Hello
everyone! I'm sorry for being late on learning today but I was really
tired earlier and now it took some time to read up on my subject for
the day. I couldn't think of anything to learn about and then I
googled badass women in history and found some great ladies. I'm
starting with Khutulun Mongolian Warrior Princess!
Khutulun
was great-great-granddaughter of famous warrior Genghis Khan. And
though she never met him, she clearly lived up to his notorious
warrior status. Khutulun's father was Khaidu and he owned a fief of
land in the Tian Shan Mountains. Khaidu had fifteen children and all
were boys except for the last child, Khutulun. When she was born,
Khaidu gave his daughter the same training his sons received in how
to generally kick ass. She learned to wrestle, ride a horse, use a
sword, shoot a bow and everything important to living in Mongolia.
At
the time when most women in the world had no rights still, Mongolian
women were often found in battle alongside the men! Most of the women
would operate as snipers with their bows from far off but Khutulun
had other ideas about how to fight. Her method was to ride into
battle, pick out the biggest and tallest guy on the other side and
grab him by the head and drag him back to her father to kept out of
the way.
Aside
from being a fearsome warrior and military commander, she was also
insanely good at the Mongols favorite pastime, wrestling! And
Mongolian wrestling was not fake, nor was it easy. Mongolian
wrestling had no rules. There were no silly weight classes to fix an
unfair advantage from one man to another. But Khutulun was a pro at
beating all the big burly men in town.
When
she got to be in her twenties, her parents wanted her to marry but
she declared she would not marry any man who couldn't beat her at
wrestling. After all the suitors got the butts kicked by this
impressive woman, she opened up a challenge to any man that could
beat her would have her hand. Any who couldn't had to give her ten
horses.
Marco
Polo met Khutulun in 1280 and she claimed to have ten thousand horses
and was still single. There was later a prince who came looking to
marry Khutulun and pleaded for her to throw the fight they would have
the next day but Polo heard her say, “she would never let herself
be vanquished if she could help it but if, indeed, he could get the
better of her then she would gladly be his wife.”
The
match the next day was attended by people from their city and the
neighboring villages. Marco Polo said, “The damsel threw him right
valiantly on the palace pavement. And when he found himself thus
thrown and her standing over him, great indeed was his shame and
discomfiture.”
Khutulun
did marry eventually, but not to someone who bested her in battle.
She chose a man for herself, something few women in the Middle Ages
were able to do. And when her father died in 1301, before his death
he offered his kingdom to Khutulun. She wouldn't take it because she
had fourteen older brothers who would probably not have been pleased
with this. But she told her brother she would let him be the Khan as
long as she got to command his army.
She
took over as General but wasn't in charge for long before she
violently murdered at age fourty-five. Stories aren't sure if she
fell in battle or was assassinated, but either way was living up to
the legacy of bloodshed and battle Khutulun had left. I hope everyone
enjoyed learning about this great lady and I will probably be
learning about badass women in history for awhile because I really
enjoyed reading about her!
Sources:
Thompson, Ben 2015 September 4 Khutulun
Phelan, Jessica 2014 January 16 7 of the most badass women who ever lived (who you've probably never heard of)
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