105 Administrative Reform in the Mongol Empire
Learning Objective
- Choose the best summary of Möngke’s achievements
Key Points
- After Ögedei’s death, Genghis Khan’s descendants Güyük and Batu Khan fought about who would rule until Batu Khan’s death, at which point Genghis’ grandson Möngke took control.
- Möngke was generally a popular ruler. He generously met all Güyük’s outstanding debts, an unprecedented move.
- Möngke also forbade extravagant spending, imposed taxes (which incited some rebellions), and punished the unauthorized plundering of civilians. He established the Department of Monetary Affairs and standardized a system of measurement.
- Möngke conducted a census of the Mongol Empire and its land.
Terms
ingot
A block of steel, gold, or other metal oblong in shape and used for currency.
Department of Monetary Affairs
Möngke established this body to control the issuance of paper money in order to eliminate the overissue of currency that had been a problem since Ögedei’s reign.
From Ögedei’s death in 1241 CE until 1246 CE the Mongol Empire was ruled under the regency of Ögedei’s widow, Töregene Khatun. She set the stage for the ascension of her son, Güyük, as Great Khan, and he would take control in 1246. He and Ögedei’s nephew Batu Khan (both grandsons of Genghis Khan) fought bitterly for power; Güyük died in 1248 on the way to confront Batu.
Another nephew of Ögedei’s (and so a third grandson of Genghis Khan’s), Möngke, then took the throne in 1251 with Batu’s approval. In 1255, well into Möngke’s reign, Batu had repaired his relationship with the Great Khan and so finally felt secure enough to prepare invasions westward into Europe. Fortunately for the Europeans, however, he died before his plans could be implemented.
The Mongol Empire Under Möngke
Möngke’s rule established some of the most consistent monetary and administrative policies since Genghis Khan. In the mercantile department he:
- Forbade extravagant spending and limited gifts to the princes.
- Made merchants subject to taxes.
- Prohibited the demanding of goods and services from civilian populations by merchants.
- Punished the unauthorized plundering of civilians by generals and princes (including his own son).
In 1253, Möngke established the Department of Monetary Affairs to control the issuance of paper money. This new department contributed to better econimic stability including:
- Limiting the overissue of currency, which had been a problem since Ögedei’s reign.
- Standardizing a system of measurement based on the silver ingot.
- Paying out all debts drawn by high-rank Mongol elites to important foreign and local merchants.
Möngke recognized that if he did not meet his predecessor’s, Güyük’s, financial obligations, it would make merchants reluctant to continue business with the Mongols. Like many other rules around the world at this time, his hope was to take advantage of the budding commercial revolution in Europe and the Middle East. Ata-Malik Juvaini, a 13th-centur