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Who Speaks First
Temujin named the baby Jochi, which means visitor. Whether Jochi was truly his son was a question that never went away, and it came to a head decades later, when Genghis Khan gathered his four sons to talk about who would succeed him. Mongols call on people to speak in order of age, and Genghis Khan called on Jochi first.
Genghis Defends Jochi
Chagatai, the second son, jumped up and called Jochi a Merkit bastard who could never be great khan. Genghis Khan told his son that he had not been there, did not know who loved whom, and had not seen the stars falling or the earth turn over. If he said Jochi was his son, Jochi was his son. If their mother could hear such words, he added, her warm womb would turn to cold stone.
Choosing Ögedei
Chagatai submitted, though he added that a deer shot with words cannot be loaded on a horse or eaten. The sons then settled on Ögedei, the generous one who was up for every party.
What happened to Jochi's family later?
Jochi died in about 1227, shortly before his father. His son Batu led the Mongol invasion of Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1230s and 1240s. Batu founded the Golden Horde, the khanate that ruled Russia for more than two centuries. Jochi's line held power there long after Genghis Khan's other lines had faded.
How did Mongols choose a new khan?
Mongols had no rule that the eldest son inherited. A khan was chosen at a kurultai, an assembly of leading men from the family and the nobility. The chosen heir had to win the support of the others, which is why Genghis Khan gathered his sons to talk about it. The kurultai was still used to confirm khans a generation after his death.
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