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Historical person
1219–1266
Ariq Böke was the youngest son of Tolui and a grandson of Genghis Khan. After the death of Möngke in 1259, he was proclaimed Great Khan at Karakorum, while his brother Kublai was proclaimed by a rival assembly in northern China. Their civil war divided the Mongol imperial family and weakened the authority of the central khanate. Ariq Böke surrendered in 1264 and died in 1266 under circumstances that prompted suspicions of poisoning.
Ariq Böke appears in historical fiction about the transformation of the Mongol Empire from a steppe confederation into several competing states. Conn Iggulden’s Conqueror series includes the Toluid family conflicts that culminated in Kublai’s victory, presenting Ariq Böke as more closely tied to traditional Mongol power at Karakorum. His rivalry with Kublai gives novelists a clear personal focus for the larger political choice between western campaigning, Chinese rule and imperial unity.
Series
The Conqueror series traces the rise of Temujin as Genghis Khan and the expansion of the Mongol Empire under his descendants. Across five novels it follows tribal unification, campaigns in China and Central Asia, the invasion of eastern Europe and the succession struggles that eventually bring Kublai Khan…
All books in this series
