CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Hulegu Khan

Western Asian Mongol ruler (c. 1217–1265)

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 11, 2026
Entity authorityQ177320 ↗
Source-derived summary

Hulegu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulagu (c. 1217 – 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of West Asia. As a son of Tolui and the Keraite princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of Ariq Böke, Möngke Khan, and Kublai Khan.

Hulegu's army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate in Persia. Under Hulegu's leadership, the Mongols sacked and destroyed Baghdad, ending the Islamic Golden Age and the Abbasid dynasty. They also weakened Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic influence to the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo.

Early life

Hulegu was born to Tolui, one of Genghis Khan's sons, and Sorghaghtani Beki, an influential Keraite princess and a niece of Toghrul in 1217. Not much is known of Hulegu's childhood except of an anecdote given in Jami' al-Tawarikh and he once met his grandfather Genghis Khan with Kublai in 1224.

Military campaigns

Hulegu's brother Möngke Khan had been installed as Great Khan in 1251. Möngke charged Hulegu with leading a massive Mongol army to conquer or destroy the remaining Muslim states in southwestern Asia.

Editorial summary

“Hulegu Khan” enters the record as western Asian Mongol ruler (c. 1217–1265). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hulegu, Khan and Western can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1217, 1265, 1224, 1251—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1217-02-21. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Hulegu, Khan and Western.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Hulegu Khan” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hulegu, Khan and Western provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q177320. VIAF identifies the subject as 243240472. The Library of Congress control number is no2012054977. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1217, 1265, 1224 and 1251.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Hulegu Khan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Hulegu Khan primary sources, Hulegu Khan archive and Hulegu research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hulegu Khan”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Hulegu Khan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.