Early life

Temür was born the third son of Zhenjin of the Borjigin and Kökejin (Bairam-Egechi) of the Khunggirad on October 15, 1265. Because Kublai's first son Dorji died early, his second son and Temür's father, Zhenjin, became the crown prince. However, he died in 1286 when Temür was 21 years old. Kublai remained close to Zhenjin's widow Kökejin, who was high in his favor. Like his grandfather Kublai, Temür was a follower of Buddhism.

Temür followed his grandfather Kublai to suppress the rebellion of Nayan (Naiyan) and other rival relatives in 1287. Then he and Kublai's official, Oz-Temür, came to guard the Liao River area and Liaodong in the east from Nayan's ally, Qadaan, and defeated him. Kublai appointed Temür the princely overseer of Karakorum and surrounding areas in July 1293. Three Chagatai princes submitted to him while he was defending Mongolia (they fled to Chagatai Khanate soon and returned to Yuan dynasty again during the reign of Temür).

After Kublai Khan died in 1294, Kublai's old officials urged the court to summon a kurultai in Shangdu. Because Zhenjin's second son Darmabala had already died in 1292, only his two sons, Gammala and Temür, were left to succeed. It was proposed that they hold a competition over who had better knowledge of Genghis Khan's sayings. Temür won and was declared the emperor.

Reign

Temür Khan was a competent emperor of the Yuan dynasty. He kept the empire the way Kublai Khan left it though he did not make any great achievements. He continued many of Kublai Khan's economic reforms and tried to recover the economy from the expensive campaigns of Kublai Khan's reign. He allowed the empire to heal from the wounds of particularly the Vietnam Campaign. Many other high posts of his empire were filled with people of different origin, including Mongols, Han Chinese, Muslims and a few Christians.

Ideologically, Temür's administration showed respect for Confucianism and Confucian scholars. Shortly after his accession, Temür issued an edict to revere Confucius. Temür appointed Harghasun, who was particularly close to the Confucian scholars, right grand chancellor in the secretariat. Nevertheless, the Mongol court did not accept every principle of Confucianism. Temür bestowed new guards and assets on his mother and renamed her ordo (great palace-tent or camp) Longfugong palace, which became a center of Khunggirad power for the next few decades. Mongol and westerner statesmen were assisted by an array of Chinese administrators and Muslim financers. The most prominent Muslim statesman was Bayan (Баян), great-grandson of Saiyid Ajall Shams al-Din, who was in charge of the Ministry of Finance. Under Mongol administrators Oljei and Harghasun, the Yuan court adopted policies that were designed to ensure political and social stability. Orders were given that portraits be painted of the khagans and khatuns during the reign of Temür.

The number of the Tibetans in the administration gradually increased. The Khon family of Tibet was honored, and one of them became an imperial son-in law in 1296. Temür reversed his grandfather's anti-Taoist policy and made Taoist Zhang Liusun co-chair of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies. In 1304, Temür appointed the Celestial master of Dragon and Tiger Mountain as head of the Orthodox Unity School. He banned sales and distillation of alcohol in Mongolia in 1297, and the French historian René Grousset applauded his activity in the book, The Empire of Steppes.

Temür was opposed to imposing any additional fiscal burden on the people. Exemptions from levies and taxes were granted several times for part or all of the Yuan. After his enthronement, Temür exempted Khanbaliq (Dadu, modern Beijing) and Shangdu from taxes for a year. He also exempted the Mongol commoners from taxation for two years. In 1302 he prohibited the collection of anything beyond the established tax quotas. The financial state of the government deteriorated, however, and the draining of monetary reserves greatly weakened the credibility of the paper currency system. Corruption among officials of the Yuan became a problem.

During the last years of Temür, a peace among the Yuan dynasty and the western Mongol khanates (Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate) was achieved around 1304 after the Kaidu–Kublai war that had lasted for more than 30 years and caused the permanent division of the Mongol Empire. Temür Khan was recognized as their nominal suzerain. While the peace itself was short-lived and the war soon resumed, this established the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty over the western khanates that lasted for a few decades.

Because his only son Teshou died a year earlier (January 1306), Temür died without a male heir, in the capital Khanbaliq on February 10, 1307.

Southeast Asia

Soon after his enthronement in 1294, Temür called off all preparations for further expansions to Japan and the Đại Việt, whose new ruler ignored his grandfather's envoy in 1291. Temür sent his messengers to Japan and Champa to demand submissions. Champa accepted the terms, but Kamakura shogunate declined, and the Japanese Wokou attacked Ningbo in Zheijiang province late in his reign. The rulers of Đại Việt, Burma, and Sukhotai visited Khanbalik to greet him as their overlord in 1295, 1297, and 1300. In response to the visit from the prince of Burma, he aborted the Burmese campaign and said to all his ministers: "They are our friendly subjects. Do not attack their people". Temür also released envoys of Đại Việt to show his goodwill, and the Tran court began to send tributary missions. But Temür's government had to quell rebellions in the southwestern mountainous area, led by tribal chieftains like Song Longji and female leader Shejie in 1296. It took long months for the generals Liu Shen and Liu Guojie to suppress these rebellions.

By the request of the Burmese prince, Tribhuvanaditya, Temür dispatched a detachment of the Yuan army to Burma in 1297. They successfully repelled the Shans from Myanmar. Temür also received envoys from Siam and Cambodia. He dispatched Zhou Daguan to Khmer Cambodia in 1296, and Zhou wrote an account about his journey. In 1299 Athinkaya murdered his brother Tribhuvanaditya, who submitted to Temür in 1297. In 1300, a punitive expedition was launched against Burma for dethroning Temür's protectorate, Tribhuvanaditya. The Shan warlords of Babai-Xifu, who were quarreling over the royal succession of Pagan, also raided the Yuan realms. Temür sent his Yunnan-based force in turn to halt the advance of Babaixifu (Lanna Kingdom of Chiangmai) in 1301–1303. Although those campaigns were fruitless, Athinkaya and the Shan lords offered their submission. The costly expedition spurred rebellions of a Yunnan official, Song Longji, and the Gold-Tooths (ancestors of the Dai people) in 1301–03. The revolts were eventually suppressed. After Temür Khan ordered to withdraw his army from Burma, Central and southern Burma soon came under the Tai rulers who paid nominal tribute to the Yuan dynasty.

Ancestry

生平

至元二十二年农历十二月十日（1286年1月5日），皇太子真金去世，元世祖欲立真金次子答剌麻八剌为皇太子，但1292年答剌麻八剌因病去世。至元三十年（1293年）真金三子铁穆耳受皇太子宝，总兵镇守漠北和林。至元三十一年农历正月二十二日（1294年2月18日），元世祖忽必烈去世，被封为晋王的真金长子甘麻剌决定要继续镇抚北方，铁穆耳得以在其母阔阔真与大臣伯颜等人的支持下，于至元三十一年农历四月十四日（1294年5月10日）在上都大安阁即位，是为元成宗。

铁穆耳即位后停止对外战争，罢征日本、安南，专力整顿国内军政，减免江南部分赋税。并推行限制诸王势力、新编律令等措施，使社会矛盾暂时缓和。

在位期间基本维持守成局面，但滥增赏赐，入不敷出，国库资财匮乏，「向之所储，散之殆尽」，中统钞迅速贬值。曾发兵征讨八百媳妇（在今泰国北部），引起云南、贵州地区动乱。晚年患病，委任皇后卜鲁罕和色目人大臣，朝政日渐衰败。

大德九年六月初五（1305年6月27日），元成宗册立皇子德寿为皇太子，元成宗有数子，只有德寿皇太子为伯牙吾·卜鲁罕皇后所生。 同年十二月十八日（1306年1月3日），德寿因病去世。德寿去世后，成宗在生前未再立皇太子。

大德十一年农历正月初八日（1307年2月10日），成宗在大都玉德殿病逝，享年42岁 , 在位13年。

晚年患病，委任皇后卜鲁罕和色目人大臣，朝政日渐衰败。铁穆耳后继无人，埋下了元朝中期皇位争夺战的隐患。庙号成宗，谥号钦明广孝皇帝。蒙古汗号完泽笃可汗。

尊谥庙号

大德十一年九月十一日（1307年10月7日），元武宗为铁穆耳上谥号钦明广孝皇帝，庙号成宗，蒙古语称号完泽笃皇帝。

《成宗皇帝谥册文》，内容如下：

成宗实录

至大元年三月二十日（1308年4月11日），元武宗命翰林国史院纂修《顺宗实录》、《成宗实录》。

皇庆元年十月二十六日（1312年11月25日），翰林学士承旨玉连赤不花等向元仁宗进呈《顺宗实录》、《成宗实录》、《武宗实录》。其中，《成宗实录》包括《成宗皇帝实录》56卷，《事目》10卷，《制诏录》7卷，总计73卷。明朝初年史官修《元史》，参照实录修成《成宗本纪》4卷，《成宗实录》今已失传，其主干内容保存在《成宗本纪》中。

玉连赤不花等《进三朝实录表》，内容如下：

四大汗国重新承认元朝的宗主地位

大德五年（1301年）秋，元军与窝阔台汗国的海都和察合台汗国的笃哇会战于金山附近的铁坚古山。元军先败海都。笃哇后至，两军再战。双方互有胜负，但都受到重创。海都、笃哇在会战中负伤，海都于1302年去世。

钦察汗国的东部藩属术赤长子斡儿答家族白帐汗封地原先与大汗的直辖地相连。窝阔台汗国的海都兴起后，隔断了元朝与术赤家族领地的直接联系。与海都接壤的白帐汗系宗王古亦鲁克为争夺汗位，投靠海都、笃哇。古亦鲁克的对手伯颜汗曾遣使元朝，要求双方联合作战。元朝的军队攻击海都，从谦州深入钦察汗国控制下的亦必儿·失必儿之地（今俄罗斯鄂毕河中游地区）。

大德六年（1302年），钦察汗国脱脱汗和白帐汗伯颜汗出兵2万，与元成宗的军队联合进攻笃哇和察八儿。此后钦察汗国承认元朝的宗主地位，长期与元朝维持友好关系。

1301年的铁坚古山之战对于元与西北宗藩的关系有决定性的影响，1302年海都去世，到了大德七年（1303年），笃哇扶立察八儿为窝阔台兀鲁思汗。笃哇暗中向元朝驻守在哈剌和林边境的安西王阿难答派出使臣，向元成宗表示臣服，请求朝廷罢兵。成宗同意约和。获得元廷支持后，笃哇与察八儿等聚会，到会诸王一致认识到，与朝廷进行长达数十年的战争是「自伤祖宗之业」。

大德七年（1303年）秋，笃哇以及海都之子察八儿约和使臣到达元廷。元廷与西北诸王达成和议，西北诸王承认元朝的宗主地位，设驿路，开关塞。自从1260年忽必烈与阿里不哥争位以来，元朝西北边境的战火终于基本平息，元朝的宗主地位得到四大汗国的正式承认。

接著，他们又联合遣使到伊儿汗国、钦察汗国王庭，大德八年（1304年）秋，伊儿汗完者都在木乾草原会见钦察汗脱脱的使臣，西北四大汗国彼此之间的约和也至此完成，整个蒙古帝国境内再次迎来了和平。

家庭

父母

• 父亲：真金太子，1261年被封为燕王，1273年被封为皇太子，1286年去世，1293年元世祖上谥号明孝太子，1294年元成宗追尊真金为皇帝，为真金上庙号裕宗，汉文諡号文惠明孝皇帝。

• 母亲：阔阔真王妃，1294年元成宗登基后尊为皇太后，1300年去世后元成宗上谥号徽仁裕圣皇后

兄弟姐妹

• 大哥：甘麻剌，1290年封为梁王，出镇云南，1292年改封晋王，移镇漠北，1302年去世，1324年元泰定帝追尊为皇帝，为甘麻剌上庙号显宗，汉文谥号光圣仁孝皇帝。母亲阔阔真王妃

• 二哥：答剌麻八剌，1286年真金太子去世后元世祖本打算立为皇太子，但因病1292年去世，1307年元武宗追尊为皇帝，为答剌麻八剌上庙号顺宗，汉文諡号昭圣衍孝皇帝。母亲阔阔真王妃

• 赵国公主 忽答迭迷失，下嫁阔里吉思

• 鲁国公主 南阿不剌，下嫁蛮子台

妻妾

• 失怜答里皇后，去世于1294年成宗登基之前，1310年追谥贞慈静懿皇后

• 卜鲁罕皇后

• 忽帖尼皇后

子女

• 儿子：元成宗有四个儿子，但只有德寿皇太子为失怜答里皇后所生。

• 昌国公主 益里海雅，下嫁阿失昌王

• 赵国公主 爱牙迷失，下嫁阔里吉思

• 鲁国公主 普纳，下嫁桑哥不剌

相关史料

• 《史集》，蒙古帝国伊儿汗国史学家拉施特撰写。

• 《大元圣政国朝典章》，简称《元典章》，元英宗在位后期（1322年—1323年）官修政书，收录1234年—1322年元朝各地地方官吏会抄的有关政治、经济、军事、法律等方面的圣旨条画、律令格例以及司法部门所判案例的汇编，分为前集和新集，史实多为《元史》所不载。

• 《大元通制》，1323年元英宗颁布的元朝第二部法律，现存残本收录1234年—1316年元朝官方颁布的关于法律方面的圣旨条画、律令格例以及司法部门所判案例的汇编，史实多为《元史》所不载。

• 《至正条格》，1346年元惠宗颁布的元朝第三部法律，现存残本收录1260年—1344年元朝官方颁布的关于法律方面的圣旨条画、律令格例以及司法部门所判案例的汇编，史实多为《元史》所不载。

• 《元史·成宗本纪》 ，明朝官修正史

• 《新元史·成宗本纪》 ，民国私修正史

• 《续资治通鉴》 ，清朝史家毕沅撰写。

• 《元史类编》，清朝史家邵远平撰写。

• 《元史新编》，清朝史家魏源撰写。

• 《元书》，清朝史家曾廉撰写。

• 《蒙兀儿史记》，清末民初史家屠寄撰写。

评价

• 明朝官修正史《元史》宋濂等的评价是：「成宗承天下混壹之后，垂拱而治，可谓善于守成者矣。惟其末年，连岁寝疾，凡国家政事，内则决于宫壼，外则委于宰臣；然其不致于废坠者，则以去世祖为未远，成宪具在故也。」

• 明朝官修正史《元史》宋濂等的评价是：「世称元之治以至元、大德为首。……。故终世祖之世，家给人足。……。大德之治，几于至元。」

• 清朝史家邵远平《元史类编》的评价是：「册曰：豢业以治，垂拱用成；中年奋武，启衅南征；末婴寝疾，壼柄廼萌；赖斯贤辅，镇侧弭倾。」

• 清朝史家毕沅《续资治通鉴》的评价是：「帝承世祖混一之后，善于守成；惟末年连岁寝疾，凡国家政事，内则决于宫壼，外则委于宰臣，幸去世祖未远，守其成宪，不至废坠。」

• 清朝史家曾廉《元书》的评价是：「论曰：成宗号为能守法度，而为病虐，前星弗耀，牝鸡司晨，而内难作矣。然非成宗之过也，成宗早任合剌合孙，资为羽翼，自古未有贤人在位而乱其国者也。股肱之寄，要在忠良，唐宗之言，信夫！」

• 民国史家屠寄《蒙兀儿史记》的评价是：「始汗为太孙时，好饮无节。忽必烈汗常戒之，不悛。以此受杖者三次，忽必烈汗至命医官监其饮食。有近侍司太孙节沐者，私置酒于盥器，代水以进，忽必烈汗闻之，大怒，谪戍其人远方，杀之于道。汗既登极，深以前事为非，力自节饮。其勇于改过如此。汗仁惠聪睿，承天下混一之后，信用老成，垂拱而治。一革至元中叶以来聚敛之政，冗设之官。约束诸王、妃、主、驸马扰民，禁滥请赏赐。性又谦冲，不好虚誉。群臣、皇后一再请上徽号，卒不允。可谓守成之令主矣。虽晚婴末疾，政出中宫，而举错无大过失。固由委任贤相之效，亦未始非内助之得人也。」

• 民国私修正史《新元史》柯劭忞的评价是：「成宗席前人之业，因其成法而损益之，析薪克荷，帝无使焉。晚年寝疾，不早决计计传位武宗，使易世之后，亲贵相夷，祸延母后。悲夫！以天子之尊，而不能保其妃匹，岂非后世之殷鉴哉。」

注释

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