Collective Sovereignty that Grants Authority: Election Quriltais in the Mongol Empire, 1206-1294.

Abstract

The quriltai was known to be a major gathering of the Mongol power elite that carried out the functions such as enthronement of khans, campaign planning or wealth distribution. Legal power of quriltai is specifically in its ratification and approval of decisions rather than decision-making itself. This is how the nature of election quriltais as a collective sovereignty that formally legitimizes the sovereign differs from their common perception as “voting and choosing” organs. This paper argues that election quriltais in the early imperial period (1206-1251) should be distinguished from those that took place afterwards, which is due to the difference in their scale, structure, and function. Their representation in the texts demonstrate the eventual dissolution of the unified Mongol Empire that came afterwards. Incomplete participation of the ruling family starting from Batu’s absence at Güyük’s enthronement in 1246 and culminating in 1251 demonstrates the end of the unified empire, and that the enthronement of Ögedei Qa’an in 1228-29 appears as the only election that is legitimate in its full sense. The paper demonstrates the fully institutionalized nature of quriltais during the later period, and that the texts reflect their function as a merely symbolic instrument of claiming power with quriltais summoned by Qubilai and Ariq Böke serving as examples. With the Yuan dynasty adhering more to Chinese customs, an enthronement of Temür in 1294 is an example of how no one lays claim to be the Qa’an of the whole Mongol realm anymore after 1260.