The Political Role of the Jalayir in the Mongol Empire

Abstract

This article reconsiders the political role of the Jalayir within the Mongol Empire and its successor states, arguing that they should be understood not as a marginal tribal group, but as a politically consequential confederation whose influence extended across the Mongol world. Drawing on Mongolian, Persian, Chinese, and Arabic sources, it examines the Jalayir from their early formation in the Uighur–Khitan frontier to their incorporation into the Chinggisid imperial order and subsequent expansion across Eurasia.

It argues that the Jalayir were a composite tribal formation of mixed Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic origin whose political significance derived not from demographic scale, but from military utility, political adaptability, and durable integration into imperial structures. By tracing their roles in Mongolia, Central Asia, and the Ilkhanate, this study positions the Jalayir as a key example of how mobile tribal elites shaped both the formation of the Mongol Empire and the political order of its post-imperial successor states.