Great Khan, alternatively spelled Chagan, Qaqan, Khakhan, Khaghan, Kagan, Khaqan etc., is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a Khaganate (empire, greater than an ordinary Khanate, but often referred to as such in western languages). It may also be translated as Khan of Khans, equivalent to King of Kings.
In modern Mongolian, the title became Khaan with the g sound becoming almost silent or non-existent. The common western rendering as Great Khan or Grand Khan, notably in the case of the Mongol Empire, is technically not correct, but it has been well established by long-standing convention and is reasonably clear in suggesting paramount status.
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For other titles related to and uses of Khan, see that article
Khagan or Great Khan">Great Khan, alternatively spelled Chagan, Qaqan, Khakhan, Khaghan, Kagan, Khaqan etc., is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a Khaganate (empire, greater than an ordinary Khanate, but often referred to as such in western languages). It may also be translated as Khan of Khans, equivalent to King of Kings.
In modern Mongolian, the title became Khaan with the 'g' sound becoming almost silent or non-existent. The common western rendering as Great Khan or Grand Khan, notably in the case of the Mongol Empire, is technically not correct, but it has been well established by long-standing convention and is reasonably clear in suggesting paramount status.
Mongolian Khagans
The first known use of the title was by the nomadic Juan Juan confederacy (4th-6th century AD) or the Xianbei, on China's northern border.
The Avars, who may have included Juan Juan elements after the Turks crushed the Juan Juan who ruled Mongolia, also used this title. The Avars invaded Europe, and for over a century ruled the Hungarian region. Westerners Latinized the title "Khagan" into "Gaganus".
By far the most famous incumbents were from the dynasty of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, who united all Mongol nomad tribes and welded them into such an efficient military machine that he outdid Alexander the Great's conquests greatly in founding the Mongol Empire. His grandson Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty in China.The ruling descendents of (the senior line of the house of) Genghis Khan are often referred to as the Great (or Grand) Khans. These include Ögedei Khan, Güyük Khan, Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan.The Secret History of the Mongols, written for that very dynasty, clearly distinguishes Khaghan and Khan: only Genghis and his descendants are called Khaghan, while other rulers are referred to as Khan. Over time, though, the distinction became blurred by the large number of rulers who claimed it.
The gh sound in "Khaghan" later weakened and disappeared becoming Khaan in Modern Mongolian.
The title became associated with the Ashina rulers of the Gokturks and their dynastic successors among such peoples as the Khazars. Minor rulers were rather relegated to the lower title of Khan.
Interestingly, both Khakhan as such and the Turkish form Hakan, with the specification in Arabical-Barrayn wa al-Bahrayn (meaning literally "of both lands and both seas"), or rather fully in Turkish Hakan ül-Berreyn vel-Bahreyn, were among the titles in the official full style of the Great Sultan (and later Caliph) of the Ottoman Empire (Sultan Hân N.N., Padishah, Hünkar, Sovereign of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe; next followed a series of specifical 'regional' titles, starting with Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem), reflecting the historical legitimation of the dynasty's rule as political successor to various conquered (often islamised) states.
Among the Slavs
In the early 10th century, princes of Eastern Slavs employed the title of kagan (or qaghan), reported by the Arab geographer Ibn Rusta writing between 903 and 913. This tradition endured in the eleventh century, as the metropolitan of RussiaHilarion calls both grand princeVladimir (978-1015) and grand prince Iaroslav (1019-1054) by the title of kagan, while a graffito on the walls of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev gives the same title to the son of Iaroslav, grand prince Sviatoslav II (1073-1076).
During the Russian civil war following the bolshevik takeover of 1917, White general Roman Ungern von Sternberg, who, admittedly was trying to reconstitute the empire of Genghis Khan, was often styled as "Ungern Khan" between 1919 and his death in 1921.
Sources and references
(incomplete)
Mark Whittow, The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1996.
"Khagan".
