BOLOD, CHʿENG-HSIANG (Pers. Pūlād Čīnksāng), the representative of the Great Khan Qubilai at the court of the Il-khans of Iran. Despite the Chinese title cḥʿeng-hsiang (Mathews’ Chinese-English Dictionary, nos. 385, 2562), Bolod was certainly of Mongol stock. He was one of Rašīd-al-Dīn’s main suppliers of information on early Mongol and Iranian affairs for his great historical work, the Jāmeʿ al-tawārīḵ.
Bolod presented his credentials from Qubilai Khan on 10 Ṣafar 685/7 April 1286 to the il-khan Arḡūn (q.v.), who had ousted the Muslim convert Aḥmad in 683/1284 and was, like Qubilai, an adherent of Buddhism. For his seat, Bolod chose Sarā-ye Manṣūrīya in Arrān, where he resided with an entourage of officials. He was one of the few persons who had access to the court in Arḡūn’s last years. Notwithstanding Bolod’s presence, the il-khan Gayḵātū waited for the arrival of a diploma of investiture direct from China before his enthronement on 12 Rajab 691/29 June 1292. After Qubilai’s death in 693/1294, no further receipts of such documents from Ḵānbālïq (Peking) or Daydu (a royal suburb of Peking) are mentioned; Ḡāzān and Öljäitü/Ūljāytū (like Bāydū, earlier) ascended the throne very soon after the previous incumbent’s death without awaiting authorization. There are no reports that Bolod ever acted on behalf of the next great khan. At the same time relations with China remained friendly, and for this reason nothing was done against Bolod, who stayed in the west until his death on 28 Ḏu’l-ḥejja 712/26 April 1313.
Bibliography:
E. Blochet, Introduction à l’histoire des Mongols de Faḍl Allah Rashid Ed-Dín, London, 1910, pp. 230-31.
Doerfer, I, pp. 310-12. ʿA. Eqbāl, Tārīḵ-eMoḡol I, pp. 249, 304, 406, 488.
Abu’l-Qāsem ʿAbd-Allāh b. Moḥammad Kāšānī, Tārīḵ-eŪljāytū, ed. M. Hambly, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969, pp. 8, 38, 42, 142, 147, 154.
Rašīd-al-Dīn, Tārīḵ-eḡāzānī, pp. 65, 71, 111, 142, 312.
Idem, Jāmeʿ al-tawārīḵ (Baku) III, pp. 204, 239, 292, 351, 519.
Spuler, Mongolen4, esp. pp. 74, 221f.
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(Bertold Spuler)
Originally Published: December 15, 1989
Last Updated: December 15, 1989
This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 4, p. 338
