Baghatur

Baghatur is a historical Turkic and Mongol honorific title,[1] in origin a term for "hero" or "valiant warrior". The Papal envoy Plano Carpini (c. 1185–1252) compared the title with the equivalent of European Knighthood.[2]

Illustration of "Koblandy Batyr," a Kazakh epic poem, on a Soviet stamp.

The word was common among the Mongols and became especially widespread, as an honorific title, in the Mongol Empire in the 13th century; the title persisted in its successor-states, and later came to be adopted also as a regnal title in the Ilkhanate and the Timurid dynasty, among others.[citation needed]

The concept of the Baghatur is present in Turco-Mongol folklore, one instance is the Bashkir epic poem Ural-batyr . The Bogatyr of Eastern Slavic legends is derived from the turkic term. Baghaturs were heroes of extraordinary courage, fearlessness, and decisiveness, often portrayed as being descended from heaven and capable of performing extraordinary deeds. Baghatur was the heroic ideal Turco-Mongol warriors strove to live up to, hence its use as a military honorific of glory.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Ed. Herbert Franke and others – The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, 710–1368, p. 567.
  2. ^ James Chambers The Devil's horsemen: the Mongol invasion of Europe, p. 107.