[February 10] Chengzong, khagan of the Mongolian Empire

True Name: Temür Öljeytü Khan (Öljiyt Tömör or 鐵穆耳)

Parents: Zhenjin, son of Kublai Khan, and Kokejin

Royal House: Yuan

Spouse: Bulugan

Reign: 1294 – 1307

Predecessor: Kublai Khan

Summary: As the successor of the great Kublai Khan, first Mongol khagan to rule over China as well as the largest Mongol empire in history, Chengzong had a lot of work to do. Kublai outlived both his eldest son and his second son, Temür, who was Chengzong's father. Temür died when Chengzong was 21, and the young prince retained his mother as an advisor throughout his reign. From 1286 until his own coronation in 1294, he was the obvious heir and campaigned with his grandfather regularly. Kublai appointed him governor of Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire, and there he received the submission of three princes of a rival Mongol line. In 1294, Kublai died and a kurultai (election council) was called to elect the next Great Khan. Despite many years as the unofficial heir, he required the vote of the khanate to gain the throne. He won the crown against the contest of his brother, Gammala, and became the second Yuan Emperor of China.

As Great Khan and Emperor, Chengzong was a more conservative ruler than his grandfather. He maintained the borders but looked to internal reform rather than outright expansion. He cancelled planned invasions of Japan and Vietnam, instead favoring simple submissions and tribute. Chengzong did, however, send help to Burma to help quell a revolt there. He diversified the bureaucracy of China by brining in Mongols, Muslims, Tibetans, Taoists, and Christians, although he personally remained a Buddhist. Problems within the khanate began under his reign. The Ilkhanate converted to Islam in 1295 and broke ties with the Great Khanate. Meanwhile, the Chagatai Khanate, one of the largest branches, was in the midst of a civil division that pitted them occasionally against any neighbor who got in the way. They were eventually pacified, but it did not last long. Other branches of the khanate were more respecting of their elected, though mostly titular, leader, but the integrity of Genghis Khan's empire was fading. It faded further with the death of Chengzong because he did not leave an heir when he died in 1307. After his death, the Mongols only followed the Great Khan nominally, preferring instead to follow their own goals.

Date of Death: 10 February 1307

Successor: Külüg Khan

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• William IX, duke of Aquitaine (1126)
• Baldwin III, king of Jerusalem (1162)
• Shijo, emperor of Japan (1242)
• Margaret II, count of Flanders (1278)
• Leo XII, pope of Rome (1829)
• Abdul Hamid II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1918)
• Pius XI, pope of Rome (1939)