Anglo-Saxons in Genghis Khan's Destiny

When developing the theme of the development of Siberia and the Far East by the Anglo-Saxons [STETSYUK VALENTYN. 2024] the question arose about their fate during the existence of the world empire of Genghis Khan. To some extent, they must have been affected by the events of that time and even maybe took some part in the process of its emergence simply by virtue of their presence near its original location.

At left: Genghis Khan's birthplace memorial
Dadal Somon. Khentei Province. Eastern Mongolia. Photo from: RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: Fig 5.

Moreover, the creation of the Mongol ulus in the 12-13th centuries was not prepared by the previous history of the nomadic Mongol tribes.

In the XII century, the tribes, shepherds and hunters, who later became known as the Mongols, lived in a kindred system, divided into separate clans (omuks), which, in turn, were divided into bones (yasuns). Sometimes distinct related clans united among themselves and formed a special tribe, a people (ulus). Who was a distinct member, a distinct family or bone in relation to the clan, that same clan was in relation to the tribe (ulus) or tribal union (el) (VLADIMIRTSOV B.Ya. 1922: 11).

Additionally, the Mongols were significantly inferior quantitatively to the neighboring peoples. According to various sources at the beginning of the 13th cent. about 700 thousand people lived in Mongolia, 80 million in China, in the Khorezm sultanate – about 20 million, in Eastern Europe – about 28 million (GUMILYOV L.N. 1977: 74). However, suddenly a person appeared who could organize scattered tribes for great achievements. At the same time, he was a “outsider” among the Mongol aristocracy, and no tribal leaders of any consequence joined (RATHCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: 38). This contradicts the ideas of scientists about the logical sequence of stages of the historical process and the role of an individual in it.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century a small nation of hunters and herdsmen brought the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of Central Asia under its sway and in subsequent campaigns of conquest subjugated the most powerful and civilized states of Asia. The man who led this nation to victory was Temuchin, ‘the smith’, better known to history by the title which he adopted in 1206, Genghis Khan, ‘The World Conqueror’ (Ibid, xiii).

Even the origin of the very title of the ruler of the empire Khan (Middle Mongolian Qaγan) is puzzling since it cannot be explained in the languages of the peoples of the Far East. This fact but more the short-term existence, role, and significance of the Mongolian empire for subsequent history are also very intriguing to historians:

The problem of the creation of a world empire by Genghis Khan remains unresolved. Undoubtedly, “the question of Genghis Khan and his legacy requires an objective consideration”, but is it possible at the present level of our knowledge? It would seem that the answer should be affirmative: sources on the topic have been published and translated into European languages, most of them have a reference commentary attached, and there are bibliographic summaries of so many works that the most diligent scientist cannot read. However, a single critical summary is missing. It is easy to refer to any source, but there is no certainty that the truth is written there, especially since the descriptions of the same events in different sources are very different. This is especially true of the most important topic, the formation of the Mongolian state before Kurultai 1206 (GUMILYOV L.N. 1970: 455).

A great empire cannot arise as a deus ex machina. Some kind of historical experience must be present. In the search for the reasons for the creation and flourishing of the Mongol Empire, the role of Genghis Khan himself is highly assessed, not as a distinct individual, but associated with the traditional role and status of the first rulers of the emerging states in general:

A comparative historical study of 21 early states by H. J. M. Klassen shows that in 18 of 19 cases, the ruler had supernatural status; in 17 of 19 cases he was genealogically related to the gods; in 14 out of 16 he acted as an intermediary between the world of people and the world of gods; in 5 out of 18, the ruler of the early state had the status of a high priest… According to these ideas, it was believed that the prosperity of society depended on the ruler's personal qualities, charisma, and ability to ensure favor from Heaven and other supernatural forces (KRADIN M.N. 2007: 268).

The first states arose based on settled agricultural societies. Their rulers came from wealthy strata and used established traditions and experience to organize the society's socio-economic life. In Mongolia, there were no prerequisites for the emergence of an individual for the role of leader of state formation:

If in an agricultural-urban society, the foundations of power rested on the management of the people, control, and redistribution of surplus product, then these factors could not provide a stable foundation of power in the steppe society. The surplus product of the nomad economy (livestock) could not be effectively concentrated and accumulated… In general, the role of the rulers of nomadic societies in the internal economic life was small and could not be compared with the numerous responsibilities of the rulers of settled agricultural societies (Ibid, 265).

However, the ancient Mongols were not even nomads. In Chinese sources, they are derived from the Meng-ku (Mengwu) tribe. They were hunters, ate mainly the flesh of wild deer, and, strangely, they did not cook their food. They mastered this practice thanks to children born from mothers had been abducted by the Mongols in raids against other people. Undoubtedly, over time, they borrowed a lot from their neighbors in the process of trade exchange:

The Qidan guozhi (Khitan Annals) indicates that the Meng-ku also practised animal husbandry. ‘The Menguli people have no ruler and no chiefs. . .’ (Juvaini and Rashid ad-Din also record that, in olden days, the Mongols never had a leader who ruled the whole nation, each tribe having its own princeling.) ‘. . . they have no agriculture, hunting is their primary occupation; they have no fixed abode but migrate, following the seasonal supplies of water and pasture; their food consists of meat and mares’ milk; they do not fight with the Khitans but exchange with them cattle, sheep, camels, horses, also leather and wool products (RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: 7-8).

Thus, nomadic societies also differed in their level of development, depending on their ethnicity. The Turkic tribes that arrived in Mongolia from Europe were distinguished by richer political experience and often surpassed the Mongols in this regard (см. STETSYUK VALENTYN. 2023). For some time the Tartars were the most powerful tribe in eastern Mongolia. They were the richest of all the nomads and had exercised power over the majority of the Mongol tribes. The Turkic Naiman tribe dominated Western Mongolia in the 12th century. East of the Naimans, from the Orkhon in the west to the Onon and Kerulen rivers, was the extensive empire of the Keraits. The origin of these people is unclear. Some Chinese historians classify them as Mongols, others as Turks. Tu Ji, in Mengwuer shift (History of the Mongols), assumes a Turkic origin of them. His arguments may be open to refutation, but he is probably right. The names and titles of the Kerait rulers are Turkic. In his History of the Tribes, Rashid ad-Din does comment that they belong to the Mongol nation. However, he places them in a subgroup with the Naimans, Uighurs, Kirghiz, Kipchaks, and other Turkic peoples (RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991:1-4). Thus, the emergence of the personality of Genghis Khan as the creator of the Great Empire in the Mongolian environment should have been ensured by special circumstances, we will consider them by analyzing the data of historical documents. And we will see that factors more important than socio-economic ones are present in the struggle for supremacy on the steppe. Ratchnevsky emphasized the same when he wrote that the main factor was not simply socio-political (Ibid: 6). Modern historical science practically does not consider this feature. It refers to the theoretical justification for the phenomenon of xenocracy, which N. Kradin casually mentions in some of his work (KRADIN M.N. 2007: 27-28).

As P. Ratvhnevsky noted, the only sources used to reconstruct the events of the early history of the Mongolian state are Mangqolun niuca tobchan (The Secret History of the Mongols), which survived in Chinese phonetic script and in excerpts in Uighur script cited in the Altan tobchi (Golden Summary), also from the Altan debter (Golden Book), which has been lost. However, in the thirteenth century, Rashid ad-Din knew it, and it served as the source for the Chinese language chronicle, Shenwu qinzheng lu ( The Campaigns of Genghis Khan) [RATCHNEVSKY PAUL 1991: xiii].

Stamps commemorating the 750th anniversary of the Secret History
Photo from: RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: Fig 9

Both Ratchnevsky and Gumilyov believed the Chinese official version had passed strict government censorship. The episodes described in the Secret History, considered to detract from the greatness of Genghis Khan, were not taken into account, but bias is also visible in the original texts, the interpretation of the events described in them is not devoid of conjectures and assumptions, therefore the attitude towards both sources is critical. Ratchnevsky describes the creation of The Secret History of the Mongols as follows:

The Secret History was written immediately after Genghis Khan’s death and it has been traditionally assumed that the Year of the Rat cited in the colophon refers to the year 1240. Established anachronisms in the text of the Secret History have, however, led to the postulation of a later dating, but fresh and quite independent arguments have more recently been advanced to support the thesis that the original text dates from 1228. The veterans of the military campaigns gathered at the Great Khuriltai held by the Kerulen River would, during the long evenings, have recounted their deeds of valour; these stories provided the material for a work in which the anecdotes are only loosely connected. The author, possibly Shigi-Khutukhu, the adopted son of Genghis Khan, who was reared in the Conqueror’s household, accompanied Genghis on campaigns and was one of the first Mongols to learn the Uighur script, was obviously not concerned to offer a coherent picture of the course of history; his interest focused on the deeds of his heroes (RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: xiv).

There is no information about Genghis Khan other than the memories of his campaign participants. The absence of printed media has turned these memories into legends that modern historians use to reconstruct historical truth. Attitudes towards these legends may be various, and a separate work is devoted to this topic (ÇALIŞKAN SÜMEYRA. 2020.). Recognizing narrative as an indispensable source for historical research, the author notes:

While the narratives gave images and insights about what happened in the past, they also served various purposes by incorporating ideas and ideologies (Ibid, 354).

Ratchnevsky believed that the History author was critical of the activities of Chengis Khan. Thanks to such a critical attitude, we know some episodes from his life that court historians suppress as damaging to the reputation of the Conqueror of the World. However, we are interested in the origins of Genghis Khan, but not in his unsightly actions, the murder of his half-brother Bekhter, or relationships with women, and so on. There are many different stories about the origin of Chengis Khan, his ancestors, his name, and the reason for his blue eyes. The mystery of Genghis Khan's personality requires using additional facts to establish his origin. In particular, such information was obtained by an empirical synthesis of research results based on the graphic-analytical method. The ancestral homeland of the Anglo-Saxons in Eastern Europe was found with its help, and the further outline of their history was woven according to toponymy and indirect evidence. The Anglo-Saxons were the ruling elite of the Khazar Kaganate. The supreme ruler's title of this state was Hakan originated from OE. heah "high, great" and ān "single". The Middle Mongolian title Qaγan, which took the form khan in different languages comes from this word. The Anglo-Saxons played their role in the Russian state formation, but for some reason, some of them had to migrate beyond the Urals and further eastward [STETSYUK VALENTYN. 2024].

Immediately beyond the Urals, they founded the Pelym principality, the size of which can be indicated by a cluster of “dark” place names, which with varying degrees of probability can be interpreted using the Old English language:

Verkhny and Nizhny Tagil on th Tagil River in Sverdlovsk Region – OE. tægel "tail".

Chetkarino, a Village in the Pyshma town district of Sverdlovsk Region – OE. ciete "cabin, closet", carr "rock".

Vagina, a village in rural settlement Yurminskoye in Tyumen Region – OE. wagian "to move, shake".

Sos'va, two settlements Sverdlovsk Region and one in Beryozovsky district of Tyumen Region, several rivers of the same name – OE. sūsl "suffering, torment", wā "sore, misery".

Firsovo, villages in Rezhevski urban district of Sverdlovsk Region and Pervomaysk district of Altai Krai – OE. fyrs "furze, gorse, bramble" (Genísta).

Miass, a sity in Chelabinsk Region – OE meos "swamp".

Churilovo, a village in Krasnoarmeisk district of Chelyabinsk Region – OE. ceorl "a man, peasant, husband", Eng. churl.

Markovo, villages in Uvel district of Chelyabinsk Region, Ketovski district of Kurgan Region and Zavodoukovski district of Tyumen Region – mearc "border, end, district", "sign", mearca "determined space".

Shadrinsk, a town in Kurgan Region – OE. sceard "mutilated, chipped" with metathesis of consonants.

Bolshaya Riga, a village in Shumikhinsk district of Kurgan Region – OE. ryge "rye".

Tyumen, a regional center – OE. Tīw, Germanic god of war and mǣnan “mean”, “explain”, “connect”.

Beyond Tyumen, a strip of Anglo-Saxon place names stretches along the border of forest and steppe and marks a convenient route for moving through Siberia to Lake Baikal and beyond. We can most confidently speak about the following place names in the direction from west to east:

Atrachi, a village on the shore of the lake of the same name in the Tyukalinsky district of the Omsk region. – OE. ātor, ætrig "poison", cio "jackdaw".

Verkh-Irmen, a village in the Ordynsky district of the Novosibirsk region – OE. iermen "grait, strong".

Salair, a town in the urban district of the town of Guryevsk in Kemerovo Region – OE. sala "sale, selling", iere, ōra "ore". In the town, a mining and processing plant is extracting and producing gold, silver, zinc, and lead.

At right: Picture of an owl . Drawing from the site Babyblog.

Barnaul, the administrative center of the Altai Krai – OE. byrne "breastplate", ūle "owl". Plumage of an owl resembles chain mail (see the picture on the right). Obviously, the city made armor like "owl".

Tuim, a village in the Shirinsky district of Khakassia – OE. twinn "double, twin".

Bolshaya Irba, an urban settlement in the Kuraginsky district of the Krasnoyarski Krai – OE. ierfa, Ger. Erbe "heritage".

Gagul', a village in Ermakovski district of the Krajanoyarski Krai – OE. gāgul "throat, maw".

Orlik, a village, the administrative center of Okinsky district of Buryatia – OE. orlege "fight, war".

Gida, a village in the Dzhidinsky district of Buryatia – OE. giedd "singing, poem".

Selenga, a village on the bank of the river of the same name in Tarbagatay district of Buryatia – OE syle(n) "morass", -gē "district".

At left: The delta of the Selenga River

Ust'-Bryan', a village in Zaigraevsky district of Buryatia – OE. bryne "fire".

Kizhinga, a village, the administrative center of the Kizhinginsky district of Buryatia – OE. *cieging "calling" from ciegan "to call".

Dauriya, the historical and geographical region within the modern Republic of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Krai and the Amur Region – OE. deor, Eng. deer.

Daursky Nature Reserve. Dzerans. Photo by E. Kokukhin .

Khilok, a town in the Trans-Baikal Krai – OE. *hillock from hill "hill", Eng. hillock.

Duldurga, a village in the Trans-Baikal Krai – OE. đylđ "suffer", wœrig "tiredness".

Chita, a city, the administrative center of the Trans-Baikal Krai – OE. ciete "cabin, closet".

Tynda, a town in the Amur Region. tind "top, point", tinde "tensioned".

Tygda, a village in the Magdagachi district of the Amur Region – OE. tigde "receiver, partner".

This strip of place names marks a convenient route for moving eastward. Russia's conquest of Siberia in the 17th century occurred surprisingly very quickly. After the campaign of Yermak Timofeyevich, only eleven years passed but the city of Tomsk was laid almost two thousand kilometers from the Urals. Overcoming such a distance off-road would be impossible without using waterways, but the rivers flow here mainly in the meridional direction. The roads between Anglo-Saxon-based settlements have greatly simplified the moving and the settlements provided the possibility of resting and preparation of food. After 50 years the first jails of Transbaikalia were laid on the site of existing settlements such as the cities of Chita and Nerchinsk.

Anglo-Saxon pioneers had much more difficulties than Russian Cossacks had, and their advance to Baikal could last several centuries. In each newly created town, migrants left a small garrison, dissolved among the later Turkic population. Given the speed of movement, it can be assumed that the Anglo-Saxons could have appeared in Transbaikalia shortly before the wars of Genghis Khan, who had the name Temujin (Temuchin) at his birth. There is a clear cluster of Anglo-Saxon place names in this territory corresponding to Dauriya, so the core of the Anglo-Saxon tribe was concentrated here. It can be associated with local folk Merkit of Chinese sources. Of course, this was not the self-name of the newcomers. The Anglo-Saxons retained their European look, therefore they had appearance sharply differed from the local Mongoloids. Thus, there is reason to look for clues to the identity of Genghis Khan in the Anglo-Saxon environment. For this, we use the following sources:

1. The extensive work of the doctor and vizier of the Mongol II-khans of Persia Rashid-ad-Din was compiled at the beginning of the 14th century and based on the official Mongolian tradition and the stories of the guardians of Mongolian antiquity.

2. The Secret History of the Mongols, written in the 13th century in Mongolia and published in the 14th century in China.

3. The official history of the Mongol dynasty, compiled in the XIV century in Chinese.

4. Works of Muslim historians contemporaries of the Mongol invasion (VLADIMIRTSOV B.Ya. 1922: 7).

The "Secret History of the Mongols" describes an event that not only confirms the assumption about the Caucasoid appearance of Genghis Khan but also gives reason to talk about his Anglo-Saxon origin. Nobles Mongol families were exogamous, and traditional marriage relations existed between certain tribes. However, nomads sometimes took advantage of chance encounters on the steppe to kidnap women.

The Mongols' captives led away. "
Photo from: RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: Fig 15

The first known translation of the Legend into Russian was made in 1866 by Archimandrite Pallady (in the world Kafarov P.I.), who was the head of the spiritual mission in Beijing for several years. The translation is considered inaccurate by specialists, however, for the sake of completeness, the corresponding passage from it can be cited:

… Genghis's father, Esugaibaatur, hunting with a falcon near the Onan River, saw a man from the Merki clan, named Ekecheledu, who was carrying a wife he had taken from the Olkhune clan. Yesugaibaatur, seeing that the woman was a beauty, immediately went home and returned again with his elder brother Nekuntaytsy and younger Daritayotchigin.
When the brothers were approaching, Ekecheledu, seeing them, was frightened, hit his horse and crossed one ridge, went around the mountain cleft, and returned to his wife's cart. His wife said: "The appearance of these three people is very unkind; they will certainly kill you; succeed quickly. If you save your life, let you have a wife like me; if you remember me, then call your other wife by my name." Having said this, she took off her shirt and gave it to him as a keepsake of herself. Ekechiledu, sitting on a horse, had just accepted his shirt, seeing Yesugaibaatura approaching with his brothers, hit the horse, and galloped up the Onan River.
Yesugaibaatur with his brothers chased Ekechiledu; they crossed seven ridges, but, not catching up with him, they returned back…(PALLADIY, arkhimandrit (Kafarov). 1909-1910).

By the time his wife was kidnapped from the Merkits, Chingisan's father already had a wife. She was the mother of Temuchin’s halfbrothers Bekhter and Belgutei. Subsequently, relations between the brothers of different mothers were tense and had tragic consequences. Chengis Khan and his real brother killed Belgutei. This event has nothing to do with the origin of Genghis Khan, so we will not dwell on it.

The description of this episode was also taken by me from the literal English translation of the History. It contains the father of Genghis Khan, who, with the help of two brothers, took away from one noble Merkit named Yeke Čiledü his wife Hö'elün Üjin , was called Yesügei Ba'atur. When parting, she asked her husband if he had noticed the other appearance of strangers ["other in countenance)"] (CLEAVES FRANCIS WOODMAN, 1982: 12). It should be borne in mind that the description of the abduction is based on her story, so the kidnappers looked different from her point of view. In free translations (retellings), the word "other" is not taken into account, therefore they usually refer to the expression on the faces of the brothers, which supposedly betrayed their intention to take Čiledü's life. Facial expressions vary and do not always warn of danger. On the contrary, a different appearance, as a constant feature, indicates belonging to an alien tribe that can be hostile, this is already dangerous. From the text, it is completely clear that Höelün first asked her husband about the appearance of the strangers, and after that, she suggested that he run away. It was their appearance that aroused her suspicion and prompted her advice to her husband to flee. In addition, Yesügei, at first glance at Hö'elün, also drew attention to her unusual beauty for the Mongols, which attracted him to her (ibid). Onon Urgunge even writes that "he saw a woman of unique color and complexion" (ONON URGUNGE. 2001, 54). In a situation where a woman struck Yesügei with her beauty, the expression on his face could not be intimidating.

Describing the kidnapping episode, another English translator of "The History" indicates that the appearance of the kidnappers was strange (odd), and the woman was unusually beautiful that can be understood in different ways (RACHEWILTZ, IGOR de. 2015: 10). This unusual incident played a decisive role in the history of the Mongols. There is historical evidence that Genghis Khan was fair-haired and blue-eyed, even all his descendants were "mostly blue-eyed and red". The explanation for this fact was as follows:

Yisugei, was a Kiyat-Borjigid, a race which traced its family tree back to Bodunchar, the illegitimate son of Alan-ko’a. The legend of Bodunchar’s birth relates how, after Dobun-mergen’s death, Alan-ko’a bore Bodunchar, having been visited every night by a strange ‘golden glittering’ man. Rashid ad-Din reports in greater detail: ‘A red-haired, blue-(green-) eyed man approached her very slowly each night in her dream; he then slipped stealthily away.’ The legend alludes to a possible foreign origin of the father, whom Dobun-mergen’s sons suspected was the Baya’ut, Malik. If so, he was not from the Mongol Baya’ut tribe, which belonged to the Borjigid, but rather from a Turkic tribe of that name, since Malik must have come from afar when he encountered Dobun-mergen, and been so exhausted that he sold his son for a haunch of venison. The features attributed to the Borjigid suggest a Kirghiz o rig in -a hypothesis already put forward by Berezin – since the Kirghizwere tall, had red hair and blue (green) eyes; those with black hair and brown eyes were, according to the Tangshu (History of the Tang), considered to be descendants of a Chinese general, Li Ling. (RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: 14).

This is a legend not devoid of imagination. Genghis Khan could inherit blond features only from his mother, for all Mongols are brunettes. However, blond hair and blue (gray) eyes are inherited approximately as a recessive trait controlled by a single gene, although sometimes they manifest in heterozygotes, as the gene corresponding to the dark hair does not always dominate (HARRISON G.A., 1968, 190). Accordingly, children will surely have these traits if the necessary genes are in the chromosomes of both parents. Therefore, it must be assumed that Hö'elün was already pregnant by Čiledü, also a blond, at the time of her abduction.

The name of Yeke Čiledü can be modified OE. geoc "help, consolation" (compare English yoke from the paronym geoc "yoke") and cielde "well, spring" (similar cieldu is "cold"). Thus, Yeke Čiledü's name meant "source of solace". Until now, the name or, more often, the surname Childe, Child is ordinary. It was difficult for Mongols to pronounce the sound combination –ld – and therefore epenthesis –e- appeared in it. In the first part of the name of beautiful Hö'lün, one can see OE. heah, which had a meaning not only "tall, great" but also "beautiful, glorious". OE lean "present, gift" from the Gmc. *launa may be seen in the stem of the second part of her name. A small phonetic discrepancy can be explained by the influence of Mongolian pronunciation. The second component of the name Üjin, present also in the name of Temüjin's wife Börte, was used by the Mongols as a prefix to female names in the meaning of "lady" and can have both Mongolian and Chinese origin (ONON URGUNGE. 2001, 31). Hö'elün originated from Olqunu'ud's clan whose name may have OE. *eolhen from eolh "elk". At present this is a Mongolian tribe, therefore its original name could be distorted. A derivative from OE ōnettan "to anticipate" may be proposed as an option for the second component of the name. Then in general the name of the tribe can mean "originated from the elk".

The meaning of the name Temüjin is mysterious. It can be deciphered taking into account OE team "tribe, family", cyne "royal" or cynn "rank, progeny". However, a Tatar military commander captured by Yesügei at the time of his son's birth had this name, therefore the father allegedly called him so (CLEAVES FRANCIS WOODMAN, 1982, 14). It is doubtful that the Tatar had such a name because it can not be deciphered using Turkic languages. In addition, Yesügei had a son named Temüge and a daughter Temülün with the same constituent part of the name team. Thus the second part of the name Theolün lean is the same as that of the mother with the meaning of "gift". All these names have a suffix -ü, which corresponds to OE -u, used to form adjectives from nouns. One might think that the mother gave the names to the children, using the words of her native language.

When Temüjin was nine years old, his father took him to another family intending to leave there for a better acquaintance with the girl Börte with whom the son could eventually marry. However, on the way back he was a guest at the feast of the Tatars, who, remembering a long-standing feud, poured slow poison into his drink. Three days later Yesügei died, but before the death, he asked to bring his son back to his mother and this request was fulfilled.

For various reasons, relatives and servants abandoned the orphaned family to the mercy of fate and drove all their cattle. Moreover, fearing the revenge of the growing Temüjin, they made several attempts to deprive him of his life. Need and persecution doomed the unhappy family to constant wandering "along the wild steppes of Transbaikalia". However, Hö'elün was a smart and strong-willed woman, she knew and found new ways to maintain the viability of the family, including the use of plant foods, which is completely not peculiar to the Mongols. Simultaneously, she brought up the boys to be courageous and enduring. The difficult childhood of Temüjin and his brothers is illustrated by dramatic:

Temüjin – the youthful Cenghiz Khan had many duties. The boys of the family must fish the steams they passed in their trek from summer to winter pastures. The horse herds were in their charge, and they were to ride afield after lost animals and to search for new pasture lands. They watched skyline for raiders and spent many a night in the snow without a fire. Of necessity, they learned to keep the saddle for several days at a time, and to go without cooked food for three or four days – sometimes without any food at all (LAMB HAROLD. 1927, 20-21).

Reaching manhood in such conditions, Temüjin, despite poverty, decided to marry rich Börte, and the marriage, took place. However, soon the Merkits avenge the abducted once Hö'elün attacked Temüjin's camp, but he could escape with the whole family, except for Börte. The Merkits, not catching Temucin, were satisfied that they captured Börte and gave her to a younger brother of the same Čiledü. The names of the three Merkits who participated in the abduction of Börte are known. They can be deciphered using the Old English language. Consider them in order:

Toqto'a of Uduyit-Merkit – OE. tohte «battle, campaign». The name of the kin of Uduyit can be understood as "skillful hunters" (OE wāđ "pursuit, hunting" witt "mind, awarenessб consciousness").

Dayir-usun of the Uwas-Merkits – a good match with the Old English personal name Dēire (HOLTHAUSEN F. 1974, 71), which is most likely derived from OE diere "dear, valuable, noble". The second part of the name usun should be referred to as the name of the Wusun people, which had a European appearance. The name of the kin of Uwas can mean "wolves" if you correlate it with the plural number of OE Wuffa, recorded in a personal name, which Holthausen refers to OE wulf "wolf" (ibid, 410).

Qa’atai-darmala of the Qa’at-Merkits – OE. heah "high, great" and āđ "oath" can be both in these names. The second part of the name consists of two words OE darr "daring" and mæle "bowl".

Genghis Khan in pursuit of his enemies.
Photo from: RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: Fig 13

Temüjin managed to free his wife with the help of the patron Khan and a temporary twin brother named Jamuqa, but the firstborn of Juči, born by her, probably was not conceived by him. Nevertheless, Temüjin recognized his son, although their relationship was complicated until the earliest death of Joči. Temujin still harbored evil on Merkit, and further relations with them confirm this assumption.

After the victory over the Merkits, there was a breakdown in relations between Temujin and Jamuka, which is explained by the intentions of both to play an active role in the struggle for dominance over the Mongol tribes. Conflict between the two rivals became inevitable, and nomadic custom dictated that a khan must be elected before the coming struggle. The leaders of the tribes supporting Temujin elected him Great Khan. They swore an oath of allegiance to him and supposedly named him Genghis Khan. The origin of the name remains unclear. The most common version is based on ancient Turkic. teŋiz “sea”, but the motivation for assigning such a name is questionable. It was still impossible to assume the great future of Temujin by his comrades, so the meaning of the name should have been more modest. Taking into account the circumstances of the birth of Genghis Khan, the origin of his name from Old English is more convincing. Combining in one name semantically similar words OE cyning "king" and Hakan to give him greater significance, like “royal khan,” is very possible. His mother could have suggested such a name for her son, and this assumption is all the more convincing given that the names Temujin and Genghis Khan contain the same cyn- component. At that time Mongolia really needed a ruler with the status of a monarch:

Disunity and conflict were rife among the Mongol tribes; ‘They had neither ruler nor leader. The tribes lived apart, singly or in twos; they were not united and were either at war or in a state of suspended enmity with each other; they were compelled to pay tribute to the Chin emperor and lived in abject poverty; they wore the skins of dogs and mice, ate the flesh of these and of other dead animals. Iron spurs were regarded as the mark of a great emir.’Thus does the Persian historian Juvaini describe the living conditions of the Mongols before the rise of Genghis Khan. Thirteenth-century travellers confirm that the Mongols were not fastidious in their eating habits. Plano Carpini comments: ‘They consume everything which can be eaten – dogs, wolves, foxes, horses and, in an emergency, human flesh . . . They also eat the afterbirth of mares; we even saw them eating lice; and with our own eyes we saw them consume mice.’ (RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: 12).

Genghis Khan was called upon to carry out fundamental changes in the country and was not only a brilliant military leader but also a great reformer and talented administrator. He carried out organizational reforms literally from scratch. The Mongols did not have even the most basic administrative system or formally organized services. Already at the beginning of his activities, he divided his subordinates into groups. Some were responsible for food, others for sheep or horses, others for maintaining the camp, tent wagons, etc (RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: 44). The power that he built was not at all in the traditions of Eastern despotism, but "was governed on the strict basis of the law, obligatory for everyone, from the head of state and ending with the last citizen" (HARA-DAVAN ERENGEN. 1991: 63). In the army, he completely abandoned warfare in traditional ways. Among his innovations were the iron discipline of his soldiers, thorough reconnaissance, and the organization of communications and communications. It seems incredible that the creation of the empire took place on a whim and without the participation of evolutionary psychology, the bearer of which was Höelün’s mother, who remained an adviser and confidant throughout his life. She largely determined the fate of Genghis Khan, instilling in him from childhood that he "was obliged to return the family its former shine" (Ibid: 25). As far as the manner of Chenghis Khan's activity was related to his origin, it remains to be seen by scientists. First, it is necessary to study the history, language, and customs of the Merkits.

The role of Merkits (Merkids), which we assume to be the Anglo-Saxons, is obvious in the fate of Genghis Khan and this ethnonym can be understood as well as the name of the country populated by them. Using the Old English language, it can be translated as "desert country" (OE mearc "border, boundary, border district", ieđ "deserted, uncultivated"). Apparently, at the time when the Anglo-Saxons appeared in Transbaikalia, there was no sedentary population, and the terrain was suitable for farming. With the help of the Old English language, one can also decipher the ethnonym "Tatars", which originally sounded like "Tartars". The combination of OE teart "severe, strict, strong" and ar "honor, dignity, glory" is well suited to the name of the tribe.

The enthronement of Genghis Khan at the 1206 Khuriltai"
Photo from: RATCHNEVSKY PAUL. 1991: Fig 10

Many European historians were confounded with the creation of a great empire from the divided and antagonized Mongolian tribes by Genghis Khan, and even by his personality. Here is one statement that characterizes the overall valuation of this problem, expressed in a rather artistic form:

This empire conjured of nothing by a barbarian, has mystified historians. The most recent history of his era compiled by learned persons in England admits that it is an inexplicable fact. A worthy savant pauses to wonder as “the fateful personality of Genghis Khan, which, at the bottom, we can no more account for the genius of Shakespeare (LAMB HAROLD. 1928: 14).

The emergence, flourishing, and fall of the Mongol Empire suggests that one brilliant personality is not enough to create a great state. It is necessary that the society itself, in its development, be ready to support its existence. After the death of Genghis Khan's immediate descendants, all the results of his activities, which gave rise to several political and cultural processes, were not continued in Mongolia itself, and he himself turned into a legendary figure. The final conclusion about the results of Genghis Khan’s efforts was made by one of the researchers of his biography:

But, in general, we can say that the plans of Genghis failed: his empire fell, and the Mongols, brought to the wide arena by the power of his military and organizational genius, could not stay on it; they were either absorbed by the more numerous peoples among whom they had to find themselves, or fell back into the state in which they had been before the birth of their brilliant leader (VLADIMIRTSOV B.Ya. 1922. 157).

A Statue of Chingghis/Genghis Khan at Dadal sum, Hentii aimag.
1962 memorial celebrating the eighth centenary of Genghis Khan's birth.
"May my body become tired, if only my state is in order."
Photo from: Wikipedia

Thus, an analysis of certain facts of Genghis Khan's life and activity convinces us that he was a completely foreign body in Mongolian society. At present, the ancestors of Genghis Khan are being searched through the study of the population genetics of the peoples of Asia and the analysis of remains of his possible immediate descendants. The results of these studies suggest that some Europeans were among the ancestors of Genghis Khan. If Genghis Khan were Mongolian by origin, then this would be the “Fermi paradox” violation, the explanation for which is that human society develops sequentially. All innovations cause gradual changes, which follow one after another without a visible break, forming a certain logic of development:

Hence arises the illusion which leads philosophers of history into affirming that there is a real and fundamental continuity in historic metamorphoses. The true causes can be reduced to a chain of ideas which are, to be sure, very numerous, but which are in themselves distinct and discontinuous, although they are connected by the much more numerous acts of imitation which are modelled upon them [TARDE GABRIEL 1903: 2].

Tarde explained the spread of new ideas by the laws of imitation. Of course, Genghis Khan brought new laws of governance, but only his immediate circle could imitate him. His innovations could not be reflected in the mass consciousness. It developed through the assimilation of innovations in other ways gradually without interruption, and continuity distinguishes the development of any human society.