Jochi
Birth and paternity

Jochi's mother, Börte, was born into the Onggirat tribe, who lived along the Greater Khingan mountain range south of the Ergüne river, in modern-day Inner Mongolia. At the age of ten, she was betrothed to a Mongol boy named Temüjin, son of the Mongol chieftain Yesugei. Seven years later (c. 1178), after he had survived a turbulent adolescence, they married. They had their first child, a daughter named Qojin, in 1179 or 1180. By forming alliances with notable steppe leaders, such as his friend Jamukha and his father's former ally Toghrul, and with the help of his charisma, Temüjin had begun to attract followers and gain power. Word of his rise spread and soon drew the attention of the Merkit tribe, from whom Yesugei had abducted Temüjin's mother Hö'elün, sparking a blood feud; they resolved to take revenge on Yesugei's heir.

Because of their consequences, the subsequent events were considered highly controversial: most contemporary authors omitted any mention of the events, while the two that did (the Secret History of the Mongols, a mid-13th-century epic poem, and the 14th-century Persian historian Rashid al-Din 's Jami al-tawarikh) are highly contradictory. In 1180 or 1181, a large force of Merkits raided Temüjin's camp; while most of his family managed to escape, Börte was captured. She was forcibly married to Chilger-Bökö, the younger brother of Hö'elün's original husband. Meanwhile, Temüjin had convinced his allies to assemble substantial forces to help him rescue Börte. Under Jamukha's command, the combined army campaigned against the Merkits and defeated them, recovering Börte and taking large amounts of plunder.

However, there was a problem—Börte was heavily pregnant and soon, in Jamukha's camp, gave birth to Jochi. As Chilger-Bökö had undoubtedly raped her, and as she had been among the Merkits for nearly nine months, Jochi's paternity was uncertain; this was reflected in his name, meaning "guest" in Mongolian. While Temüjin always regarded Jochi as his son by blood and treated him accordingly, many Mongols, such as his younger brother Chagatai, viewed him as a bastard sired by Chilger-Bökö.
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