Chinggisids

The Chinggisids were the descendants of Genghis Khan, also known as Chinggis Khan, and his first wife Börte. The dynasty, which evolved from Genghis Khan's own Borjigin tribe, ruled the Mongol Empire and its successor states. The "Chinggisid principle"—that only descendants of Genghis Khan and Börte could be legitimate rulers of the Mongol or post-Mongol world—would be an important concept for centuries, until the fall of Kazakh Khanate, the last states ruled by Chinggisid monarchs, in 1847.

The Borjigin lineage, descendants of Kaidu, an early Mongol leader, were initially one of many clans inhabiting the Mongol heartland. Genghis Khan was born c. 1162, son of a Borjigit warrior named Yesügei, a member of the Qiyat sub-clan; over the next decades, he subjugated or killed all potential rivals, Borjigit or not. By the time that Genghis established the Mongol Empire in 1206, the only remaining Borjigit were the descendants of Yesügei. They formed the altan uruq (lit. 'Golden Family')—the only people allowed to rule in the empire. Of these, the descendants of Genghis and his first, primary wife Börte held the highest seniority; the Chinggisid Principle was that this particular lineage—the eponymous Chinggisids—were the only legitimate rulers. Mongol religious ideology held that the Chinggisids would eventually become rulers of the entire world.