주원장의 서신과 北元의 대칸 토구스 테무르의 신원 문제 ― 토구스 테무르는 마이다리발라가 아니다 ―

Abstract

Two theories have long been at odds over the identity of Toghus-Temür, known as the last Great Khan of the Northern Yuan dynasty. Some say he was the son of his predecessor, Ayushiridara, and others say he was Ayushiridara’s younger brother. However, it can be said that both theories are seriously flawed in that they are not directly supported by contemporaneous records. Building on contemporaneous records, we set the ultimate goal of putting an end to this long-standing controversy, and in this paper, as a first step, we would like to refute the theory that Toghus-Temür was Maidaribala, the son of Ayushiridara, among the two theories. Captured as a prisoner of war in 1370, Maidaribala was detained in Nanjing, the capital of the Ming empire, for several years. In 1374, Zhu Yuanzhang repatriated him to his father in Mongolia in the name of grace to allow him to succeed to his father’s throne in the future. Those who identify Toghus-Temür with Maidaribala assume that the latter, who was repatriated in 1374, ascended to the throne when Ayushiridara died in 1378. However, a close analysis of contemporaneous records, including personal correspondence from Zhu Yuanzhang to Toghus-Temür, reveals that the latter cannot be identified with Maidaribala. In a letter sent in 1387, Zhu mentioned that he had in the past given the grace of repatriating Toghus-Temür, the recipient of the letter, to Mongolia. In addition, another letter, which turns out to have been written in 1385 as a result of content analysis, indicates that it was in the year of 1371 that Zhu repatriated Toghus-Temür to Mongolia. In other words, this correspondence testifies that Toghus-Temür was not the same person as Maidaribala, who was repatriated in 1374. Therefore, based on the facts revealed in this paper, we propose that Toghus-Temür should be found among the Mongol princes who had been detained in Nanjing until the 1371 repatriation.