page_title: Chagatai Khan
section_title: Family
hierarchical_section_title: Chagatai Khan / Family
caption_attribution_description: English: Funeral of Chagatai. Jami' al-tawarikh, Rashid al-Din. Français&#160;: Funérailles de Djaghataï. Jami al-tawarikh, Rashid al-Din. Русский: Похороны Чагатая. Джами ат-таварих Рашид ад-Дина.
context_page_description: Chagatai Khan was the second son of Genghis Khan. He was Khan of the Chagatai Khanate in 1226–1242 C.E. The Chagatai language and Chagatai Tajiks take their names from him. He inherited most of what are now five Central Asian states after the death of his father. He was also appointed by Genghis Khan to oversee the execution of the Yassa, the written code of law created by Genghis Khan, though that lasted only until Genghis Khan was crowned Khan of the Mongol Empire. The Empire later came to be known as the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire. Chagatai Khan was considered hot-headed and somewhat temperamental by his relatives, because of his attitude of non-acceptance of Jochi as Great Khan. He was the most vocal about this issue among his relations. Chagatai is in some stories held responsible for the death of Jochi and Genghis Khan. At any rate, he was animated by the soldier-like spirit of his father and succeeded in keeping order among as heterogeneous a population as a kingdom was ever composed of.
context_section_description: Chagatai died in 1242, after a reign of about 16 years, and within the same year the death of Ogedai occurred at Karakorum. Thus two out of four of the chief divisions of the Mongol empire were suddenly deprived of their sovereigns, with the result that nearly the whole of the successors of Genghis Khan began disputing for the succession. However, for the time being, it ended in Turakina, Ogedai's widow, being appointed regent. But lasting disputes remained among the rival claimants and for long afterward, the disputes regarding the succession to the throne of the great Khan became inextricably mixed up with the affairs, especially in the eastern part, of Chagatai's Khanate.
  Little is known of the way in which Chagatai disposed of his kingdom at his death, and there appears to be no mention, anywhere, of his having followed the ancestral custom of his house in distributing it among his descendants. He is recorded to have left a numerous family, but to have been succeeded by a grandson, and a minor, named Qara Hülëgü, while his widow, Ebuskun, assumed the regency.
caption: The funeral of Chagatai Khan.
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