Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/684

 672 GENGHIS KHAN GENLIS the Keraite Tartars. Temudjin supported him in his turn in different wars, and received the daughter of the khan in marriage. But his bravery, liberality, and success soon made him an object of envy and fear ; a war ensued, in which the khan lost his army on the battle field, and his life while in flight. Another enemy of Temudjin, Tayan, khan of the Cai- man Tartars, met with a similar fate in and after the battle of Altai, which gave Temudjin a great part of Mongolia and the capital Kara- korum. In the next spring he held a great as- sembly of his nation at Blun-Yuldad, his capi- tal, where the representatives of all the hordes appeared and proclaimed him their great khan. Then, obeying the words of a shaman (inspired man), who promised him the conquest of the earth, he adopted the title of Genghis (great- est), and gave to his people that of Mongols (the bold). He organized their civil and mili- tary system, and laid down a code of laws which is still known in Asia under his name, and is based upon the belief in one God and the monarchy of one great khan, to be elected from the reigning family by the kuraltai, or assembly of the nation. It grants great priv- ileges to the nobles, allows polygamy, forbids to conclude peace except with the vanquished, and commands the delivery of arms into the hands of the government in times of peace, and when no national hunts are held. He granted equal- rights to every religion, and admitted men of talents or merit to his 'court, whatever their creed. Appreciating the wisdom of other nations, he caused many celebrated books to be translated from foreign languages. Ambi- tion soon prompted him to new expeditions. The annexation of the Uigur or central Tar- tars served to complete the conquest of Tar- tary ; he now commenced that of China, passed the great wall, vanquished the opposing ar- mies, plundered and destroyed 96 cities, re- duced to ashes smaller towns and villages, and carried away multitudes of children, who were destroyed in the homeward march, besides a vast spoil of cattle, gold, silver, and silk. In a second expedition he was equally successful. He devastated the country, and in 1215 took Yehking (now Peking) by assault. This great city was pillaged and burned. Giving the com- mand in the east to his son Tutshee, Genghis now turned his sword to the west, crushed some revolted tribes and their allies, and took a bloody revenge for the murder of his am- bassadors on Mohammed, sultan of Kharesmia. A vast army, and the cities of Bokhara, Sa- marcand, and others, opposed him in vain. The Mongols conquered and devastated the whole country ; the cities were destroyed, and with them immense treasures of eastern science and art ; and numberless inhabitants were slaughtered or carried away as slaves. An- other Mongol army marched against Kaptchak, and took Derbend on the shore of the Caspian sea ; another reduced Iran and Astrakhan, and, after a bloody battle on the Kalka, south- est ies ern Eussia ; another continued the conquest of China and subdued Corea. The countries N". W. of India were also conquered, and an expedition against that country was begun. In this he is said to have shared the fate of Alexander the Great in a similar undertaking ; after some victories, the army refused to ad- vance further, and he was compelled to return amid terrible difficulties. He then turned his arms against the kingdom of Tangut, passed the desert of Gobi in winter, and defeated 300,000 men on a frozen lake ; the Tangut dynasty was extirpated. He was meditating new conquests when, death ended his career. He was buried in his native home, and his funeral was celebrated with songs, and some historians say with a hecatomb of beautiful young girls. His empire was divided among his four sons, Oglutai, chosen great khan, Ja- gatai, Tului, and Tutshee, whose armies soon completed the conquest of China, overthrew the caliph of Bagdad, made the sultan of Ico- nium tributary, and penetrated as far as the Oder and the Danube. GENII. See MYTHOLOGY. GENLIS, Felieite Stephanie Dncrest de Saint- Anbin, countess de, a French authoress, born near Autun, Jan. 25, 1746, died in Paris, Dec. 31, 1830. She had a taste for music, acquired great proficiency on the harp, and played seven other instruments ; but her education was almost entirely neglected. When scarcely 15 years of age she was married to Count Bru- lart de Genlis, a friend of her father who had fallen in love with her on seeing her portrait. Full of ambition, she then devoted herself with great zeal to study. By the influence of her aunt, Mme. de Montesson, who was subsequent- ly secretly married to the duke of Orleans, she was in 1770 appointed a lady in waiting in the household of his daughter-in-law the duchess de Chartres, became soon afterward governess of the daughter of that princess, and was formally nominated in 1782 by the duke de Chartres (afterward duke of Orleans) " gov- ernor" of his three sons, the eldest of whom was afterward King Louis Philippe. Such a title given to a woman gave rise to no little scandal, and the influence she subsequently exercised upon the political course of her em- ployer, the notorious Philippe Egalite, seemed to warrant the most injurious suspicions. Du- ring her governorship she published several works devoted to the moral education of her pupils the Theatre coeducation, Annales de la vertu, Adele et Theodore, Les veillees du cha- teau which were generally well received by the public, and were highly praised by Gail- lard, La Harpe, and other eminent critics. During the first years of the revolution she proclaimed her liberal opinions, and is said to have been the principal adviser of Philippe Egalite. She published Conseils sur Veduca- tion du dauphin, and Lecons d'une gouvernante, written in the spirit of the new constitution. She was, however, obliged to emigrate, and in