Women Among the Qara Khitai

Who were the Qara Khitai? A tribe of nomads originally from Manchuria who conquered North China, incorporating it into an empire which lasted from 907 til 1125 when it was overthrown by a new wave of Manchurian invaders called the Jurchens.

One of the Khitan princes fled into Central Asia where he created a conquest state called the Qara Khitai, the Black Khiitai. Most of his subjects were sedentary Muslims who accepted Khitan rule even though their new rulers refused to convert to Islam. Their name, the Khitai, became the name China was called in medieval Europe - Cathay. One thing that seems to have irritated both the Chinese and the Muslims was the amount of power females had among them. Here are a few examples.

When Abaoji, the founder of the first Khitan empire in China died, his wife Yingtian refused to accompany him to the grave as custom required. Instead, she cut off her own right hand and threw it into the coffin. She survived to be the powerful regent of the new empire. Talk about a Nietzchian 'will to power'!

Female rulers of the Qara Khitai were so powerful that their husbands often received only the title of fuma (originally 'imperial son-in-law'). Usually he functioned as the chief military officer while the Empress held all real power.

At the end of the dynasty a Mongol chieftain fleeing from Genghis Khan sought refuge at the Qara Khitan court where he was received by the Empress rather than the ruling Emperor. Her daughter took one look at him, fell in love, and married him three days later. Not only was she strong-willed, she had the power to determine her own husband.

The wife of the Muslim Kwarazm Shah, a Khitan princess named Terkish Khatun, discovering that her husband was having an affair with a slave girl, tracked him to the bath and attacked him so violently that he lost an eye.

Ah yes. Central Asia, where all the women are strong and the men are very nervous.