Xueyantuo | |||||||||||||
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| 628–723 (?–723 under Second Turkic Khaganate) | |||||||||||||
 Year 630, the Xueyantuo directly controlled areas. | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Ih Huree | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Old Turkic | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Tengrism | ||||||||||||
| Government | Tribalconfederation | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
• Established | 628 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 723 (?–723 under Second Turkic Khaganate) | ||||||||||||
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| Xueyantuo | |||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 薛延陀 | ||||||||||||||
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Early Turkic Khaganates
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TheXueyantuo orSir Tardush were an ancientTurkic tribe from theTiele confederation[1] and akhaganate inNortheast Asia who were at one point vassals of theGöktürks, later aligning with theTang dynasty against theEastern Turkic Khaganate.
Xue 薛 appeared earlier asXinli 薪犁 inSima Qian'sShiji, vol. 110 but were not referred to again until the 7th century.[2][3]Golden (2011) proposed that 薛 Xue's Old Turkic formSir derived from SanskritŚrī "fortunate, auspicious"[4]
The etymology ofYantuo 延陀 is much debated. It was first identified withTarduš, one of two divisions, besidesTöliš, of the short-lived Xueyantuo Qaghanate, by Western Orientalists (likeVilhelm Thomsen) who consideredTöliš andTarduš to be tribal names. The ethnonym is thus reconstructable asSyr-Tardush.[5] However, Chinese scholars viewedTöliš andTarduš as names of political organizations or districts: for example, Cen Zhongmian viewed the Töliš-Tarduš division as east–west whereas Wang Jingru, citing theNew Book of Tang, viewed Töliš-Tarduš as north–south.[6]
Sergey Klyastorny (2003:305), apud Golden (2018), proposed that Xueyantuo transcribed *Sir-Yamtar;[7] in contrast to the tribal nameSir,[Ïšβara] Yamtar appeared as a personal name of one companion ofKül Tigin, mentioned the eponymous inscription in his memory.[8]
TheTongdian records the origin of Yantuo: "During the reign ofMurong Jun in theFormer Yan, theXiongnuchanyuHelatou (賀剌頭, "the leader of theAlat tribe") led his tribe of thirty-five thousand people and came to surrender. Yantuo people are probably their descendants." Based on this, Bao (2010) proposed that Yantuo people were the descendants of theAlat tribe, also known as Hala-Yundluɣ; therefore, the name Yantuo was probably derived from Yundluɣ, and Xueyantuo can be reconstructed asSir-Yundluɣ.[9]
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Initially theXue and theYantuo were two separate tribes. TheTongdian states that: "Xueyantuo is a splinter tribe fromTiele. In the time ofFormer Yan [emperor]Murong Jun,XiongnuShanyu Helatou led his tribe, numbering 35,000, to come surrender. Yantuo are probably their descendants. With the Xue tribe [Yantuo] live intermixed. Thus the appellation Xueyantuo. The Khagan clan's surname is Yilitu. For generations they have been a strong nation."[10] The rulers of Xueyantuo claimed to be originally namedXue (薛/偰), and that the name of the tribe was changed to Xueyantuo after the Xue defeated and merged the Yantuo into their tribe.[11][12]
AfterYiedie Khan, the Xueyantuo founded a short-lived khaganate over the steppe underZhenzhu Khan, his sonDuomi Khan and nephewYitewushi Khan, the last of whom eventually surrendered to theTang dynasty.
In 605, Xueyantuo were attacked by theWestern Turkic Khaganate underHeshana Qaghan. Consequently, they abandoned the Western Turks and established their own khaganate under a leadership ofQibi tribe'sYiwuzhenmohe Qaghan, retaining the control and income from theTurpan segment of theSilk Road. Later, Xueyantuo leader Yshbara was installed as a lesser kagan yetir (yeti er "seven tribes"). In 610,Shikui Khagan (r. 610–617) ascended to the Western Turkic throne, both rulers renounced their kagan ranks and rejoined the Western Turkic Khaganate. The next Western Turkic ruler,Tong Yabghu Qaghan (r. 618–628) annexed all seven tribes of the Xueyantuo-headed Tiele confederation, which also includedUyghur, Bayïrku,Ădiz, Tongra, Bugu andBarsil tribes. In 627 the Xueyantuo leader led his tribes into the territory of theEastern Turkic Khaganate, defeated the main force of the khaganate led by the son of the reigningIllig Qaghan,Yukuk Shad, and settled in the valley of riverTola in the northern Mongolia. After the victory, Uyghur leader Yaoluoge Pusa assumed a titlehuo xielifa (Chinese:活頡利發 *kat-elteber[13] or *war-hilitber[14]) and split from the confederation, and in 629 the Xueyantuo Yinan-erkin declared himselfInčü Bilge-Khagan of the new Xueyantuo Khaganate.
This Xueyantuo Khaganate was quickly recognized by the Tang Empire, as a counterweight against the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.[15] "Raising Yi'nan on Kagan throne was done under pressure from the Tang court interested in stripping El-kagan of the rights to the supreme power in the huge region, and also in final dismemberment of the Turkic state, a source of many conflicts on their northern borders."[16] Xueyantuo provided military service by assisting the Tang Empire against theTatars in the 630s. The Xueyantuo's vast khaganate spanned from theAltai Mountains to theGobi Desert.
On March 27, 630, the Xueyantuo allied with the Tang to defeat the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in theYin Mountains. Illig Qaghan escaped, but was handed over to the Tang by his subordinate qaghan on May 2.[17][18]
After Eastern Göktürks were defeated by Tang the Xueyantuo effectively took over control of the Eastern Göktürks' former territory, at times submissive to the Tang and at timeswarring with the Tang and the subsequent khan of the Eastern Göktürks that Tang supported,Qilibi Khan.
In 632 the Xueyantuo repulsed an army ofSy Yabghu Qaghan from the Western Turkic Khaganate, then subjugated theKarluks at theUlungur andIrtysh Rivers, and then theYenisei Kyrgyz tribes. In 634 one of their rivals, Dubu Qaghan (Ashina Shier), son ofAshina Xichun, who ruled much of the eastern half of the Western Turkic Khaganate, was eliminated before escaping to the Tang dynasty.[19]
After that they maintained a friendly relationship with the Tang until 639, when a raid on the Tang capital was planned by the Gökturks underAshina Jiesheshuai (阿史那结社率), who had been disparaged by the Tang emperor. He allied with his nephew Ashina Heluohu (阿史那贺逻鹘), choosing him as the leader of the raid on May 19. They were unsuccessful and over 40 rebels were executed. Heluohu was spared and expelled to the far south.[20][21]
After this incident, an arraignment was made on August 13. All Goktürks north of Ordos were deported, in an attempt to restore the Eastern Turkic Khagante as a puppet against the Xueyanto, in an attempt to distract them from the territorial competition in the west.
Among the Göktürk nobles, Ashina Simo was selected as the qaghan (Qilibi Khan) with his capital at the border. The plot failed, as he was unable to gather his people, many of his tribesmen having escaped to the south by 644 after a series of unsuccessful incursions by the Xueyantuo supported by the Tang dynasty. Defeats by the advancing Tang troops had made their tribal allies lose confidence in them. The crisis deepened the next year when a coup d'état took place within the clan.
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On August 1, 646, the Xueyantuo were defeated by theUyghurs (Huihe, 回纥) and the Tang. The Xueyantuo'sDuomi Khan, was killed by the Uyghurs. A Tang army led by the generalLi Daozong, the Prince of Jiangxia, crushed the Xueyantuo forces. The last Xueyantuo khan, theYitewushi Khan Duomozhi, surrendered.[22] Their remnants were destroyed two years later, on September 15.[23][24] The Sir re-appeared later as[Al]tï Sir "Six Sir Tribes", subjects of theSecond Turkic Khaganate rulerBilge Qaghan;[25][26] Klyashtorny controversially proposed that Sir were precursors to theKipchaks.[27]
The Xueyantuo's relationship with the laterShatuo Turks is contested. The epitaph of Shatuo leaderLi Keyong states that his clan's progenitor was "Yidu, Lord of the Xueyantuo country, an unrivaled general" (益度、薛延陀國君、無敵將軍). However, Chinese chroniclers also traced the Shatuo's origins to aTiele chief named *Bayar (拔也Baye)[28] ~ *Bayïrku (拔也古Bayegu)[29] orWestern TurkicChuyue 處月 (often identified withChigils).[30][31][32]
The surname of Xueyantuo's khans is uncertain, although modern Chinese historianBo Yang lists their surname as "Yishi" in his edition (also known as theBo Yang Edition) of theZizhi Tongjian.[35]
According to Cen Zhongmian, the aforementioned names are related to a variant ofelteris.[36] Duan Lianqin asserted that the name Yishibo (Yiedie Khan) can also be read interchangeably as Yedie (也咥).[37] TheZizhi Tongjian, in the original, referred to one ethnic Xueyantuo general named Duomo, possibly the Yitewushi Khan (after he became a Tang general) by the family name ofXue[38]—although theTang Huiyao indicated that it was not the same person, as it indicated that the Yitewushi Khan died during Emperor Taizong's reign.[11]
