Childhood
It is claimed that Batumongke was the son of Bayanmongke (fl. 1470-79) the Bolkhu jinong (or crown prince/viceroy) of the Borjigin clan and Shiker Taiko of the Uriyangkhai in Mongolia. His paternal grandmother, Sechen, was a daughter of Esen Tayshi of the Oirats. Although Bolkhu and his family suffered through life's darkest hours during the reign of Esen and the internal conflict of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, they were welcomed by his uncle (brother) Manduul Khan (r. 1465-67) soon after his coronation.
Batumongke's father and his uncle Manduul had come to blows due to warlords' convictions, and Bayanmongke had fled and been murdered. Manduul's taishi Ismayil (also known as Isama) then took his wife Shikher and properties. In order to save Batumongke's life Shiker gave her child to the Bakhay family to nurse him. However, Temur-Qadag of the Tangud (already Mongolicized) took the child from Bakhay. Because of his Borjigin blood, Batumongke was well taken care by the Mongol commoners and minor nobles.
At the sudden death of Manduul Khan in 1467, Batumongke was five years old. Later he was adopted by Mandukhai Khatun, the widow of Manduul Khan. When Mandukhai's loyalists brought back Batumongke, he was suffering echinococcus. Mandukhai had him treated and the boy recovered soon.
Read more about this topic: Dayan Khan
Famous quotes containing the word childhood:
““Come; see the oxen kneel,
“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“Toddlerhood resembles adolescence because of the rapidity of physical growth and because of the impulse to break loose of parental boundaries. At both ages, the struggle for independence exists hand in hand with the often hidden wish to be contained and protected while striving to move forward in the world. How parents and toddlers negotiate their differences sets the stage for their ability to remain partners during childhood and through the rebellions of the teenage years.”
—Alicia F. Lieberman (20th century)
“But childhood prolonged, cannot remain a fairyland. It becomes a hell.”
—Louise Bogan (1897–1970)