan, the "genius of the generation", became famous all over the world. The same is true for Genghis Khan's wife Borte. After being snatched away and snatched back by Genghis Khan, she has been a solid support and assisted Genghis Khan in laying the foundation of the Mongol Empire, and was respected by future generations. This means that they only have in mind who they are marrying, not whether they have been robbed, and they always perform their responsibilities as wives wholeheartedly.
Thirdly, at that time, the northern grasslands did not seem to hate women and children, and if they could not be beaten, they would offer their daughters in marriage. There is a story about Bortie that her first child, Jochi, had only a nominal father-son relationship with Genghis Khan, because after she was rescued by Genghis Khan, she gave birth to Jochi on the way, and when she snatched her away Not pregnant. Therefore, some people say that the word "Jochi" means "guest", and there are always people who continue to doubt Jochi's lineage, especially the second brother Chagatai and the third brother Ogedai often conflict with them because of this. However, Genghis Khan has always been very "ambitious" in this regard. He raised Jochi like other children and became an excellent military commander. Moreover, I don’t dislike Bortie, and I will never leave her.
This means that men clearly regard children and women as "wealth" when they are snatching them away. As long as they are by their side, they will love them sincerely. In addition, the grassland tribes at that time clearly lived such a life. If they could beat them, they would become kings. If they couldn't beat them, they would surrender and offer their daughters to form a marriage alliance. Many of Genghis Khan's wives were like this. For example, the side concubine Hulan had this life experience: At the beginning, Dayi'er Wusun once attacked Genghis Khan with his fellow clansmen Wudu Yitimeerqi Chief Tuohei Tuo'a and Heatai Meerqi Chief Daerma La, and kidnapped Genghis Khan. Go to Bortie. In 1204, they joined forces with the Naiman chief Taiyang Khan Taiyibuhe to fight Genghis Khan on Mount Nahu, but were defeated and Taiyibuhe died in battle. Tuoheitu'a fled, and Dayi'er and Wusun took refuge with the Mongolian official Naya'a, and offered his daughter Hulan to surrender.
The same is true for Yesu Qian and Ye Sui: At first, Ye Suqian's father Ye Keshe gathered a small number of Tatars to fight the Mongols, but they were all killed. The youngest daughter of Keshalian was also adopted by Temujin as his concubine. Later, Ye Suqian tried his best to recommend his sister Ye Sui to Temujin who was more beautiful than him. Ye Sui was a woman with a husband at the time and saw Temujin beheading her husband. After her husband died, Ye Sui worked hard to win Temujin's favor with the cooperation of her sister. After Temujin's death, more of Temujin's attendants were Ye Sui...
These grassland people After the women who were snatched away married their "enemies", they all strived to be a good wife, which surprised people today. Therefore, we have this speculation - is it because the men on the grasslands at that time did not regard women and children as hatred in the custom of snatching marriages, and women only recognized their "existing husbands" - this One point, it is very important to study the marriage awareness of prairie women at that time and the prairie marriage customs and habits - maybe, marriage robbery is not as terrible as some people imagine.